LP Recording

[cherokee6]

I acquired a LP Recording carcass some years ago and I'm trying to rebuild it. I was able to secure a set of the lo-imp pickups. The rest is fairly straightforward. I acquired a clear schematic from Gibson and between 3 great website and with many of the parts suppliers can get most of it together. The problem is the rotary switch used for tonal qualities marketed by Gibson as the "decade switch". It's an 11 position rotary switch, probably a series 212 switch from CTS. It has 6 tabs and I'm not sure the # of poles. The impedance value changes at each position which is created by soldering on the various capacitors/ resistors. CTS will get me one or a close equivalent if I can get the part #. I've checked many, many souces to know avail. Anyone shed light on this or have a suitable alternative that will give me the same features?

[lovekraft]

If you have a good schematic, the switch configuration will be pretty evident. Is it just a single-throw switch? If so, this switch will work for you - just throw a chickenhead knob on top, and you're good to go. I don't understand how an 11-poition switch can have only 6 tabs (with one common, that's only five positions), so it may have some fancy internal connections. Doesn't Gibson know what they used? After more than two decades, surely it can't be a trade secret, especially on a guitar that was a commercial failure. If you can't figure it out, and you can't get any help from the boys in Nashville, send me the schematic, and we'll figure out a way to use the cheap Mouser switch I linked to above. BTW, since Norlin/Gibson never did anything the expensive way, you can probably assume that the switch was a stock item used for some other application - "decade switch" might imply use in a decade box for resistor or capacitor substitution, not used much any more since we all got simulation software, but an old standby from the days of amatuer radio. I'll see if I can find a dedicated switch for one of those.

[cherokee6]

OK. I just acquired one of the "decade switches" from a guy who works for Heritage. It's CTS made and had Gibson's stock # as opposed to CTS's. It has 11 terminals (I couldn't tell from the pics on the web sites) and 11 denotes. I'll be in touch with new qusetions. The schematcs don't show 11 positions and makes it confusing. I even went to see Les Paul at the Iridium Club in NYC on his 89th b'day. His response is that you could easily put this together from stuff found at any electronics store. His associates thought otherwise and asked me to contact them on the whereabouts of parts. My next quest is for the pots: 1k and 2.5k. 2 are linear and one seems to be a blended(?) pot? One volume is for both pickups. The schematic says"L" on 2 of the pots and "BD" on another. I should be able to get the 1k from CTS or Mouser. I may have to bleed off a 5k to get the 2.5k value as I don't see any for 5k. The blended pot may be impossible.

[lovekraft]

I'm afraid all the help I can offer is this page:1973 GIBSON LES PAUL RECORDING GUITAR

The photos are pretty good, and if you've got a good schematic (something I couldn't find anywhere), you can probably get pretty close with the combination of both. It looks like they used a Tele-style 3way tone switch and standard slide switches like the Jag/Jazzmaster, and all the pots appear to be standard CTS, no taps or extra conductors, nothing special except for the ratings. So you made it to Les's 89th - that must have been very cool! Where are you planning on getting your pickups?