Rockabilly69
New Member
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2020
- Messages
- 39
Well last night I finally did it. I pulled the Dragon I pickups from my PRS 1994 Custom 22, and replaced them with some Wolfetones. I used a Doctor Vintage in the neck, and a Marshallhead in the bridge. Man what a difference. I'm sure a lot of people like the tone of the Dragon pickups especially people that play with high gain amps, but they were buzzy and harsh sounding, especially the bridge pickup. The Wolfetones do the classic PAF tones just the way I like them.
But... this job didn't go easy. I scoured the internet for the wire color codes of the original PRS Dragons and also for the Wolfetones, so I made a one to one chart...
Wolfe Neck PRS Neck
Black (ground) Black (ground)
Green+White (coils) Red (coils)
Red (hot) White (hot)
Wolfe Bridge PRS Bridge
Black (ground) White (ground)
Green+White (coil tap) Red (coil tap)
Red (hot) Black (hot)
Wiring my 5 way (with a flipped magnet on the bridge pickup), this was the setup that WORKED...
Neck pickup to 5 way switch
A: (Ground) The Wolfe neck black wire to the PRS neck black wire.
B: (Coils) The Wolfe neck green and white wires to the PRS neck red wire.
C: (Hot) The Wolfe neck red wire to the PRS neck white wire.
Bridge pickup to 5 way switch
D: (Ground) The Wolfe bridge black wire to the PRS bridge black wire.
E: (Coils) The Wolfe bridge green and white wires to the PRS bridge red wire .
F: (Hot) The Wolfe bridge red wire to the PRS bridge white wire .
Both bare shield wires to tone pot
I just replaced every wire one to one at every connection of the 5 way and then connected the two bare shields to the tone pot.
Well, when I fired up the guitar the normal bridge and neck tones were great, but all the other positions were unacceptable. They were way too low in output, and they sounded way too out of phase. So I opened up the guitar, and reversed the leads on the hot and ground of the bridge pickup, and while I was in there, I took a good look at all the solder connections. They were dull, so I un-soldered every connection, cleaned up all those connections with a solder sucker, and re-soldered every one of them.
When I fired up the guitar this time, it sounded great. Man what a difference, the splits were totally usable and every position worked well with the tone pot. I also straightened the truss rod, dropped the action, and set the intonation, which surprisingly, with the compensated wrap-tail, it was almost dead on (a hair flat on the low E). I was selling this guitar cause I just couldn't bond with it, but now it's GREAT. Amazing what some new pickups, and a good setup does for the guitar. Here is the offender...
But... this job didn't go easy. I scoured the internet for the wire color codes of the original PRS Dragons and also for the Wolfetones, so I made a one to one chart...
Wolfe Neck PRS Neck
Black (ground) Black (ground)
Green+White (coils) Red (coils)
Red (hot) White (hot)
Wolfe Bridge PRS Bridge
Black (ground) White (ground)
Green+White (coil tap) Red (coil tap)
Red (hot) Black (hot)
Wiring my 5 way (with a flipped magnet on the bridge pickup), this was the setup that WORKED...
Neck pickup to 5 way switch
A: (Ground) The Wolfe neck black wire to the PRS neck black wire.
B: (Coils) The Wolfe neck green and white wires to the PRS neck red wire.
C: (Hot) The Wolfe neck red wire to the PRS neck white wire.
Bridge pickup to 5 way switch
D: (Ground) The Wolfe bridge black wire to the PRS bridge black wire.
E: (Coils) The Wolfe bridge green and white wires to the PRS bridge red wire .
F: (Hot) The Wolfe bridge red wire to the PRS bridge white wire .
Both bare shield wires to tone pot
I just replaced every wire one to one at every connection of the 5 way and then connected the two bare shields to the tone pot.
Well, when I fired up the guitar the normal bridge and neck tones were great, but all the other positions were unacceptable. They were way too low in output, and they sounded way too out of phase. So I opened up the guitar, and reversed the leads on the hot and ground of the bridge pickup, and while I was in there, I took a good look at all the solder connections. They were dull, so I un-soldered every connection, cleaned up all those connections with a solder sucker, and re-soldered every one of them.
When I fired up the guitar this time, it sounded great. Man what a difference, the splits were totally usable and every position worked well with the tone pot. I also straightened the truss rod, dropped the action, and set the intonation, which surprisingly, with the compensated wrap-tail, it was almost dead on (a hair flat on the low E). I was selling this guitar cause I just couldn't bond with it, but now it's GREAT. Amazing what some new pickups, and a good setup does for the guitar. Here is the offender...
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