58/15 S vs. 58/15 LT is there much of a difference?

[Sybo]

He only understands Klingon

T U!

 

[DISTORT6]

What year is your SE?

Nice ninja edit!

 

[jak3af3r]

What year is your SE?

2023.

He only understands Klingon

I've always thought myself more Vulcan.

 

[Rusty Mcdangles]

I replaced the electronics on my S2 SC594 with a core wiring harness and 58/15 LT TCI pickups and it was a huge improvement. The S versions are fine, even good, but the core electronics are amazing.

Was that a kit to drop in or separate? Just curious

 

[Anachronism]

Was that a kit to drop in or separate? Just curious

PRS sells a wiring harness. I bought the pickups separately.

 

[Longneck Tenon]

For you guy’s with the LT’s does that pickup require a different height as say the 59/09’s, 85/15’s etc? I have some 57/08’s in a few guitars and notice they tend to need a little more attention when I’m setting the guitars up to my liking. I seem to be able to dial in the hotter pickups quicker. Might just be my lack of experience with the lower output pup’s.

I would argue that any pickup needs attention during setup. P90’s are the touchiest to setup IMO.

 

[Broseph]

Depends on the guitar. I found the stock pickups fine in my thin line. But muddier in the neck pickups on the double and single cuts 594.

Funny part about tone woods: both my thinline and single cut s2 594 have the exact same pickups (bareknuckles). The singlecut has more clarity when the guitars are dialed the same. It’s brighter. The thinline has way more mids and breaks up a lot sooner. Both have the same core harness. I thought it was cool to see the difference a light all hog machine compares to the classic thick hog and maple cap. By themselves it would be hard to notice. A/Bing them and it was super obvious!

 

[Jim85IROC]

There seems to be a lot of variation in people's measured pickup values on the 85/15 LT S, at least in the bridge. Most of the necks seem to measure at or just under 7k. Bridges seem to measure hotter, usually around 7.5k. The bridge in my SE 594 DC actually measures a hair lower than my neck at 6.96k.

Maybe my set was a mistake, but I think it's my absolute favorite sounding PAF-ish guitar.

 

[Sybo]

My SE with the 58/15 LT S pickups read 6.97k on the neck and 7.43k on the bridge.

Having first hand heard your rigs, how do you like the SE compared to your other awesome sounding guitars. It sure is pretty!

 

[gush]

Interesting. I know my 5815S ohm readings are pretty low. Goes to the original thought of the difference I've heard has been more of a setup issue. I know it took me a while to dial in mine just right.

I'd be interested to hear more thoughts too.. maybe posting some readings would help?

Edit- 7.96 bridge and 7.68 neck on my '22 se Hb2

I didn't have to do much with my LT neck. Set it flush with ring and done.

The bridge has taken a while though as it changes the middle position too so a lot to consider when working with bridge PU.

I'm running it a lot higher than I would normally run a bridge PU.

I'll try to remember to take some impedance readings today.

 

[jak3af3r]

Having first hand heard your rigs, how do you like the SE compared to your other awesome sounding guitars. It sure is pretty!

That's an interesting question.

Since it is currently the shortest scale guitar I own, I like how it feels bending and the fret spacing but it's not like it's completely foreign to switch between that and a 25.5" or 25" scale guitar.

I like that it isn't extremely heavy or so light the neck dives.

I like the bigger neck shape.

Having actually grown up really only playing PRS the body shape is delightfully familiar.

I like the controls and the layout but don't particularly like the way it looks on that body shape. However, that thought goes away as soon as the gig starts.

I find the pickups sound fine. The volume pots may be replaced since as soon as they go below wide open they get really muddy. Not sure if it's a taper thing or what. I have tried treble bleeds and it didn't make a noticeable difference. I also tried 50's wiring with and without treble bleed. I kept the 50's wiring and went without the treble bleed for the sake of simplicity.


Now for a somewhat disappointing take...


If we were to make a Venn diagram of all my guitars, there's enough overlap that, in general, they're somewhat interchangable without significant enough difference to be noticeable by most.

The reason I make this claim is because I don't think everyone has the same established reference point of what guitar "X" is supposed to sound like. I would argue that's based on limited sample sources and potentially inadequate recording and/or reproduction.

Based on that principle, I would also argue I could get close enough to a particular sound that some people would mistake one guitar for another given their personal reference point of what guitar "X" sounds like.

I also don't think there is a great distinction made between the vocabulary and expression of the player and "tone."

This means I still sound like me if I play that 594, or one of my teles, or my strats, or another PRS of mine, or another person's entire rig.

And we haven't even touched the amp or pedals...