Epiphone Les Paul Standard
I picked this up in a pawn shop for less than half its cost new, priced thusly primarily because it didn't have the control cavity covers.  Ha!  Those things rarely stay on my guitars for long anyway!
Modification #1: Chandler Tone X on-board preamp*
Control: Active circuit on push-pull potentiometer in place of the bridge pick-up tone knob

Function: When you pull up on the knob, the preamp is turned on.  Rotating it changes the amplified frequency, just like with a wah pedal.  While you obviously can't rotate it while playing the way you can the pedal.  Instead, you set it to the "sweet spot" in your guitar's tone.  Joe Perry's original signature model Gibson Les Paul had this installed.

*Available through .

(future) Modification #2: Phase switch
Control: Push-pull pot under the neck pick-up tone knob.

Function: Throws the bridge pick-up electrically "out of phase" with the neck pick-up when the two are combined.

(future) Modification #3: Series/Parallel switch on the neck pick-up
Control: Push-pull pot under the neck pick-up tone knob.

Function: The coils of each humbucking pick-up are normally combined in series.  This switch allows them to be combined in parallel in the neck pick-up to produce a more glassy (i.e. Srat-like) sound.

(future) Modification #4: New pick-ups
I haven't decided which pick-ups to add in here.  Believe it or not, I enjoy the thick, smooth sound of the stock Epiphone pick-ups, but I would rather have something with more versatility
(future) Modification #5: Coil taps
Control: Push-pull pot under the neck pick-up volume knob.

Function: New, 4-conductor pick-ups will allow me to tap the humbuckers and get single-coil sounds, which would be very nice, given all the other options I've crammed into this axe.

The Big Picture
The basic ("stock") LP only allows only 3 combinations of pick-ups.
 
Stock configuration:
  • Neck 
  • Neck + Bridge 
  • Bridge 
The configuration in this guitar allows 8 more combinations in addition to the 3 above:
 
with the coils tapped:
  • Neck (tapped)
  • Neck (tapped) + Bridge (tapped)
  • Bridge (tapped)
with the phase switch on: 
  • Neck + Bridge (out of phase... duh!)
with the coils tapped *and* the phase switch on: 
  • Neck (tapped) + Bridge (tapped) (combined out of phase)
with the series/parallel switch on: 
  • Neck (coils in parallel)
  • Neck (coils in parallel) + Bridge (standard series)
with the series/parallel and phase switches on: 
  • Neck (coils in parallel) + Bridge (standard series) (combined out of phase)
The schematic
Coming soon(er or later).
Copywrite Alexplorer.
Home