Making My Les Paul Sound "More Vintage," Part 2: Electronics

After I tackled the hardware aspect of upgrading my Les Paul, I moved on to the electronics. Although the tone of a guitar is a sum of its parts (body wood, hardware, construction quality, etc.), some argue that the most defining aspect of a guitar's sound are the electronics. To a large extent, this belief is true. Everything from the quality of the potentiometers to the value of capacitors can significantly alter how a guitar sounds when plugged in. And unsurprisingly, the electronics used on modern guitars usually aren't exactly the same as the ones used on cherished vintage guitars.

Because I wanted to make my Les Paul sound as "vintage" as possible, I tried to use electronic parts similar to the ones used in the prized 'bursts built between 1958-1960. Granted, I could have gone to eBay to buy thousands of dollars worth of old PAFs, pots, wire, and capacitors and been done. With that much money though, I could have just gotten a Murphy-aged R9. Instead, I sought the most vintage sounding parts for the most reasonable prices. If you've been on any guitar enthusiast forums, you've probably heard a lot about RS Guitarwork's popular vintage electronic replacement kit (see picture on right), which some consider a mandatory upgrade for any Les Paul. I opted to go with an "RS Vintage Pre-Wired" kit. As its name suggests, this kit supposedly makes your guitar sound more like a vintage one. To accomplish this task, the kit includes several high quality parts, including RS's acclaimed "Superpots." These "Superpots, designed by RS in conjunction with CTS, offer much tighter tolerances and better tapers than the average pot manufactured today. As a result, they yield more clarity and harmonic complexity. Furthermore, the kit includes two Jensen paper-in-oil capacitors for both the bridge and neck tone controls (.022mFd and .015mFd, respectively). Unlike the mylar capacitors predominately used today, these capacitors are made very similarly to the sought-after Sprague Bumblebee caps used in 1958-1960 Les Pauls. Combined with the Superpots, these capacitors allow you to turn your volume knob almost all the way down without loosing clarity and definition. And finally, the kit contains vintage cloth wire and two CTS Audio taper pots for the tone controls.

The kit came nicely wired and ready for installation. However, after the kit came, I noticed a pair of original 1957 Sprague Bumbleebees on eBay that hadn't drifted much from their original value of .022mfd. See, these paper-in-oil caps sometimes "leak" and drift away from their intended values after many years. These caps, however had stayed relatively true to their values, as evidenced by the multimeter reading in the left picture. I clicked the "But It Now" button for $120. Pricey? Yes, but these capacitors play a huge part in getting that "vintage tone" (some even think that they are the most critical component) moreson than the other vintage Les Paul parts out there that often fetch much more money.

When I took off the electronics cover of the guitar, I discovered that it came with a pre-installed metal plate to which all the components were attached. Also, it was rather messy, and trying to assemble the RS kit on it would have been a pain. So I simply removed the plate and installed the new pots to the bare wood, just like in the old Les Pauls. Then I wired up everything according to vintage specifications. Take a look at the two pictures below. The top picture shows the wiring in an actual 1959 'burst. The bottom shows my wiring. Pretty similar, aren't they?

Original 1959 Les Paul Wiring:

My 2002 Les Paul Standard Wiring (Modified)

I don't want to sound like a sensationalist yet again, but the difference upon plugging in my Splawn Quick Rod was profound, to say the lest. The new electronics yield a clearer, richer tone. And the best benefit is that I can now actually use my volume control without muddying up my sound. Of course, I left the Burstbucker Pro pickups installed, as they sound great to my ears. However, that doesn't leave out the possibility of a pickup change in the future. For now though, the guitar sounds great!

Stay tuned for part three of this segment. It'll pertain to the various aesthetic changes I made to the guitar.