Couple of upgrades on the Les Paul

I've had an on again off again thing with my Les Paul Studio Faded. Since not trading it in on another Les Paul with P90's, I decided to upgrade.

I wanted to start small and inexpensive first. Boy, was I in for a nice surprise.

First off, I changed out the 2 volume pots with Gibson 500k audio taper pots. They both measured right at 500k for a change, rather than 1 at 460 and the other at 525. I like em balanced. The old ones were 300k linear taper pots. Sorry...our ears do not hear in linear. That's the biggest load of.....well nevermind.

So changed those, ripped out the rest...except the tone pots, which are audio taper and 500k. (who'd a thunk it?) I rewired everything 50's style, but went with Orange Drop caps....022 for both pickups.

I also installed a new Gibson aluminum stop bar that I picked up in a parts trade a few months ago. The difference is quite noticeable and very soothing to the ears. The volume is now adjustable, and I can clean up the sound by turning the V knobs down. Before it was like...all on or all off. Very sucky. Should of done this long ago.

Now, the guitar sounds like it ought to. The pickups sound fuller, the inbetween tone is to die for and the guitar just sort of thumps and puts out a thick Les Paul sound. I can't really explain it another way. It just sounds great now.

Makes me wonder why on earth Gibson would just do this from the get go.

It's a keeper now...and no need to change the pickups at this juncture, unless Ron Ellis throws a set of his humbuckers my way...I might consider that upgrade.

 

Yep. I know the feeling. I've got some good ones, but they're all .033, .047 and .1. The .022's are getting pricey.

 

Just an update. I happened to measure the old volume pots...264k and 240k. That might have been part of the problem...