Les Paul Wiring: 50s vs 60s vs 60s Plus | ObsidianWire

The important point: your choice should depend on how you use your guitar's controls.

A typical Les Paul has:

• Two pickups
• Two volume controls
• Two tone controls
• A three-way pickup selector
• An output jack

Each pickup has its own volume and tone controls.

That independent control layout is what makes Les Paul wiring particularly interesting.

The wiring determines how the volume and tone circuits interact with one another and with the pickup as you adjust the controls.

With the controls fully open, different wiring arrangements can sound quite similar. The differences become much more apparent when you turn the volume or tone controls down.

This is why two Les Pauls with the same pickups can respond quite differently when you roll the volume back

The differences between these circuits are easiest to understand when you hear them.

Rather than relying entirely on descriptions such as "warmer", "brighter" or "more vintage", listen to how each circuit responds as the volume and tone controls are adjusted.

Pay particular attention to what happens when the volume control moves from:

10 → 8 → 6 → 4

That's where the differences between wiring approaches become most interesting.

Yes.

A typical Les Paul has separate volume and tone controls for the neck and bridge pickups.

That means the two sides of the guitar can be configured differently.

For example, you might prefer:

Bridge: 50s wiring

Neck: 60s Plus

That could give you a traditional volume-control response on one pickup while retaining additional clarity from the other.

This is one of the reasons Les Paul wiring can be so versatile.

The ObsidianWire Ultimate system takes this concept further, allowing selectable 50s and 60s Plus wiring for each pickup

With conventional wiring, changing between the two requires rewiring the guitar.

But you don't necessarily have to choose permanently.

The ObsidianWire MKII

The Vintage MKII for Les Paul gives you selectable Vintage 50s and 60s Plus modes.

This means you can experiment with both approaches on the same guitar and decide which response suits you.

That's particularly useful if you're unsure whether you prefer traditional 50s wiring or the clarity of a treble-bleed approach.

The MKII is professionally assembled and uses 500k CTS potentiometers, 0.022µF capacitors and an ObsidianWire Pro-Wired toggle switch.

A treble bleed is a small circuit incorporated around the volume control.

Its purpose is to allow more high-frequency content to remain audible as the volume control is turned down.

Without one, the interaction between the volume control, pickup and rest of the circuit can cause the guitar to sound darker at lower volume settings.

With a treble bleed, more of that high-frequency information can remain.

Is treble bleed better?

Again, not necessarily.

Some players love the consistent clarity.

Others prefer the natural darkening that occurs when they roll back the volume.

It's a matter of playing style and preference.

That's why having the ability to compare different approaches can be more useful than simply being told which one is "best."

Not automatically.

50s wiring has become popular because of the way it interacts with the guitar's volume control, particularly when cleaning up an overdriven amplifier.

But "better" depends on what you want from the guitar.

If you leave your volume at 10 most of the time, the difference may be relatively unimportant.

If you spend your entire gig moving between volume 10 and volume 5, the wiring can become much more noticeable.

The best wiring is the wiring that makes your guitar's controls work the way you want them to.

It can change the way the controls interact with the signal, particularly as you move the volume and tone controls away from maximum.

The wiring doesn't turn one pickup into another.

Instead, it changes the electrical relationship between the pickup, potentiometers, tone circuit and output.

That's why wiring modifications can be particularly noticeable when you're actively using the controls.

Potentiometer value is another important part of the equation.

Les Paul-style guitars commonly use 500k volume and tone pots, although actual resistance can vary.

A higher-value volume pot generally places less electrical load on the pickup, which can allow more high-frequency content through.

The actual behaviour of your guitar depends on the combined characteristics of:

• Pickup inductance
• Pot resistance
• Pot taper
• Tone capacitor
• Wiring topology
• Cable capacitance
• Amplifier input

This is why two guitars with nominally identical wiring can still sound and respond differently.

Absolutely.

A wiring modification doesn't exist in isolation.

A bright, low-output PAF-style pickup and a hot ceramic humbucker may respond quite differently to the same wiring arrangement.

That's also why descriptions such as:

"50s wiring always sounds brighter"

should be treated carefully.

The actual result depends on the complete electrical system.

The most useful way to think about wiring is not:

Which circuit sounds best?

but:

Which circuit behaves best with my pickups, amplifier and playing style?

Yes, with a compatible solderless harness.

A solderless wiring system replaces many of the conventional solder connections with purpose-designed connectors.

That can make installation and future compatible pickup changes considerably easier.

ObsidianWire's Les Paul systems are designed around solderless installation and include dedicated installation diagrams and compatibility information.

Compatibility depends on the individual product and pickup wiring.

The ObsidianWire MKII supports both two-conductor and four-conductor pickup installations, while advanced functions such as coil splitting require four-conductor pickups.

The Ultimate JP Mod specifically requires four-conductor pickups because its additional coil-splitting functionality needs access to the humbucker's individual coil connections.

If you're unsure which wires your pickups use, check the pickup manufacturer's wiring diagram or ObsidianWire's pickup colour-code guide.

I want traditional Les Paul behaviour

→ Vintage 50s

A great choice if you like using your volume control to move between clean and driven sounds.

I want conventional modern wiring

→ Modern 60s

A straightforward option if you prefer more independent controls and don't rely heavily on rolling the volume down.

I want clarity when I turn down

→ 60s Plus

A treble-bleed approach designed to retain more high-frequency content at lower volume settings.

I can't decide

→ ObsidianWire MKII

Switch between 50s and 60s Plus and find out which you prefer.

I want everything

→ The Ultimate JP Mod

Selectable 50s / 60s Plus wiring plus coil splitting, series and phase switching.