50's Wiring?

[Fender_Player90]

Whats your experience with wiring the tone pot in the 50s Style? That is wiring to the center lug of the volume pot vs the outer lug? If you play with everything on 10, is there any difference? Ive tried a treble bleed and didint care for it ...seemed artificial and seemed to add more treble turning the volume down. Ive read wiring the guitar like this (50s wiring) make the treble bleed more naturally.

So how does this work with overdrive or distortion? Does it make it more harsh or icepicky? And is it true that this wiring increases the output of your pickups?

And if I was to add a Freeway switch, can the 50s wiring be incorporated with that?

Thanks-

 

[garrett]

First, note that "50's Wiring" refers to the way Gibson wired their guitars back in the day. Zero connection to any Fender 50's guitars.

I haven't tried on a Strat, but I wasn't too fond of it on a Tele. I do like it on my PRS 594, though.

It does not increase output. In fact it slightly reduces output when turning the tone down, which is the trade-off to this config. The treble is natural as you roll down the volume. I do hear a little loss of treble, but not nearly as much as modern wiring sans treble bleed.

The thing with treble bleeds is, they're customizable but the standard values are often too much. I find the common 1nF/150k resistor combo gets too bright on a Strat. My fave is the Mojotone style, which is a 470pF cap and 220k resistor. Much more natural response throughout the pot's travel. You can tweak the pot value until it gives you what you like. If it's too bright, just keep going with lower cap values until you find what you like.

50's wiring, or treble bleeds, are completely independent of the switch, so feel free to experiment and go with what you like best.

 

[hopdybob]

simple explanation

'50s Wiring vs Modern Wiring...What's the deal? | Fralin Pickups

What's the difference between '50s Wiring and Modern Wiring for Les Pauls? Find out how a simple wiring trick can change your tone!

www.fralinpickups.com

and this one has tested it with sound clips as well also treble bleed and more tweaks

 

[Fender_Player90]

First, note that "50's Wiring" refers to the way Gibson wired their guitars back in the day. Zero connection to any Fender 50's guitars.

I haven't tried on a Strat, but I wasn't too fond of it on a Tele. I do like it on my PRS 594, though.

It does not increase output. In fact it slightly reduces output when turning the tone down, which is the trade-off to this config. The treble is natural as you roll down the volume. I do hear a little loss of treble, but not nearly as much as modern wiring sans treble bleed.

The thing with treble bleeds is, they're customizable but the standard values are often too much. I find the common 1nF/150k resistor combo gets too bright on a Strat. My fave is the Mojotone style, which is a 470pF cap and 220k resistor. Much more natural response throughout the pot's travel. You can tweak the pot value until it gives you what you like. If it's too bright, just keep going with lower cap values until you find what you like.

50's wiring, or treble bleeds, are completely independent of the switch, so feel free to experiment and go with what you like best.

How about the series treble bleeds (or Kinman)?

 

[garrett]

How about the series treble bleeds (or Kinman)?

I haven't tried that method, but over the years on forums I've seen people say they like the Kinman.

 

[Swirling Snow]

"'50s wiring" was developed by line workers who wanted an empty tab to solder back-ordered pickups to when the pickups arrived. Wiring things according to the schematic would mean they'd have to reflow the solder on the capacitor. Some collector who'd only seen a few Les Pauls decided they were all wired that way and dubbed it "'50s wiring". So, "modern wiring" is also the "original wiring".

IMHO, if you think you need '50s wiring, you probably need a new amp. Or a pedal to drive the amp you have, perhaps. You shouldn't have to dime your guitar to get a good tone out of your amp. Set your guitar on '7', then turn your amp up until it rocks. Turn down to '5', you lose treble and dynamics - perfect for playing behind a singer. Turn up to '9', and you get a treble boost for leads! What some see as a "problem", I see as a "benefit".

 

[Billy3]

Modern and 50's wiring, dependent and independent are all just a matter of spending minutes with a soldering iron. Do one then the other. Then do it again if you can't decide. Do what YOU like. Reading about it will only confuse your decision. Explore the options and decide yourself. No one way is right or wrong. Check everything out with gain and clean. Happy soldering and listening.

 

[TeleBackelaer]

"'50s wiring" was developed by line workers who wanted an empty tab to solder back-ordered pickups to when the pickups arrived. Wiring things according to the schematic would mean they'd have to reflow the solder on the capacitor. Some collector who'd only seen a few Les Pauls decided they were all wired that way and dubbed it "'50s wiring". So, "modern wiring" is also the "original wiring".

IMHO, if you think you need '50s wiring, you probably need a new amp. Or a pedal to drive the amp you have, perhaps. You shouldn't have to dime your guitar to get a good tone out of your amp. Set your guitar on '7', then turn your amp up until it rocks. Turn down to '5', you lose treble and dynamics - perfect for playing behind a singer. Turn up to '9', and you get a treble boost for leads! What some see as a "problem", I see as a "benefit".

I can understand that for some people, like yourself it can come in handy (or, 'a feature, not a bug').
But I when I turn my volume knob, I only want the volume to change, not the tone. So for me, 50s wiring is perfect. Although admittedly I only solder my strats that way. For some reason I feel teles don't seem to need it as much.
Anyway, to each their own.

 

[donrichfan]

Check out Eric Daw’s new book-maybe will be of help and give you some new ideas:

Solid Sound Book

www.solidsoundbook.com