coil tapping(yet again), phasing, & series/parallel

A

a_goodlett

New member
hey tech people out there, i'm lookin to do all that coil tapping, phasing, and series/parallel stuff to a les paul standard. i'm not that experienced working on guitars, but i have plenty of soldering & electrical experience. is this something that someone of my level could take on? also does any one know of any helpful sites, books, whatever that has instructions on this? i'm wanting to make it similar to jimmy pages. it doesn't have to be EXACTLY like it. just similar so it can "expand",for lack of a better word, w/ me ya know? also does anyone know of any other cool modifications to les pauls & strats?

later kids
 
one suggestion i would make about this would be to use push pull pots over those mini switches. The mini switches are much cheaper but always seem to get flipped while strumming. Another cool modification for strats would be to add a push pull pot (or mini switch) that turns the bridge pickup on and off. this will give you 7 pickup combinations by allowing you to have all three on or just the neck and bridge. I did this to one of mine, I don't use the extra two settings often but they come in handy every now and then.
 
One more thing

Since it seems like you are really into Jimmy Page you might want to look at telecasters. Contrary to what Gibson would have you believe most of the early stuff (including stairway) was recorded with a telecaster.
 
This is easy....

Ok, all you need is a couple drill bits, some switches, and small wire. I have done these kind of mods to all my guitars. First, go find an electronics store that isn't radio shack, their switches suck and they cost like $5. I got all my switches for about $1 a piece.

What you are looking for are DPDT (double pole double throw) switches. Basically this means that it will control two circuits at the same time, which all mods other than coil tapping require. DPDT switches have two rows of three contacts:
[] [] []
[] [] [] <-something like that.

DPDT switches come in many styles, ON/ON, ON/ON/ON, ON/OFF/ON, etc. One cool thing about ON/OFF/ON switches is that it can serve double duty as a phase, splitter, series switch AND an on/off switch.... EG. Position 1: series . Position 2: off . Position 3: parrallel.

My guitar has a on/off/phase switch on the two single coils; a series/off/parallel, a coil splitter, and a selector for the coil splitter on the humbucker. Don't put the effort into putting a phase switch on every pickup, think about it.. you can leave one pickup without the phase switch.

You need some thin wire to make connections, and a drill to make holes to fit the switches in. Drill through the top of the guitar, it will be much cleaner.

That will tell you what is involved, email me at pushit75@yahoo.com for diagrams or if you have any questions..... switches are cool!
 
Oh, I also have an on/momentary off switch right before the output so i can get that choppy 'switching between on and off pickups' sound without having to turn the volume on any pickups down.
 
yeah i know Jimmy Page used a Tele on the early stuff. I want to try out some tele's (prolly tonight). but i love the les paul neck. especially down low where the neck meets the body. that little curve makes it a whole bunch easier for vibrato & big bends. i understood tele's to have an even thinner neck that strats. but i may be wrong. any info on the matter? thanx for all the info people. hopefully i won't mess up completely. but i guess i gotta start somewhere right? later
 
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