Legacy Special Wiring

[seamus22015]

Hello guys,

I'm wondering if you can help me with something. I own a G&L Legacy Special. I believe it is a late 90's or very early 2000's model. This the serial number:

CLF28963

Maybe I just have an older model but I've noticed that the electronic wiring on my guitar doesn't match the wiring diagrams on the G&L website.

Mainly, this guitar has a PTB circuit. According to the G&L website's wiring diagrams, the Legacy Special with blade pickups should have a 250k pot for volume, 500k for the treble pot, and 1meg for the bass. However on my guitar there is only 250k pots for all three.

The capacitor values look the same and most of the wiring is identical to the diagrams except for the pickup selector. Its not linked like the diagram is. Meaning the pickups are soldered to one side of the pickup selector and there is no wiring interconnecting the other sides.

All of this might not have been an issue but I've been getting some electronic noise and I've always wondered if I was getting the smoothest roll off from the treble and bass controls.

Since this guitar has blade humbuckers, I wondered about the noise. The guitar doesn't have any shielding installed in it except for on the pickguard where the pots are. This could explain the noise but of course there are other factors I know.

ignoring the shielding and noise, do you think its worth changing out the pots for the values listed on the diagrams? Is mine just an older setup before G&L moved to these values?

Your help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[Craig]

Hello guys,

I'm wondering if you can help me with something. I own a G&L Legacy Special. I believe it is a late 90's or very early 2000's model. This the serial number:

CLF28963

Maybe I just have an older model but I've noticed that the electronic wiring on my guitar doesn't match the wiring diagrams on the G&L website.

Mainly, this guitar has a PTB circuit. According to the G&L website's wiring diagrams, the Legacy Special with blade pickups should have a 250k pot for volume, 500k for the treble pot, and 1meg for the bass. However on my guitar there is only 250k pots for all three.

The capacitor values look the same and most of the wiring is identical to the diagrams except for the pickup selector. Its not linked like the diagram is. Meaning the pickups are soldered to one side of the pickup selector and there is no wiring interconnecting the other sides.

All of this might not have been an issue but I've been getting some electronic noise and I've always wondered if I was getting the smoothest roll off from the treble and bass controls.

Since this guitar has blade humbuckers, I wondered about the noise. The guitar doesn't have any shielding installed in it except for on the pickguard where the pots are. This could explain the noise but of course there are other factors I know.

ignoring the shielding and noise, do you think its worth changing out the pots for the values listed on the diagrams? Is mine just an older setup before G&L moved to these values?

Your help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

AFAIK, the Legacy Special production models have always been wired per the schematics and wiring diagram posted on the G&L website.
Also check our Gallery: Album: Legacy Special Picture Diagram and Wiring Diagram.

I would guess that you are not the original owner of this guitar and that a previous owner changed the pots.

As far as the noise, I would suggest you check the ground wires, including the one that goes to the trem claw, and make sure all the connections are good.

I do agree with you that it's build date is late 90's or early 2000. See the date on the wiring diagram drawn by Paul Gagon, it is dated 1/1998 and shows the three different value pots used by the factory.

If you want to return it to the stock setup, you can purchase the correct value pots from G&L's On-Line Store or from many of the other aftermarket sources.

Hope this helps.

[seamus22015]

Thank you Craig for the reply.

I am the original owner and my wiring matches the picture you showed (which is slightly different than the diagram if you look closely). I actually can't tell the pot value by the picture you supplied. That is likely the main difference between my setup vs the diagram.

I'm wondering whether its worth changing the pots. It looks like G&L must have decided to change the pot values in the past 10 years.

[Craig]

Thank you Craig for the reply.

I am the original owner and my wiring matches the picture you showed (which is slightly different than the diagram if you look closely). I actually can't tell the pot value by the picture you supplied. That is likely the main difference between my setup vs the diagram.

I'm wondering whether its worth changing the pots. It looks like G&L must have decided to change the pot values in the past 10 years.

Can you post a photo of the wiring and pots on your guitar? I will ask Paul if he can provide some insight and whether or not it's worth changing the pots.

[Craig]

Thank you Craig for the reply.

I am the original owner and my wiring matches the picture you showed (which is slightly different than the diagram if you look closely). I actually can't tell the pot value by the picture you supplied. That is likely the main difference between my setup vs the diagram.

I'm wondering whether its worth changing the pots. It looks like G&L must have decided to change the pot values in the past 10 years.

Can you post a photo of the wiring and pots on your guitar? I will ask Paul if he can provide some insight and whether or not it's worth changing the pots.

I sent your post to Paul this morning and I heard back from him this afternoon:

Hi Craig,

This guitar sounds like an early proto that escaped from G&L. The controls in this guys guitar are absolutely wrong. He should definitely switch things over
to match the wiring and control values on our website. You should have this guy get in touch with Chris Robosan and get the right parts sent out to him.

Thanks Craig,
Paul

Chris Robosan's email address is: crobosan@bbesound.com. He will take care of getting you the correct parts so that you can get it wired to the production
specifications.

Hope this helps.

[seamus22015]

Craig,

Thank you so much for this. I really appreciate you following up on this. I will reach out to Chris and see what he can do. I had a feeling that something wasn't right.

Will keep you posted.