Core Paul's Guitar Pickups: Upgrade from 408s? (and some custom wiring...)

[davidtaus]

Longtime player, new PRS fanboy. I'm the recent proud owner of two:
First was the S2 10th Anniversary McCarty 594, with TCI pickups. got it, played, it, and went OH!
Then, because i found it on a screaming deal, picked up a Core 2013 Paul's Guitar with Brazilian Rosewood Fretboard. Played it, and went OHHHH!!
(my gibsons may not see the light of day for a while.)

the one downside of the Paul's is that I like the single coil sounds of the S2 McCarty better. It sounds more...single coil. Humbuckers sound similar in both. So I'm wondering: is there a way to upgrade the Paul's Guitar from its stock 408s to something more like the McCarty TCI pickups? Keep the great humbucker sound but get that more differentiated and defined single coil sound? Maybe the more recent model Core Paul's have this pickup. These Paul's pickups look narrower than a standard size humbucker, I'm guessing this is a proprietary part.

And bonus question: has anyone ever installed 3 way pickup selectors in a Paul's Guitar: Humbucker series / Humbucker Parallel / Single Coil? If so I'd be curious how that went for you.

 

[Bowtiefanatc]

Grab a router, a dose of self confidence, and your drink/drug of choice to ease the pain of destroying any resale value and have at it.

 

[Greywolf]

As I recall swapping out Paul's pickups was an issue with refitting as Bodia eluded to . Do what most of do .. just buy another model that nails it.

 

[thewesdavis]

I have a swamp ash special (2002 Core, sunburst) that has McCarty pickups and nails the single coil sound...maybe a trade would be better than a rout job

 

[Markcarl]

Longtime player, new PRS fanboy. I'm the recent proud owner of two:
First was the S2 10th Anniversary McCarty 594, with TCI pickups. got it, played, it, and went OH!
Then, because i found it on a screaming deal, picked up a Core 2013 Paul's Guitar with Brazilian Rosewood Fretboard. Played it, and went OHHHH!!
(my gibsons may not see the light of day for a while.)

the one downside of the Paul's is that I like the single coil sounds of the S2 McCarty better. It sounds more...single coil. Humbuckers sound similar in both. So I'm wondering: is there a way to upgrade the Paul's Guitar from its stock 408s to something more like the McCarty TCI pickups? Keep the great humbucker sound but get that more differentiated and defined single coil sound? Maybe the more recent model Core Paul's have this pickup. These Paul's pickups look narrower than a standard size humbucker, I'm guessing this is a proprietary part.

And bonus question: has anyone ever installed 3 way pickup selectors in a Paul's Guitar: Humbucker series / Humbucker Parallel / Single Coil? If so I'd be curious how that went for you.

You mentioned having a 2013 Paul’s guitar and being unhappy with the single coil sounds on this guitar. Have you tried contacting PRS to see if they changed the single coil implementation for the Paul’s guitar since 2013? If so, is there a way you can upgrade to the newer pickups? This approach wouldn’t necessitate routing your guitar for different sized pickups. My understanding is that the single coil sounds offered with the latest Paul’s guitar pickups actually sound like single coils. I’m wondering if PRS changed the implementation since 2013?

 

[Tonart]

You mentioned having a 2013 Paul’s guitar and being unhappy with the single coil sounds on this guitar. Have you tried contacting PRS to see if they changed the single coil implementation for the Paul’s guitar since 2013? If so, is there a way you can upgrade to the newer pickups? This approach wouldn’t necessitate routing your guitar for different sized pickups. My understanding is that the single coil sounds offered with the latest Paul’s guitar pickups actually sound like single coils. I’m wondering if PRS changed the implementation since 2013?

That’s a great idea. Since the TCI PG pickup introduction sometime 2018/2019 the singlecoil sounds have improved remarkably. It’s now the real deal.

IMO PRS sometimes has a habit of implementing or hyping up something when it’s not yet mature and this thread is a good example of that.

 

[Broseph]

TCI Paul’s sounds piano like to me. Amazing single coil sounds.

 

[Markcarl]

@davidtaus I’m not sure if you’ve seen this. In this video Brian Ewald demos the humbucker and single coil tones on a new Paul’s guitar starting at ~ position 3:25:

.

 

[bodia]

TCI Paul’s sounds piano like to me. Amazing single coil sounds.

Completely agree