Replace Gibson pcb board up or downgrade?

[MichaelR]

What do you guys think about replacing the PCB board on my Futura lp. would you consider it an upgrade or a downgrade. I've played with this idea before but still haven't got around to it. I suspect but can't prove that they are MIC which kinda bugs me although most of the Pots I could buy probably are to. The only thing I would lose is the battery boost feature. The fact is I find it super hard to get the damn battery out to change anyway. I doubt I will sell it so thats not an issue and I have already replaced the Etuner with Grovers so it not stock. I think popular sentiment of most owners of these is to dislike the Etuner and I sure did so its sitting in the box of my case. I just wondered what you guys think about the new PCB board which I think are stock for most of not all the the new Gibsons.

[mozz]

I've done it. You need long shaft pots, 500k is the usual value. I think if you cut the plug-in connector off , you may have a hard time putting it back to stock. I have no idea if something with battery boost is the same as the other models with just a PCB.

[nomadh]

I refuse to believe electrons know the difference between formvar wire and a PCB trace. I refuse to believe electrons can tell the diff between a small pot wiper and a large one. I hear those pcb can be rewired to almost any config but if you wanted 50s style control and it cant do it then it makes sense otherwise why?

[andrewsrea]

I refuse to believe electrons know the difference between formvar wire and a PCB trace. I refuse to believe electrons can tell the diff between a small pot wiper and a large one. I hear those pcb can be rewired to almost any config but if you wanted 50s style control and it cant do it then it makes sense otherwise why?

The discriminating, toneful electrons know the difference!

Seriously, in a guitar it should make little difference. Except as you pointed out, the PCB can make it challenging to change circuits. Good advice to leaved it alone if you are happy with the tone.

For somethings, there is a scientific difference. For example, 42 gauge wire copper wire will sound different in an inductor (say, a pickup) depending on the insulative coating. Yes, Formvar was thicker (some say double for the original 50's stuff) than enamel, which means a change in the capacitive influence of each wind - resulting in a brighter pickup, all other things equal.

Same goes for amps and pedals in the point-to-point vs. PCB debates. Proponents say PCBs when designed right, are quieter and more reliable in a high-production product. The trade-off is they tend to have unwanted resistance-capacitance issues and bleed off high frequencies.

[MichaelR]

I think I should have mentioned that I don't like the tone, I cant put my finger on it but it sounds off to me so I figured if I'm really not feeling it and I hate the battery why not try new controls with different caps. I know when I jimmy page wire them that the series parallel setting seems to give it a boost somewhat like the battery does on the pcb board although not while in single coil like I can do with the pcb board. This is not one of the higher end Gibson's nor is it vintage at all so I don't think it will lessen its value much should I decide to sell it someday. I'm pretty busy as of late so I'll give a think before I do anything. I find myself playing my lp-2500 with the cheap Fleor hot pickups for the hard blues I really like to play.

[nomadh]

I refuse to believe electrons know the difference between formvar wire and a PCB trace. I refuse to believe electrons can tell the diff between a small pot wiper and a large one. I hear those pcb can be rewired to almost any config but if you wanted 50s style control and it cant do it then it makes sense otherwise why?

The discriminating, toneful electrons know the difference!

Seriously, in a guitar it should make little difference. Except as you pointed out, the PCB can make it challenging to change circuits. Good advice to leaved it alone if you are happy with the tone.

For somethings, there is a scientific difference. For example, 42 gauge wire copper wire will sound different in an inductor (say, a pickup) depending on the insulative coating. Yes, Formvar was thicker (some say double for the original 50's stuff) than enamel, which means a cihange in the capacitive influence of each wind - resulting in a brighter pickup, all other things equal.

Same goes for amps and pedals in the point-to-point vs. PCB debates. Proponents say PCBs when designed right, are quieter and more reliable in a high-production product. The trade-off is they tend to have unwanted resistance-capacitance issues and bleed off high frequencies.

The wire thickness and coating thickness in an inductors makes total sense. I believe that. Same as it you changed the pickup shape height. Otherwise a p90 pup would sound the same as a sc strat.