This guitar representing Han Solo frozen in carbonite was made for Evanescence co-founder Ben Moody by Travis Stevens who is also responsible for building a Millennium Falcon guitar. Whether you are a Star Wars fan or not its good to see someone who is willing to play around and have some fun with guitar making. To build your own guitar visit www.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.
Click on pic to view kitWIRING A TELE
The Telecaster guitar has a spiky sound, with more highs and lows than other guitars. It is well
known for its bright and twangy sound that comes from the bridge pickup and solid body. It is loved
by many for its ability to play country, bluegrass, and even the blues.
TOOLS FOR THE JOB
First, we need to talk about the tools you will need for changing your electronics.
1 – Output jack
2 – 250K pots
1 – .050µF capacitor
1 – .001µF capacitor
1 – 3-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 CONTROL PLATE
The first step will be installing the potentiometers and 3-way switch in the control plate. When
the control plate is upside down, the spring on the 3-way switch will be facing away from the
guitar body. Align the two pots so that the lugs are facing each other.
SOLDERING THE OUTPUT JACK
Next, we are going to solder the ground wire and hot wire to the output jack. In order to solder
properly, you should first add solder to each part that is getting connected. Then touch the two
parts together along with the soldering iron. Make sure both parts don’t move until they cool down,
or else you will get a bad solder joint. It should only take a few seconds for the parts to cool
down after they have been soldered.
Next, fish all of the wires through the holes in the body. Pull in the output jack wires you just
soldered, and screw down the output jack plate. Pull the bridge pickup wires through the hole
closest to the bridge. Pull the neck pickup wires through the hole closest to the neck. Also add
a black bridge ground wire that is going to go through the hole closest to the bridge. That wire
will connect the bridge to the volume pot. Each pickup has a hot wire and a black ground wire.
The output jack also has a hot wire and black ground wire.
SOLDERING THE PICKUP WIRES
The next step will be to connect the hot wires from the bridge pickup to the top two lugs on the
right side of the 3-way switch. You can do this by twisting a small wire to the hot pickup wire. It
is much easier to solder one connection to one lug. So if several wires need to be connected to the
same lug or pot, twist them together before you solder them to the lug or case.
CONNECTING THE SWITCH TO THE VOLUME POT
Now you are going to connect the top left and bottom right lugs with a jumper wire. That wire will
connect to the left lug on the volume pot, and also to a small treble bleed capacitor. You will
have to twist a few wires together to do this. Make sure to cut and strip the wires to the correct size.
SOLDERING THE VOLUME AND TONE POTS
The next step involves soldering the hot wire from the output jack to the middle lug on the volume
pot. You will also be connecting the other end on the capacitor to that same lug.
Now you will connect the loose bridge ground wire to the right side of the volume pot. Solder it to
the metal casing. It will connect to another wire which goes to the right lug. That lug also will
connect to one of the prongs on the large capacitor. Before you do this, you will need to add
solder to the bottom of the volume pot case. Add solder to the left and right side.
Next you are going to connect the left lug of the volume pot to the left lug of the tone pot. Also
connect the right lug on the volume pot to the middle lug on the tone pot with a capacitor. You
will also need to solder a ground wire connecting both pots as shown in the picture. All pots will
need to be grounded, and all grounds will need to be connected to each other.
SOLDERING THE GROUND WIRES
Next, you are going to connect the three ground wires from the neck pickup, bridge pickup, and
output jack to the left side of the volume pot.
THE BRIDGE GROUND WIRE
The last step involves putting the black bridge ground wire through one of the screw holes in the
bridge. Wrap it around one of the screws and screw it down. This way it will stay in contact with
the bridge and won’t move.
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