tacomadriver7 Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 A week ago I picked up a 2006 R8. It is my first and only experience with the Historic Reissue guitars. After playing it for a couple of day I got my head out of the clouds long enough to realize the tone controls basically do nothing between 4-10. From 1-3 there's some useable tones and 0 not so much. Searching a number of Gibson forums I discovered I'm not the only one experiencing this phenomenon. One poster mentioned his '06 had linear pots rather than audio taper and the bumblebee capacitor was questioned also. To those of you who have changed your electronics and got positive results what have you done and where did you get the components from? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Plains Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 I wouldn't call it a phenomenon - it's normal - and whoever had that guitar before you had obviously removed the pots at one point. (I think) 2003 was the first year they started using CTS pots / fake Bumblebees in all the historics. 2003 - 2008 had linear taper pots. 2009 - present has audio taper. I've replaced the pots/caps on several guitars and have always bought from RS Guitar. There are also good vendors at the My Les Paul forum who sell upgrades. RS also has a few sales each year (usually around big US holidays) up to 20% off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tacomadriver7 Posted March 14, 2012 Author Share Posted March 14, 2012 Thanks R9. I ordered the Premium Vintage kit from RS. Someone had definitely done some rewiring work inside this guitar. When they re-soldered one of the lugs was hooked up backwards, at least it's different than any drawings and schematics I've come across. The previous owner had the guitar refinished as a Goldtop by RS Guitarworks. Perhaps the electronics were removed to get the work done. Anyway I'm looking forward to having the controls more to my liking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toner Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 Just watch out that you don't get solder into the hole in the pots cover when you solder the braid on the back. The hole is the stop for the pots wiper. And if solder flows inside, you will loose some of the rotation at either end. I tried a bunch of capacitors on my '98 R7 using clip leads. Selecting from a box full of old pulls from equipment I've keep over the years. Most of them seemed to do just what all the rest did. But then I clipped on a cap that was just like magic. I noticed a difference that is hard to describe. What/why made my R7 sing like it was a real '57 Les Paul, I couldn't tell you. But all I know is that I could go through dozens of other caps and none of them would do the same thing. I know the tech community all say "a cap is a cap", but this is a real difference in tone, they just have no way of explaining yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tacomadriver7 Posted April 1, 2012 Author Share Posted April 1, 2012 Thanks for the reply Toner.I farm out most of solder work. Not enough experience to do precision work. I keep thinking I should take the time to get the experience. So far the guys I have doing the work have been very good at what they do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
54s Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 Good call on RS. Totally opened up the tone on my R8. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tacomadriver7 Posted May 18, 2012 Author Share Posted May 18, 2012 No complaints with the RS electronics at all. The difference before and after is truly night and day. The oem controls had a very limited range and effect. The new controls all function from 0-10. Unfortunately if have very little memory for aural sound quality but both my LP's have been modified with RS electronics and sound great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.