DGT SE pickup selector

[SinSir]

No offense to any tape enthusiasts, but you shouldn't need it as it's spec'd in exactly zero PRS guitars. Something's up with the switch itself.

I think it was mentioned earlier the issue.. aligning the switch to an orientation that suits their style vs how it was spec'd to be installed.

 

[DISTORT6]

Well, with due respect, someone from this forum suggested wrapping the switch with tape. Thinking along your lines, I thought it wise to try to tape the inside guitar cavity wall, in order to protect it from contact with the switch.

Even some paper taped to the cavity wall would solve the problem. Cardboard might be more difficult to form-fit inside the cavity; something more flexible might be the ticket...

I‘m an electrician with 36 years of experience in the trade...
Knock yourself out.
Just passing the word on in case someone thinks that the tape is the way to go.
With due respect.

 

[Broseph]

@Townie53,

Something I discovered regards the DGT SE 3-way toggle...if the toggle resides left to right on the front of your guitar, and you try to adjust it slightly for a more diagonal look, it may cause the toggle interior ground contacts to short out with the conductive paint inside the guitar cavity.

See my post in the PTC section...I tried swapping out the switch myself with a Switchcraft 3-way toggle, only to discover that the Switchcraft is configured differently than the DGT SE switch. After several failed attempts to correct a non-working switch, the guitar was eventually repaired with the original switch and some electrical tape was positioned between the switch contacts and the conductive paint.

Problem was, my soldering work looked terrible (a lot of the wiring insulation was fried and just looked really bad). So, off to PTC the guitar is heading...

What I can tell you that will save you a lot of grief and money is to spray the switch contacts with some De-Oxit after you've positioned some electrical tape between the switch and the cavity wall. This way, if you must adjust the angle of the switch, the electrical tape will prevent shorting out, and the contact cleaner will improve the switch's performance. Be sure to work the switch back and forth a handful of times to distribute the De-Oxit within the switch.

FTR, I listened to several people who suggested swapping out the switch, only to realize that the DGT SE's wiring doesn't accommodate the Switchcraft. The white cap wire is too short to reach the far thin solder lugs. I ended up buggering up the red lead wires, which looked like a hot mess once the original switch was reinstalled.

My suggestion is that if your soldering skills are good, you could try to do the work yourself, but if you've only soldered twice in your lifetime, like myself, let a qualified tech handle the job. My hands and eyes weren't good enough for the work, and now must let PTC have a laugh when they see the bad haircut my DGT SE received.

Man. Do not send it to PRS for a switch. Any luthier could swap that in minutes. It’s a 10 min job. The switchcraft is superior. There’s a reason they use it for the cores

 

[CandidPicker]

No offense to any tape enthusiasts, but you shouldn't need it as it's spec'd in exactly zero PRS guitars. Something's up with the switch itself.

No offense taken. What was discovered was that when the toggle switch was rotated slightly (to create a more diagonal feel) the heavy grounding solder lug (which had 2 black ground wires attached) nearest the inner wall made contact with the conductive paint. That may in itself have caused the switch shorting out. The rest has previously been described.

 

[CandidPicker]

Man. Do not send it to PRS for a switch. Any luthier could swap that in minutes. It’s a 10 min job. The switchcraft is superior. There’s a reason they use it for the cores

Understood, but my tech is backlogged for more than a month. TBH, I know I screwed up the wiring and did a poor job with it.

My tech, although I trust him, would not be able to do work and the guitar still be under warranty. The guitar arrives in Maryland Friday. The reason a Switchcraft was not installed was because the white capacitor wire is not long enough to reach the far thin Switchcraft solder lugs. A tech would need to gut both the white and red wires, solder a new cap, and re-wire a Switchcraft in place with longer wire.

I would have been all for that, but as was said, it wasn't possible to lengthen and replace the white wire with my expertise (which was the problem). I accept responsibility for messing up my guitar and will let PTC bring it back into warranty and factory spec.

The DGT SE switch was not the original problem; rotating the switch and causing the switch to short out was...

 

[ViperDoc]

No offense taken. What was discovered was that when the toggle switch was rotated slightly (to create a more diagonal feel) the heavy grounding solder lug (which had 2 black ground wires attached) nearest the inner wall made contact with the conductive paint. That may in itself have caused the switch shorting out. The rest has previously been described.

That makes complete sense. You'd have to route the relief for the grounding lug to be able to rotate, then, in that case. Cool.

#CUSTOMBELIKE

 

[Broseph]

You don’t need to gut the entire wire. There’s always some slack inside the guitar cavity. I’ve never had to replace all the wiring to replace a toggle. And I’ve done it a dozen times on single and double cuts.
Having said that: they could probably improve the wiring! Maybe some vintage braided