About to add a Stripped 58 to the collection

[Lewguitar]

Not sure why these stock pickuos would have been out of phase considering there was no coil splitting.

It's complicated. But it started with the rotary switch in 90's guitars like my CE22's.

One pickup needed to be magnetically out of phase in order to get the three split coil sounds of that switch IN phase.

It's still done to work with the PRS switches altho you don't see the rotary in new PRS guitars.

 

[boardn10]

I guess I'm just surprised why my 57/08 pickups would be out of phase since it doesn't have any form of coil splitting.
They both have black-hot braid-ground, and no white wire.

If I were to install a different pickup one day, I'd ensure it had 4 conductor in order to switch the hot and ground.

Anyway, great guitar.

 

[Lewguitar]

I guess I'm just surprised why my 57/08 pickuos would be out of phase since it doesn't gave any form of cool splitting.
They both have black hot and braid ground, no white wire.
If I were to install a different pickup I'd ensure it had 4 conductor in order to switch the hot and ground.
Anyway, great guitar.

Jason said it looks like your bridge pickup has a red coil splitting wire and that it might be newer than your neck pickup.

Have you looked under the neck pickup to see if there's a white wire coiled under the pickup?

My 2012 Stripped 58 did have coil splitting 57/08's but i didn't know it until I removed them because the white wires were separate from the main cable, and were not being used and they were not visible in the control cavity.

PRS uses a different cable today.

 

[JasonE]

Yes, I've had to do that with every PRS where I installed a 3 way toggle switch.
Mine are black and braid.

Not that I am going to, but if I ever wanted to try another pickup, I might have to reverse the wires. Not sure why these stock pickuos would have been out of phase considering there was no coil splitting.

My be have one black wire and a shield. However, I do not see a white wire.

The pickups in your guitar are more than likely in phase with each other. I know the ones in my SC-58 are in phase.

 

[JasonE]

It's complicated. But it started with the rotary switch in 90's guitars like my CE22's.

One pickup needed to be magnetically out of phase in order to get the three split coil sounds of that switch IN phase.

It's still done to work with the PRS switches altho you don't see the rotary in new PRS guitars.

I think the 5 way blade switch still does some of the magical things the rotary did and that is one reason they are still making some pickups out of phase. I know they also need to be this way if installed in a piezo equipped guitar.

Jason said it looks like your bridge pickup has a red coil splitting wire and that it might be newer than your neck pickup.

Have you looked under the neck pickup to see if there's a white wire coiled under the pickup?

My 2012 Stripped 58 did have coil splitting 57/08's but i didn't know it until I removed them because the white wires were separate from the main cable, and were not being used and they were not visible in the control cavity.

PRS uses a different cable today.

He verified that the red wire is actually coming from the toggle switch.

 

[Lewguitar]

The pickups in your guitar are more than likely in phase with each other. I know the ones in my SC-58 are in phase.

Easy to find out.

A magnet can be held against the screw polepieces of each pickup. Use the same end or surface of the magnet each time.

If it attracts to both pickups, or repels from both pickups, the pickups are in phase with each other.

If the magnet repels from one but is attracted to the other they are magnetically out of phase.

 

[boardn10]

Jason said it looks like your bridge pickup has a red coil splitting wire and that it might be newer than your neck pickup.

Have you looked under the neck pickup to see if there's a white wire coiled under the pickup?

My 2012 Stripped 58 did have coil splitting 57/08's but i didn't know it until I removed them because the white wires were separate from the main cable, and were not being used and they were not visible in the control cavity.

PRS uses a different cable today.

It doesn't, that red wire is from the toggle switch. We determined that.

Good point on looking under the neck pickup. Would it only be the neck pickup or would the bridge pickup have the coiled white wire as well?

My point is this - why make the pickup with taped wires for sitting if it's not in use? You mean your 212 had the wire but was not in use? Is that from the factory or someone modified it?

The original owner of mine had his tech rewire the pickups but disnt mention if the guitar came stock with split pits or not. I assumed it either did and he wanted straight up non split wiring or it came like yours with the wire cooled up and not in use. I'm assuming they'd split the 57/08 pickups in other guitars but not the Stripped 58.
Not sure why else it would have a white cool tap wire coiled up under the pickups.

I am used to seeing a vintage braid wire with one hot lead, and then another wire in addition. Even my BBQ had the one black ground with bare and then the white for hot lead.

These pickups look just like my Gibson Burstbucker Pro pickups which is vintage braid and black hot lead.

 

[Lewguitar]

It doesn't, that red wire is from the toggle switch. We determined that.

Good point on looking under the neck pickup. Would it only be the neck pickup or would the bridge pickup have the coiled white wire as well?

I am used to seeing a vintage braid wire with one hot lead, and then another wire in addition. Even my BBQ had the one black ground with bare and then the white for hot lead.

These pickups look just like my Gibson Burstbucker Pro pickups which is vintage braid and black hot lead.

It was a separate white wire that came out of the bottom of the pickup and was then neatly coiled under the pickup.

It wasn't wrapped inside the cable with the other wires that went to the control cavity, although it was long enough to reach there if you wanted to feed it through and attach it to a coil splitting switch.

Now PRS bundles the wires together in one vinyl covered 4 conductor cable.

Next time you change strings take a look under a pickup.

 

[boardn10]

The pickups in your guitar are more than likely in phase with each other. I know the ones in my SC-58 are in phase.

Ok good to know. The pickups in my CE22, SC250 and SC were all out of phase. I know you can still split in phase pickups but PRS traditionally did things differently requiring the out of phase.

 

[boardn10]

Easy to find out.

A magnet can be held against the screw polepieces of each pickup. Use the same end or surface of the magnet each time.

If it attracts to both pickups, or repels from both pickups, the pickups are in phase with each other.

If the magnet repels from one but is attracted to the other they are magnetically out of phase.

Lew, I thought you just hold the pickups facing one another and if they repel the are in phase, if attract they are out of phase.

Not a big deal. If I ever tried a different pickup, I'll go with the assumption they are in phase. If not, I'll switch the wires.

 

[JasonE]

Lea, I thought you just hold the pickups facing one another and if they repel the are in phase, if attract they are out of phase.

Not a big deal. If I ever tried a different pickup, I'll go with the assumption they are in phase. If not, I'll switch the wires.

I tried that method with mine after Lew and I exchanged some posts on there about the 57/08s. I wasn't sure about my results so I bought one of these below. I found out that all of my measurements were incorrect once I got this tool.

Schatten Magnet Polarity Tester - StewMac

A very useful tool for troubleshooting and testing pickups and wiring.

www.stewmac.com

 

[boardn10]

I tried that method with mine after Lew and I exchanged some posts on there about the 57/08s. I wasn't sure about my results so I bought one of these below. I found out that all of my measurements were incorrect once I got this tool.

Schatten Magnet Polarity Tester - StewMac

A very useful tool for troubleshooting and testing pickups and wiring.

www.stewmac.com

That's easy. If it attracts to both, in phase. Attracted to one but not the other, out of phase.

Kew mentioned you can use a magnet.
Does that mean I could use any magnet or is that in reference to a magnet or tool in the kit?

So now I need the professional wire stripper and the magnet polarity tester. Lol.

Lew, so you know why they'd made the pickups with the white wire if it wasn't in use?

Some of my pickups, like my BBQ have separate wires from the bottom of the pickup. Since the wires originate from different corners of the pickup, there is no bundling with a wire cover. However, most of my pickups have had the wires coming from the same location under the pickup.

 

[Lewguitar]

Lew, I thought you just hold the pickups facing one another and if they repel the are in phase, if attract they are out of phase.

Not a big deal. If I ever tried a different pickup, I'll go with the assumption they are in phase. If not, I'll switch the wires.

Yes.

Screw coils against screw coils and slug coils against slug coils.

If they repel they are the same polarity and are magnetically in phase with each other.

If they attract they are opposite polarity and are magnetically out of phase with each other because opposite polarities attract.

 

[JasonE]

Lew, so you know why they'd made the pickups with the white wire if it wasn't in use?

I am sure it is because they didn't alter the pickup making process to eliminate the wire and just coiled it up in the pickup cavity since it wasn't needed for this model. That way the pickups are still the same as all of the other ones they produced at that time.

 

[boardn10]

Go

Yes.

Screw coils against screw coils and slug coils against slug coils.

If they repel they are the same polarity and are magnetically in phase with each other.

If they attract they are opposite polarity and are magnetically out of phase with each other because opposite polarities attract.

Got it Lew.

I just thought you mentioned we need to use the polarity tool instead of this method. I'm not worried because it's easy to flip the wires.

 

[Lewguitar]

Go

Got it Lew.

I just thought you mentioned we need to use the polarity tool instead of this method. I'm not worried because it's easy to flip the wires.

If you get into magnet swapping, having one in your tool box to test polarity is very handy.

I keep this one in a little baggie. It's a polished A2 that I took it from a Duncan Custom Custom that was beyond repair.

I'm putting new pickups in one of my SE Silver Skys today and I just used it to check the polarity of the new pickups.

This is a polished magnet and I just use it as a handy tool. One long 1/8" edge is marked with a black Sharpie to indicate NORTH and the other edge is unmarked and south.

You can also use it to see if a bridge is made from steel or not.

The bridge and saddles on this Silver Sky are steel but I was surprised to find that the magnet didn't stick to the raised input jack plate. It's metal...but not steel.

https://imgur.com/wXNkcX8

 

[boardn10]

Nice Lee!

 

[boardn10]

Do Stripped 58s and maybe SC58s tens to sound brighter acoustic ally than most singlecuts?
Mine is bright. My others are all darker, yet still resonant. Some are louder as well.
But the S58 sounds fat and clear thru my amps!

 

[SinSir]

Do Stripped 58s and maybe SC58s tens to sound brighter acoustic ally than most singlecuts?
Mine is bright. My others are all darker, yet still resonant. Some are louder as well.
But the S58 sounds fat and clear thru my amps!

I can check when I'm home... but last night I was making the rounds with quite a few guitars doing some comparisons, and I'd agree my SC58 is fat, deep, but yet very clear. Honestly I kept thinking how how beautiful it sounds, but yet comparing to my other guitars it was very Barry White! The sustain was beyond impressive up against some stiff competition. Love that dang guitar.

 

[boardn10]

I do too.
My other singlecuts are all darker and deeper sounding acoustically. My Stripped 58 almost had some tells like tonality when I play it acoutically.
Plugged it, it had those brilliant highs bell like, fat mids and deep lows but not as tight as my other guitars.