GDC Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 I've searched around as best I can and still don't understand the function of the control knob pop-up feature on the Les Paul Standard. Pretty much just an acoustic guy here and appreciate any help y'all can give. The Gibson website says: "The independent volume pot for each pickup has push-pull switching to independently split the coils for single-coil tones, with hum-cancelling performance in the middle position thanks to a reverse-wound/reverse-polarity bridge pickup. Pop up the neck pickup’s tone control for reverse-phase tones, or lift the bridge pickup’s tone knob to tap Gibson’s new Pure Bypass setting, which routes that pickup straight through to the output jack, bypassing the volume and tone controls for a hotter, clearer sound, making it a great “instant lead” preset." What does that mean? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeppeholic Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 What part are you confused about? coil taps, pure bypass, or phase changing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GDC Posted August 31, 2013 Author Share Posted August 31, 2013 All three. I sort o undersatnd coil tapping - makes the HB like a single coil - the other two I don't understand at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 All three. I sort o undersatnd coil tapping - makes the HB like a single coil - the other two I don't understand at all. Pure Bypass of the bridge PU says that its signal is only affected by the humbucker/single coil selection via its volume push/pull switch and directly routed to the output jack. All the other controls, i. e. the four pots and toggle switch,are bypassed and no longer active. This is close to setting the bridge PU's pots fully clockwise and the toggle switch to the Treble position, but with an enhanced resonance since both the bridge volume and bridge tone controls' loads are bypassed by pulling the bridge tone control switch, too. Out Of Phase or correct out of polarity, switched by pulling the neck PU's tone control switch, means that if neck pickup and bridge pickup are selected both and volume control are set to equal positions, the PUs work "against" each other. So the fundamentals are cancelling out, and the overtone structure is reverted, i. e. those overtones usually cancelling out are emphasized and vice versa. This will produce the so-called can sound which often is referred as Peter Green sound, too, due to one casually reverted magnet in his Les Paul later owned by Gary Moore and now by a collector, and also to the vintage Fender Telecaster sound since their stock wiring a long time was this way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GibSinCity Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 All three. I sort o undersatnd coil tapping - makes the HB like a single coil - the other two I don't understand at all. Actually, Coil Splitting is single coil. Coil Tapping is something else. "When a coil tap is connected to one end of the coil (or the end disconnected and reconnected to the tap), the section of coil between the tap and its connected end is bypassed - effectively reducing the number of turns in the coil." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coil_tap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Farnsbarns Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 GibSinCity is quite right. Coil tapping and coil splitting are two completely different things. Splitting is what were talking about here and simply means that only one coil from the humbucker is in the circuit. Pure bypass on a guitar connects the pickup directly to the out put. What you need to know to understand this is that the volume pot is really just a resister between the pickup and ground, so even at 10 some of the signal is allowed to leak to ground. When you activate the bypass all of the signal goes to the output. Because of the way the thing is wired, you get a lot more mid and treble when the volume and tone pots are bypassed. Out of phase simply means the pickups are wired in a way that means they oppose each other, this gives a kind of raunchy harmonica sound. Where the description says it has "noise cancelling" in the middle position. This is with reference to the single coil sound, when the middle position is used in coil split mode one coil from each pickup is used but wired like a single humbucker to cancel noise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GDC Posted August 31, 2013 Author Share Posted August 31, 2013 Thanks, guys. I appreciate the exvcellent explanations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bongoscot Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 I dont have anything to add, but I really love the out of phase switch on mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 I've searched around as best I can and still don't understand the function of the control knob pop-up feature on the Les Paul Standard. Pretty much just an acoustic guy here and appreciate any help y'all can give. The Gibson website says: "The independent volume pot for each pickup has push-pull switching to independently split the coils for single-coil tones, with hum-cancelling performance in the middle position thanks to a reverse-wound/reverse-polarity bridge pickup. Pop up the neck pickup’s tone control for reverse-phase tones, or lift the bridge pickup’s tone knob to tap Gibson’s new Pure Bypass setting, which routes that pickup straight through to the output jack, bypassing the volume and tone controls for a hotter, clearer sound, making it a great “instant lead” preset." What does that mean? Thanks Well that's interesting, because I have an older les paul and and installed switches to accomplish these same tasks, and I wish I'd have had such replacement controls available instead when I did this mod! But anyway, the characteristic sound of a Les paul (IMHO) is due to its humbucker pickus, which are actually two pickup coils wired in series with each other. Now if you take one of those coils out of the circuit, you'll have more of a single coil sound, but will also lose a little volume, and of course the lose the hum cancelling capability. So whats the difference? I won't go into any of that because its honestly all subjective. From a pure frequency respons perspective, the humbucking position should give you more middle frequencies, slightly higher volumen overall, and a few less highs than the single coil setting. But really, You'll have to play with it a while and draw your own conclusions. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 I like the additional sound options very much. My Trad 2013 and CS Std F Les Pauls are so to say "pure" ones, and three of my Gibsons and my Epiphone provide coil split option (2011 Std Quilt), frequency-tuned coil split, reverse polarity and bridge bypass options (2012 Std Plus), parallel and (added mod) reverse polarity options (Alex Lifeson Axcess), and parallel option (Epiphone 1960 Tribute Plus). The provided flexibility and versatility became essential and indispensable parts of my musical expression, and I am considering further modifications of these Les Paul guitars and my Fender Telecaster Deluxe Ash. My only limits are that I neither would drill any hole(s) nor change pickups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted September 1, 2013 Share Posted September 1, 2013 My Les Paul has 4 kn0bs, but only one does anything. One volume, straight out, don't stop at the tone pots. Has always worked better for me that way. rct Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GibSinCity Posted September 1, 2013 Share Posted September 1, 2013 My Les Paul has 4 kn0bs, but only one does anything. One volume, straight out, don't stop at the tone pots. Has always worked better for me that way. rct I've heard of a few players that do that. Glenn Tipton of Judas Priest comes to mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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