57 RI goldtop mods

[Tom Grossheider]

Hey, cool place! Anybody try the mods listed in the LP forum, pots, caps and rewiring? I noticed an improvement after the wiring change, though the CTS pots and Sprague caps were already installed when I got it. The wiring change made it a little brighter, with better attack. I'm keeping it that way.

[Mike Hansen]

Hey Tom, I've done all the mods on other LP's I've owned but haven't done anything to my 03 R7 yet.

I'm going to swap out the Burstbuckers and wire it 50's style when I get time to do it.

BTW, I do some repair work for Clyde at Axes Music in Frankfort. Small world!

[sunburst]

Do you guys have a wiring diagramm for 50´s wiring.
I´d appreciate it very much if you could send it to me via e-mail.
Thanks sb :roll: :wink:

[Shemp]

Hey Tom! Just to let you know... my 57 RI has the CTS audio tapers, Sprague BB caps, bone nut, and Tone Pros locking bridge and studs. Moved it up to a set of 11-50 Pyramid Roundwound strings today and cranked it through the Bassman.... Mercy...

What scares me is that Pyramid strings always sound better after they've been on a guitar for a day.... Can't wait to try them tomorrow!

I can't believe a guitar and amp can sound that good together.

[Shemp]

The CTS Audio Taper pots are usable over a longer range of the taper, not as abrupt. Better caps will preserve the guitar's tone as you roll off the volume. I have Sprague Black Beauties in mine.

[Paul G.]

I'd like to put them in at least one of my guitars, but don't know where to find them.

Also, are you using 500Kohms for both tone and volume, .02uf for the cap??


P.

[Shemp]

I'd like to put them in at least one of my guitars, but don't know where to find them.

Also, are you using 500Kohms for both tone and volume, .02uf for the cap??


P.

All the work was done to mine prior to my purchase, but I believe that the volume pots are both 500K. I'm not sure of the value on the tone pots. The Sprague Black Beauty caps are definitely .02uf.

[Mike Hansen]

You would want CTS part number EP0086 500k short shaft pots for both volume and tone. .02uF is a good starting point for caps.

[Tom Grossheider]

Hey Mike, nice to hear from you! I stop in at Clyde's shop all the time. Usually with some new amp creation to let him wail on. He sponsors my brother's band, Eat A Peach. I may need some help with a Telecaster nut replacement, and for you to look at an old Gibson J-55 acoustic that needs some work.

Hans-Peter - Here is a link to the Les Paul forum. At the bottom of this page are the pictures of the new and old wiring in the control cavity. It's pretty easy to figure out, there are only a couple of changes to make. I don't know of a wiring diagram, so this is what I used.
http://www.lespaulforum.com/oldhistoric.html

Shemp - Glad to hear that the Bassman still is working well. The "amp of love" I like to call it! I'd like to try my goldie thru that amp myself! How did it sound for the jam you had recently? I'm going to build something Marshally pretty soon, need to create some mayhem around here.

[Mike Hansen]

Wow, it is a small world, I was just out there today talking to Andy from Eat a Peach. I take it you build amps? I picked up a Cornford Hurricane from Clyde last week. We'll have to meet up out there sometime!

[Tom Grossheider]

Hey Mike, you bet a small world. Andy is my little brother, taught him everything he knows.....big brother privilege. I only live 5 minutes from Clyde, and work at home all the time, so let me know when you are there. I was just there having lunch at that Northwoods restaurant a block away too, and thought about stopping in. I'll shoot you an email with my number.

[Mike Hansen]

We usually do lunch at Northwoods on Tuesdays. I was there yesterday about 1. I'll be out there next Tuesday too.

[Marshallmelloman]

Mine is an early to mid 90's historic 57' and I have no idea what the wiring is. I don't know a cap from a baseball cap, but if a mod could be made to hook up the tone even more I would be into it. I use my volume control all the time to clean up and distort my amps as opposed to distortion boxes and channel switching. I have noticed the tone degrading and thinning when backed off, but I didn't know you could improve on it. I usually figure that the guys at Gibson know better than I do so leave em' to it. I did replace my neck pick up with a Harmonic Design z-90 as the original pick up was too flabby. Sounds great for slide especially, but I don't know if I am done hunting.

I switched over to Gibson Les Paul strings after using D'addarios for years. I was having problems with the High e strings. They were coming unraveled in the stop during bends and causing the string to slack and become untunable. The Gibson strings have red thread around the ball winding which seems to help a lot. They last longer sound wise and I haven't broken one yet.

[Gearjoneser]

My 57 Reissue Goldtop has pullup tonepots to split a nickel covered Duncan Custom 5/59N. I also replaced the tuners with direct fit Schaller Kluson copies. The ratio is better and the pegs are tighter. That guitar is setup like heaven with a bone nut and a fretdress.
I seem to take that to gigs, along with whatever my other two favorites are, at the time. Last year, it was that, and a 2001 Honeyflame Prem Plus and 2000 Teal Black PRS McCarty.
This summer, I'm gonna use the Goldtop, a Black Beauty 3 pickup Custom, and a Schecter Ca. Custom Tele.