58/15s vs. 58/15 LTs is there a difference?

chuck eppinger

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Hey there my 6 string Brothas,

Does anyone know if there is a actual difference between the 58/15 LT S pickups in the new SE McCarty 594s and the 58/15 s pickups in my SE Hollowbody II Piezo.
The reason I am asking is I have been thinking of sending my SE HBII Piezo to Stevensville to have them install 2 mini toggle coil splits ,My quandary is the SE McCarty 594 has the LT pups and a 2.2k resistor on the bridge pup/1,1k on the neck. So would those resistor values give the same tone characteristics to my 58/15s ?

Thanks and Keep on Jammin, Chuck
 
My Bad...just went to website specs on the SE Hollowbody II Piezo and it says 58/15 LT S pickups same as the SE McCarty 594...so I am pulling the trigger.
 
I wonder why PRS’s marketing folks haven’t realized that using “S” in the name of items that often come in pairs isn’t a good idea?

PRS seems to drop the ball on naming more frequently than they should. TCI pickups and other pickups with TCI in their name. HX amp when Line 6 had been using that for years before that. For a company that prides itself on details, it’s awfully sloppy.
 
I wonder why PRS’s marketing folks haven’t realized that using “S” in the name of items that often come in pairs isn’t a good idea?

PRS seems to drop the ball on naming more frequently than they should. TCI pickups and other pickups with TCI in their name. HX amp when Line 6 had been using that for years before that. For a company that prides itself on details, it’s awfully sloppy.

I guess it can get 'confusing' but I think the 'S' is often capitalised to indicate its the 'Overseas' made version of the US equivalent. As for the 'S', it does make sense as they are used exclusively in their two 'S' tier guitars - SE and S2 ranges. Bolt-on and Core use US made Pups.

As for the TCI pickups that were named after the process that PRS have developed and released in 'Paul's' guitar before they applied that Process across all US made Pups, that is just a 'name' of a Pup. A Custom 24 still has '85/15's' that have been through the TCI process, a 594 has 58/15 LT's that have been through the TCI process. It may not of been the 'best' idea to name his Pups after the Process he was developing at the time but that's what happened.

When they decided to make the Paul's SE guitar, they obviously used the 'TCI' pups as the basis to create the TCI 'S' pups - which were then also used in Santana's SE goldtop and Cu24-08 Anniversary models. The 58/15 LT 'S', the JM 635 'S', 85/15 'S' etc pups all follow the 'same' principle - that they were 'designed' by PRS to make their instruments sound like their US made counterparts. So you have Paul's 'SE' with TCI 'S' pups to sound like and offer similar features to the Core, the 58/15 LT 'S' pups in 'McCarty' SE models to sound like the Core 58/15 LT's that went through the TCI process.

They are 'designing' the SE pups and it seems compensating for the differences in materials etc to get the 'sound' they want - whether that's different design (JM635's look very different to the 'S' versions), different winds, output, magnets etc so you are still getting a 'bespoke' designed Pup you won't find in any other brand guitar. I also don't think 'TCI' is that 'confusing' - it just depends on whether you are referring to Paul's guitar Pups or the process applied to 'all' US made Pups whether they are 58/15's LT's, 85/15's or TCI pups. Its like being confused by 'Les Paul' - are you referring to the man himself or the guitar named after him? TCI - are you referring to the Pickups or the Process?
 
Does anyone have a picture of the underside of the 85/15LT S pickups? I was told by the store that my new Hollowbody II piezo had 58/15LT S pickups but the reading seem a little high for low turn pickups 8.3k Bridge 7.4K Neck.

heres the labels on the under of my pickups.

Neck Pickup
52914237515_00acac1c68.jpg


Bridge pickup
52914005104_6dcd2a5bf9.jpg


Its serial starts CTCF = China 2022

As you can theres a marking on both pickups saying 10-2021 So I'm thinking the store made a mistake this is actually a 22 not 23 model, no problem just would like to know.
 
Does anyone have a picture of the underside of the 85/15LT S pickups? I was told by the store that my new Hollowbody II piezo had 58/15LT S pickups but the reading seem a little high for low turn pickups 8.3k Bridge 7.4K Neck.

heres the labels on the under of my pickups.

Neck Pickup
52914237515_00acac1c68.jpg


Bridge pickup
52914005104_6dcd2a5bf9.jpg


Its serial starts CTCF = China 2022

As you can theres a marking on both pickups saying 10-2021 So I'm thinking the store made a mistake this is actually a 22 not 23 model, no problem just would like to know.
You have 58/15 "S" pickups in that model. Here's the link to the Hollowbody ii Piezo 2022: https://prsguitars.com/electrics/model/se_hollowbody_ii_piezo_2022. Note that each year (in multi-year models) has its own page; the link ends with the year. ONe exception I know of is the SE McCarty 594; suspect that's because 2023 is the first year the SE McCarty came out.

BTW, I have a 2022 SE Hollowbody ii Piezo as well.

Cheers.
 
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