Customising SE 7

[NapalmJeff]

Hi folks,

First time here and I need to pick some brains!


I'm looking at changing the bridge, tuners, maybe the nut and the pots on my SE 7 at somepoint . I'm probably missing something but I've struggled to find the exact specs.

I believe the pots are 3/4, but if someone could clarify that for me that would be awesome!

I'm also not sure what bridges are going to fit without having to chop at the guitar to much (none if possible!) anyone have any ideas or recommendations?

Also the tuners, I'm looking at the schaller locking tuners, anyone know the sizes I would need?

My local shops arn't the greatest and have been no help at all.

Cheers,

Jeff.

 

[TroyBaer]

I've been doing something similar to one of my SE-7s. (The amethyst finish just screams for gold hardware...)

The stock pots are a bit smaller than most, so it may require some sanding of the hole to get a normal guitar pot to fit.

Bridges are kind of an unknown right now, especially if you don't want to drill more holes in the guitar. I asked the PTC a while back about replacement bridge options, and unfortunately they didn't give me very much to work with. My local tech and I are currently debating whether to take a flyer on a Hipshot .125" 7-string bridge -- its screw hole spacing is very close to that of the SE 7 bridge, but off by 1-2mm. I've seen at least one SE 7 with a Hipshot bridge on eBay, so they may be close enough.

As far as tuners, Schaller M6 mini-locking, Gotoh Magnums, and Grover 406 tuners should be direct replacements. It can be a pain to find 7-string sets of tuners because they're almost always packages in sets of 6 (3+3 or 6-in-line), but WD Music will sell you individual tuners (though their website does not advertise this directly). You'll need an "extra" bass-side tuner. You may also need the tuner for the 7th string drilled out a little bit if you plan to use a string larger than a 0.060. (I went with Grover 406Gs, and I had to have the 7th tuner drilled out to accomodate a 0.064 string.)

One other thing I just found out is that some 7-string pickups (in particular Bare Knuckles and IIRC Dimarzio) are a smidge too large to fit in the stock pickup cavities; the corners of the SE 7's pickup routes are a bit too rounded to fit the more square corners of the pickups. My tech had to gently sand/dremel the PU cavities of mine to get the Bare Knuckles Emeralds I'd ordered to fit.

 

[NapalmJeff]

Hi Troy,

Thanks for the reply!

I was actually considering some BK's for it, that is handy to know! i've had some pretty annoying experiences previously with pup sizing, do you know how much sanding etc had to be done to get it in? and the size was 61.4mm for the pickup?
Out of interest what cover did you go with for the PUP?

Also considering a 5 way switch as i have with my custom 22, would there be any issue with just buying the parts and putting them in or would there be a space problem again?

I've got a spalted maple SE 7 but i don't like the chrome on it, debating black or gold. I think because of the mould being black in the maple i'll probably go black.

 

[TroyBaer]

I was actually considering some BK's for it, that is handy to know! i've had some pretty annoying experiences previously with pup sizing, do you know how much sanding etc had to be done to get it in? and the size was 61.4mm for the pickup?

I don't know how much sanding/dremeling was involved, other than "some". The size was whatever BKP's 7-string size is.

Out of interest what cover did you go with for the PUP?

I ordered gold covers on my Emeralds, to match the tuners, strap locks, and control knobs I'd installed.

Also considering a 5 way switch as i have with my custom 22, would there be any issue with just buying the parts and putting them in or would there be a space problem again?

I put super-switches (5-way/4-pole) in both of my SE 7s, an Allparts in my blue one and a Fender in my amethyst one. The Fender was a tighter fit than the Allparts.

 

[NapalmJeff]

You've been a huge help, thanks!!

One last question and ill leave you alone, haha.

I'm not to good with my electrics etc, were you able to retain the coil tap with the allparts fender 4pole 5way?

 

[TroyBaer]

were you able to retain the coil tap with the allparts fender 4pole 5way?

Sort of. I wanted to have the neck SC and inner-coils tones, so I had my tech wire things to this schematic: http://www.dimarzio.com/sites/default/files/diagrams/2hum1vol1tone_ep1112MP.pdf

I believe that at one point the PTC had a setup that would use a 5-way/4-pole switch plus a push/pull to give a total of 8(?) different tones, but I've never used that.

 

[NapalmJeff]

Cool, I've ordered my tuners. Still stuck for the bridge, i got a reply from PRSeurope:

Hi Jeff,
You’re not missing anything – those specs aren’t listed anywhere so I’m afraid I can’t supply them without measuring all the parts & cavities etc. I do know that the nut is 48mm wide, the pot shafts are 8mm diameter with a thread length of 9.5mm and the tuners have a 10 mm diameter (I think this is a Schaller size). Everything else you’re going to have to measure yourself!

Best regards

NICK FRASER
TECHNICAL MANAGER
PRS GUITARS EUROPE
D1 BUTTON END INDUSTRIAL ESTATE
HARSTON
CAMBRIDGE
CB22 7GX
+44 1223 874301


For anyone else who may be doing the same thing.