Love Rock "50s" Wiring Mod

[bashbrook]

..or "The Emperors New Love Rock"?

In a recent thread LondonBarry was asking if anyone had tried the "50s" wiring mod often mentioned on the Les Paul forum.
See: http://bellsouthpwp.net/t/a/tabreaux/LP_Wiring_Comparison.jpg
Just to say that I decided to give it a go and have just done the mod on my "clownburst" LS65 this afternoon.

I'm no expert in these things as my ears have never been the same since watching Motorhead in '79 (the Chemical Brothers have kindly finished things off in recent years!) but it seems to have made a difference.

There seems to be a touch more treble generally, particularly with both pickups on.
Turning down the volume keeps things brighter than it did, and rolling back the tone gives a more "focused" sound, a bit less like stuffing your speaker cabinet with old socks and covering it with a 20 tog duvet.

Just wondering of anyone else has tried this mod, and what they thought of it? I'm hoping that I'm not hearing things just because I've spent thirty quid on a soldering iron in Maplins - like some sort of "Emporers New Love Rock" scenario.

I'd also be interested if anyone has swapped out the capacitors and/or pots in their Love Rocks and what, if any, results were obtained.

Regards
Brendan

 

[Anonymous]

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[bashbrook]

LondonBarry
The mod would only take five minutes for someone familiar with a soldering iron. As I'd never done any guitar mods before, I took things slowly and managed to retain most of my fingers and some of the kitchen table.

(By the way, all 4 pots in my 2000 LS-65 were 500k.)

Would I be right in assuming that by a more "agressive" capacitor, you mean a higher value? Presumably this will roll off more treble?

I'm thinking of trying some new capacitors. The stock ones are small, green things with a number starting with 22 stamped on them (presumably .022uF?). I might try some "Orange Drop" capacitors and see if they make any difference. I will probably stick with .022uF on the bridge tone but try a .015uF for an even more subtle effect on the neck pickup.

I hear a lot of good things on the Les Paul Forum about 500k "CTS" pots but as these are difficult to source in the UK, I probably won't bother with these.

Brendan

 

[Anonymous]

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[ArthurS]

Ok I've been thinking of doing this for a while. With the picture you posted, this should be so easy that I'll probably go out to buy a soldering iron this week and modify it. Thanks for posting that

By the way, on the Les Paul Forum the "50's wiring mod" is also referred to as the "Norlin Mod" (Norling being Gibson's boss in the 70s). Does this mean that LP's in the fifties weren't wired in the same way?

 

[tokaiguy]

For an extensive list of mods to pots and caps,check the postings of member "stratdeluxer",he has done just about anything you could do to improve a Love Rock. He is a former member of the list who can be found on the Fender Discusion Forum "stratdeluxer60" and the Les Paul Forum as "stratpaulguy60" He just finished restoring a 67' Delue Reverb that is real sweet! I think if we were to post the pictures of his LTD Love Rock he might return to the Forum? Would be nice to have him back! TG

 

[bashbrook]

ArthurS
I've also seen this tweak reffered to as the "Norlin Mod", though my understanding is that LPs were wired up this way from the 50s and into the Norlin era. I just think of it as "a relatively easy mod for even a ham-fisted bloke trying out his new soldering iron".
Tokaiguy
Thanks for the tip. I'm off to look at what "stratdeluxer" has had to say.

Brendan