How Does Guitar Wiring Affect TONE? [Comparison]

Video Chapters:
00:00 - Jam!
00:28 - Intro
01:12 - What Are These Wiring Styles?
03:06 - Comparison Intro
04:03 - Modern Wiring Demo
06:11 - ‘50s Wiring Demo
09:40 - Treble Bleed Demo
10:48 - Pros & Cons
14:54 - Which Style Do I Prefer?
16:15 - Outro

[gdavidfrye]

Electrical engineer (and guitarist) here. I think the simplest way to describe the electrical difference between 50's and modern is that, with 50's wiring, the tone input precedes the volume control. With modern wiring volume comes first, then the tone. If you think about the volume control as the primary control, the tone conditioning comes either before (50's) or after (modern) the volume.

That's not to say that the controls are independent of each other. Tone is a function of the value of all of the capacitor(s) and resistor(s) in the circuit. Both pots are variable resistors and their settings affect frequency response. But with modern wiring, the volume pot directly controls the output of the pickup.

[SylvainGaudreau-oi]

This is the most comprehensive explanation I've seen on YouTube for modern vs 50s vs TB. Thank you!

[buzzfretwear]

Damn - that opening sequence killed me! VERY nice playing my man!

[ryanpullin]

I usually swap all of my guitars to 50s wiring if it doesn’t already have a treble bleed. It’s no extra parts, an easy swap, and makes the guitar sound better to me, in general.

[wisk]

I ended up swapping my audio taper pots for linear taper ones on my volume pots. For me, the audio taper volume sweep range was too narrow, as the volume drop was too steep once you drop below 7. I play straight into the amp with 50s wiring, and swapping the volume pots for linear taper gave me some of what you were finding with treble bleed wiring.

[footchain]

Great 'splainin'. Answered a lot of questions for me. Thanks

[alxjfos]

Thanks Dylan, this was super informative! Now I think I’m gonna try 50s wiring on my SG as I like to mess with the pots a lot

[JamminJim]

Thanks Dylan, great explanation. I'm not sure if this qualifies as a wiring style but with 2 volume 2 tone guitars "decoupling" type wiring gives you almost infinite blending options as the 2 volume controls are independent. With this wiring its pretty much required to add a treble bleed to each control. One thing I dislike about the standard wiring of 2 volume 2 tone guitars is that if you turn the volume of one pickup off (in the middle position of the selector) the other pickup is off too. Decoupling fixes this as both are independent.

[leaharrington]

The Flying V triangle knobs do a similar thing, and i use that in a couple songs to avoid dancing on pedals. Single channel amp set good and hot, neck pickup on full, tone all the way off, bridge volume on about 2 or 3... i can go from thick crunchy lead to spanking bright clean by flipping the selector switch by feel while singing and not having to look down. I love it.

Also, the treble bleed in the pro ii tele changed my mind on treble bleed. Love it.

[daveshamir]

Great straightforward explanation of something that's always eluded me. Thanks, Dylan!

[pevsfreedom]

I swapped to 50s wiring on a LP about 2 days ago and it's absolutely jarring trying to figure out what the hell is going on between my volume and tone. I can see the pros but just trying to... use it while playing is weird so far, but that's after 15 years of modern wiring usage. The immediate things I see are a huge boost in brightness and my neck pickup sounds almost like a strat, which I actually like. The negatives, which may have to do with my new audio taper pots, is that I feel I only get a useble range between 8-10, and it seems like I have 2-4 volume controls now as the tone acts like a volume knob, instead of 1-2 depending on pickup selection. So I kind of am just throwing random knobs sometimes but I'm new at it - we'll see if I keep it.

[frankwebster]

I was just thinking about ripping the pcbs out of my SG and lp speacial and upgrading the pots. Thanks for this upload of great information!

[hippiebiker]

Thanks! My OCD will kick in and I’ll be wanting to open the control cavity on each of my 70+ guitars now to check the wiring…… plus write them all down for reference!

[andrus]

Probably one of the best videos out there explaining AND showing the difference in wiring types! I'm a 50's Gibson wiring style guy, even on single xD

[dobiqwolf]

Thank you for demonstrating the difference between all 3 wirings.
I did not know what the treble bleed do, now I know.
For what it is worth, I use 50's wiring with my humbucker guitars, I tried it and it was more pleasing to my hears and I like the control of the knobs.

[jrredfordmusic]

This is great. Glad to see you doing these videos. You’re a fantastic player. I’m new to 50’s wiring. I agree that they all have their up and downside.

[codyt]

Great work! This is hands down the most clear and concise explanation/demonstration of wiring types I've seen, and I've watched a lot of them on YouTube!

[globalnova]

good info but we really need to remember that we have a pickup selector switch too. for rhythm to lead and back again, flicking the switch rather than using the knobs can also work.

[guitarbluz]

Dylan, thanks so much for explaining the differences/nuances of the 3 main wiring configs. I thought I understood more than I actually did, but... nope! I've wired a couple of my electrics with a TB circuit and it's what I prefer...less to remember and the guitar reacts the way it's intended to.

[bigdummeh]

If you're a big fan of vintage fuzz cleanup then I'd avoid treble bleeds with no resistor, makes the cleans very bright. Other than that you really can't go wrong with any.