PCB Perception
Gibson's PCB-based control layouts get a lot of grief — some of it fair, most of it not. This week's post is a bit of a rant about tradition, tone snobbery, and why complaints about PCB use in modern Gibson guitars are often aimed at the wrong target.
I sometimes feel sorry for Gibson. Granted, many times in the past—and now and then in the present—they have made what seem, to the layperson, poorly-considered decisions. However, that said, I do have a some sympathy for them.
It’s because of the 'tradition', you see. To a large extent, they’ve built their brand on tradition and heritage (ahem) and it’s been a pretty successful marketing strategy. Players buy into the idea that their instrument has a real link to the heyday of rock and roll and guitar history. It’s effective but there’s a sharp edge at the other side of this sword too: Every time Gibson tries something new, there’s a vocal lobby that immediately decries their efforts. The shouty people are sometimes correct (although there may be some Stopped Clock Effect at play there). Often, though, the complaints feel like a blanket “this is wrong because it’s not what happened in 1959” perception has been thrown over things.
A good case in point is Gibson’s printed circuit board controls.
The four control pots are mounted on a PCB and the pickups, switch, and jack all connect to some quick-connect, erm… connectors. There’s even a little connector for the string ground wire. Initial (and some ongoing) opinions were negative—this was just a cost-cutting exercise similar to 1970s Fender leaving out one of their neck screws. This implementation of PCBs wasn’t without its drawbacks but their actual issues weren’t what bothered most people. Concerns were voiced about the impact of cost-cutting PCBs on player’s tone.
So was it a penny-pinching move to cut costs by cutting quality corners? Well, while this board absolutely makes life easier for the folks installing the electronics in the Gibson factory, it’s not cost-saving alone (if at all). The board is typically fitted with the same quality pots* as a non-PCB guitar. The board itself is well made and has good connective paths for its traces—it’s not a cheapie piece of kit. The associated output jacks are typically Neutrik locking units which are more expensive than the usual hardware. Savings, if they exist, were purely in the ease of installation and, in my opinion, did not come at the detriment of tone. I’d bet money that nobody could tell the difference in a blind test.
But, all of that being the case, I’ve taken out dozens of these over the years. Most have been working perfectly well but their owners have paid to have the removed and replaced with four of the same pots and some wire and solder. And that’s fine if that’s what you want. You do you. You know my views on these things. It’s all good.
But, I think it speaks to the one-foot-in-the-past, traditional-ways-are-best perception that many makers—Gibson in particular—struggle with. These PCBs work as well as some bits of wire and solder but they’re ‘modern’ and therefore not as good. When one leg of your brand is built on tradition, it’s hard to square that circle when you’re doing new stuff. So, yeah, I feel a bit sorry for a company that is trying to progress and (maybe) improve things but is shouted down whenever they make an attempt. Of course there are missteps (so many missteps) but, you know me… I always like to hope people will think things through before they pooh-pooh changes and new things.
Now, having said all of this, I should do a full disclosure type thing and say the following: I do not think Gibson’s PCBs are a triumphant win. If all pickups had standardised wiring and came with those tiny Molex quick connectors on the end, it’d be a massively positive move. But they don’t. And those connectors are difficult to find and fiddly to use for the common-or-garden guitar modder. Changing a pickup or a jack means sourcing the correct connectors and tools, and doing the annoying job of fitting them or (more likely) snipping off the connectors and soldering them to the new components hook-ups. That’s messy. There’s a small group of enterprising solder-warriors who sell pre-made ‘adapters’ for these jobs on Reverb and eBay but people shouldn’t have to rely on a cottage industry to let them change a jack in their Gibson guitar.
The concept here isn't perfect. Or, rather, the execution is flawed (probably irreparably because of the lack of any real standards). However, if you have an instrument with a currently-working PCB and don’t plan on making any mods, there really is no genuine cause to swap it out. If you’re offended by something modern, fine… go nuts and rip it out—it’s your guitar after all.
You don’t have to, though. 🙂
So, a bit of a rant this week. I didn't know that was going to happen when I started. Ha. It comes from a good place, though. Hope you’ll forgive me.
*The one in the photo has a couple of import push-pull pots installed but the majority I’ve see have been Gibson-branded CTS pots. This board has a multitude of extra switching options and, being honest, I prefer import push-pulls over CTS ones too.
This article written by Gerry Hayes and first published at hazeguitars.com
