1982 LS100 Replacement Hardware Suggestions
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Thanks @Sigmania! You are being a huge help with this project I’ve got going. I’ve actually got some VIPots laying around as well as a pair of Rewind PAFs. I think the last piece of the puzzle will be to replace the toggle switch. Do you know if a regular Gibson Switchcraft switch would fit (I’m assuming no because of metric measurements) or would that one I linked with a short switch work (Pre-Wired Switchcraft Short Toggle Switch
I just know that there are long switches which gibsons use and there are also short switches which are typically used on imports. I read somewhere on here that some tokais use a short shaft with long threading but I’m not sure if that prewired kit I linked would work. My switch currently works, but whoever owned the guitar before me did some weird wiring so I want to convert it back to 50s style braided wiring
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You want a short switch. A short Switchcraft switch like the one you linked, will work and fit perfectly. No need to enlarge the switch hole or get a metric switch.
You will need to enlarge the existing holes for the VIPots though.
You will need to enlarge the existing holes for the VIPots though.
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good thread with lots of great info 
CTS makes a metric pot. Mine didn’t last very long before going scratchy. Also didn’t like the taper. VIPots clean up very quickly from 10 down to 7/8, then the taper is more gradual as you head down to zero like a vintage pot.
Also beware of pots that claim “vintage taper”. Most of these are a 30% taper, not the 10% of VIPots and vintage Centralab.
Also beware of pots that claim “vintage taper”. Most of these are a 30% taper, not the 10% of VIPots and vintage Centralab.
yeah someone before me had already enlarged the holes to fit normal CTS pots so luckily I won’t have to do anything to swap in my VIPots
somebodyelseuk
Well-known member
I did the 'Faber thing' to my LS150F just last week - brass bridge posts and thumbwheels, ABR-1-a-like bridge, steel tailpiece studs and inserts.
The 4mm brass posts screw right in with no mods necessary.
The tailpiece inserts are a half mm larger diameter than the (Gotoh) ones Tokai fitted, so I had to ream the holes out for them to fit.
How does it sound? Not dramatically different. It is different, but if you're expecting the clouds to part and a beam of light, forget it.
Regarding the bridge, I would have gone with the Four Uncles one (the only one I know of made from the same material as the '50s ones), but my anorak pockets are not that deep.
The Faber parts are stunning quality, by the way.
What other mods has the guitar had?
A couple of years back... correction, three years back - how time flies... I fitted Amber Spirit Of '59 pickups with Bareknuckles 550k/10% pots and their PIO (more money than sense) caps.
All that did make a dramatic difference. If 'vintage PAFs' are your thing, these are in a different league to what Tokai fitted - for what they cost, they should be. "Other 'PAF' obsessed winders are available" as they say. Wizz, Throbak, Rewind... etc. They're all superb and they're as varied as the original PAFs are. It's important to realise, when it comes to PAFs, that there is no 'one PAF sound'. Who's pickups you should buy depends on who's sound is the one you want to be near to.
The 4mm brass posts screw right in with no mods necessary.
The tailpiece inserts are a half mm larger diameter than the (Gotoh) ones Tokai fitted, so I had to ream the holes out for them to fit.
How does it sound? Not dramatically different. It is different, but if you're expecting the clouds to part and a beam of light, forget it.
Regarding the bridge, I would have gone with the Four Uncles one (the only one I know of made from the same material as the '50s ones), but my anorak pockets are not that deep.
The Faber parts are stunning quality, by the way.
What other mods has the guitar had?
A couple of years back... correction, three years back - how time flies... I fitted Amber Spirit Of '59 pickups with Bareknuckles 550k/10% pots and their PIO (more money than sense) caps.
All that did make a dramatic difference. If 'vintage PAFs' are your thing, these are in a different league to what Tokai fitted - for what they cost, they should be. "Other 'PAF' obsessed winders are available" as they say. Wizz, Throbak, Rewind... etc. They're all superb and they're as varied as the original PAFs are. It's important to realise, when it comes to PAFs, that there is no 'one PAF sound'. Who's pickups you should buy depends on who's sound is the one you want to be near to.
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Yeah I have a pair of Rewinds laying around that I’m going to put in there and I am going to redo the wiring with VIPots and NOS black beauty’s. I am hoping that has the biggest impact on tone. Whatever pickups are in the guitar right now are just too hot for my taste and get muddy
I have got TVT vintage taper metric pots from CrazyParts some years ago and usally swap in my LS. But LS150 and LS320 had CTS stock from the factory, being metric one of them at least. But original Nobels are very good, Yngwie Malsteen used those in their strats becasu they were so easy to turn. I had three taken from my ES100R sunburst finish in my drawer parts alongside two full Tokai LS wiring boards.
somebodyelseuk
Well-known member
I've never tried Rewind pickups, but I've read the book he helped write about PAFs.
I'd love to get some, since he actually winds them 'the old way', rather than to a formula - he's not afraid to do sets with a higher DCR on the 'neck'. I'm 'allergic' to 'balanced sets'... About a year ago, I had a set of Strat pickups made for me (for a TST95), specced from a set from a '63 Strat, with the express condition that he didn't mark them up and they all had the same length leads. The 'hot' pickup is in the middle and all position sound spectacular.
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