Hi,

Has anyone tried the RS Guitarworks replacement electronics kits? I'm thinking about getting the Les Paul kit. I like the sound of my LP Standard, but I'm intrigued by the possibilty of increased clarity.

Head

I put the Truetone kit (utilizing the suggested wiring - not 50's wiring) in my 68 Custom Triburst and there was some increased clarity. To be honest I thought it would make more of a difference than it did. I did notice more of a difference when I put CTS audio taper pots (500K+ ohms) and orange drop caps (purchased from Angela's) into my R9 Les Paul.

I recently replaced the 57 Classic pup in the bridge position of the Custom for a BB3. That has had a more dramatic effect on the clarity. I like that pickup very much. Thinking of putting a BB2 in the neck.

I would try the RS kit as it may sound better in your Les Paul. It's only around $50 so why not give it a shot.
Joe

Head,

+1 Big thumbs up. I find all the controls much more responsive. Definitely worth the $$$. I was certain that I was going to yank out the Burstbucker Pro's, but the true tone kit did wonders (especially for my bridge pup), for me anyway... Now I'm just wrestling with my neck p'up.. Constant pursuit of perfection, LOL

Shamus

The RS kit works as advertised. However, I'm not sure how much of it has to do with the pots (my stock pots were all over the place in readings, one was under 200k!), the caps (are Hovlands that much better then orange drops in a guitar?), or the wiring scheme (if you dig on the Seymour Duncan website you can find a very similar schematic). I would love to have the time to try all the variations, but with there are just too many to make it worth my while and I'm sure many of them are just splitting hairs. As I said before, it works as advertised, but is it that much better than upgrading the pots yourself, using orange drops and the standard or 50s wiring? I don't know.

How much is it?

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Originally posted by adambake:
How much is it?

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http://www.rsguitarworks.net/catalog/index.php?cPath=24&osCsid=88e754835cc5736a0244eb004b4cd68c

Dropped mine into a Class 5 LP and I'm impressed. A little more top end overall and the tone knobs are much more useable now.

I did my SG w/ p-90s, and then my Les Paul Standard (pickup change at the same time on the Les Paul). Both with the "Premium Upgrade" kits.

It works as advertised -- a little more top end and clarity, with more useable tone and volume controls. However, it's not super-dramatic, imo. It's good to get the most possible out of your pickups.

If you are so inclined, you can simply source all the parts yourself. There's nothing magic in the kit, as some might get the impression. The "magic" is that all the parts and the wiring and technical support are all there, ready to go for you. It's a great deal for those who might want to mess around with doing stuff themselves, but have little to no experience. The fact is, there are tons of caps to try and you well might like something better than the Hovlands. But if you're the type of guy who isn't going to go out searching for and installing, testing, recording, uninstalling and repeating with various brands of caps and wiring schematics, but you just want something that you can do yourself that you know will sound great (and surely, better than stock), then the RS Kit is a great way to go.

I'm a satisfied customer. I'd been wanting to do these upgrades for years, and had even gone looking for caps once, but got frustrated when I didn't see the brands everyone was talking about, and there were all sorts of specs and everything. Anyway, when I saw the kit, I just bought it, installed it and -- viola! Instant slight improvement, with the satisfaction of having done it myself. If it wasn't for the kit, I still probably wouldn't have done it.

If you're the type that doesn't need a kit, than, imo, the kit isn't neccesary. Just get the parts yourself and install! In fact, I did that on my third guitar (actually a bass).

-David

P.S. -- oh yeah, Roy makes sure the CTS pots are the right value before sending them -- a nice extra. Otherwise, you might end up dissassembling a pot or two and scraping it down to the right value. I'm sure that's no trouble for some, but as a neophyte that all just seemed waaay beyond me. The kit was the way to go for me.

I'm thinking the kit will do the trick for me. I'll probably order one up next week.

Thanks guys!!!

Head

Let us know how you like it Head...

I just put a RS "true tone" kit in my Les Paul last week. Huge improvement over the stock stuff. Great people to deal with as well.

I'm still skeptical about paying so much for parts that cost very little. You're paying for their schematic basically. You can do a pot/orange drop upgrade for like $12.00. The hovlands are nice caps, but much more expensive than the OD's, however I think it can be worth it in some guitars as the OD's can be overly bright and harsh IMO. I've done this upgrade (in various forms) on every gibby i've had, and it really makes a huge difference. Brighter with more clarity. With the orange drops I felt that it was too bright (in my r6 especially) but the hovlands are bit rounder, but still retain the clarity. Heck for like $2 you can do just the caps and see if there's a difference. it's totally worth at least trying.

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Originally posted by Morgan:
I'm still skeptical about paying so much for parts that cost very little. You're paying for their schematic basically. You can do a pot/orange drop upgrade for like $12.00. The hovlands are nice caps, but much more expensive than the OD's, however I think it can be worth it in some guitars as the OD's can be overly bright and harsh IMO. I've done this upgrade (in various forms) on every gibby i've had, and it really makes a huge difference. Brighter with more clarity. With the orange drops I felt that it was too bright (in my r6 especially) but the hovlands are bit rounder, but still retain the clarity. Heck for like $2 you can do just the caps and see if there's a difference. it's totally worth at least trying.

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Where can you get Hovlands for $2.00??? Last time I looked the cheapest I could find them was closer to $8.00 or thereabouts.

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Originally posted by GuitArtMan:

Where can you get Hovlands for $2.00??? Last time I looked the cheapest I could find them was closer to $8.00 or thereabouts.

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Sorry, I meant for the orange drops. If someone was doubting the effect of a cap upgrade, this would be the cheapest way to try it out. I usually only get hovlands if OD's don't work out. Sometimes the difference between OD's and hovlands is very small as well.

This kind of stirs up the age old debate...how much do quality caps affect the tone in a circuit that has minute voltage running through it...and do the caps make more of a difference with humbucking or single coils...and do they really make a difference with the tone control on 10...

my experience is with teles and Fralins...I've used cheap ceramic discs...orange drops and very expensive Jensen-copper-foil-in-oil tone caps...

My findings...no difference at all...at least none that I could detect with 48 year old ears!!

In the interest of science and because I have some down time from gigging I have ordered a couple RS kits for my teles because I am curious although I think I know what the result will be...

It will be interesting what everyone else finds in their trials..

Chow,
Seeegs