Les Paul Coil Split Wiring
Вставка
- Опубліковано 10 лют 2025
- Following on from our previous video - here we demonstrate how to re-wire your Les Paul to enable coil splitting using 4 conductor wire pickups. We are using CTS push pull pots (as volume controls) to split each humbucker. Coil splitting is a very easy mod you can do yourself. We show how to wire the pickups to the CTS push pull pot but coil splitting essentially turns off one coil when the push pull pot is activated.
In the video we are the "Tru PAF" set, handwound in the UK by House of Tone pickups. The colour coding on these pickups is IDENTICAL to Seymour Duncan pickups, so if you want to do this mod yourself and you are using Seymour Duncan pickups, this video will work great for you.
Components Required:
Our Coil Split Les Paul Wiring Kit sixstringsuppl...
2 x CTS 500k push pull log pots
2 x CTS 500k log pots
2 x 0.022uF capacitors (or 0.047 for single coil mode)
House of Tone Tru PAF humbuckers - www.houseofton...
Toggle switch and jack remain unchanged from standard Les Paul wiring
Equipment used.
Hakko soldering station 888D
Lead free silver solder
For the wiring diagram for this video - sixstringsuppl...
Guitar Wiring Harnesses - sixstringsuppl...
Guitar & Bass wiring guides - sixstringsuppl...
Guitar & Bass Wiring diagrams - sixstringsuppl...
Video Tutorials - • Guitar & Bass Wiring T...
Mini Tutorials & general guitar soldering tips - • Mini Wiring Tutorials
Thanks for watching! If you enjoy our tutorials, please subscribe to our fledgling channel.
The best video I have seen on wiring up coil split humbuckers. Thanks
Cheers man glad you enjoyed it.
I have been building guitars for about 8 or 9 years now. I am always looking to learn new technics. I have been watching 6 string for some time and I find his professionalism in presentation second to none. I too use shrink tube even if some may sat it is not needed. It is the way I roll. Man don't stop putting out this quality product. If I has seen this when I first started, it would have saved a lot of grief. He is so polite when educating us that you want to know what he knows.
Hey Lynn, thanks for your kind words. We hope to continue teaching an that you continue to learn.
I just want to take the time for making this extremely informative video. I've been soldering for years, and even build a few pedals. The thing that made me hesitate with buying the MojoTone switch was that I had trouble finding instructions and resources/diagrams on how to wire one of these up for coil splitting. You cleared up my questions in a matter of seconds. Thanks and cheers!!!
No problem thanks for the kind words.
Going to built my first guitar soon...man...incredible helpful. You make it a paint by numbers, even I have no clue about those electronics. Thanks a lot
Really nice detailed explanation and visual aids. Thank you 😊
Working safe, clean, and organized. Sounds like a formula for success in just about anything.
Thanks for the video.
Aloha from Hawai’i Bro where was this when I needed it ?!?!😎 lol! Thanks for posting👍🏽🙏🏽🏝
Thank you guys soooo much, I have been looking for over a week now for a wiring tutorial/wiring diagram for a les paul with coil split and a pickup selector switch,
thanks to this video you have a new subscriber
About to refinish and rebuild an Epi LP myself. Thanks so much for the tutorial!
Thanks ! You’ve taken the mystery out of installing push pulls. 😊👍
This is such a great resource. Such neat work too! Kudos!
Totaly greatfull with this guys, i been convinced thanks to this video to make this set up on my Korean Shine les Paul style guitar...and of course Works...now my guitar rocks!
Nice video with great camera work...thanks for sharing your knowledge. I'm just about to do my own rewire on a LP Studio.
Thank you, this was fantastic! I'm building my first guitar and I had the bright idea to buy push/pull pots, but I've never really soldered before. This video is just what I was looking for, thanks a million.
No worries! We have loads of diagrams on our website for other ideas www.sixstringsupplies.co.uk/guitar-wiring-diagrams
@@SixStringSupplies p ppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp o. Oiiiii. Iiiiii
@@SixStringSupplies p ppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp o. Oiiiii. Iiiiii
@@SixStringSupplies p ppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp o. Oiiiii. Iiiiii
@@SixStringSupplies p ppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp o. Oiiiii. Iiiiii
This is the best tutorial I have found. Thank you. Subscribed.
Did this on my Oscar Schmidt gold top I replaced the neck pickups volume pot with the push pull pot and installed an evh neck pickup and it’s by far my favorite mod I ever did to any of my guitars. I think everyone should do this to there les Paul the tone is too good to pass up on
I did same thing to my son’s guitar. After a few days we added push pull pots and tone caps to adjust the tone when in split mode
Really great vid, makes a topic I struggle with easy (well, easier..) to understand. Wiring diagram really clear too - others (Bare Knuckle for example) please take note…
I do a similar wiring but I go one step further.
Get a push/pull pot for one of your tone controls and do an out of phase switch for one of the pickups.
That arrangement will not only give you the sound of two single coil pickups but it will simulate the Strat quack of two single coils you get in positions two and four on the Strat.( out of phase) Most people who wire their LP with humbucker splits are looking for that Stat sound. Impossible unless you can put one of the pickups out of phase with the other.
Try it, you will thank me.
well done sir! glad to see you back ;)
Thanks mate!
Nice video, very informative. Thanks for posting it!
Very informational video. You have explained everything very clearly. Thank you!
Something I'd like to know, which every wiring vid seems to skip over,is what temperature do you operate you soldering iron at. Thanks. nice work.
Great video! I was searching for a kit like this to use on my Washburn Idol LE Spalted Mapple and DiMarzio 36th PAF 4 conductors...
Thanks for this. It took me 6 hours and 2 complete tear downs of my guitar (LP style body) to find a pesky buzz. I finally decided a different wiring scheme and for some reason this fixed the issue. I originally used tone push pull with the caps on lug 3 of the pot then through holes 1 and 3 then to ground. It made no sense to me and i still don't know if that was my issue but it works now.
Excellent video! I just bought some of these and was wondering if it was the right choice! Now I can confidently say it was!
Excellent and informative video. I was a bit disappointed in the sound, but noticed that the pickups are very close to the strings. Adjusting should improve the sound drastically.
I needed this, thanks for making the video.
- your new sub
Excellent video. Thanks for posting.
Impressive!!!!! Well done!
Explained well. I wonder if anyone had trouble re installing the back plate cover back on . Because the pots are a bit tall.
Great video! I have a Donner dlp124 guitar and I'm trying to figure out how to wire two humbuckers pickups push and pull on the volume potentiometer and another push pull on the tone potentiometer separately to give me as many combinations as I can. I'm not sure if I can do it.
Do you still have to run a wire from 3 to the side of the pot after grounding the earth and bare wire from the pickup? Also I’ve seen some people ground the switch to the jack but here you grounded it to the tone pot, does this matter? Great video, very informative and clear.
Super good video. Got massive anxiety with how close your fingers got to the iron at some points though 😂
Yeah that’s a bad habit...thanks for watching
I'm very impressed about how clean you work!! 👌 Brilliant job!! 👏
I have trouble attaching the ground soldering, can you tell me to which temperature you turn down your equipment and how long you preheated the pot underneath the wire? (to prevent from burning the pot). And if you cleaned (and with what) or sanded it beforehand?
excellent video, very informative...
I have a Stratocaster, and I'm wanting to add a push/push pot at the bridge tone pot, a single coil-sized humbucker at the bridge, and now I wonder if I should split the coil or wire the humbucker in Parallel as to obtain the single coil tone with hum cancelling...thoughts?...have you a video for that? Thanks so much, and Cheers.
Always series parallel splits are stupid
Thank you. Well done and very helpful.
A word of caution- you get one shot with the cts pots. If anything has to be redone, it can get pretty messy because of those little rings in the plastic casing will melt the plastic.
Thank you for posting this video! What temps do you solder with. I noticed that you turned the temp down when soldering on the Push/Pull. Also, what wire are you using for the 2 push/pull grounds?
Thanks - it depends on what solder you are using. If it is 60/40 - then aomroubd 350-365 will work fine. If it is lead free, then up around 380+. The wire is standard tinned copper
@@SixStringSupplies Thank you! I learned how to solder from your channel and purchased the same soldering station and solder you use in your videos.
Ace video. thanks so much!
Hi, great video, I just received my pots and caps from SixString and about to do this. I have the split pots and want the 50's wiring, however, I am keeping my humbuckers in the guitar. Here is my problem, I will have to cut the 5 pin connector off the pickup lead. It has five wires, Gnd - black, south start - black, north start - red, South finish - green, and north finish - white. Which ones do I put together? You in your video say that the house of tone are like the Seymour Duncan, but what about Epiphone pickups?? Thanks
hello and great job, at what temperature do you solder the potentiometers?
Hey, I did the same thing on my Les Paul. Got 2 Seymour Duncans and coil split pots but got some ground issues. When my fingers are on the string it doesn't buzz but when I remove it, it does. Got idea about this?
Very helpful video man thanks!dont spose you know wether i can use the same pots and wiring but change the wires from the switch and jack to braided if that makes sense.or is it just overkill do you think?
thanks man! nah I'd actually recommend using braided wire from switch to jack.
@@SixStringSupplies excellent. Thankyou for the quick reply aswell :) replacing all the wires in my epiphone to braided and cloth
Thanx!!!!.. This REALLY helped me out, greatly....
thanks!
Excellent video thanks! But what happens in the middle position when the pots are both up and down?
Hi, very interested in your video and thank you for all guildance. I just wonder if I can use 1 push pull to caters for 2 humbucker pickups in my diy tele. I planned to have 1 master volume and 1 master tone. Would that make sense to you? Grateful for your advise.
What about a coil split in the tone knob? I have 3 guitars that have that setup. Btw great video as always.
J.A.S. J.A.S. Thanks, Not done a video yet but we got a diagram for that here - I prefer the tone knob version too: www.sixstringsupplies.co.uk/coil-split-les-paul-tone-push-pull-pots
Awesome. While both pickups engaged does turning down one volume cuts off the entire sound ?
Thanks man. Yes of the guitar is wired in the “50s” style this will happen
Can i do that in my epi les paul with only 1 push pull pot but splitting both the humbuckers?
Is it possible to use a single volume push pull for a coil split humbucker and a p90? Or, will each require their own volume pot?
what do you do if if you have two volume and tone pots but you only want one tone or volume pot to split both coils
Нужно как нибудь повторить для себя👍
What temperature would you recommend for both soldering to the lugs and soldering to the pot casings? Presumably the pot casing needs a higher temp?
Hi i was wondering if you can help me , i purchase a new harness assembled harness kit for my les paul normal type 2 volume 2 tone.I also purchased 1 490 and 498 pick ups, unfortunately the 498 has 5 wires and the 490 has 1 wire wrapped with a neutral and i dont know where they should be soldered.can you help me.Thanks
Same setup but for a 50s wiring, what are the changes?
Great tutorial on how to do this set up, but I do have one question though as I can't find an answer at the moment...
Why split the volume pots instead of the tone pots?
You can split either. We have another video on splitting tone pots. There is no reason, some people like to split using the volume, others like to split using the tone pots.
Thanks for the feedback; it’s been driving me mad how I can’t find any technical source - it’s all a matter of the end-user. So most people prefer using their volume as the push/pull pot due to how more accessible it is.
I’m currently doing my first Epi LP build, and your tutorials have been very informative and helpful. Thanks again!
HELP!!!
I did exactly what you’ve done in this tutorial, and I even followed your other tutorials on how to wire a toggle switch and an output jack.
I’m not getting any sound, there’s a buzzing noise and when I have the guitar cable plugged into the jack I will get a sound if I touch the back of any of the tone pots (using that guitar cable plug). It seems like I completed my circuit, so where is my short??
Any ideas? I don’t have a DMM at the moment, which makes this project a bit more challenging.
Thank you again!
Awesome video! As far as the braided hookup wire goes, I just need standard 4 conductor braided guitar wire right?
Hey yes that’s correct
@@SixStringSupplies
When installing a PAF vintage braided single lead to a CTS 500k pot how is that installed?
Hi do you sell the wiring harness on its own as in just the plastic board? if so i cant see it on your website
I got a newbie question, after I did this mod I found out both north coils were split, which is not the middle position tone inwas going for. I wanted both outer coils. How do i go about doing it? I did it on the volume put with alligator wires and I just connected the one I wanted to change, to the hot of the volume. I just don't understand how to do the same on the tone pot.
Does the push/pull pot make scatchy sounds when you split the coils by pulling or when you push it back to humbucker mode?
Nice job !
Thank you for your sharing
Nice video... What can be done to prevent the volume drop when splitting the coils? Thanks
See our recent video: m.ua-cam.com/video/gKj8Z0qrcHY/v-deo.html
is there a video exactly like this one but with 50's style wiring instead of the modern one?
Great job, just one comment. The outer terminals of the pots (1 & 3) are very sensitive to heat and sometimes they fail.
IMHO Try not to use the soldering tip too much time on the terminals or use pliers as a heat sink on each terminal.
Hi i have a question, just bought a epiphone traditional pro (with out II/III) with coil tap on the volume pots. I just notice that the amount of noise is too loud because my other epi LP custon is much more quiter. All electronics and hardware are stock, when i touch the bridge or string the noise mostly goes away and when i tap wood on the back body part near the jack it resonates the tap and the noise reduce as well. Do you wknow what may cause the problem? Would apreciate any kind of info about this, thanks!
Hallo, just finished to install this kit purchased on line from your website. I used the wiring diagram with the push pull pots at Tone konbs. Everything goes all right with the exception of the neck push pull tone pot which whatever is the position of the knob (pushed or pulled), the neck pickup works always as single coil! I have to figure out what is the cause. Maybe the weld in position 3 of the two little wires ( black/white of Dimarzio) is not good. But my blood get frozen if I think I have to dismount all things again 😥😓😰😱.......
Hi sir, please send some photos to info@sixstringsupplies.co.uk I will try to help. We are closed until Friday 6th March however
@@SixStringSupplies ok I will do that. Thanks!
@@SixStringSupplies hei there is no need to send any picture anymore! I solved! It was the weld in position 3 made by myself not good. I remaked it and now it works!! Thanks for the support anyway. Cheers
Is that a ground from the jack plug to the tone pot?
With this configuration, do the tone and volume pots operate independently of each other for the same pickup? I understand this is a difference between modern and vintage wiring.
Hi, I know this sounds perverse, but I am putting in a normal two wire p90 into what was push pull controls in a split humbucker in a semi electric. Can I use the push pull pot as a normal pot? If so, do I treat the wiring as you would normally? Thanks.
I'm trying to wire a guitar like this, but I have SPST pots, so I don't have the six terminals. Any suggestions?
Can use one push pull pot for two humbucker?
What temperatures are you soldering at?
Hi! I made this wire on my les paul but I have many problems. The first one is too much ground. Even if I touch the strings for example, the ground still appear. The second problem is the bridge position volume is controlled by the neck volume. If i close the neck volume pot, the bridge sounds too thin. Als in the middle position I have too much volume compared to the neck or bridge position... I don't know what happen... (sorry for english, I'm italian...)
How would you wire this if it was just 1 tone?
Can any tinned copper wire be used for grounding?
Hey yes any wire can be used. Whatever works for you.
Hi, just purchased this kit and I'm very looking forward to assemble it in my Washburn Idol LE. However I see in your web link there are two option: volume split or tone split and I can't decide which one I would follow. What's the difference? Any suggestion please? Thank you. Regards.
Hi, there is no difference except one uses tone splits and the other uses volume. Tone is much easier to install though so that is what I’d recommend and why our prewired version uses tone splits: www.sixstringsupplies.co.uk/product/les-paul-harness-coil-split
thanks sir keep sakses
what would i do differently if i wanted to have the push pull as tone pots?
ua-cam.com/video/5bOz6FxPDSs/v-deo.html
Is it much different if the push-pull is on the tone knobs?
slightly, see diagram here: sixstringsupplies.co.uk/pages/coil-split-les-paul-tone-push-pull-pots or this video: ua-cam.com/video/5bOz6FxPDSs/v-deo.html
Hi sir, is this 50's style wiring? Thanks
If I'm using an existing tone pot that has the capacitor on the end prong can I run the wire from the middle or do I need to change it? It's only has 1 volume and 1 tone knob with 1 humbucker. I'm putting the push/pull on the volume.
Hi Michael, this should help: www.sixstringsupplies.co.uk/les-paul-junior-coil-split-wiring
It amazes me how many people think using orange drop caps makes any kind of difference on tone pots.
I have a question, I want to change the knobs of the coil split of my les paul, but it is impossible, is there any way to remove these knobs? thanks
I need help coil splitting Dimarzio pickups to a cts please!!!!!
Could you wire an HSS Strat with a coil split for the humbucker?
I can for a future video yes
@@SixStringSupplies Wonderful! Thank you so much! I love watching your videos easily the best wiring tutorials! Keep up the good work!
Many thanks sir! A few more videos have been recorded which will be edited and published over the coming weeks. Thanks for your support. 👍
I've got push pull coil split on my les paul , and I want to change back to non coil split , I've got new pots coming but what do I do with all the extra wires !
Seymour Glass hi depends on your pickups, but most manufacturers will have clear details on what to do, send me an email with your pickups and I’ll be glad to help.: info@sixstringsupplies.co.uk
@@SixStringSupplies Ty so much for answering ! I managed to do it myself after soldering and desoldering the wires 3 times to find the hot wire ! Ty 👍
@@Dad-Gad could you tell how you did it please
How come I saw another Video and he did the split on the Tone control knob?
Hi, because you can do it on the volume or the tone controls, whatever your preference is
What do the capacitor do on the tone knobs
Want to ask..capacitor recommendations for gibson SG standars 2007, what type is suitable bro ..?
0.022
I have Sg standard I wanna coil split it but my sg’s has quick connect pots have you ever make it coil split? Sorry my English
Hi you can’t, you would need to remove the quick connect system
Also, if I use something other than CTS Pots thats no issue correct?
You can use any push pull pots you like, we just keep the CTS ones in stock so that’s why it’s used in this video. Thanks for watching
I bought gibson pots to do it but it have only 2 pins for the push pull and as i can see its useless to have 6 pins as long as all you need is to short one of the 2 coils. And a dual 2 way switch is bigger for nothing 🤷♂️
a fair point, but a 6 pin allows more wiring options
hi, may I ask what diameter of wire for soldering? 1 mm?
Hi, it’s 0.7mm
Can all Gibson p ups be cool tapped?
Hi no, needs to be 4 conductor wire. If it’s braided wire, it’s not possible. Thanks for watching
Six String Supplies thank you. U da man!!
Push pull pots are A500k or B500k??
Hi they are audio/log taper, A500k
Lespaul 4 Push pull please
it is coming soon!
@@SixStringSupplies And the difference between jimmy page 50 'style and regular 4 push pull
Does the 96Sn/4Ag solder work as well as the one you used? Thank you!
Should do mate - the higher the Ag content the better
Why didn’t show how to connect jack and switch?
Because it has been covered in many previous videos: m.ua-cam.com/video/HxN01_q2Zvo/v-deo.html