Mystic38 Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 So, After 30 years of waiting my Les Paul finally arrived and its a beauty.. I plugged it into my Blues Jr and i get a variety of hum artifacts that lead me to believe it is not wired correctly, so in the first instance i am looking for someone with a 2012 to verify the wiring of the PUP connectors and the pup switch. When viewing with PCB text correctly aligned, the two pups on my LP have different wiring namely (from left to right)... A. Black PU wire (neck) 1. white 2. Green 3. Red 4. Black 5. Ground B. Gray PU wire (Bridge) 1. Red 2. Black 3. White 4. Green 5. Ground 3-Way Switch (top to bottom) 1. Black 2. Green 3. Red 4. White 5. Ground So, if someone can verify this is right or wrong I can then move on to the next idea!... thanks, and Hi all (1st post) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Farnsbarns Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 So, After 30 years of waiting my Les Paul finally arrived and its a beauty.. I plugged it into my Blues Jr and i get a variety of hum artifacts that lead me to believe it is not wired correctly, so in the first instance i am looking for someone with a 2012 to verify the wiring of the PUP connectors and the pup switch. When viewing with PCB text correctly aligned, the two pups on my LP have different wiring namely (from left to right)... A. Black PU wire (neck) 1. white 2. Green 3. Red 4. Black 5. Ground B. Gray PU wire (Bridge) 1. Red 2. Black 3. White 4. Green 5. Ground 3-Way Switch (top to bottom) 1. Black 2. Green 3. Red 4. White 5. Ground So, if someone can verify this is right or wrong I can then move on to the next idea!... thanks, and Hi all (1st post) Unlikely it's wired wrong. Is there nothing but noise or does the guitar play. If it clearly has a fault, return it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pin Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 Is it a ground loop hum? This thread may prove useful just as a way of eliminating possibles: http://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=6525.0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mystic38 Posted January 7, 2013 Author Share Posted January 7, 2013 @farnsbarns .. Returning this guitar would be like divorcing Angelina Jolie because she didnt drink red wine....:).. its not an option, if it was, i would not have bothered to post. Personally, I dont have blind faith in anything hand made, and knowing that there is significantly more hum from this LP than my strat I would say there is a problem...hence my request for solid data from another 2012 owner... @pin.. thanks for the constructive thought, but there is no ground loop here.. LP>amp>grounded power outlet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Farnsbarns Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 @farnsbarns .. Returning this guitar would be like divorcing Angelina Jolie because she didnt drink red wine....:).. its not an option, if it was, i would not have bothered to post. Personally, I dont have blind faith in anything hand made, and knowing that there is significantly more hum from this LP than my strat I would say there is a problem...hence my request for solid data from another 2012 owner... @pin.. thanks for the constructive thought, but there is no ground loop here.. LP>amp>grounded power outlet. Don't forget that the pups are also much hotter than your those in your strat, also, if it has "connectors" I guess it's a USA model, this is not hand made, there is some fairly minimal hand finishing, I doubt the pickip connectors are wired by hand. The point is, if the pickup connections were wrong you would get nothing. Does the hum get quieter when you touch the strings or bridge/tail? Is it different on each pup? Does changing the amp, or facing away from it change it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjmwrx Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 I would just remove the Quick Connect. I personally don't care for a PCB in an analog instrument. Call it old school if you like. If there is a flaw in the PCB, it could be very difficult to identify without the correct tools. Yes, Gibson claims it will void your warranty, but, really, if you develop a finish issue, they cannot void your warranty under federal law because you changed the wiring as that has no impact on the finish of the guitar. Mine was silent after removing the Quick Connect, except when the taps were activated, which is expected. You will need: 2 - Long Shaft 300K or 500K linear Audio pots 2 - Long Shaft 500K Alpha push pulls 2 - .022 caps. Good ones I recommend Orange Drops. D'Marzio's website has excellent diagrams for wiring Les Pauls with just about any configuration you could thing of. My local GC (Peoria) stocks all of these parts. You will also need some 24-28AWG shielded wiring, RadioShack. Your wiring will look like this (this is from my 2008 STD that had Quick Connect) Yours will be a little different than mine as my neck pup is a single conductor that I added a tap wire to. Yours likely has 4 wire conductors stock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abracadaben Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 its unlikely that they are wired wrong. Ill check on mine but if I remember well I think this is the right order. the bridge and neck are wired differently. I recently replaced my BBpros on my 2012 with some Jimmy Page SD. I still didn't finish the wiring. Even though I followed the color match and soldered the SD to the Gibson quick connects (which I had cut from the bbpros) it seems that they are out of phase... so I need to switch two wires (I think on the neck).... Im saying the neck because in single humb position I hear that the neck is affected when I pull the out of phase knob when the bridge isn't. Normally that should not affect a single Humb... anyway, I wish this had traditional wiring. much easier to work with. I think I will eventually change the whole harness once my quick connects run out of slack LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 Yes, Gibson claims it will void your warranty, but, really, if you develop a finish issue, they cannot void your warranty under federal law because you changed the wiring as that has no impact on the finish of the guitar. Gibson does not in any way warrant the finish, so "federal law" doesn't apply. rct Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjmwrx Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 ...and what federal law would that be? A citation would be nice. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnuson%E2%80%93Moss_Warranty_Act Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjmwrx Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 Gibson does not in any way warrant the finish, so "federal law" doesn't apply. rct Was just an example rct, but thanks again for pointing out the obvious. You are always good for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 Was just an example rct, but thanks again for pointing out the obvious. You are always good for that. Well thanks there chief. I'd like to think that pointing out to people that don't know how guitars are warranted that you, anybody, not the You you, are giving them "federal law" bad information about exactly that which is not warranted is of some value. rct Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjmwrx Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 Limited warranties are not exempt from Magnuson–Moss. Would like to know where you deduced that from. What Magnuson–Mossn simply states is, if your fretboard lifts from the neck due to manufacturing defect, Gibson then cannot take the opportunity to void your warranty, and not fix the fault, because you changed the wiring as that has no impact on the fretboard separating from the neck. My car is covered the same way. It has a "Limited" warranty. If my radio fails, Mercedes cannot refuse to replace the radio, and void my warranty because I installed an aftermarket exhaust on my car. Now, if I installed aftermarket electronics in the car, that is a different story. All a limited warranty means is it does not meet minimum limits to be considered a Full Warranty. However, you are still absolutely provided with recourse in the event the manufacturer does not meet the wording outlined in their warranty. This is SPECIFICALLY why this act was passed. Gibson's Warranty is limited because: You cannot transfer the warranty to subsequent owners You have to pay to ship your guitar to Nashville (or wherever else they decide to perform the repairs) You have to prove to Gibson that the guitar needs warranty work. In most cases this requires the customer to take it to a Service Center. If Gibson had provided all of those things to the original owner, without any expense to the owner, it would be a "Full Warranty" under federal law. They do not. So it is considered a "Limited Warranty". Thank You Back on Topic All of this being said, the OP has a 2012 Les Paul under warranty. He should contact Gibson to have a service center evaluate the guitar and determine if it needs repair. IF he does not want to do this, he can change the wiring, and likely will resolve his issue. The terminations on the ends of quick connects (the plugs on the end) are put on by human beings. The PCB is installed by human beings. The plugs are plugged in by human beings. The only part of a Quick Connect that is machine made/assembled is the PCB. A human still puts the PCB in the guitar, and plugs all of the connections in. A Human also winds the pickups on an automated winder. That also being said, you could have a termination in one of the plugs that is not crimped completely. A cold solder joint is not likely as the PCB is likely wave soldered. One of the pots however could still be bad. I wouldn't doubt that a wire could be out of order. I had a PRS Cu24 that's wiring was incorrect from the factory (or someone else changed it and didn't know what they were doing). However, the guitar was new. I would just warranty it, no matter what it is, it can be resolved. Exchange is out cause you love the guitar so... Attached is the insert from the BurstBucker 3 I just bought. This is the same for all Gibson Pickups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 Limited warranties are not exempt from Magnuson–Moss. Would like to know where you deduced that from. What Magnuson–Mossn simply states is, if your fretboard lifts from the neck due to manufacturing defect, Gibson then cannot take the opportunity to void your warranty, and not fix the fault, because you changed the wiring as that has no impact on the fretboard separating from the neck. My car is covered the same way. It has a "Limited" warranty. If my radio fails, Mercedes cannot refuse to replace the radio, and void my warranty because I installed an aftermarket exhaust on my car. Now, if I installed aftermarket electronics in the car, that is a different story. All a limited warranty means is it does not meet minimum limits to be considered a Full Warranty. However, you are still absolutely provided with recourse in the event the manufacturer does not meet the wording outlined in their warranty. This is SPECIFICALLY why this act was passed. Gibson's Warranty is limited because: You cannot transfer the warranty to subsequent owners You have to pay to ship your guitar to Nashville (or wherever else they decide to perform the repairs) You have to prove to Gibson that the guitar needs warranty work. In most cases this requires the customer to take it to a Service Center. If Gibson had provided all of those things to the original owner, without any expense to the owner, it would be a "Full Warranty" under federal law. They do not. So it is considered a "Limited Warranty". Thank You Back on Topic All of this being said, the OP has a 2012 Les Paul under warranty. He should contact Gibson to have a service center evaluate the guitar and determine if it needs repair. IF he does not want to do this, he can change the wiring, and likely will resolve his issue. The terminations on the ends of quick connects (the plugs on the end) are put on by human beings. The PCB is installed by human beings. The plugs are plugged in by human beings. The only part of a Quick Connect that is machine made/assembled is the PCB. A human still puts the PCB in the guitar, and plugs all of the connections in. A Human also winds the pickups on an automated winder. That also being said, you could have a termination in one of the plugs that is not crimped completely. A cold solder joint is not likely as the PCB is likely wave soldered. One of the pots however could still be bad. I wouldn't doubt that a wire could be out of order. I had a PRS Cu24 that's wiring was incorrect from the factory (or someone else changed it and didn't know what they were doing). However, the guitar was new. I would just warranty it, no matter what it is, it can be resolved. Exchange is out cause you love the guitar so... Attached is the insert from the BurstBucker 3 I just bought. This is the same for all Gibson Pickups. Well said, very well said, in particular to a person that probably doesn't know as much about guitars as you do. I agree with you too, the op should have the guitar evaluated by an authorized Gibson guy, followed by redoing the wiring himself if still not satisfied. But be warned original poster dude, it's tough to deal with something as vague, nebulous, and difficult to define as pickup noise, your path is not an easy one. rct Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abracadaben Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 Well said, very well said, in particular to a person that probably doesn't know as much about guitars as you do. I agree with you too, the op should have the guitar evaluated by an authorized Gibson guy, followed by redoing the wiring himself if still not satisfied. But be warned original poster dude, it's tough to deal with something as vague, nebulous, and difficult to define as pickup noise, your path is not an easy one. rct ok I might step away a little from the OP question but Gibson warranty is overrated. Honestly, PUPs isn't something you can't fix yourself unless the PUP is dead dead dead... which is super rare and not this case obviously. you'll find all the info you need if you can't have it fixed by somebody else ($50?). and plenty people like on this thread are ready to help!! AWESOME you can learn. you'll probably change your pups soon anyway... more generally, a les paul is like a Porsche.. if you have the $ to buy it, either you step up learning a lot on how to set it up your self or you plan to have the $ to have it done for you. Unfortunately they don't come without defects. well guess what a Porsche doesn't either (water pump breaks right after warranty, cooling liquid tank cracks because they use crap material, costs $800 to replace, oil separator usually breaks around before or after warranty expires.... and maintenance light turns on quite often... LOL Luckily a guitar is a lot simpler to maintain and there are really very very few things that a good Luthier could not fix. Even a twisted neck you can fix yourself... with learning and patience. My own experience: 1) I purchased my first LP at GC with the pro warranty (mistake). I exchanged 3 times until I found the right LP. 2) I take my LP for a setup at GC, 2nd mistake (I never had done a setup before) 3) I look at the guy, Im like WTF? I grab the guitar back, buy the tools, do my own setup. takes me a good bucket of hours learning and tuning but I got it done 20 times better than that guy did... 4) Cancelled my pro warranty at GC and saved $300 :D 5) Replaced my PUPs and had tones of fun doing it myself 6) got a 2nd Les Paul, bought online, used from a good guy and its a bomb. no warranty on it but who cares? LP last a life time. expensive work on it is rare unless you really don't take care of it. Even that. Ive see a guy dropping a 1993 LP standard at my local Luthier for setup, man this thing looked like it had been through war. the headstock had been broken and fixed, the top all scratched, the neck had half the paint off, fretboard was super derty, not even talking about the rest. But that thing still had a MOJO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badbluesplayer Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 So, After 30 years of waiting my Les Paul finally arrived and its a beauty.. I plugged it into my Blues Jr and i get a variety of hum artifacts that lead me to believe it is not wired correctly, so in the first instance i am looking for someone with a 2012 to verify the wiring of the PUP connectors and the pup switch. When viewing with PCB text correctly aligned, the two pups on my LP have different wiring namely (from left to right)... A. Black PU wire (neck) 1. white 2. Green 3. Red 4. Black 5. Ground B. Gray PU wire (Bridge) 1. Red 2. Black 3. White 4. Green 5. Ground 3-Way Switch (top to bottom) 1. Black 2. Green 3. Red 4. White 5. Ground So, if someone can verify this is right or wrong I can then move on to the next idea!... thanks, and Hi all (1st post) I just checked mine and the wiring is correct on your quick connectors. Check the ground wire connection. I think it has a pinch connector. It is likely that there is not a problems with your guitar. The noise comes from interference, not from the guitar. Some guitars are better at masking the interference than others. If the noise changes when you move the guitar around, then it's definitely being caused by interference. You'll need to clean up the electricity around your house as best you can. Flourescent lights, dimmers, motors, TV's and three phase power can be culprits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mystic38 Posted January 8, 2013 Author Share Posted January 8, 2013 Thanks very much for this data.. as an (ex) electronics engineer having two transducer connectors wired up different leapt out at me.. it makes no engineering sense but it seems it is what it is..lol. My house is ancient and certainly has its share of electrical foibles, but my study is pretty clean and so was really suprised that the LP was more "hummy" than the strat in #2 & #4 positions... it may benefit from the control cavity being shielded at some point.. I just checked mine and the wiring is correct on your quick connectors. Check the ground wire connection. I think it has a pinch connector. It is likely that there is not a problems with your guitar. The noise comes from interference, not from the guitar. Some guitars are better at masking the interference than others. If the noise changes when you move the guitar around, then it's definitely being caused by interference. You'll need to clean up the electricity around your house as best you can. Flourescent lights, dimmers, motors, TV's and three phase power can be culprits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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