Beautiful 245... Useless knobs... Strange wires...

[JJ49]

(Pictures will follow)

I purchased a second hand 2015 SE 245 from an aquitance yesterday. Cosmetically it’s like new, intonation is spot on, etc. Love the neck profile.

But - I got it home, plugged it in, and quickly realized that the volume and tone knobs are functionless. It’s as if all knobs / pots are on 10. Meaning, the guitar plays and sounds fine - but I have no tone or volume control. The 3 way pickup selector switch works fine.

I took the back-plate off and discovered what I think is not factory wiring. Admittedly I don’t know much about wiring, having never done it myself.

Can anyone tell me what’s going on here? I’m assuming that at some point, different pickups were in the guitar, which required a unique wiring setup that isn’t compatible with the stock pickups, which were put back into the guitar prior to sale. What’s the fix?

Thanks in advance!

http://imgur.com/6NCCoRg

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[alantig]

Pictures will definitely help. It may have been wired to go directly to the output - what some folks accomplish with a 'blower' switch. Totally bypasses the volume and tone pots.

Or it might just be wired wrong. Once you post the pics, I'm sure someone will have the answers for you quickly.

 

[JJ49]

Pictures will definitely help. It may have been wired to go directly to the output - what some folks accomplish with a 'blower' switch. Totally bypasses the volume and tone pots.

Or it might just be wired wrong. Once you post the pics, I'm sure someone will have the answers for you quickly.

I can’t seem to get a photo to load.

 

[veinbuster]

I can’t seem to get a photo to load.

You have to host the photo elsewhere - imgur is popular here
Then link to the picture location.

 

[JJ49]

You have to host the photo elsewhere - imgur is popular here
Then link to the picture location.

I’ve tried Imgur, Flikr, Imageshack, and Google photos. All I get is text in my post that says

 

[JJ49]

Here’s a direct link. Perhaps this will work? I think I have more than 3 posts now...

https://m.imgur.com/6NCCoRg

 

[alantig]

You have to drill down to the jpg. I couldn't quite get there on the iPad, but I did on the desktop. In this case, it was just your link w/.jpg at the end. I don't know if that's true all the time, though.

I'm not an expert, but that doesn't look like factory wiring to me. That quick-clip connector doesn't look stock to me (my SE 7-string doesn't have that). It looks like this may be wired for the LP config (volumes vertical) as opposed to the Tremonti-style (volumes horizontal, so laid out like the pickups) that PRS used to use, but I don't know what they did on the SEs.

You may get asked for a couple more pics showing some more detail, but there are good knowledgable guys here. Someone should be able to get you sorted out.

 

[JJ49]

You have to drill down to the jpg. I couldn't quite get there on the iPad, but I did on the desktop. In this case, it was just your link w/.jpg at the end. I don't know if that's true all the time, though.

I'm not an expert, but that doesn't look like factory wiring to me. That quick-clip connector doesn't look stock to me (my SE 7-string doesn't have that). It looks like this may be wired for the LP config (volumes vertical) as opposed to the Tremonti-style (volumes horizontal, so laid out like the pickups) that PRS used to use, but I don't know what they did on the SEs.

You may get asked for a couple more pics showing some more detail, but there are good knowledgable guys here. Someone should be able to get you sorted out.

Thank you!

 

[Herr Squid]

That looks... confusing. It's doesn't look like any factory wiring I've ever seen. The clip connector and shrinkwrap are clearly the work of somebody who was doing careful and professional work. But I wonder if it was somebody who's not familiar with the conventions and quirks of electric guitar wiring. That might explain why the controls don't do what you expect.

 

[JJ49]

Could be...

Turns out that a set of fishmans was previously installed. When they were removed, a wiring harness was purchased from eBay and installed to return the guitar to a passive pickup configuration.

So I guess that answers part of the riddle. So, perhaps the eBay harness is faulty, or maybe the soldering is inadequate?

 

[garrett]

Yeah somebody has been screwing around in there. It's such a mess I'd just gut it and start fresh with high quality pots and caps.

 

[JJ49]

Yeah somebody has been screwing around in there. It's such a mess I'd just gut it and start fresh with high quality pots and caps.

Thanks for your comment, Garrett. I’m inclined to follow your advice.

Having never done a bit of wiring or soldering before in my life, would you recommend that I gather the tools, consider this a learning experience, and give it a go myself, or would I be wiser to take it to a local pro?

 

[AP515]

Shure, do it yourself. Even if you screw up, it's reversible. I didn't see a schematic for the SE 245, but here's a tremonti that should be the same.
https://www.prsguitars.com/documents/tremonti_2017.pdf

 

[Ovibos]

For a newbie, this video from Phil McKnight's excellent "Sharpen My Axe" series might give you confidence. He doesn't do the work, but empowers a woman to do it herself.