Jason Kerr
New Member
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- Feb 15, 2016
- Messages
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Hey guys, I want to upgrade my Zach Myers 2021 wiring harness. I’m looking for one with push pulls on the tone knobs. Any help of the best places that might make this?
Wiring harness…?
- Thread starter Jason Kerr
- Start date
Erick_S
New Member
Just gut it. PRS Core uses Bourns pots. They are only $10 or so. They are zero-friction. Super smooth. After being a CTS user for years (via Gibson), PRS turned me into a Bourns fan. Oddly, PRS uses Alphas for push-pulls. I always replace them with Bourns push-pulls.
The wiring will depend most on your pickups and your switch-type. PRS has numerous schematics on it customer service page. Those are oriented to PRS pickups - they use capacitor and resistor values tuned specifically to making PRS pickups sound better when split. If you choose different pickups you may not even use resistors and just go with traditional default capacitor value (.022uF) for humbuckers.
Also, PRS volume pots come with a 180pF treble bleed capacitor already soldered onto the lugs.
While you are at it, replace the switch with a Switchcraft toggle. That is what the Cores use. Less than $20. Also a good time to replace the output jack...PRS uses Switchcraft in the Cores, but PureTones are better - only $5 (they have two prongs, rather than one).
Buying a harness will cost around $85-100. You can build it yourself for less than $50-60 at the most. Other than that, you might need a reamer to open the holes to convert from metric to SAE/Imperial controls. If you need a parts list or any diagrams, let me know.
The wiring will depend most on your pickups and your switch-type. PRS has numerous schematics on it customer service page. Those are oriented to PRS pickups - they use capacitor and resistor values tuned specifically to making PRS pickups sound better when split. If you choose different pickups you may not even use resistors and just go with traditional default capacitor value (.022uF) for humbuckers.
Also, PRS volume pots come with a 180pF treble bleed capacitor already soldered onto the lugs.
While you are at it, replace the switch with a Switchcraft toggle. That is what the Cores use. Less than $20. Also a good time to replace the output jack...PRS uses Switchcraft in the Cores, but PureTones are better - only $5 (they have two prongs, rather than one).
Buying a harness will cost around $85-100. You can build it yourself for less than $50-60 at the most. Other than that, you might need a reamer to open the holes to convert from metric to SAE/Imperial controls. If you need a parts list or any diagrams, let me know.
Jason Kerr
New Member
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2016
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Great info. I’d love a parts list and schematic. I’m wanting to have the push pulls on the tone knobs.
Erick_S
New Member
First, I would need to know what pickups you plan to use. Also, you would need to remove the coverplate for your toggle switch in order to determine if they use a short or long toggle (my guess is short).
Switchcraft Toggle Switch Dimensions
Short
Thread height = 11/32" (8.74mm)
Mounting hole dia. = 1/2" (12.70mm)
Body cavity depth min. = 7/8" (22.23mm)
Tall
Thread height = 7/32" (5.56mm)
Mounting hole dia. = 1/2" (12.70mm)
Body cavity depth min. = 1-1/2" (38.10mm)
Jason Kerr
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- Feb 15, 2016
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Thanks for that info. I'm putting a set of Woodbrane Skatterbrane PAF's in it. I'll check the dimensions later today. Cheers
Erick_S
New Member
It looks like Skatterbrane shut down a while back. What kind of lead wires do you have on the pickups? Do you know the pickup polarities?
Jason Kerr
New Member
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- Feb 15, 2016
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I think I've decided to keep the current pots in the Zach. Checked them on my meter and they are solid and feel very good on turn. Audio taper is smooth. The skatterbranes are vintage braided one wire with ground, so I'll have skip the splitting idea for now. If these pups don't capture the soundI need for tour, I'll grab some 57/08's or Seth Lover 4 wire and split. I will upgrade the caps with sprague paper-in-oil, and probably take the treble bleed off. I'm used to LP vintage tone. Will need the switchcraft toggle for sure. Checking that length today.
Dirty_Boogie
Still got the ol' tagger on it
I too, am a fan of Bourns pots (these are also the EVH-branded low friction pots). Super smooth and low resistance (some might find them to have too low turning resistance.) Use them on all my guitars. I typically get them (and other guitar/wiring-related stuff) from guitarelectronics.com. They also have a great library of pickup wiring diagrams.
Erick_S
New Member
I usually buy a handful, so I can match select a set with matching (well, pretty close) resistance. Their tolerance is ±20%, so they vary quite a bit. I bought a bunch of 180pF caps to replace the treble bleeds that come on the PRS-packaged Bourns pots.
Erick_S
New Member
PRS Cores use short-legged pickups. I don't know if SE pickups are short-leg or not. Long-legged pickups will bottom out, especially in shallow bridge cavities on tremolo-equipped guitars. If your Skatterbranes turn out to have long legs, you can fairly easily replace the bottom plate a with short-legged plate.
I know the caps aren't supposed to matter, but always really like the Emerson PIO caps. They're not cheap ($15-20), but I don't buy them industrial quantities. I used put them in all of my Gibson LPs, then started using them in my PRS guitars when I "transitioned". The only problem is Emerson doesn't sell a .033uF PIO cap...a lot of PRS guitars use a .033uF cap.
Simon Says
Cathode Follower
I could swear that both old and new are CTS. Gonna check later
Erick_S
New Member
The soldering lugs are different. CTS lugs are narrow with a circular end - shaped like a magnifying glass. Bourns lugs are more rectangular - shaped like the end of a tongue depressor.
SinSir
Mad Scientist
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The stamping on the board for the volume pot in the prs accessory store is the same as the one I got from them that has CTS stamped on it as well.
Erick_S
New Member
I just looked at the listings - PRS Volume: Bourns, PRS Tone: Bourns (on the PRS Accessories site) and Alpha (on Sweetwater), PRS Push/Pull: Alpha. CTS makes pots for Emerson, MojoTone and other vendors that have the dimpled bottom (rather than flat) and stamped markings. The bottoms looks pretty similar to Bourns, but the solder lugs are the giveaway (and when they vendor says 'CTS'). Bourns lugs are riveted to the fiberboard. CTS lugs are held onto the board with bent wings. The Bourns top plate is stamped steel. The CTS top plate is cast pot metal. Regular Bourns pots have a flat bottom with a stylized 'B' marking.
Erick_S
New Member
The oldest PRS I've owned was a '97, but didn't own it long enough to check the pots. I have two 2005s and a 2006 that all had Bourns pots. PRs may have used CTS in the '90s. I don't know. That said, if they were used, they could have been changed. Even a new guitar may have had a bad pot replaced by the dealer. CTS are far and away the most common US SAE-spec pot. Bourns are less common and you usually have go looking for them specifically. A dealer looking to make a quick repair would almost certainly used a CTS as a replacement.
The picture below is for the stock Bourns pots I pulled (and sold) from my 2005 CE-24. Both the volume and tone pots show date stamps for January 2005.
I'm familiar with CTS pots going back to the late 70s and early 80s, from having worked on old effects pedals. If you look on the bottom, you can date the pot (and pedal, assuming the pot was original)...you should be able to identify the week/year your pots were manufactured. If you have a 2002 pot in a 1997 PRS, you now it was a replacement.
EIA standardized code for potentiometers tells you the manufacturer, model, various specs, and the year/week of manufacture. The first three digits traditionally indicated the maker - the most common for CTS was '137', and for Bourns it was '381'. CTS has definitely changed its pot numbering format over the past few years...they are now much longer now and don't start with the '137', but they keep the 4-digit year/week code.
On older CTS pots, the digits may be separated by a space, hyphen, or period. A CTS pot would be stamped '137', followed by the two-digit year, and then the two-digit week: 1378728 - a CTS pot made between 6-12 July 1987 (28th week of 1987)
Newer CTS Pots have a different coding. The last four digits before the 'CTS' provide year/week: 450GT36K254B1S 1740 CTS
The '1740' = 2-8 October 2017 (40th week of 2017)
CTS pot codes are different when they are made as OEM parts for companies:
- CTS build pots with flat for its own specs (and Fender), but build dimpled bottoms for various OEM specs.
- CTS AllParts pots show 'AP' (4-digit date code)
- CTS MojoTone pots show 'MOJO' (4-digit date code)
- CTS Pro Emerson pots say 'EMERSON' or 'EMERSON PRO' (no date code)
- CTS Fender pots just show model number and CTS (4-digit date code)
Like CTS, Bourns pots and many of its OEM pots usually have flat bottoms. They build the dimpled bottoms for OEM specs.
- Bourns WD Music pots are ink-stamped 'WDM' (4-digit date code)
- Bourns PRS pots read 'ELE-0010" followed by the 4-digit date code (same format since at least 2005 to present)
The picture below is for the stock Bourns pots I pulled (and sold) from my 2005 CE-24. Both the volume and tone pots show date stamps for January 2005.
I'm familiar with CTS pots going back to the late 70s and early 80s, from having worked on old effects pedals. If you look on the bottom, you can date the pot (and pedal, assuming the pot was original)...you should be able to identify the week/year your pots were manufactured. If you have a 2002 pot in a 1997 PRS, you now it was a replacement.
EIA standardized code for potentiometers tells you the manufacturer, model, various specs, and the year/week of manufacture. The first three digits traditionally indicated the maker - the most common for CTS was '137', and for Bourns it was '381'. CTS has definitely changed its pot numbering format over the past few years...they are now much longer now and don't start with the '137', but they keep the 4-digit year/week code.
On older CTS pots, the digits may be separated by a space, hyphen, or period. A CTS pot would be stamped '137', followed by the two-digit year, and then the two-digit week: 1378728 - a CTS pot made between 6-12 July 1987 (28th week of 1987)
Newer CTS Pots have a different coding. The last four digits before the 'CTS' provide year/week: 450GT36K254B1S 1740 CTS
The '1740' = 2-8 October 2017 (40th week of 2017)
CTS pot codes are different when they are made as OEM parts for companies:
- CTS build pots with flat for its own specs (and Fender), but build dimpled bottoms for various OEM specs.
- CTS AllParts pots show 'AP' (4-digit date code)
- CTS MojoTone pots show 'MOJO' (4-digit date code)
- CTS Pro Emerson pots say 'EMERSON' or 'EMERSON PRO' (no date code)
- CTS Fender pots just show model number and CTS (4-digit date code)
Like CTS, Bourns pots and many of its OEM pots usually have flat bottoms. They build the dimpled bottoms for OEM specs.
- Bourns WD Music pots are ink-stamped 'WDM' (4-digit date code)
- Bourns PRS pots read 'ELE-0010" followed by the 4-digit date code (same format since at least 2005 to present)
