# Ditching the Gibson PCB?



## markxander (Oct 24, 2009)

My first Gibson with a PCB in it, looking at some new electronics in the next couple months. 

Do you guys just pull the whole PCB and mount the new pots right to the wood of the top?


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

That's what I did on my Studio (ok it's a 2014 LPJ model but no one knows what that is anymore). I wanted to keep the circuit board but a connector failed.
4 new 500k pots, 2 caps and some wire. 
The hard part is snipping off the connectors from the pickup leads and then figuring out how to wire up the 4 wires.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

I think @laristotle did a PCB to "vintage/regular/typical/normal" conversion.


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## BlueRocker (Jan 5, 2020)

Why? Does the Les Paul sound bad?


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

greco said:


> I think @laristotle did a PCB to "vintage/regular/typical/normal" conversion.


I installed one of these in a MIJ LP. One pot did not line up.
I didn't want to redrill a hole in the top, so instead, I desoldered the pot, redrilled the shaft hole in the PCB and tab holes, then resoldered.
Worked fine.
If this didn't work, option 2 would've been to desolder everything from the board, bend the pot tabs over, then install as regular components.


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## Latole (Aug 11, 2020)

I'm sure with some good skill in electronic anybody can do it

Question ; Why doing this mod ? 


PCB









No PCB


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## zztomato (Nov 19, 2010)

If it aint' broke....


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## Latole (Aug 11, 2020)

zztomato said:


> If it aint' broke....


100 % right 

And 100000% if you don't have very good skill in electronics


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

I wouldn't bother with such a change personally, but I must confess that looking at the two images posted by Latole above, the point to point soldering with no pcb would be what I would want if given the choice.


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## BlueRocker (Jan 5, 2020)

I have a Classic with PCB and a Classic without - they both sound great. I would only consider changing out the PCB if I wanted a different wiring scheme.


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## Tone Chaser (Mar 2, 2014)

I have two LP Studio Pro guitars from 2014 that I picked up for their feature set, neck profile, and playable nature. The tone from the overall guitar was awesome from the stock PCB electronics.

However, a couple of PCB sets became available on this forum from the recent Standard models and I picked them up to give them a shot. There are something like 21 different settings, including a straight through, everything on blower setting. I like it. Great bang for the buck, ability to swap pickups with Gibson connections in minutes. What’s not to like.

I can understand the desire of traditional wiring, but isn’t that limiting?


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

some of the pcb comes with push pulls, some do not. Nothing wrong with the pcb, some people just prefer vintage stuff. But if you upgrade pups to braided wire style you will be SOL with the pcb board. If you are keeping stock pups, I'd leave it alone. Of course, I would be happy to build you a harness if you hate the pcb that much


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

knight_yyz said:


> But if you upgrade pups to braided wire style you will be SOL with the pcb board.


Maybe not totally SOL ...


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

I love the simplicity and easy platform for mods that the point to point vintage wiring layout provides.

I don't think of a Les Paul as a "do all" sort of instrument. It's a guitar that has a few very strong tones. I guess I'm saying I don't need a Les Paul to have a wide array of tones, just the stock ones. No need or benefit to me in having a pcb.

In fact, I don't even need three out of the four standard pots. A pick up switch, master volume and maybe coil taps instead of the second V. No need for a tone pot at all for me.


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## Latole (Aug 11, 2020)

knight_yyz said:


> Nothing wrong with the pcb, some people just prefer vintage stuff.



100% right


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

zztomato said:


> If it aint' broke....


That was why I replaced mine in the used 2014LPJ I refinished. The multiple previous owners had messed up the tiny little connector removing it many times, and I finished it off for good. I tried reparing it but no luck.
So, in went 4 pots, and I put in a set of BB1/2.


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