Help with Identifying pre-modcat Instruments

[Adam St Pierre]

I picked up my first PRS a few days ago. I should have done this a long time ago, I love it.

Anyway it is a '96. I have been curious about a couple of things. The first is that I believe it is a custom 22 but I haven't been able to find one configured like this one. It has 3 pickups with a single coil in the middle. Also it has the 5 way rotary switch along with a push/pull tone pot. The wiring explanations on the PRS website don't mention any guitars with this configuration. I pulled the bridge pickup to get the model numbers... turns out the modcat calculator doesnt work for this year...

Here is what is written below the pickup:
Black Cherry
CU22FWTQH5H
TR is written below that.

to the right there is a "10" which I assume means ten top?
there is a 12 written below the "10"

I can't post photos yet it seems... but any insight would be awesome. I love the guitar and I am very curious about any history I can determine from it.

 

[AP515]

Sounds a little like the Studio from 5 years earlier, but with an added push pull. Does it have an up-rout for the trem?

SPECIAL: 1988 - 1991. Developed for the ‘hard rock/metal player’, wide-thin neck, trem-up routing for a full tone up, volume and tone controls with 5 way rotary, HFS Treble pickup, PRS single coil in middle, HFS Bass pickup (changed to Vintage Bass humbucker by 1989).

Might have been a LE or an artist guitar. After two more posts you can give us the pics.

 

[Jazzedout]

Interesting... some pics would help... also the s/n...

 

[Adam St Pierre]

I'll have to show my ignorance here... but what should I look for to determine if it has up routing?

 

[Adam St Pierre]

here is my third post so I'll try to add some pics

 

[bodia]

here is my third post so I'll try to add some pics

Can't link them direct. You'll have to upload to a third party hosting site like Imgur. Then you can copy/paste into a post.

 

[Adam St Pierre]

Fixed formating

 

[Adam St Pierre]

Huh not sure why those are sideways.... BBCode is from images that are right side up...

 

[Adam St Pierre]

 

[justmund]

I think:

WT = Wide Thin
Q = Quilt
H5H (or HSH) = Hum Single Hum, yours have been replaced
"10" = it could have been a 10-top but they had to wait until it was stained to make the call. If it doesn't have a 10 on the back of the headstock, it's not a 10-top

 

[sergiodeblanc]

What Justmund said.

 

[László]

It’s really a nice one. I agree with justmund and Sergio. Pickups aren’t original, but so what.

 

[Adam St Pierre]

Yeah I knew the pickups were replaced which may or may not be an improvement depending on what the goal is . It sounds awesome with the jbs though.

As for the ten top thing that makes a lot of sense. Perhaps the wood was originally graded as a ten top and then downgraded after it was stained or carved (I think it's beautiful and far nicer than the new PRS I played at the store which cost more). I didn't know if it was normal to tag the body "10" at some point in the past or if they have always just done the headstock.

Also I was curious if this was a production model for that year. It seems somewhat rare to see the three pickup ones. And the combination rotary switch and tone push pull pot I haven't seen on any custom 22/24 I have found .

 

[Adam St Pierre]

I think:

WT = Wide Thin
Q = Quilt
H5H (or HSH) = Hum Single Hum, yours have been replaced
"10" = it could have been a 10-top but they had to wait until it was stained to make the call. If it doesn't have a 10 on the back of the headstock, it's not a 10-top

What is meant by wide thin?

 

[AP515]

What is meant by wide thin?

The shape of the neck carve.
W/F = Wide Fat - think 50's LP neck profile (not really but this is an example)
W/T = Wide Thin - think 60's LP neck profile

 

[Adam St Pierre]

The shape of the neck carve.
W/F = Wide Fat - think 50's LP neck profile (not really but this is an example)
W/T = Wide Thin - think 60's LP neck profile

Ah I see thanks. Well, I'll need to sit down and figure out what all the switching does since I haven't found an explanation anywhere.

 

[Jazzedout]

Nice!!! My bet would be that this is a custom order Cu22 with a middle pickup added... Strange that this doesn't have a 10 stamped at the back of the headstock.
I had a less figured 96 with a 10 top stamp...

 

[Jazzedout]

Oh.... and watch some videos on how to restring the winged tuners!

 

[Adam St Pierre]

Oh.... and watch some videos on how to resting the winged tuners!

Yeah I took the strings off and realized I might have messed that up when I put them back on haha.

 

[Jazzedout]

I wonder why Sergio didn't say anything...