'71 Les Paul Recording

[capwor]

I am looking for a wiring diagram for a Les Paul recording guitar. Would anyone know where I can get it. I gave my guitar to a repeatable guitar repair shop. They screwed it up and now, 25 years later,I would like to restore it to original. Can anyone help?

[Yew]

Im not that up on my Les paul History, But unless the dreaded 'norlin' era also affected les pauls (not just sg's) then any 50's or modern Les paul diagram should get you either there, or close enough that you can sacrifice some historical accuraccy for features.

[JohnH]

Actually it is very different. It had low impedance pickups, capable of running unaffected by long cable lengths (a bit like a dynamic mic), and a transformer to make a high impedance input if wanted. It was one of Les Pauls later inovations, and was the guitar that he played himself for the rest of his life. I have a schematic in a book, in a box, in a shed. Which box and which shed? I may be able to find it, but it should also be on the web somewhere.

cheers
John

John

[Yew]

Is that what the "Recording" bit in the name is about then? I was imagining Like an early "Studio" version of a standard 'paul. Especially as i know how much some guys over on the Gibson forum Love their vintage original stuff.

Over in the SG section we where much more relaxed. One of our guys glued 1 1/2" of oak onto the back of his SG, Just to see what happened.

[newey]

capwor-

Hello and Welcome to G-Nutz2!

You own one of the only Gibsons I've ever really lusted after. Played one in a music store in the early 1970s, but didn't have a prayer of ever owning one.

Very unlike other LPs. Seems to me we had something about the wiring a while back, I'll have to check in the basement.

Also, if I recall, there were a couple of different versions of this guitar, with different wiring, depending on the model year. Some, I think, did not have the dual Hi/Low impedance outputs.

Let me see what I can find.

[newey]

Don't see a diagram, but here's a schematic, which can be converted into a diagram. This is the original Gibson drawing:




Yours is, of course, the 1971 original version of this. The schematic shows this as having a switch to select Hi or Low impedance output. The 1977 version featured dual outputs rather than the switch.

BTW, in some discussion on the Gibson boards, it was recommended to forgo the onboard transformer for Hi impedance, and to use the low-z output and an in-line transformer instead. Cables with these in-line transformers can be had for microphones, and were said to sound better than the on-board transformer.

I believe before the Recording model was released, in 1969 or 1970 there was a precursor called the "LP Professional" (I think) with some of the same features.

This features a "Decade Control", using a rotary switch and a batch of resistors to alter the tone- something near and dear to the hearts of some of the Nutz.

[Glass Snuff]

Yep, the Les Paul Personal, Les Paul Professional and Les Paul Recording were made with low impedance pickups, Lester's "secret weapon". Oddly similar to Leo's story, Les was told by doctors he had a short time to live, so when he resigned with Gibson in the late '60s he gave them his personal recipe for the pickups. Being very clean and too weak to overdrive an amp, the guitars never caught on.

Here's a page I bookmarked a while ago:
jbwid.com/guitar/lpp02.htm

[capwor]

:)Thanks to everyone who replied. I can now get started on my restoration

[JohnH]

Thats a very interesting thread linked by GS. I think If I had one, it want to restore it but not mod it at all, its such a rare and unusual design, and being by LP himself. I'd build a seperate box to go before the amp, to boost it up to a nice hot input level if needed, so it could keep up with any normal guitar when drive is wanted.

[wolf]

Well, I suppose I should check Guitar Nutz 2 more frequently because I drew my own diagram based on newey's graphic

but it seems Glass Snuff posted a link to a rather thorough explanation of the LP Recording guitar as well as some great wiring diagrams.
Well, at least mine has an impedance switch.