OBSIDIANWIRE : Solderless Harness Saves My Gibson Les Paul
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- Опубліковано 14 жов 2024
- Obsidianwire Solderless Harness Saves My Gibson Les Paul from the chopping block! If you've been tuning into my videos you probably already know why I don't like the PCB that Gibson uses in their guitars. Because of the many shortcomings of the Gibson system I set out to find another better solution. Obsidian Wire is everything I was looking for. A simple relativly affordable wiring system that is easy to install.
In this video we discuss the pros and cons of these types of wiring harnesses. And why I think Obsidianwire works so well
Jump to 8:30 To skip the Gibson bashing and get to the meat and potatoes
For more information: obsidianwire.com
I used this product in my Les Paul and love it. Very easy installation and if I want to change pickups it’s as easy as plugging wires in. Very cool. Quality of the product is excellent!
I' ve used their kits twice now and I love them.
I’ve used the 4way Tele and Jazz Bass kits from Obsidian Wire. I can confirm they are great!
I’m in New Hampshire USA. I just ordered a tele kit yesterday. What kind of time frame am I looking at until I receive it? Does it take a couple of weeks? A month?
Thanks
Actually, I installed classic 57’s into my modern SG in 10 minutes. I simply hardwired it onto the PCB board. No fuss, no muss. Great tone tho!
😮😮😮
I put the obsidian pots on a Squire Strat upgrade build, mixed obsidian wire Blenders with bareknuckles p/ups the sound is amazing. So now it's my Les Paul's turn. Thanks for the video!
Did you ever get around to your Les Paul upgrade, and if so, how did it turn out?
Enjoyed the video, I’m in the market, was hoping to see the install.
Having issues switching pickups is part of gibson's customer experience i think, they always find a way to piss the community off at least once a year
Why would you install a two wire pick up onto a push/pull pot? If it is another four wire pick up, you could just redo the Molex connector. Making mountains out of molehills. He could’ve just purchased Gibson‘s regular harness, the same way he could the other manufacturer.
My high performance came with two adaptors so changing out the pickups was not a problem. Molex at one end and a screw terminal for pickups at the other. Seems not many people got these. I bought the Obsidian 50's-60's version after a pot started going out on me.
I really enjoy your videos. Thank you for making them. Informative and entertaining! You are right that Gibson has botched a lot of things in the area of user friendliness. Hopefully, their new management team will straighten things out a right the ship!
A two wire pickup cannot be split or coil tapped. The circuit board is designed for the 4 wire pickups in the guitar, so a new clip might not work anyway if you are going to a two wire. To upgrade the cheapest way to do it is toreplace all of the pots. If you want vintage 50’s you should use CTS 500k pots and the orange capacitors.
Proprietary gadgets. Thankfully, it’s no longer a problem on the standards. I just ordered an SG with the Quick Connect PC Board.. I also ordered 4 new pots.
Yes Sirrr. I can't wait to try one of those.
Of all the videos yours is the most helpful & informative!!! Thanks!!!
Glad you like them!
Looks nice!
Do you know if this will fit in a SG?
Just ordered the 60s les Paul harness , installed so easy , except the 3 way switch was bad couldn’t get the neck pickup position by itself, contacted there customer service and there sending another switch .They told me they have recently updated the 3 way switch. Love your videos top notch
bro... good job on your video!!! and i really enjoyed the Gibson bashing ! i hope the new CEO for gibson takes note of this great video!!!
great video & yes pricey but as all say its WELL worth it !! :)
i just changed over to high quality soldered connections. new pots and vitamin q black candy
I agree with you. I am having this very problem right now!!!! Thanks.
Sorry to hear that
You can also buy 4 pots, 2 condensers, and do the soldering, it's not a big deal. These ObsidianWire harnesses are great but quite expensive (I know, I put one of these in a Strat)
Changed my 2016 split coil system out in 2018 because the static interference made it unplayable. This is added to the compatibility issue you comment on.. Gibson don’t get it.. Thanks for the review.. Nice product review..
I love mine I even bought extra pcb’s for other LP GUITARS. eBay sells the connectors
Sounds like Gibbons is the apple of guitars or rather apple is the Gibson of computers and iPhones. I was thinking of putting the Jimmy page harness but I hate changing the originality. I think I’m ocd or something.
Great job man. happy for you all the way from Pakistan.
Please give a review after install
Well, of course that would cause your issues. It’s a PCB board designed with push pull capabilities. If you have a two wire pick up, you’re not splitting its coils. That’s basic electronics. So just buy a regular PCB board instead of the one you have and the molex connectors would/will match,. You can trade it. In fact, I’m purchasing Gibson push/pull so that I can utilize it functionality.
Oh, and awesome of you to mention the spacing issue on import LP style guitars.
Gibson do a multi connector so you can fit any pickup to your Gibson guitar. I got 2 of them with all 3 of my newer Gibson's, they came in the case. I'm using 2 wire braided pickups with this multi connector.
I just wrote a longish post about making your own adaptors and then saw your comment. Problem solved I'd say.
Unfortunatly mine didn't come with any. Probably because it is an earlier model. The new multi connectors are probably not compatible with my PCB so I would need to by a new PCB first so that's not good.
What year is your Les Paul? Mine is a 2016 and they came with the adaptors, but I did have it from new.
So, did it work. Was it easy to install?
Hello can you share a picture of the finished installation wiring? I purchased the same exact kit but instructions might be backwards and want to make sure I got right. Thanks for this video. It helps with my purchase.
I will see what I can do.
i've used obsidian boards in 1 mexican strat, 1 chinese strat imitation and 1 chinese tele imitation they work great. i was upgrading pickups so WTF..
That’s what I did. I ripped out all that push pull nonsense pcb and put normal stuff in my Classic. I’ve got a few LPs with that crap in there. I’ll clean them all up eventually
You can make this...sorta. You don't need the pcb. Or you can go on eBay and find them all day long. Same concept as this but isn't a one size only fits this
great video love your channel
What year is your Les Paul?
Why would you not include a film of an installation of this board into your LP and also a before and after comparison?
Because 16:25
Maybe the next time. I didn’t shoot any installation video.
I Brought the obsidian wire for my les paul, there's no diagram as to which set of pots are for the neck and bridge pickups.. Help
Wish they made one for les paul jr
Thank you I decided to order one tomorrow....cool video
Glad I could help
If I change out pcb to push pull board do I have to change 3 way switch and output jack also even if they have same connectors?
Was thinking of buying this product, is there a video of your thoughts ‘after’ the install - can’t seem to find it?
I like the product very much. They installation is quick and easy and I won't have to spends lots of time the next time I would like to swap pickups on my guitar. I recommend it.
thank you
Im an amateur but you can’t cut off the tips of the original moltex connectors and solder then tape/shrink wrap to any pickup wire you chose & keep the board?
Don’t own one, just like learning new things
Maybe you can however that would make it less desirable if you would ever want to sell the guitar later...
i just wanted to point out they do not have a wiring harness for a prs style guitar i did email them a little while ago and i’m waiting for a response this is exactly what i want to do switch pick ups to see which ones sound better thank you for the video and review i really appreciate it i also did hit the Subscribe button
Cool, thanks
So boss how did it sound to yo
Hello, will this work to install on a PRS SC 245?
It would be best to ask them if they have a model for a PRS. They are not exactly the same.
I would say Gibson does not have a system such as that is because the installed dip switches on the standard instead. Great demo and explanation.
Mine is a standard but no dip switches.
I'm sure someone else will have commented, but they aren't resistors. They're capacitors. I know most of us understand what you meant, but there are a lot of people who don't and may make mistakes with faulty information. Just an obsevation.
Thank you for the correction.
I’m a kiwi and put one of these obsidian wire kits in a squire jazz bass. It was faulty and I was in Christchurch so I rang them and said can I come in and get it sorted. Their answer was “we are not set up for you to come in” they wanted me to post it to them. Crap service. Would never buy another one.
would this work on a PRS 245 Les Paul type body?
wish they made one for the Korean Epi LP's.
Emg makes a solderless kit
They do. I have a Korean LP. All I will have to do is widen the holes for the pots to 10mm. Obsidian are sending me a 60s wiring kit with pots the correct length and it will fit my Korean LP like a dream :)
The only sense this makes is it saves Gibson money they'd normally pay to someone who is skilled at soldering but as we see , down the road, it just pisses people off. I had my bridge p/u volume pot fail the other day in my LP Tribute. I had no idea this PCB crap was waiting for me on the inside of the guitar cavity. This is basically what I said when I removed the back plate : " What the @##$$ is this @#$%ing horse@$%^ery bull!#%^&????!!!!!"
I think they expect that the customer will put Gibson USA pickups if they’re going to replace the pickups.
Tear that shit out and replace with 500k pots and solder it all in 50's style. At least that's my opinion. I think it sounds so much better.
Did you have any issues with the pickup wire length and soldering them into new pots,caps etc?
@@leftyfusion88 No, not at all. The length was fine. CTS pots are pre tinned but it helps to tin them again.
It was good enough for Page and a whole lot cheaper too. This is rich kid gear for rich yuppies....
No vid of the install?? Or am I going blind??? Plz help!
How has it held up?
Still going strong!
@@addictedtogear Great video, thank you. Do you happen to recall how long it took to receive yours? I ordered a tele custom 4-way kit yesterday. Just curious what the wait time is if you live in the US.
Take care
@12:30 can you demonstrate this?
I don't understand your problem, there are adapters available to use 2 wire pickups on the Gibson PCB's or easy enough to make up your own. Surely selling the pickups you don't want would offset the price to buy some new ones anyway.
Tried it. Doesn’t sound the same.
So glad that in '19,under the new leadership at Gibson, they went back to hand-wired pots/caps/switch on the Traditional series.
Heck, on a whim, I added a totally unneeded Firefly LP copy, and IT even has hand-wired pots!
Shame on Gibson for this money grab!
IMO the pcb board is garbage any way. The boost switch on my 2014 Gibson LP Classic went out early on. In less than an hour the dumb Pcb was in the trash and the obsidian was in my guitar. My guitar never sounded better.
Not really a nightmare. You can get adapters. They work great.
But yeah. The obsidian stuff looks great.
I will give them a shot
Must be why my 2022 Standard 60’s has wiring rather than a board
Doesn’t obsidian make the original pc board for Gibson??
Nope.
Thank you for making these harnesses. ObsidianWire is a godsend for me and I’m glad this is an option for people. Anyone can learn how to solder and eventually get good at it but not everyone has the time for such things. I’m sure once you learn it’s quick to change out pickups or wire in a new switch but again, it takes time to get good at it. So these solderless harnesses are perfect for people like me who aren’t into soldering or don’t have time to learn it. Thanks ObsidianWire for making quality products. I just placed an order a couple days ago for a tele 4-way upgrade. Can’t wait to get it installed.
Take care
Can you use P90s with it
Yes
What happens when i want to switch pods?
Pods?
Did you go to Digi Key? They are a distributor franchises for Molex you probably have a friend and dont know it who works at Arrow Electronics or Hamilton Avnet there are many franchised Molex diatributors it shoild be that fidicult if your familiar with Industrial Electronics Distributions prpvided compoments to manufatires lije Gibson and Fender around the world but in NJ out in Pine Brook the distributors are out there or like I first mentioned their is a place called Electronic Barn in Montclair that may have it as well and if not you explain your problem and make the suggestion to them to stock it and the crimping tool is cheaper then that through distribution ypu paid full tetail ot higher if the Barn buy the minimum from disti they have to buy a bunch of them and the crimping tool have a price break at some qty for sure tell them to post it on ebay and they can make some money and everuone needs another item for a new market guaranteed somw sgpild do yjis to help everyone put if anyone knows what Im talking about dont be geedy make a buck or 2 Obsidion makes this producy for Fender too just said thay huh.
Doug Reed yes I looked at suppliers like Digikey the problem is you also have to by the crimper which is pretty expensive.
You just solder to the back of the pot & the lug sitting on the board..its easy
That’s exactly what I was wondering. Never seen the PCB in person, but I assumed that was a viable option.
#1 = hard wire into Chibson board. #2 =I personally would just buy the quality parts wire it in myself old school no coil splitting and $25 done. It isn't like we are swapping 10 PUPS - Not brain surgery. Spend the $75 saved on picks, strings, and liquor. Obsidian Wire at $100+ = Hard Pass, NO! SRV, EVH, Hendrix played on a lot less...
If you have the cash to throw at it, hey why not. This isnt a fix for the Gibson goof job though. I would say you probably could have got the crimp tool cheaper than replacing the entire board. The connectors and molex are pennies. That way you would be able to "fix" more than just one guitar and Im sure you have plenty. Now to find a more inexpensive crimping method.
And to the UA-camrs out there. Quit taping over the tale piece and bridge. We want to work with you. We want to bring authenticity to your videos. And btw! That's not enough to avoid a trademark infringement anyways!!! 😡😡😡
Don't tell me what to do.
You're not my dad.
@@mykuntstynx9463 It was a joke based on a video Gibson released 4 years ago. Lol.
@@MobileDecay
I was yanking your chain.
Lol
While I have your attention, I found your video and channel after buying a used 2021 Epiphone Slash Victoria Gold Top Les Paul.
It was already upgraded with the obsidian board.
Your video is the most compelling on yt about it.
Subbed...
@@mykuntstynx9463 Ha ha! Thanks! 😁
They are using the Apple closed architecture model. Every damned thin in those computers are the same chips as PC's. Apple has them changed just enough so that you have to buy Apple's version of an otherwise cheap chip at the coma inducing Apple price. This is why I hate Apple, Gibson and all companies that pull this shit with otherwise generic parts. I love Gibson's sound but hate their business model.
not a fan. but hopefully yours worked out
It looks like a great product. Great company. Next guitar I build I'm going to purchase this product. Rock on 😎👍👌👋🎸🎸. Note of course companies are going to try and bypass other companies with their products.They want you to buy their products just Marketing Example. Apple they have their own operating system. Your stuck. Take care 👍👋💯. K.I.S.S. keep it simple stupid 🤣🤣💯
Rock on!
Please don't take this the wrong way because a lot of people do the same thing. I wanted to see what you had to say about Obsidian Wire. I almost stopped watching because you spent almost 9 minutes crying about Gibson's circuitry. I don't think you had the best interest of your viewers in mind. See it doesn't take nine minutes to say that that because I didn't repeat myself 10 times. Just saying. Set yourself apart from the others.
If all connections aren't soldered it's not gig-worthy. Please don't gig with a PCB solder-less system unless you want to have a guitar that works only when it feel like it. Total scam!
To be fair, using your own terminology here, you’re “bitching” about the Gibson PCB from a very specific, and I’d argue pretty niche, perspective.
Let me explain. You yourself state that you don’t have any criticism of Gibson over quality of the PCB compared to hand wired construction. That’s very fair of you and balanced: most of the Gibson PCB criticisms I’ve read have been about this point: a reduction in quality or more specifically, from my point of view, a traditionalist guitarist’s prejudiced view of a perceived reduction in quality.
So your complete criticism of the Gibson PCB is about the quick connector system and the problem it gives you when swapping pickups. I’ve watched quite a few of your videos and a lot of what your channel does is about demoing different pickups and as such you do an extreme amount of pickup changes in your guitars (you yourself acknowledge this). I’d argue this is far from the normal experience of most guitarists. Sure, a very small minority are continuous tinkerers... if that’s you probably best to stay away from the Gibson guitars with PCB (buy a Traditional instead, or now in 2019 one of new 50s or 60s Standards). The majority of guitarists buy a guitar they like and don’t change the pickups at all. Then the Gibson system is not a problem. There are then a fair number of guitarists who want to take out stock pickups and replace with some aftermarket type they prefer... but they only intend to do this once. In that case the Gibson PCB system is slightly limiting, but instead of buying the expensive crimping tool you can just take the guitar to a Gibson authorised tech and he’ll do the pickup swap for you for probably a few tens of dollars (I’m guessing a little, I’m from the UK and I’ve had full Les Paul control and pickup fitting and rewiring, a much more time consuming activity, for around £75)... so it’s not really the end of the world in that scenario.
David Burke yes it’s not the end of the world but I just feel that it would not have been very difficult to design something similar with a simpler trope of connection that does not require any end connectors at all. Thanks for your comment and for watching.
ADDICTED TO GEAR That’s true. But I’d see this as more of a big thumbs up to the likes of Obsydian Wire rather than a big criticism of Gibson.
Gibson tried to do something clever and beneficial (for their cost of production, consistency of production and for convenience for the consumer) on a small part of what they make and, I’d argue like many large companies, didn’t quite follow through and get it right: both with regards to the availability of the quick connectors and the method of their attachment (needing the crimping tool).
By contrast, a small, focused, niche company tried the same thing but got it right. Happens all the time in many many industries. 🤷🏼♂️ It’s one of the reasons that small specialist companies even exist and have success... big companies often don’t get things quite right, or not quite how a small section of their customer base would like them to be.
@@davidburke2132 If they were trying to simplify manufacturing without locking you out of pickup upgrade options, they wouldn't add the connector to the pickup. That is an additional step. They would make the wires screw into the pcb like old stereo system speaker cables did. Obsidian Wire isn't doing anything revolutionary or ground-breaking. They didn't invent the mechanism. Gibson is alienating people out of options while trying to force you into buying only their products. This is a bit of a risky move considering some have a negative opinion of gibson due to quality control, poor choices (the automatic tuner heads and poorly executed pcbs), and gibson's dumpster fire artist relations.
Keep in mind I am someone who really wants to own a new les paul, but have been mulling over a used 2000's les paul in the past few months or going with a prs 22. The les paul has a legendary tone that I want in my life, but not at the (non-monetary) cost of a "modern" gibson les paul.
Joshua Blevins to be fair I think this thread, my comment, the original video and your comments are now really quite out of date, albeit not necessarily to your consideration of a second hand Les Paul. Gibson’s new guitar production has moved on a lot in the past year or two... I’m not sure if they’ve stopped the use of the quick connect pickup system completely but they have at least massively reduced its use, as they have with the PCB control systems... it is widely acknowledged that their QC is much better than it was and they’re certainly not using the robot tuners anymore at all.
Flabergasted
Não. Entendo nada do que você diz pó isso vou saí
Desculpe, eu não falo espanhol.