Wiring on exclusive Pelham Blue SG- PCB or hand wired?

[Bubbalou88]

Yeah, he was off on the preamp statement but I do agree with him on the PCB thing; if you are worried about the sound between something that is on a PCB versus something that is hand wired, I think you're doing it wrong.

If anything, there's less room for dumb things to happen with PCBs because the board spinning and soldering process are a lot less prone to error than people hand soldering stuff in component to component.

But if you're annoyed that it's not so easy to modify the setup they have, I get that. I rarely screw around in control cavities on guitars unless I'm changing the control configuration, or repairing something. But I know people want to change cutoff frequencies, tighten up tolerances, and change taper types and such on their controls. The PCBs aren't conducive for that.

Having an electrical engineering degree and playing guitar sometimes clash for me. Guitarists often use a lot of terminology that is either really wrong or are misnomers. The electrical parts in all guitars are often referred to as "electronics" but that's not correct. "Electronic" is used when active components (things that are powered) are being discussed. Passive components, like those of most guitars, are simply electric. It would be kind of weird to say "electrics" so we'd probably say "electric components" or something that, but that doesn't sound very guitar-y. And if you have EMGs, you have electronics, and so it probably just gets confusing. So I don't like it and just have to suck it up.

Having been in electronics for 45 years I can see you getting concerned over some things but frankly in the electronics world I have been associated with electronics consist of Passive and Active components. True most guitars have passive but they are passive electronic components just like capacitors and resisters are passive (electronic) components. Circuit Boards are also used in electronics as are switches, jacks, cables, etc.
Now, having said that, one of my 3 bass guitars has active electronics consisting of an active preamp, switches, potentiometers (Pots) that are variable resisters but still electronics. A microphone that is not powered is similar to Pickups on guitars (both considered electronics even though they have electrical properties they are used to produce an audio electronic signal to feed to an amplifier. Not meaning any disrespect here just a difference of opinion.

 

[Colnago]

Being bored today I decided to rewire my SG Special which had the PCB board with Gibson mounted pots. I desoldered the pots and used them with standard wiring. I used new orange drop capacitors and braided wiring from the switch in order to ground everything up 50’s style and it worked out great.
So for those with hatred towards the PCB, just desolder the parts from the board and reuse them the old school way. Pretty simple.

 

[cerebral gasket]

It takes a college degree to break it and a high school diploma to fix it.

 

[KelvinS1965]

Being bored today I decided to rewire my SG Special which had the PCB board with Gibson mounted pots. I desoldered the pots and used them with standard wiring. I used new orange drop capacitors and braided wiring from the switch in order to ground everything up 50’s style and it worked out great.
So for those with hatred towards the PCB, just desolder the parts from the board and reuse them the old school way. Pretty simple.

I found the pots on my 2019 SG Standard were very flimsy in feel (like they weren't connected) and didn't like the abrupt range. Since I had spare CTS pots anyway, I just took the whole PCB out (and also the pickups, but that's another story) so I can put the guitar back to standard later, just incase I should ever want to sell it. I wish I'd done this on a Gretsch I bought last year as I would like to sell that now but it's a lot of work to put it back to standard with the original pick ups...I live and learn though.

Now with the 50s wiring and new CTS pots they have a nicer feel and a more gradual roll off. I put a 0.015uF orange drop cap on the neck tone pot too, which seems to work well. I actually use the tone controls on this guitar, so it's been worthwhile.

I love Pelham blue on an SG too, but I already have my (only) SG, so willl have to admire from afar.

 

[Bettyboo]

Having an electrical engineering degree and playing guitar sometimes clash for me. Guitarists often use a lot of terminology that is either really wrong or are misnomers. The electrical parts in all guitars are often referred to as "electronics" but that's not correct. "Electronic" is used when active components (things that are powered) are being discussed. Passive components, like those of most guitars, are simply electric. It would be kind of weird to say "electrics" so we'd probably say "electric components" or something that, but that doesn't sound very guitar-y. And if you have EMGs, you have electronics, and so it probably just gets confusing. So I don't like it and just have to suck it up.

I'm pretty old, so electronics may have been different in my day... but, when I studied analogue electronics with silly stuff like capacitors, switches, resistors and bits of wire, nobody called it electrics. &, the electronics textbooks had the same stuff in it too. I'm old and dumb, but to me, my 2019 SG Special has analogue electronics in it. If you added a battery and some other analogue electronics, that wouldn't change it to digital electronics unless there was some kinda digital, binary, 1s and 0s going on, maybe a chip running software, however low level...

But, I know sweet FA and can hear a difference with my shitty PCB (or at least my mind tells me that there's something missing, and I foolishly believe it - a bit like when my mind told me it was a good idea to marry the wife because there was something missing in my life...

My PB Special left the factory in July '19.

That's good. Gibson were clearly just getting rid of the old PCB stock and it's luck of the drawer... My feb '19 guitar has the circuitboard. A bit irritating because I don't love the pickups and would like to change them for non "quick connect" pickups. The upside is that I'll try using the knobs and adjusting the pickup height to see if I like the sounds better; might even try some different strings or playing techiques (God forbid).

 

[jonnyfez]

I'm pretty old, so electronics may have been different in my day... but, when I studied analogue electronics with silly stuff like capacitors, switches, resistors and bits of wire, nobody called it electrics. &, the electronics textbooks had the same stuff in it too. I'm old and dumb, but to me, my 2019 SG Special has analogue electronics in it. If you added a battery and some other analogue electronics, that wouldn't change it to digital electronics unless there was some kinda digital, binary, 1s and 0s going on, maybe a chip running software, however low level...

But, I know sweet FA and can hear a difference with my shitty PCB (or at least my mind tells me that there's something missing, and I foolishly believe it - a bit like when my mind told me it was a good idea to marry the wife because there was something missing in my life...



That's good. Gibson were clearly just getting rid of the old PCB stock and it's luck of the drawer... My feb '19 guitar has the circuitboard. A bit irritating because I don't love the pickups and would like to change them for non "quick connect" pickups. The upside is that I'll try using the knobs and adjusting the pickup height to see if I like the sounds better; might even try some different strings or playing techiques (God forbid).

I would definitely play with the pickup heights. I love mine. Best sounding p90s I have - or had.

 

[Bubbalou88]

Being bored today I decided to rewire my SG Special which had the PCB board with Gibson mounted pots. I desoldered the pots and used them with standard wiring. I used new orange drop capacitors and braided wiring from the switch in order to ground everything up 50’s style and it worked out great.
So for those with hatred towards the PCB, just desolder the parts from the board and reuse them the old school way. Pretty simple.

I thought about doing just that to my 2016 SG but decided to leave it as it is not causing any problem but will consider doing that if ever becomes a problem. Yes not hard , just take time to do a neat job and good solder job

 

[Bubbalou88]

I'm pretty old, so electronics may have been different in my day... but, when I studied analogue electronics with silly stuff like capacitors, switches, resistors and bits of wire, nobody called it electrics. &, the electronics textbooks had the same stuff in it too. I'm old and dumb, but to me, my 2019 SG Special has analogue electronics in it. If you added a battery and some other analogue electronics, that wouldn't change it to digital electronics unless there was some kinda digital, binary, 1s and 0s going on, maybe a chip running software, however low level...

But, I know sweet FA and can hear a difference with my shitty PCB (or at least my mind tells me that there's something missing, and I foolishly believe it - a bit like when my mind told me it was a good idea to marry the wife because there was something missing in my life...



That's good. Gibson were clearly just getting rid of the old PCB stock and it's luck of the drawer... My feb '19 guitar has the circuitboard. A bit irritating because I don't love the pickups and would like to change them for non "quick connect" pickups. The upside is that I'll try using the knobs and adjusting the pickup height to see if I like the sounds better; might even try some different strings or playing techiques (God forbid).

When I decided to change pickups I found new connectors on EBay so it turned out nicely

 

[Bettyboo]

^ Yeah, that's also a good route if they can be found cheap.

 

[Bubbalou88]

^ Yeah, that's also a good route if they can be found cheap.

Here is a link to Gibson Pickup connectors


https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=gibson+pickup+connector&_sacat=0

 

[Decadent Dan]

The Pelham blue Standard changed mid 19 to a batwing with rounded profile neck, Grovers, 490’s, pcb, aluminum tune-o-matic/stop tail and a soft case.