Gibson Reissues and 50s wiring

adampeter

Do R9 LPs come with 50s or modern wiring? wondering what my 2008 has as stock

SteveRobinson

You could check.

If the capacitor is connected to the middle lug of the volume control, that's "50s" wiring.

adampeter

SteveRobinson said:

You could check.

If the capacitor is connected to the middle lug of the volume control, that's "50s" wiring.

Cheers, will do

adampeter

so i guess thats 50s then?
and are those bumblebee caps?

SteveRobinson

Yes and yes.

I think that the Gibson "bumblebees" are not proper paper in oil but a modern capacitor in a plastic case. At least they used to be.

adampeter

SteveRobinson said:

Yes and yes.

I think that the Gibson "bumblebees" are not proper paper in oil but a modern capacitor in a plastic case. At least they used to be.

Thanks, any "improvement" to be had swapping those caps for proper paper in oil?

SteveRobinson

None at all!

adampeter

SteveRobinson said:

None at all!

ta mate, have some wiz

Mike58

How’s this for confusion... my R9 Murphy with real deal silly price ‘bees and the mysterious Black Rose wiring ( look it up). It has little practical value but I convinced myself it sounded better wired this way . I’ve flipped the photo as it’s a lefty ( pot cases will read oddly) and to mimic your photo orientation.
a fool and his money ..

ICBM

What you have there is a variation of ‘modern’ wiring - with the tone control connected to the pickup, not the output of the volume control.

The order of the components and connections in the tone circuit makes no difference, it’s purely where it’s connected on the volume pot that matters.

Personally I think ‘modern’ wiring sounds better than ‘50s’ wiring, for several reasons [/heresy ], so it doesn’t surprise me that you like it .

Mike58

Oh yes , I know it’s the modern wiring with a subtle and electrically identical twist and therefore can’t be any good.... but ( and I may be burned at the stake ) it gets worse... there are 300k vol pots in there....

ICBM

Mike58 said:

Oh yes , I know it’s the modern wiring with a subtle and electrically identical twist and therefore can’t be any good.... but ( and I may be burned at the stake ) it gets worse... there are 300k vol pots in there....

Whatever works for you .

I also like 250K volume pots with a lot of humbuckers, especially underwound PAF types which I find quite shrill otherwise [/more heresy!].

adampeter

Unrelated to op but the pots on my R9 are pretty stiff, don't mind this on the tones but its pain in the arse on the vols, not helped by the smooth knobs and thumb bleeders.
Is there a better smoother easier to turn pot i can replace these vols pots with?

ICBM

adampeter said:

Unrelated to op but the pots on my R9 are pretty stiff, don't mind this on the tones but its pain in the arse on the vols, not helped by the smooth knobs and thumb bleeders.
Is there a better smoother easier to turn pot i can replace these vols pots with?

Modern CTS are pretty loose, but I would have expected it to be those anyway...

Try contact cleaner in them - that will often thin excessive grease in the bushing which is usually what makes them stiff.

adampeter

ICBM said:

adampeter said:

Unrelated to op but the pots on my R9 are pretty stiff, don't mind this on the tones but its pain in the arse on the vols, not helped by the smooth knobs and thumb bleeders.
Is there a better smoother easier to turn pot i can replace these vols pots with?

Modern CTS are pretty loose, but I would have expected it to be those anyway...

Try contact cleaner in them - that will often thin excessive grease in the bushing which is usually what makes them stiff.

Yeah i thought that they would be modern CTS as well, i will try a bit of cleaner as suggested
Seem to remember that EVH uses super low friction pots in their guitars, may have to do a bit of research

stickyfiddle

+1 for modern wiring. I can't standard the way everything interacts on the middle position with 50s wiring. 

I'm a fan of Emerson or BKP CTS 550k pots for Gibsons

SteveRobinson

adampeter said:

Seem to remember that EVH uses super low friction pots in their guitars, may have to do a bit of research

They're just regular Bourns pots rebadged. £3 or so each from RS Components

adampeter

SteveRobinson said:

adampeter said:

Seem to remember that EVH uses super low friction pots in their guitars, may have to do a bit of research

They're just regular Bourns pots rebadged. £3 or so each from RS Components

nice one, cheers