This is the first guitar fully modified and recabled according to the concepts described in previous guitar articles.

Aria LS-600 (Modified), 1979

Neck: maple
Fretboard: rosewood
Body: mahogany
Archtop: maple
Neck pickup: John Birch Magnum-2, 16100 ohm, coil-split to single
Bridge pickup: John Birch Magnum-2, 21100 ohm, coil-split to parallel
Wiring options: TS-400 scheme, neck single, bridge parallel split, bridge pickup phase inversion switches, volume, volume, tone controls.
Wiring scheme: star topology, silver-plated copper, twisted pair where necessary


The guitar, restringed and lying on some velvet in the workshop.

The guitar itself is a 1979 Aria Pro II LS-600. All wiring is silver-plated copper AWG 26 wire. Pickups' feed cables are the same, but shielded with copper braid (current is sent through both the wires and the copper braid). Pickups' feed cables are connected directly to the main cable socket (not via pots, etc.).

Pickups are closed John Birch Magnum-2, 21K (bridge) and 16K (neck). Yes, it's a "backwards" setup. The advantage is that the neck pickup is thick no matter what, but the bridge pickup gets a welcome boost. The resulting tone is lean yet hard in E-tuning and stable yet powerful in C and lower.


Fresh strings tested in E-tuning.

Pickups are split for single-coil/serial (neck) and serial/parallel (bridge). There is also a phase inversion switch for the bridge pickup, allowing its subtraction from the neck pickup. The result is a versatile range of tones from full serial 2+2 to a thin 1-((2+2)/2) mix. 1-2 is useful too, as the guitar is so powerful it overdrives overdrive pedals on full gain, turning OD effects to a midrangey jelly of sorts. 1-2 reduces power somewhat. Ironically, in single or parallel mode the guitar plays more or less like a classic Les Paul with PAF humbuckers. It's a somewhat darker, harder and sharper tone than PAF mellowness, Magnums are also quicker and more to the point.


Magnum-2 pickups in a street light.

Magnums by themselves are the classic metal tone humbuckers. Everything else is imitation. It's a really hard, tough, powerful tone, even with light strings. In the "weakest" thin tone mode (both pickups split and phase inverted) though, the guitar plays more or less like Jimmy Page's Les Paul with phase inversion. Good for "No Quarter".

The guitar also has a rotary switch with several choices of capacitors for the tone circuit: 0.022 µf polypropylene, 0.05 µf Aerovox electrolytic, 0.068 µf polypropylene, 1 µf tantalium (Sprague make, the same company as the PP "Orange Drop" caps) and 2 µf polyester for a really thick tone.

All the electronics were replaced on the LS-600, pots and switches included. The original rotary switch broke, as did one DPDT switch. Regardless, all the components were replaced. Crucial current paths were wired with twisted pair. The guitar's wired to the TS-400 schematic (coil split/coil split/phase toggle switches and volume/volume/tone pots) rather than LS-600 (coil split/coil split/boost switches and volume/boost/tone pots) because of its pre-restoration (broken) wiring configuration and also because placing an active battery-driven current injection boost over Magnums would just break amplifier drivers by the insane power overdrive, even clean.


Wah-wah demo played by an experienced (though somewhat drunk) guitarist.

You'd think coil-splitting a Magnum to single would yield something like a Stratocaster or Telecaster tone, but no, the result is pretty much a medium-power humbucker-like tone. The pickup itself is fully shielded, so there's next to no single-coil hum. It's very slightly noisier than a humbucker. And given the pickup's powerful tone, it still preserves that hard-hitting tone even with only one coil active.


LS-600 doing the "60s Les Paul blues" thing. It's still rather unlike a real PAF-equipped Les Paul, but close.


Marshall Guv'nor overdrive with the guitar's very own low-cap cables, Magnum at full 2+2 power. Sabbathy, yes.


Marshall Guv'nor overdrive with the guitar's very own low-cap cables, Magnum at full 2+2 power.

The demos were recorded at somebody's birthday party where a blues band was invited to play. So you can hear people talking and the snare drum's snares vibrating.

The guitar's materials are: mahogany body, maple archtop, maple neck, rosewood fretboard. It's a pretty good combination, the tone is warm yet focused. Clean tone is nothing too stunning though - your average American Standard Strat has an airier, brighter sparkly clean tone. Magnums are anything but sparkly, they've a darkish, muscular tone even when clean. Compared to a Strat, the LS-600 with Magnums in it is certainly darker and even somewhat shy-sounding when clean. Fire off overdrive though and it becomes a bolt-thrower, it really is like having lightning bolts at the fingertips. Nothing comes close - any other guitar (except maybe other guitars with John Birch pickups) is just miserable and weak next to the might of Magnums.

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