Could it be? PRS guitars prefer PRS pickups.

Casi1

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Sooo... this is what happened after my latest left turn on the journey to guitar pickup guitar tone awesomeness.

Since my last post, I acquired the Abraxas set as well as a ThroBak set ... in addition to a Tom Holmes set... in addition to a Dragon I set.

I know. I know. Too many pickups, not enough guitars. I might have a problem.

:oops:

Abraxas set goes to a Les Paul. ThroBak set goes to another Les Paul. Tom Holmes PAF set gets the backup award for a vintagey Les Paul. That takes care of all of the Les Pauls.

So far, these are the PRS combinations I have (which I like):

McCarty with Brazzy neck/board, 58/15LT neck, 85/15 bridge.
This combo is awesome.

McCarty Korina with Korina neck/ Brazzy board, covered 53/10 neck and bridge.
This combo is the awesome-est.

Custom 24 with IRW neck / Brazzy board,
BK pickups (ceramic bridge)
This combo could be awesom-er...

The McCartys love the pickups listed above and I’ve tried other non-PRS pickups in them but they seem to favor the PRS pickups. It’s weird.

As for the Custom 24, I’m thinking about putting the Dragon I’s in there. Good idea? Bad idea? Anybody put ‘old PRS pups’ in a new PRS guitar?

:)
 
nice collection, have you triedy the abraxas in the cu24?
 
I've got a ce22 with dragon 1s and it rocks.

Dragon 1s have a lot of output but they can still sound good with great string definition. Very responsive to small height adjustments. The in between sounds are great with volume rolled back a bit.

Not sure how they'd sound in a cu24.

If you lived closer I'd let you borrow my ce22 to get a feel for the pickups.
 
I put my D1’s in a Hog CE and it’s now a fire breathing dragon.

I swapped out my #6’s for a pair of 58/15LTs in my SC trem and it’s fantastic.

Still haven’t messed with the 85/15 bridge much so I don’t have a comment on that one. The 85/15 neck pairs really well with 59/09 bridge.
 
nice collection, have you triedy the abraxas in the cu24?

I didn’t because I forgot to order the Abraxas with neck magnet flipped (and I didn’t want to tear into the pickup myself). I might have to do that if the dragons don’t work out though.
 
You should add a set of Suhr Doug Aldritch pickups to you collection. Awesomeness!

Yeah? I have never heard of those before. I will try to find some YouTube clips. I will check them out!
 
Yeah? I have never heard of those before. I will try to find some YouTube clips. I will check them out!

@BrianC is a big fan of them and his them in his Cu24s. I had a set in my KL-33, and would buy another set in a heartbeat. I bought that set after I played Brian's SC594'thatnwas loads with them. I played that thing for about 10 minutes and was sold. I ordered a set as soon as I got home that afternoon.
 
Kind of makes sense that pickups designed specifically for PRS guitars do well in PRS guitars.

Other pickups can be hit-or-miss if they’re designed to fit more generic categories. John Suhr is good at pickups, and so is Tom Anderson, whose pickups I like as well.

But ever since PRS came out with the 5x/0x pickups, I’ve been very happy with stock ones. YMMV, of course!
 
Kind of makes sense that pickups designed specifically for PRS guitars do well in PRS guitars.

Other pickups can be hit-or-miss if they’re designed to fit more generic categories. John Suhr is good at pickups, and so is Tom Anderson, whose pickups I like as well.

But ever since PRS came out with the 5x/0x pickups, I’ve been very happy with stock ones. YMMV, of course!

Yup. I think I was more surprised that PRS pickups that were designed as stock in some PRS guitars... sound ‘better’ in other PRS guitars (ie guitars that they were not designed for nor included as stock). For example, my McCarty came stock with 57/08s and I couldn’t rip them out fast enough, but the LTs were a totally different story in that guitar. Same for the other McCarty, its McCarty pups had to go bye bye and fast.
 
I put my D1’s in a Hog CE and it’s now a fire breathing dragon.

I swapped out my #6’s for a pair of 58/15LTs in my SC trem and it’s fantastic.

Still haven’t messed with the 85/15 bridge much so I don’t have a comment on that one. The 85/15 neck pairs really well with 59/09 bridge.


I have 8515 neck 5909 bridge in my McCarty. I like the combo a lot but sometimes the 8515 can overpower the 5909. It also has push pulls on both vol and tone. Pretty handy
 
I just put a set of McCartys in my CU22 and I am in love all over again had a Dimarzio Tone zone in the bridge and a 36th ANV in the neck always sounded killer but the change is even better.
 
I always replaced my PRS pickups until the 58/15. They are so great.

I put BKP Cold Sweat in my others. Great workhorse pickups for classic rock/hard rock.
 
I always replaced my PRS pickups until the 58/15. They are so great.

I put BKP Cold Sweat in my others. Great workhorse pickups for classic rock/hard rock.

You know, I still haven’t gotten my hands on a 58/15. Does anybody know if its true that it’s a covered 85/15?
 
I just got an SE Custom with the 85/15S pickups in it. They are pretty nice but the BK Stormy Mondays are to my ears a little more like I want my guitar to sound. I think pickups are about the most personal taste thing I can think of. I wouldn't say I am chasing a tone, but I would say that I know when something sounds the way I like.

My pedal experiments are only at the beginning, but I would say that I like my homemade Easy Face better than my modified Boss DS-1. There is something about a creamier sound with soft clip that I like. That said I love Dinosaur Jr, and maybe I would like to get that tone to play those songs, maybe, but likely I wouldn't like that tone for a long period.
 
I just got an SE Custom with the 85/15S pickups in it. They are pretty nice but the BK Stormy Mondays are to my ears a little more like I want my guitar to sound. I think pickups are about the most personal taste thing I can think of. I wouldn't say I am chasing a tone, but I would say that I know when something sounds the way I like.

My pedal experiments are only at the beginning, but I would say that I like my homemade Easy Face better than my modified Boss DS-1. There is something about a creamier sound with soft clip that I like. That said I love Dinosaur Jr, and maybe I would like to get that tone to play those songs, maybe, but likely I wouldn't like that tone for a long period.

Yeah, you are right, pickups are a personal thing. I’m trying to make my guitars sound different from each other and I’m finding that I don’t use pedals as much as I thought I would. I’m just a rookie though so my tastes will certainly change in the future.

The BK guys are awesome. All you have to do is tell them what sound you are after and they recommend a pickup for that sound. They recommended Riff Raf, Mule, and Abraxas to me...
 
You know, I still haven’t gotten my hands on a 58/15. Does anybody know if its true that it’s a covered 85/15?
It was true. Not sure it they have migrated away from each other by now. Paul is forever tweaking things...
 
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