Coil Tapping a Traditional?

[mpk1338]

Evening everyone,

 

I've run a search and did not find what I needed, so I registered. Please bear with me if I'm asking a question that has been answered 100 times.

 

I just purchased a 2009 LP Traditional. My first Gibson, this guitar is pretty much everything I could have ever wanted. Great action, sound, look, and I can actually stand with this thing strung across my shoulders for two hours (go figure!). However, I want to have a bit of modification done so I can try to capture the essence of my double-cut LP with P90s - hence the coil tapping.

 

Now, I'm very mechanically minded and do not understand electronics whatsoever. The tech at the local dealer told me that I need to have 5 wires in order to tap the humbuckers, not the braided wires.

 

Question: Do the factory Gibson Les Paul Traditional Plus guitars come with the "5-wire" pickups that would be immediately ready for a push/pull potentiometer?

 

Oh, and here's a slightly blurry cell phone picture. I'll try to pull the cavity cover off again tonight and snap a shot - but to me it looked like a jumbled mess. Excuse the quality:

 

 

Thanks and cheers.

[bubba_leon]

The short answer is no. The traditional has 57 classics with vintage braided leads. However just to be sure remove you control plate and look inside. The pickup leads are soldered to the volume pots

 

On a side note you wont really achieve a p90 tone from coil splitting. P90's have over 10,000 turns of wire in their coils. Half a humbucker won't do it.

[tbonesullivan]

split humbuckers are usually somewhat underwhelming, IMHO. They can't stand up to a true single coil, unless they are specially designed like the P-rails or Stag Mag humbuckers from seymour duncan. But, they are still a compromise and you don't get the same true humbucker tone from the pickups when you have both coils engaged.

[mpk1338]

bubba_leon - I'm fully aware I'll never get the same sound unless I put P90s in there, but I wanted to have the option to get a different tone. However, if you're correct this point would be null anyways!

 

tbonesullivan - It's all just a personal preference. For something that doesn't cosmetically alter the instrument and is bypassed in the set position, what's the harm? If I don't like it, well, there's $45 down the tube. No big deal.

[FennRx]

buy the traditional pro

[bubba_leon]

You could sell the 57 classics and, choose from a vast source of boutique pickups that have 4 conductor leads.

[tbonesullivan]

You could sell the 57 classics and' date=' choose from a vast source of boutique pickups that have 4 conductor leads.[/quote'] that's true, or you could have them rewired for a 4 conductor wire.

 

One thing to keep in mind: I have a carvin CT6M, and carvin makes it so that the north coil of one pickup and the south coil of the second pickup are the tapped pickups, so that you get a hum cancelling middle position tapped. It's somewhat telecaster-like. make sure they wire it that way.

 

Of course Carvin as a company has always been big on coil taps and phase switches, something that it seems only recently has become somewhat "mainstream".

[mpk1338]

FennRx - I waited 90+ days for this to arrive, and from what I can tell the Pro doesn't have a "plus" top. Though it isn't the most premium figuring, I still dig.

 

bubba, tbone - I was looking for as little work as possible, so rewiring would be undesirable. Also, I love the sound of these pickups where they sit right now. I'm not saying I wouldn't get kicks from a different set, but I don't want to "risk" that, I suppose. I planned on having a separate 500K push/pull for each pickup, so if it's possible I would request they wire it so it taps to those specific coils.

 

Here's the cavity:

 

[bubba_leon]

Yup vintage braided, ya gotta rewire them like tbone said or replace them.

[mpk1338]

Well that's disappointing, to say the least. I do have a 490R and T in the homemade LP I made from scratch...

 

[FennRx]

just get a set of boutiques or SD 59s. they will likely be better than the gibson pickups, too.

[tbonesullivan]

eh.. the 57 classic pickups are NICE... though so are the SD 59's. All depends on your tastes. I have SD 59's in my... guitar that looks like a Les paul but isn't. I have 57 classics in the SG supreme.

[FennRx]

the 57s are nice (i prefer the BB1/2 myself). maybe not the SDs, but there are a lot of excellent PAF clones out there. the PAF du jour over at the LPF is the Throbak. i would love to get a set, but no pickup is worth $500 to me...at least right now

[mpk1338]

Seeing how I just dropped a pretty penny on this beauty, I didn't want to pay for much more than the potentiometers and installation... Looks like I'll just have to wait and switch off between songs! No worries, as you all said: I may not have even dug the sound that came from it. Better to just stick with the Ep and the P90s for now.

 

As a side note: I'll endorse the Traditional up and down to no end. I've seen a lot of negative comments towards this guitar all over the net. As an actual owner and user, though, I can say that the heavy body, tremendously hefty neck (big hands), and great pickup selection (sans the absence of the 5 wire!) lead to an overall great guitar. The quality is superb, too. No ripple or orange peel in the finish. Maybe it's because it was a special order by the dealer to the factory, or maybe it's because she's my first Gibson, but man is this a good guitar.

[FennRx]

negative comments about the traditional? hmmm...seems they have really good reputations here and on MLP. several Historic guys over at MLP have bought Traditionals within the last year. I almost bought one myself, from GC no less. based on my (limited) experience, the Traditional is the best LP the USA line is putting out right now.

[Xinnix]

Maybe it's because it was a special order by the dealer to the factory' date=' or maybe it's because she's my first Gibson, but man is this a good guitar.[/quote']

 

 

Sounds like love to me.....:- GET A ROOM!

[retrosurfer1959]

Congrats the traditional is a fun guitar, not to confuse the issue any but look for a Traditional Pro it comes with the coil taps already installed and the 60's neck at least then you would know what the sound and feel would be like and you can decide if coil tapping sounds the way you wanted it to sound.

 

I have the traditional Pro and I really like the coil taps on it, I liked it enough in fact that I replaced the pickups and coil tapped one of my R8's also it really is fun and adds some tonal options.