Jimmy Page Wiring

[Rick Gentry]

Howdy,

I am new here, and look forward to the experience.

Has anyone ever re-wired a Les Paul JP style? There are a handful of circuits available online, and some of them look okay. I know that I need long stem DPDT pots and treble bleed circuits, but I am wondering how easy it was for you.

Rick G.

[Penql]

Hiya Rick, if I was you I'd be carefully reading this:

http://www.torresengineering.com/noname7.html

if I wasn't you, I would still be reading it even though i have done a fair bit of wiring, since Torres puts together a real good kit.

Cheers!

[Rick Gentry]

Thanks Pengl.

I have checked out the Torres site, and since I have always been a do it yourselfer, I thought there couldn't be a better way to put my money where my mouth is and do this. Stew Mac has all the parts too, but their kit doesn't include all the push/ pull pots, if I remember right.

My pal Steve did his recently on his 70's LP Custom and loves it.

[Rob Mercure]

OK, I don't know diddly squat about Torres pickup wiring but within the amplifier build/mod/repair community he's considered a "loose cannon" who sells fairly modest kits for high prices and claims that he originated many modification designs that were either created by other modifiers or were based on well known tube designs that can be found in the "Radio Designers Handbook V. 4" (RDH4) circa 1952 (older than I am) and other sources. For over ten years I've been a participant in a primarily tube musical instrument amplifier forum - originally called "Ampage" and now the "Music Electronics Forum" - where Torres name is essentially "mud." But many amplifier modifiers/builders go through a "Torres period" when starting as he was one of the first to publish his "secrets" (whether they were "his" or not). The Ampage archives are searchable if you want to check on him - and the current manifestation, MEF, has a pickup builders sub-forum where you can get all your pickup questions answered by professional and "wanna be" builders. At least I've learned much more about pickups than I ever knew from the field repair side. Also one of the other Ampage/MEF long term contributers Steve Ahola hosts the "Blue Guitar" website where he has lots of information about various wiring combinations (such as a Strat scheme that has about 20 tonal varieties that I kidded him about several years ago).

So before I'd lay any change in Torres pocket I'd check out Steve's site and maybe MEF for, probably, more accurate and definitely free information.

Rob

[Rick Gentry]

Yah, I feel ya. There are a ton of other indy wiring sites. I like 1728.com. They have more than I'll ever need to know.

[Penql]

Heh, I dunno diddly squat about amp wiring :) I've had a couple of parts in a bag varitone kits from Torres, good parts, fair price.

[Rob Mercure]

Did you price the parts against an electonics wholesaler such as Mouser or Digikey?

[Penql]

Yes, in fact I did. Would have been more expensive that way due to shipping from 2 vendors at least, what's more, it would not have included a schematic specific to the parts - and more relevant to this thread is the fact that the JP wiring kit I was referring to above is largely pre-soldered, which is not insignificant if you're new to wiring. But sure, there's more than one way to skin a cat, I just wanted to welcome Rick to the forum. I'll commit seppuku later, if that's ok with you :P

[Rick Gentry]

I am kind of new to the wiring thing, but having been self-taught at almost everything, I know I can figure it out.

It seems like ordering from those huge outfits is more trouble than its worth. StewMac has the exact parts available, and that will be fine. I don't think I would not want a pre wired kit.

Thanks for the welcome. I have been playing since I was ten, and making cabinets and woodworking professionally for eleven years. It finally seemed the right time to quit buying guitars and start making the ones I want.

I recently acquired a gold tuneomatic bridge for a 12 string, and have two very exotic body blanks that haven't decided what they want to be.

Anybody here read David Pye?

[Rob Mercure]

Do you think we can use the entrails to predict the stock market? Please let us know - perhaps post a pic so that we can use our own expertise in divination .

Got your point but since some of us have many of these parts in stock and have picked them up on sales, etc., the prices to me still seem overblown - but, again, I've been a e-tech of some capacity or another for over 30 years so I could cobble up a couple of dozen amps from just my "junk" pile ('happiness is a extensive junk pile" - now if I could only remember where anything is ).

Mainly my complaint isn't the kit costs but instead his claiming invention of things that are clearly traceable to others or long in the public domain. Actual claims of theft of ideas have circulated which I can't substantiate but feel that the offended parties are more credible. Torres attempted to address his critics on the forum sometime during the late 1990s and it was obvious to any experienced/trained technician that he spewed babble to misdirect and confuse - while these may be long corrected as best I know others posted quotes from some of his materials where he had made major technical errors. I used to own a couple or three of his tomes but found that there was nothing in them for me to learn and passed them on to others with strong caveats about the quality of information.

All "amp gurus" seem to suffer for over-ego but perhaps this is necessary for a successful marketer (something that I admit I'm not - too honest for my own good). But if you can get past this I recommend Kevin O'Connor's series of books - "Tones of Tone, and the Ultimate Tone" and such (not specifically recommending these as I can't remember which one was the first in the series - for the beginner I'd start with the first one) I believe his business "London Power" in Canada has a website that describes these and they used to be/probably still are available from
Antique Electronics Supply but these are bit more pricey than Torres were/are(?) (might be able to find them cheaper on "e-beast" and such). Not that KOC hasn't made an error or two and some of his terminology is a bit non-standard to older USA techs but he has the knowledge and background and seems to be truly innovative while giving credit to others who's designs he copies/modifies.

Don't forget the pics

Rob

[Rick Gentry]

I used to have a huge and ever over-growing junk pile, and decided about five years ago that it wasn't worth sacrificing the space in my shop. As many of you know, it is difficult if not impossible to toss away even the smallest scrap of whatever flavor of tree from where ever in the world, and when you add that bucket to the toolboxes full of drawer slides and knobs and hinges, and the rack of leftover faceframe sticks, and the stack of plywood odd cuts taking up almost a whole wall, a guy could almost create a spray booth. Even in a 1200 sf shop, it is nice to see the walls and the floor once in a while.

I was hoping that this little adventure might be more controlled and the scraps kept to a minimum. There is a serenity that happens when one walks into a clean, balanced shop, where the flow from pencil on paper to polyurethane on product, is an obvious and intentional process.

Thanks for your experienced advice.

[Russell Vance]

Hi Rick,
go to www.seymourduncan.com select 'support' and then select 'wiring diagrams' - then select 'humbuckers' and 'jimmy page style" and there you have a circuit that works.

I have done a few of these (a few too many) - the build takes a couple of hours and I suggest you make up a board with the pot holes drilled in it to so you can mount the pots and do all the wiring point to point in a tidy fashion (taking out the pots for some of the finer stuff with the push pulls). Be methodical and meticulous as one wire wrong and this system will drain your life away tracking it! Some skill with a soldering iron is helpful and I would not attempt this circuit if you have not worked on guitar electrics or similar circuits. Not to say it can't be done but if it goes wrong the parts cost a bit and if you need to pay someone like me to fix it I will charge an hourly rate! Good luck - be slow and careful. Rusty.

[Len Biglin]

Hey Rusty do you use push/push pots or pull - up type? I have had a few p/p pots that decide to stay up ! Len