Les Paul Professional electronics pro...

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Author Message   Tef Username: Tef Registered: 7-2007 Posted on Friday, August 17, 2007 - 5:44 pm:    I received my les paul professional some time ago. It's a pre lawsuit, so to speak, and it's in great shape; no scratches, everything looks perfect. However the electronics are not as quiet as I expected them tobe. Actually, the only setting where there's no hum is with the pup selector in middle position and the phase switch in out of phase setting. I contacted a german guy who's really into guitar electronics and he has already given me some advice. He claims the pups are not low impedance and the double coils are not in phase causing all the humming. HE can fix it for 300euros. Quite a lot considering I bought it for 400$ (including HSC).... Does anyone have experience with these guitars? Does anyone have an easier way to make this axe shine? It plays great and I hear a lot of potential in tonal possibilities. Hope someone can help! Thanks, thomas   Chucke99 Username: Chucke99 Registered: 2-2007 Posted on Thursday, August 23, 2007 - 1:19 am:    Could it be that the ground wire is not touching the bridge post? I rewired an LP clone and had to shove the grounding wire down this hole that I assumed went all the way to the metal post of the bridge or tailpiece. Just a guess. -Chuck   Lvdvondel Username: Lvdvondel Registered: 9-2005 Posted on Thursday, August 23, 2007 - 3:21 am:    300 euros to repair electronics? woaw!... To me it sounds like you have a grounding/shielding problem. Check the grounds and eventually resolder them. I can not image the double coils are not in phase. If not, this causes other problems but not hum.   Gemberbier Username: Gemberbier Registered: 5-2006 Posted on Thursday, August 23, 2007 - 9:50 am:    €300.- sounds like a real rip-off to me... I think Chuck and Lieven are right. We have solved so many of similar problems on distance. We charge nothing. But you have to hold the solder iron. If the pickups have no broken coils, repairs don't have to be that expensive. What IS expensive: rewinding of pickups, new pickups, finish jobs, refretting. Now, the wiring diagram of a Les Paul Professional is different from normal Les Pauls, and what you have is probably different from the original Gibson. What's most likely to find through Google is the wiring diagram of the Gibson original. Then we need some measurements of your pickups. Perhaps Harry has some pictures of cleaning operations of one of his replicas and measurements. As long as you don't replace any parts, all it costs is time. If you see it as a hobby, it is free. If you have a time is money philosophy, it depends on what you normally get per hour. Ginger   Jimmys Username: Jimmys Registered: 5-2003 Posted on Thursday, August 23, 2007 - 9:57 am:    Dumb question maybe, but if your pickups have covers, are you sure that you have humbuckers? I read here somewhere that some early Ibanezes used single coil pickups but made them look like humbuckers with the cover being the same size as a humbucker. Could this be the case with yours? It is pretty unusual for a humbucker guitar to hum and my humbucker Ibanezes are really quiet, unless they have a splittable pickup and I use the single coil mode. When it is in the middle position, you are using both pickups so it reduces/cancels hum - but I have usually found that only single coil guitars display the problem you are having. Different power supplies and venues cause different amounts of hum also. I think that Flurescent lights can also create hum (strange but I have experienced this for sure in one particular hall many times and the hum reduces as you rotate the guitar through a 90 degree arc). In another room I go to, there is zero hum for the same guitar and amp setup, so perhaps your hum is environmentally induced? Can you try another guitar out to see if it hums also in the same setting as you use for the Les Paul? If you have humbuckers for sure, then do as Chuck and Lvdvondel suggest and check the grounding wires. Also, can you see if the guitar electronics have been altered? Maybe somone has stuffed something up. In any case, what did the 300 euro guy say he would do to the guitar to fix it? Can you take it to a local luthier or shop for an opinion? We have an early 70's Ibanez Les Paul copy and it definitely has humbuckers and no hum in any position. It has Maxon pickups. Let us know how you go with it. Good luck, James   Tef Username: Tef Registered: 7-2007 Posted on Thursday, August 23, 2007 - 5:42 pm:    Thanks people for all your reactions! I'm going to dive into this axe this weekend, together with a good luthier (I'm not that technical myself). We'll see what kind of pups will come out from under these covers. They do sound like humbuckers! I'll check the ground wire. I'll keep you informed.

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