Finally someone with a good explanation for this all the guitar channels forget to mention this Small details that has been bothering me for so long. Big thumbs up. Thanks
I recently bought a used LP style guitar... I thougth it was wired wrong and decided to browse YT to find out what was the problem. Luckily I found your useful video... Saved my day, buddy. Thanks a bunch.
I’ve own Epiphones and Gibsons for decades never knowing this is how everything worked. Lol. I just plugged it in and adjusted the knobs until my ears liked a sound.
Thank you so much. I have this exact mid position cutout issue, and reported it as a defect to the store I had just bought the guitar from. After some research on Les Paul forums, I came upon your UA-cam video, and it fully answers all my queries and concerns on 50s Les Paul wiring.
I have Gibson Les Paul bass and it is obvioulsy wired exactly the same as this. I was scratching my head wondering what was up. I serched for ages and then thought I will take a chance on this guitar video. Well done brother and thanks again!
Sir!!! I hope you see this. I've just brought a new Gibson es335 and I had the same thing. I was trying to blend and adjusted one and lost all sound. I was actually thinking of taking it somewhere to fix it. Not only have you just saved me some time and embarrassment but I really appreciate this video as it puts my mind at rest! 🙏
How about tone? Will I get 2:1 bias toward the Bridge tone setting if bridge volume is at 8 and nexk at 4? Do all or most other V-V-T-T guitars (such as an SG) work like this or is it LP specific? (I play an S-style now).
I appreciate the video! I did exactly what you were demonstrating turning the knob down. I decided to turn them all down and I tried to turn them back up one at a time, but I couldn't hear anything until I turned them all back up.
Thanks...As an engineer with some human factors background it has always messed me up. Was taught to arrange controls on similar respective position to the things they control... Something to do with the selector switch being up and down when the pickups are aligned 90° off...part of me always wants to think the 2 knobs on the left service the neck pu and the two on the right the bridge pu.
Wow! Okay thank you! I had an Epiphone Les Paul Special II and it only includes 2 knobs which I am used to. But I recently upgraded to a Epiphone Les Paul Custom and it has the 4 knobs and I was trying to figure it out.
Man thanks! I too, like others, though my selector switch was wonky or something was wrong. Now that I know how it ACTUALLY works, I not only feel much better but have something new to play around with.
Just bought a 2020 Les Paul Classic and, when playing around with it, I too thought something was amiss with the pickup selector in the middle position. ent to UA-cam and found this vid, which was super helpful. Thanks!
I have a 2020 Supro David Bowie 1961 Dual Tone which is LP style. I was pulling my hair out over this issue. I took apart the electronics to check wiring; contacted Supro support and the answer was that the guitar was wired correctly. I didn't believe it until I watched your video and understood what is behind volume and tone blending. If only the information was better circulated, knowledge wouldn't depend on finding your video. Thanks!
I was a bass player and my granddaughter just got an LP and I thought it was messed up, literally this afternoon. I helping her learn some songs, and was going to call for warranty repair. Thanks !!
After a phone call to my supplier ive sent it back for repair thinking it was broken but they didnt expalin this to me. Just had an email saying its not broken but theyve sent it back to epiphone because of high frets and a stiff jack plug.
Thanks for the video. I just ran into this yesterday on my 2019 SG and wondered if it was defective. Not that it would've bothered me too much, but it's good to know it's supposed to be like that👍
I wonder why Gibson assume that we all know about this volume control set-up, I couldn't figure out how it worked either, a better information booklet would be a good idea, but still it does sound great.
Hey jw, i have a new 2023 Gibson Les Paul std. 60’s. I loved the Unburst & 60s neck profile, was Not really a fan of stock 61’ Burstbuckers (Alnico 5’s, on multimeter both read approx around 7.5k installed from factory). I recently had a set of Seymour duncan Slash 2.0 Alnico 2 pro’s installed in my 2023 60’s Gibson les paul standard. (Note i like slash but i got pickups due to what tone i liked best that i felt was what i wanted in my LP to sound like & this set seemed to scatch my itch (loud, little but not overally grittier, rich tone on Slash 2.0’s). After Slash 2.0’s were installed they read 8.6ish on neck & and 9.36k on bridge (advertised as 8.8 neck/9.38 bridge, but was told the pots eat some of the resistance so id only get that exact reading by testing pickups by themselves/directly to multimeter..also jw if true)?. But Main thing i’ve noticed…overall like tone much better..but it feels like i can work with Vol knob to about 7 then lower then 5 is very very quiet , and same with neck knob pot), the sweep seems to be less then my SG & i think i would have noticed if the 61 BB’s had such a lack of sweep. Would higher outpout of different humbuckers effect vol/tone knobs?? I know i have 50 style wiring and i saw him peel back a braided wire and solder it to like top corner of each Vol Cap , let it dry and was basicslly done (aside from small reset up). Does all that sound nomal or should i look into any trouble shooting…installion or pots wise( all i know is 50s style with orange drop caps and i believe 500k pots). Thanks would love any input on lack of sweep on knobs since swap most lol
I am not an expert at all of that. The only thing I really know is higher ohm pickups have higher gain. That I don’t really understand since ohms are resistance and it seems like higher would make them quieter, but it’s the opposite for some reason.
Thanks, it helped me to clarify what to expect from a wiring experiment I am going to try: An HSH Strat with a second volume knob just for the middle pickup. I was sure what to expect from positions 1,3 and 5 but I was not sure about 2,4, this was helpful. I just hope it works as expected, if I wire it correctly.
Omg dude I've had this since I bought my guitar over 10 yes ago, and multiple guitar techs in shops have been able to explain why this is beyond looking at me like I'm just another idiot with a LP 😂 thank you!
Thank you! I thought there was a problem with one of the pickups i thought there was only one volume knob so had one volume off and the switch wouldn’t work obviously
My Epiphone Les Paul Ultra III guitar does not have this trait. That is probably because it is wired differently to accommodate its third (nano) pickup. The guitar has a USB audio output and a second 1/4” jack for the nano +/- humbuckers. The upper tone knob activates and tone-controls the nano. It’s different, not better or worse than other Les Pauls. The guitar is convenient for playing directly into a digital sound processors. I do sometimes miss having a tone control for my neck humbucker.
I actually suspected my 3 way switch had gone bad and replaced it!!!! Only to find the same situation with the new switch...lol. Thanks for this video, nothing about this function in the nomenclature.
That explains how you're able to make your own killswitch using the middle position. Use the bridge, turn down the neck to 0, and set it to Treble. Then switch back & forth from middle to treble for the effect.
Many thanks like a lotta guys on here I thought their was something wrong. What about the tone controls in the middle position mine don't appear to work.
Hi thanks for this great video these controls are pretty complicated to understand I have just received my epiphone les paul classic and it has push pull pots, however one of the pots does not pull up, so not a good start !!, I presume all four pots should pull up !! would you know? getting ready to call the company i purchased it from to get the guitar replaced
Like every body else THANK YOU. I wonder how many complaints/returns the geetar shops get on this one. Luckily i have read this on a satdy (Oz time) so no need to complain, which i was going to do next week.
I have the same guitar. So are the pickups two or four wire?. I was planning on switching the neck pickup to a p90, and trying to get out of phase sound out of it. Thanks
OMG...follow me here.. so I get my New Les Paul Standard..the next day I'm checking the serial number and find out it was built on December 24th 2020 - then I think possible build quality as people are distracted on Christmas Eve day..then I start to play and I'm in the middle switch position and see that the whole guitar goes dead when one volume is at 10 on one pick up and the other volume dial is at 0....I think Im screwed I bought a lemon! and it's lemon burst! Thank you Mr. Sweater! the parallel wiring of the volume switches now makes sense!
Thank you for this! A friend gave me his guitar and I was going nuts figuring out the knobs. I notice some crackling sound when I turn the treble knobs (the rear knobs). Any idea why?
The cracking comes from dirty pots (the electronic par of the knob) take off the back plate and spray some of this into the pots amzn.to/30yEFDX and turn the knobs repeatedly until the cracking goes away.
This would have confused the heck out of me if I had one. I recently bought my first bass. Two pickups, three knobs, no instruction manual easily findable. I soon reasoned out that one knob was for one pickup, another knob was for the other, and then a tone knob that affected the overall output. If turning one of the pickup knobs all the way down killed all the output sound, I'd be firmly in "nothing is anything anymore" territory. My head might actually divorce itself from my shoulders.
Thanks! I did wonder why these guitars are wired to kill all volume with only one volume knob is turned off. Seems strange to me, but who am I? haha. Thanks for the explanation, glad my guitar is working correctly!
I'm a big fan of the Pat Metheny sound. You could get something similar by using a clean tone with a mild chorus, neck pickup with the tone knob halfway down.
I have a 2013 Gibson SG that behaves the same way. I was also surprised by this and also thought my guitar was wired incorrectly. I am mentioning this here just to point out that it isn't a model specific phenomenon. I do not know if it is a Gibson specific thing either. Does this occur on any guitar with parallel wired pick ups? Just curious. Thanks for posting this video. I definitely appreciate the information.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Finally someone with a good explanation for this all the guitar channels forget to mention this Small details that has been bothering me for so long. Big thumbs up. Thanks
Thank you! I thought my guitar was wired wrong just like you did. Saved me a lot of time trying to figure out what i was doing wrong!
Yup same thing happened to me haha
Yea, me too... Appreciate the vid so much!
Same here, thank you!
I recently bought a used LP style guitar... I thougth it was wired wrong and decided to browse YT to find out what was the problem. Luckily I found your useful video... Saved my day, buddy. Thanks a bunch.
Finally cleared up the confusion! Was just playing my Les Paul yesterday and was getting lost. Now I get it - THANKS!
I've had my Dot for years and never totally understood what the thing was doing. Many thanks.
I’ve own Epiphones and Gibsons for decades never knowing this is how everything worked. Lol. I just plugged it in and adjusted the knobs until my ears liked a sound.
I just noticed this today, and for the life of me I thought my Gibson was messed up. Thank you for explaining this. 10/10 helpful video.
Thank you so much. I have this exact mid position cutout issue, and reported it as a defect to the store I had just bought the guitar from. After some research on Les Paul forums, I came upon your UA-cam video, and it fully answers all my queries and concerns on 50s Les Paul wiring.
I have Gibson Les Paul bass and it is obvioulsy wired exactly the same as this. I was scratching my head wondering what was up. I serched for ages and then thought I will take a chance on this guitar video. Well done brother and thanks again!
Sir!!! I hope you see this. I've just brought a new Gibson es335 and I had the same thing. I was trying to blend and adjusted one and lost all sound. I was actually thinking of taking it somewhere to fix it. Not only have you just saved me some time and embarrassment but I really appreciate this video as it puts my mind at rest! 🙏
This is exactly the info I was looking for thank you. Shouldn't be so difficult to find anywhere else.
Haha, I know right?
Finally a logical answer to the volume control knobs mystery! Now I can get some usefulness out of these controls. Thank you! Good video.
I guess you provided peace of mind to many confused fellows such as myself. 👌
I thought my new LP was defective but now I get it thanks to your helpful video. Thanks!
Thanks for clearing up my question about the middle setting!! Have a wonderful 2023! 🤟🎶⚡
thank you, you too!
How about tone? Will I get 2:1 bias toward the Bridge tone setting if bridge volume is at 8 and nexk at 4?
Do all or most other V-V-T-T guitars (such as an SG) work like this or is it LP specific? (I play an S-style now).
Thanks for the explanation. I got a ESP LTD EC-256 and got the same behaviour and thought the guitar had problems!
Thanks. I just got an Epiphone standard LP, and I though the same thing! I was ready to return it! Thanks for the lesson
Thanks SO much for this great and easy to understand explanation!
I appreciate the video! I did exactly what you were demonstrating turning the knob down. I decided to turn them all down and I tried to turn them back up one at a time, but I couldn't hear anything until I turned them all back up.
Thanks...As an engineer with some human factors background it has always messed me up. Was taught to arrange controls on similar respective position to the things they control... Something to do with the selector switch being up and down when the pickups are aligned 90° off...part of me always wants to think the 2 knobs on the left service the neck pu and the two on the right the bridge pu.
Me too ! Thanks for clearing this up for me ! A simple but very important video explaining this
Glad it was helpful!
Very helpful video 🙏 Ive just purchased an Epiphone Les Paul custom pro & love it!
Been acoustic for years and just got my first electric… you saved me an embarrassing phone call ha thanks!
Wow! Okay thank you! I had an Epiphone Les Paul Special II and it only includes 2 knobs which I am used to. But I recently upgraded to a Epiphone Les Paul Custom and it has the 4 knobs and I was trying to figure it out.
Man thanks! I too, like others, though my selector switch was wonky or something was wrong. Now that I know how it ACTUALLY works, I not only feel much better but have something new to play around with.
Glad to help!
Yes. Thanks for clearing that up about the volume knobs when both pickups are selected. The Gibson manual doesn't address it.
Just bought a 2020 Les Paul Classic and, when playing around with it, I too thought something was amiss with the pickup selector in the middle position. ent to UA-cam and found this vid, which was super helpful. Thanks!
Going to join the chorus of comments here and thank you for explaining this! I just got an Epi LP and fully thought the wiring was messed up.
Thanks mate, clear and straight forward
Thanks I also was confused by this feature.
This man is a hero 🫡
Thank you. I thought the same thing, that my Les Paul was wired wrong, or something. You really helped me.
I have a 2020 Supro David Bowie 1961 Dual Tone which is LP style. I was pulling my hair out over this issue. I took apart the electronics to check wiring; contacted Supro support and the answer was that the guitar was wired correctly. I didn't believe it until I watched your video and understood what is behind volume and tone blending. If only the information was better circulated, knowledge wouldn't depend on finding your video. Thanks!
Haha, glad to help! So many of us have thought the same!
Thank you for your review! Clear and simple explanation! Hugs from Italy 🤟🏼
This is new to me, glad I watched your video
Handy tips there brother. That is some crazy aztec thrown you got there. Looks like an evil dmt trip
I was a bass player and my granddaughter just got an LP and I thought it was messed up, literally this afternoon. I helping her learn some songs, and was going to call for warranty repair. Thanks !!
After a phone call to my supplier ive sent it back for repair thinking it was broken but they didnt expalin this to me. Just had an email saying its not broken but theyve sent it back to epiphone because of high frets and a stiff jack plug.
Thank you! The guy at the guitar forgot to tell me about this!! Cheers
Glad to help
Thanks very much. You just answered a question I had re the zero volume of one pot affecting both pick ups.
Hey thanks! Your explanation was in plain language that I could understand.
Thanks for the video. I just ran into this yesterday on my 2019 SG and wondered if it was defective. Not that it would've bothered me too much, but it's good to know it's supposed to be like that👍
I wonder why Gibson assume that we all know about this volume control set-up, I couldn't figure out how it worked either, a better information booklet would be a good idea, but still it does sound great.
Five minutes ago I thought my switch was bad... Thanks much!
Hey jw, i have a new 2023 Gibson Les Paul std. 60’s. I loved the Unburst & 60s neck profile, was Not really a fan of stock 61’ Burstbuckers (Alnico 5’s, on multimeter both read approx around 7.5k installed from factory).
I recently had a set of Seymour duncan Slash 2.0 Alnico 2 pro’s installed in my 2023 60’s Gibson les paul standard. (Note i like slash but i got pickups due to what tone i liked best that i felt was what i wanted in my LP to sound like & this set seemed to scatch my itch (loud, little but not overally grittier, rich tone on Slash 2.0’s).
After Slash 2.0’s were installed they read 8.6ish on neck & and 9.36k on bridge (advertised as 8.8 neck/9.38 bridge, but was told the pots eat some of the resistance so id only get that exact reading by testing pickups by themselves/directly to multimeter..also jw if true)?. But Main thing i’ve noticed…overall like tone much better..but it feels like i can work with Vol knob to about 7 then lower then 5 is very very quiet , and same with neck knob pot), the sweep seems to be less then my SG & i think i would have noticed if the 61 BB’s had such a lack of sweep. Would higher outpout of different humbuckers effect vol/tone knobs?? I know i have 50 style wiring and i saw him peel back a braided wire and solder it to like top corner of each Vol Cap , let it dry and was basicslly done (aside from small reset up). Does all that sound nomal or should i look into any trouble shooting…installion or pots wise( all i know is 50s style with orange drop caps and i believe 500k pots). Thanks would love any input on lack of sweep on knobs since swap most lol
I am not an expert at all of that. The only thing I really know is higher ohm pickups have higher gain. That I don’t really understand since ohms are resistance and it seems like higher would make them quieter, but it’s the opposite for some reason.
Super helpful and great vid, I thought my guitar was broken, was gonna go to Guitar Center to fix it. This is so cool.
Glad to hear it!
I totally thought my Studio LT was broken, just about got to accepting it. Thanks for explaining!
Thanks, it helped me to clarify what to expect from a wiring experiment I am going to try: An HSH Strat with a second volume knob just for the middle pickup. I was sure what to expect from positions 1,3 and 5 but I was not sure about 2,4, this was helpful. I just hope it works as expected, if I wire it correctly.
Good luck!
Omg dude I've had this since I bought my guitar over 10 yes ago, and multiple guitar techs in shops have been able to explain why this is beyond looking at me like I'm just another idiot with a LP 😂 thank you!
Thanks! I thought the same thing, that my guitar was broken. This makes sense now!
Thank you! I thought there was a problem with one of the pickups i thought there was only one volume knob so had one volume off and the switch wouldn’t work obviously
My Epiphone Les Paul Ultra III guitar does not have this trait. That is probably because it is wired differently to accommodate its third (nano) pickup. The guitar has a USB audio output and a second 1/4” jack for the nano +/- humbuckers. The upper tone knob activates and tone-controls the nano. It’s different, not better or worse than other Les Pauls. The guitar is convenient for playing directly into a digital sound processors. I do sometimes miss having a tone control for my neck humbucker.
Yeah, those are a totally different setup. Pretty sweet though!
I actually suspected my 3 way switch had gone bad and replaced it!!!! Only to find the same situation with the new switch...lol. Thanks for this video, nothing about this function in the nomenclature.
That explains how you're able to make your own killswitch using the middle position. Use the bridge, turn down the neck to 0, and set it to Treble. Then switch back & forth from middle to treble for the effect.
yep!
I can't wait til I get my LP-style guitar this Christmas. Going to 50s wiring as soon as I get it, if it's not already wired that way.
Thanks! You saved me from making an ass of myself at Guitar Center. I thought something was wrong with the wiring of the middle toggle position. lol
😂😂😂😂😂😂
Very interesting ideea of the mix tone 🤟👍👍
Many thanks like a lotta guys on here I thought their was something wrong. What about the tone controls in the middle position mine don't appear to work.
I also thought my pickups had died. I was even looking at replacing the pickups when I found this video.
THANK YOU!!!
glad to help!
Great video!! I almost took mine Les Paul apart due to those volume controls LOL 🤟
haha, glad you didn't!
Awesome video man saved me lots of time
Who the hell thumbed this video down? Great explanation to what has annoyed me for ages!
You could post the cure for cancer and someone would still vote it down. Thanks for commenting :)
Hi thanks for this great video these controls are pretty complicated to understand
I have just received my epiphone les paul classic and it has push pull pots, however one of the pots does not pull up, so not a good start !!,
I presume all four pots should pull up !! would you know? getting ready to call the company i purchased it from to get the guitar replaced
Thank you so much for this!
Thank-you great explanation
Legend, my first guitar purchase and thought I’d got a dud guitar😂 thankyou!!
Glad to help!
Thank you man, i git a guitar from a friend of mine but only one switch worked and the other one didn’t so i believe one pickup is broeken
Like every body else THANK YOU. I wonder how many complaints/returns the geetar shops get on this one. Luckily i have read this on a satdy (Oz time) so no need to complain, which i was going to do next week.
Can you do one on the Epiphone SG pro graphite because I have four knobs but two knives go up and down
I have the same guitar. So are the pickups two or four wire?. I was planning on switching the neck pickup to a p90, and trying to get out of phase sound out of it. Thanks
That’s good to know. Thanks!
😅 sweet it’s not broken 😂😂😂 thumbs up brother
How did you get that sound at the end of this video
That was recorded directly into my Zoom PS-04 with a chorus effect.
Awesome video, cracked things down really well!
I feel so stupid haha. I just got a guitar today off marketplace and thought the bridge pickup was damaged. Thank you so much!
Happy to help!
Thanks for the video. I was confused by it, but I guess that's what happens with secondhand mysteries.
super helpful. thanks
Thanks for the info..🙏
OMG...follow me here.. so I get my New Les Paul Standard..the next day I'm checking the serial number and find out it was built on December 24th 2020 - then I think possible build quality as people are distracted on Christmas Eve day..then I start to play and I'm in the middle switch position and see that the whole guitar goes dead when one volume is at 10 on one pick up and the other volume dial is at 0....I think Im screwed I bought a lemon! and it's lemon burst! Thank you Mr. Sweater! the parallel wiring of the volume switches now makes sense!
so it should be easy to run them as singles?
Excellent explanation.
Glad it was helpful!
I didn't know this and I too was going to take it to a luthier. Thank you very much.
Glad I could help!
Thank you for this!
A friend gave me his guitar and I was going nuts figuring out the knobs. I notice some crackling sound when I turn the treble knobs (the rear knobs).
Any idea why?
The cracking comes from dirty pots (the electronic par of the knob) take off the back plate and spray some of this into the pots amzn.to/30yEFDX and turn the knobs repeatedly until the cracking goes away.
So helpful, I thought it was broken too 🤣. Thanks!
This would have confused the heck out of me if I had one. I recently bought my first bass. Two pickups, three knobs, no instruction manual easily findable. I soon reasoned out that one knob was for one pickup, another knob was for the other, and then a tone knob that affected the overall output. If turning one of the pickup knobs all the way down killed all the output sound, I'd be firmly in "nothing is anything anymore" territory. My head might actually divorce itself from my shoulders.
Really good. Cheers!
Awesome tip... thank you!
Thank you for your great explanation dude!
Thank you for explanation
Thank you for explaining that!!!
Happy to help!
Thanks! I did wonder why these guitars are wired to kill all volume with only one volume knob is turned off. Seems strange to me, but who am I? haha. Thanks for the explanation, glad my guitar is working correctly!
Thank you! I was sure mine was faulty and I was about to order a new switch. Whew! 😂
Thanks! This was helpful.
glad to help!
What do u suggest for ur fav jazzy sound with this guitar like how do u like the tone knobs and which switch do y’all prefer it on?
I'm a big fan of the Pat Metheny sound. You could get something similar by using a clean tone with a mild chorus, neck pickup with the tone knob halfway down.
well explain pal ! tanks !
man i thought my guitar is broken, this vid so helpfull for me thanks❤
Glad it helped!
I have a 2013 Gibson SG that behaves the same way. I was also surprised by this and also thought my guitar was wired incorrectly. I am mentioning this here just to point out that it isn't a model specific phenomenon. I do not know if it is a Gibson specific thing either. Does this occur on any guitar with parallel wired pick ups? Just curious. Thanks for posting this video. I definitely appreciate the information.
Yeah, I think basically any 2 humbucker/4 knob setup will have this, except special circumstances.
Thank you thank you thank you!
Hey thanks not necessarily earth shattering but helpful and I think that was your goal so good job
Glad it was helpful!
really useful. thx!
Thanks mate.
Why my guitar only sound when its on treble selector, it wont sound when its rhythm and middle
sounds like you've either got a bad switch or some wires came loose
@@demonicsweaters oh no ಥ‿ಥ, but thank u so much , really helpful