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How to wire a Gibson Les Paul electric guitar
Wiring a Gibson Les Paul Guitar
GuitarKitsDirect.com
Gibson Les Paul Style Guitar KIt
WiRING A LES PAUL
The Les Paul is the guitar for playing rock music. Nothing will get your blood boiling more than
one of these guitars combined with a vintage Marshall amp. The powerful Les Paul humbucking pickups
eliminate unwanted noise and give the guitar a fat and crisp sound. The mahogany body also helps
shape the sound on this amazing guitar.
TOOLS FOR THE JOB
First, we need to talk about the tools you will need for changing your electronics.
1 – Output jack
4 – 500K pots
2 – .020µF capacitor
1 – Gibson toggle switch
1 – guitar wire 22AWG, white
1 – guitar wire 22AWG, black
1 – 25+ Watt soldering iron
1 – phillips screwdriver
1 – wire cutting and stripping tool
1 – rosin core solder
Now that you have an understanding of the strat and tele guitar wiring, let’s look at the Les Paul.
It’s actually setup pretty similar to the telecaster wiring, with the addition of a toggle switch,
and an extra volume and tone control. Also, the potentiometers are increased to 500K to bring out more of
the highs. Take a look at how the rhythm pickup is wired. Each pickup follows this pattern. The
pickup goes into the volume pot, then out to the tone control. The main output to the jack comes
from the toggle switch. The tone pots have .020 uf capacitors which send the treble to ground.
Notice how the toggle switch works. One side turns the treble pickup on, and the other side turns
the rhythm pickup on. The two middle connections turn both pickups on. These inner two lugs need to
be connected together. Some Gibson style toggle switches will have only three lugs, one for the
treble pickup, one for the output, and one the rhythm pickup. The far left and far right toggle
switch lugs will connect to the middle 2 volume pot lugs. Also, a ground wire will be attached to
the back side of the toggle switch.
The rest of the wiring is pretty simple. Add the .020 uf capacitors to the tone pots and make sure
that every pot has a ground wire soldered to its case. Also, solder the ground wire from the bridge
post to one of the pots where the other ground wires are connected. The bridge ground wire
needs to touch some part of the metal bridge, like one of the posts. All ground wires will need to
be connected to each other. Don’t forget to add a ground wire that connects to the ground lug on
the output jack. And that’s all there is to it.
Most of the wires in this photo are shielded in grey and black cables, so it is hard to see what’s
going on. The thick black cables house the pickup hot and ground wires.
Now take a look at the output jack. Both wires are shielded in a grey cable.
Here is the finished wiring.
Note: if you have a 4-wire humbucking pickup, then you will need to connect the two finish wires
together, unless you plan on hot rodding your guitar. Once the finish wires are connected, they
will form a series link, which will boost the output. This will leave you with a hot wire that goes
to the volume pot, and 2 ground wires that go to the volume pot case. The diagram below shows a
humbucker that uses the same wire color codes as a Seymour Duncan pickup. Check out the question
and answers section for more info on wiring 4-wire humbucking pickups.
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How to wire a Fender Stratocaster guitar
Wiring a Stratocaster
GuitarKitsDirect.com
Note that Guitar Kits Direct Strat style guitar kit comes with all the wiring already pre-wired and assembled,
only the jack plug and ground wire to bridge need soldering, you can view photos by clicking the picture.
This article is to teach you the basics and give you an overview of how guitars are wired together.
Click Image for details on the kit
Let’s talk about the legendary Stratocaster guitar. Personally, I don’t think you can find a better sounding guitar anywhere. The unmistakeable strat sound is more tapered, with less highs and lows than other guitars, and it has more midrange. Much of the strat’s popularity comes from it’s hollow pickup cavity, and it’s neck and middle pickups. It is perfect for playing the blues, jazz, or rock. These guitars are described by many as having a quacky, or even smokey sound. Now let’s wire one.
TOOLS FOR THE JOB
First, we need to talk about the tools you will need for changing your electronics.
1 – Output jack
3 – 250K pots
1 – .050µF capacitor
1 – 5-way lever switch
1 – guitar wire 22AWG, white
1 – guitar wire 22AWG, black
1 – 25+ Watt soldering iron
1 – phillips screwdriver
1 – wire cutting and stripping tool
1 – rosin core solder
ASSEMBLING THE PICKGUARD
Install the potentiometers, or pots, and the 5-way switch in the pickguard. When the pickguard is upside down, the spring on the 5-way switch will be facing away from the pickups. Align the two tone pots so that the lugs are facing each other. The volume control will be closest to the pickups.
HEATING UP THE SOLDERING IRON
Lets get the soldering iron ready. Plug it in and let it heat up in its holder. Remember, your soldering iron can get up to 700 degrees, or more, so be careful
SOLDERING THE OUTPUT JACK
Next, we are going to solder the ground wire and hot wire to the output jack. The lug that connects to the prong is the hot connection. Solder the hot and ground wires to the output jack. Then screw the output jack back into the guitar.
SOLDERING THE POTS
Add solder to the volume pot, and tone pot cases. All of the ground wires will be connected to each other on the pot cases. Now connect the far right volume pot lug to its own case. You can use a wire for this connection, or just bend the lug until it touches the case, and then add solder.
SOLDERING THE PICKUP GROUND WIRES
Find the 3 ground wires that come out of the pickups. Normally, they will be black wires, or they will be unshielded. The colored wires are usually the hot wires. Twist the three ground wires together and solder them to the volume pot case.
SOLDERING THE REST OF THE GROUND WIRES
Next, you are going to find the bridge ground wire and solder it to the volume pot. You are also going to solder the output jack wire to the volume pot. After that, you will connect the volume and tone pots with 2 more wires. The bridge ground will probably already be connected to the tremolo claw on the back of the guitar if you have a whammy bar. If it is not connected, you can always attach it to the bridge. All you have to do is send the wire under the bridge, and put it through one of the screw holes on the bridge. Then wrap the wire around one of the screws while it is being tightened down. This will prevent the bridge ground from moving.
Now connect the rest of the ground wires.
SOLDERING THE PICKUP HOT WIRES
Next, you will solder the hot wires from the pickups to the left side of the 5-way switch. Connect the neck pickup. This diagram is uses a 5-way switch from stewmac.com. If you have a Fender or CRL switch, then the sides will be reversed on the 5-way switch. Check out page 16 for an explanation of the different lever switches.
Next connect the middle pickup.
Now do the same to the bridge pickup.
ADDING THE JUMPER
Now connect the top left lug to the bottom right lug on the 5-way switch. Twist another wire to the right lug wire, and solder it to the left volume pot lug. Also connect the left and right sides of the 5-way switch. Then connect them to the volume pot lug.
CONNECTING THE VOLUME POT TO THE OUTPUT
Now you can connect the middle volume pot lug to the output jack.
CONNECTING THE 5-WAY SWITCH TO THE TONE POTS
The next step involves soldering the lever switch to the middle tone pot lug.
Next, you are going to solder the 5-way switch to the bottom tone control. Connect it to the left lug.
ADDING THE CAPACITOR
Solder the capacitor to the middle tone control. Remember, the stronger capacitor you use, the more bass your guitar will have. Connect the capacitor to the right lug on the middle tone control, then solder it to the case. That same lug will also connect to the middle lug on the bottom tone control.
That’s all there is to it. Here is the finished wiring.
If you are using a megaswitch instead of a lever switch, then you can wire the guitar like this.
If you just wanted one master volume and tone control for all three pickups, you could wire the guitar like the diagram below. This would also give your bridge pickup a tone control. Notice a .01 capacitor has been added to the volume pot to take out some of the highs, and then put them back in the circuit before they go to the output. This prevents some of the highs from naturally bleeding out of a 250K pot.
Question: I’ve noticed the Fender and CRL selector switches look different than the Stewart McDonald selector switches. Will this change how to wire a guitar?
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Answer: Yes, it will. Basically, the Fender and CRL switches and the Stew Mac switches have their sides reversed. So the left side of a Fender or CRL switch is actually the right side of a Stew Mac switch. Fender and CRL switches look alike. Just pay attention to which side has the higher or lower set of lugs, and to what gets soldered to those lugs. Take a look at the diagrams on the next few pages.
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