The Peter Green mod/setup (again...sigh)?

[tomteriffic]

The Peter Green sound.  What is it?  Why is it?  Why is there so little of about and is it contagious?

Surreptitiously, folks.... I seem to recall it's just a flipped magnet in one of the humbuckers and that's it.  Have I got that right?

TIA

[bruce919]

you can do it two ways. 1. Flip the magnet 2. If you have a four conductor lead you can wire it to flip how the coils are wired with a push pull or mini toggle. Some pickups really create a standout out of phase tone others I've tired its not as pronounced. There are a thousand stories that seem to give a different account of what was done to the neck pickup. One stated the neck pickup was rewound with a different type of wire , I do think that has an effect on the out of phase position tone. Get a hot PAF style for the bridge and get a pat. Number slightly hotter pickup for the neck with the magnet flip. To each there own.

[velorush]

According to Jol:

The mystery was solved in the early 1980s, when then owner Gary Moore took the guitar to his friend and the founder of Hamer guitars, Jol Dantzig.

Both Moore and Dantzig assumed that the secret to Peter Green’s tone was out of phase pickups.

When pickups are wired out of phase, they usually produce a sound that is typically a bit thin and hollow. This they thought, accounted for the difference in tone in Green’s Les Paul.

They agreed to deconstruct the instrument, expecting to find that Green had re-wired his pickups to achieve his signature sound. When they took it apart though, they found that this wasn’t the case.

The guitar was essentially an off the shelf model. Dantzig remained puzzled, until he checked the polarity of the pickups. In his own words:

Quote

I used a compass to measure the pickups’ magnetic polarity. I discovered that one magnet was oriented north-to-south while the other was oriented south-to-north. The pickups were magnetically out of phase—this was the secret we’d all been searching for!

Jol Dantzig

Dantzig suspected that the guitar had been set up incorrectly at the Gibson factory. If that was the case, then it was certainly a happy accident in a year when Gibson manufactured thousands of Les Pauls.

This was an idea supported by Joe Bonamassa, who acquired a 1959 Gibson just over 10 years ago that had the same feature.

 

Edited to add: "thousands of Les Pauls?"  "Thousands?"  There were only around 1800 bursts built 1958 - 1960 (of which only around 2,500 - 3,500 survive 🙃).  They just didn't sell well, which gave us the SG.  [/opinion]

[JGravelin]

There might be more to the story, depending on who you believe: https://music-electronics-forum.com/forum/instrumentation/pickup-makers/4693-peter-green-neck-pickup

[Jakeboy]

 Flip the mag, and flip the pickup around.  A great sound..,unless you are a guitarist like me who LOVES the in-between in phase tone….I need that chime….

[Dutchman]

It's super easy with Pete's humbucker system. You can adjust the "charm" super easy from #2 AlNiCo to Ceramic.

Made to easily swap magnets and they sound good too!

https://vintagevibeguitars.com/about.html

[Jakeboy]

+1 on the Pete Biltoft buckers and other pickups too! 

[Cboss]

17 hours ago, velorush said:

According to Jol:

The mystery was solved in the early 1980s, when then owner Gary Moore took the guitar to his friend and the founder of Hamer guitars, Jol Dantzig.

Both Moore and Dantzig assumed that the secret to Peter Green’s tone was out of phase pickups.

When pickups are wired out of phase, they usually produce a sound that is typically a bit thin and hollow. This they thought, accounted for the difference in tone in Green’s Les Paul.

They agreed to deconstruct the instrument, expecting to find that Green had re-wired his pickups to achieve his signature sound. When they took it apart though, they found that this wasn’t the case.

The guitar was essentially an off the shelf model. Dantzig remained puzzled, until he checked the polarity of the pickups. In his own words:

Dantzig suspected that the guitar had been set up incorrectly at the Gibson factory. If that was the case, then it was certainly a happy accident in a year when Gibson manufactured thousands of Les Pauls.

This was an idea supported by Joe Bonamassa, who acquired a 1959 Gibson just over 10 years ago that had the same feature.

 

Edited to add: "thousands of Les Pauls?"  "Thousands?"  There were only around 1800 bursts built 1958 - 1960 (of which only around 2,500 - 3,500 survive 🙃).  They just didn't sell well, which gave us the SG.  [/opinion]

1800 built but 2500-3500 survive? Wow, it's like the loaves and fishes🤔

[Dave Scepter]

56 minutes ago, Cboss said:

1800 built but 2500-3500 survive? Wow, it's like the loaves and fishes🤔

I was just about to say the same thing 🤣

[velorush]

On 11/14/2023 at 8:40 AM, Cboss said:

1800 built but 2500-3500 survive? Wow, it's like the loaves and fishes🤔

 

On 11/14/2023 at 9:37 AM, Dave Scepter said:

I was just about to say the same thing 🤣

No one's heard that old joke?  It's referring to how many fakes there are out there.  I think it's even in "Beauty of the Burst."

[Cboss]

42 minutes ago, velorush said:

 

No one's heard that old joke?  It's referring to how many fakes there are out there.  I think it's even in "Beauty of the Burst."

That makes sense..there is someone on reverb asking $15k for "original " pafs from one of these, I'd imagine these are faked all the time too

[velorush]

18 hours ago, Cboss said:

That makes sense..there is someone on reverb asking $15k for "original " pafs from one of these, I'd imagine these are faked all the time too

Yes. Much less capital investment involved in faking the pickups.  Here's an interesting resource along those lines.

[Cboss]

Really interesting site, thx I like the old font much better