Erick_S
New Member
I would love to see more PRS-specific DIYs in the Forums. I'm eager to know more about working with PRS guitars and components. Anyway, here is my first contribution to a 'DIY' conversation. I post more as time allows (Phase 2 tuner tear down, Phase 3 tuner tear down, Phase 3 tweaked tuner tear down, and others). I hope this encourages other repairers, modders and DIYers to post their own tips.
PRS 53/10 pickups are fabled. I have sought a set for a couple of years but wasn't willing to pay the $1,500 that some character on eBay had sought. I managed to find this set on Reverb, offered $500, and scored them. They looked a little road-worn in the pictures, but it wasn't until I had them in-hand that I realized how bad off they were. The pole screws were highly oxidized - no surprise, since they came from Hawaii - but the covers were in pretty bad shape - they had a weird brown-green stain. That discoloration would not come off with solvents (alcohol, naptha, acetone) or metal polish. Oddly, the discoloration ended right along where the pickups would meet the guitar body. It looked as if someone had sprayed the guitar with polish or coating that stained the covers. These were factory-scuffed covers, so there was plenty of "bite" for the stain.
I checked with PTC to see if they could repair/replace stock covers and/or stickers. They don't. So the mission began. 53/10 deserve better than this...
Time to get to work...
The stickers were easy enough. Calipers measured them at 0.75" x 0.50". I went with Avery 5418. I used paper stickers, rather than laminated, to better match stock. I experimented with fonts, measuring along the way, and matched to Arial, 8-pt, centered, with 0 pt, single-line spacing. They are indistinguishable from stock (except mind are centered...PRS ones vary).
I've made scuffed pickup covers before, to match PRS covers. Their older scuffed covers have a 'full' scuffing', which give a totally satin finish. It's hard to tell if they used raw nickel covers or polished covers for those. I've done it with both. You can achieve that full satin look with polished covers, but it takes a lot more handwork/time and care to avoid burning through the nickel and into to the copper plating below. The newer PRS scuffed covers are only lightly worked - it is not a satin sheen at all - they most almost certainly use polished nickel covers.
The 53/10 covers are the thinnest covers I have ever held in 20+ years. If I wanted, I could dent them with a thumbnail. It was likely a deliberate build choice in order to provide a more 'airy' tone. The 53/10s were factory-scuffed, in the older style ("full" scuff, satin sheen).
For this application, I used 3M's maroon #7447 hand pad (Very-Fine grade, aluminum oxide abrasive). This is the same pad I use for scuffing new pickup covers to match PRS old "full scuff" and new "light scuff" styles. This is the same grade pad PRS uses at the factory to scuff pickup covers (BTW, they use the finer-grade 3M pads to satinize necks).
Then, it was just a matter of hitting the cover with the 3M pad. It went better and more quickly than expected. I had to dig in a little on a rust spot or two, but nothing major. When scuffing, make sure to go only in straight lines. Never use circular motions - the sheen won't look right. Hity the sides first, working along the length in straight lines. Then go to the top. For the top, hit any trouble spots first (like the rust spot), then when those are cleaned, lay the pad down, turn the cover over, and run it face-down on the pad. Apply even pressure while working back-and-forth in straight lines. The round corners and edges only require very light work.
Total time: 2-3 minutes to remove the cover and 10 minutes, or less, to restore the pickup cover.
These are 53/10s, so I wasn't going to stop halfway. I went Full Monty and restored the bottom as well. The bottom plate was highly oxidized and one of the PRS pickup stickers was held on with Scotch tape, while the other was partially stuck to the tape and starting to tear.
For the bottom plate, I removed the damaged stickers and cleaned any remaining adhesive with naptha (BTW, naptha is also great for cleaning paraffin/potting wax). Then I removed the pole screws and the brass bobbin mounting screws - only on one (treble v bass) side, so the bobbins don't fall off. The bobbin mounting screws were more difficult to remove that expected. They were installed with quite a bit of torque, plus brass is a soft metal - use a high-quality, clean-edged #1 screwdriver bit and take your time. From there, I polished the bottom plate and legs with Flitz polish, using rags and Q-tips. I polished the bobbin mounting screws and re-installed them, then repeated on the other side of the bottom plate.
>>>TIp: For polishing screws - clamp them into the end of a drill or Dremel chuck, put a light amount of metal polish into a rag, then press the screw head into the rag and spin the screw at high speed. Grab a clean rag, and repeat, to buff out to a high shine. Clean any polish out of the screw head with toothpicks or a rag on the end of screwdriver. Minimizing the amount polish compound in the rag helps reduce how much gets into the screw heads. It goes pretty quickly. When you are done, the screws will look better than new!
All that remains now is to re-install the cover, pole screws, stickers and wax pot the pickup. I am still deciding whether to keep the original cover or install black nickel covers and pole screws. Engraving pickup covers may in a fiture DIY post...
PRS 53/10 pickups are fabled. I have sought a set for a couple of years but wasn't willing to pay the $1,500 that some character on eBay had sought. I managed to find this set on Reverb, offered $500, and scored them. They looked a little road-worn in the pictures, but it wasn't until I had them in-hand that I realized how bad off they were. The pole screws were highly oxidized - no surprise, since they came from Hawaii - but the covers were in pretty bad shape - they had a weird brown-green stain. That discoloration would not come off with solvents (alcohol, naptha, acetone) or metal polish. Oddly, the discoloration ended right along where the pickups would meet the guitar body. It looked as if someone had sprayed the guitar with polish or coating that stained the covers. These were factory-scuffed covers, so there was plenty of "bite" for the stain.
I checked with PTC to see if they could repair/replace stock covers and/or stickers. They don't. So the mission began. 53/10 deserve better than this...
Time to get to work...
The stickers were easy enough. Calipers measured them at 0.75" x 0.50". I went with Avery 5418. I used paper stickers, rather than laminated, to better match stock. I experimented with fonts, measuring along the way, and matched to Arial, 8-pt, centered, with 0 pt, single-line spacing. They are indistinguishable from stock (except mind are centered...PRS ones vary).
I've made scuffed pickup covers before, to match PRS covers. Their older scuffed covers have a 'full' scuffing', which give a totally satin finish. It's hard to tell if they used raw nickel covers or polished covers for those. I've done it with both. You can achieve that full satin look with polished covers, but it takes a lot more handwork/time and care to avoid burning through the nickel and into to the copper plating below. The newer PRS scuffed covers are only lightly worked - it is not a satin sheen at all - they most almost certainly use polished nickel covers.
The 53/10 covers are the thinnest covers I have ever held in 20+ years. If I wanted, I could dent them with a thumbnail. It was likely a deliberate build choice in order to provide a more 'airy' tone. The 53/10s were factory-scuffed, in the older style ("full" scuff, satin sheen).
For this application, I used 3M's maroon #7447 hand pad (Very-Fine grade, aluminum oxide abrasive). This is the same pad I use for scuffing new pickup covers to match PRS old "full scuff" and new "light scuff" styles. This is the same grade pad PRS uses at the factory to scuff pickup covers (BTW, they use the finer-grade 3M pads to satinize necks).
Then, it was just a matter of hitting the cover with the 3M pad. It went better and more quickly than expected. I had to dig in a little on a rust spot or two, but nothing major. When scuffing, make sure to go only in straight lines. Never use circular motions - the sheen won't look right. Hity the sides first, working along the length in straight lines. Then go to the top. For the top, hit any trouble spots first (like the rust spot), then when those are cleaned, lay the pad down, turn the cover over, and run it face-down on the pad. Apply even pressure while working back-and-forth in straight lines. The round corners and edges only require very light work.
Total time: 2-3 minutes to remove the cover and 10 minutes, or less, to restore the pickup cover.
These are 53/10s, so I wasn't going to stop halfway. I went Full Monty and restored the bottom as well. The bottom plate was highly oxidized and one of the PRS pickup stickers was held on with Scotch tape, while the other was partially stuck to the tape and starting to tear.
For the bottom plate, I removed the damaged stickers and cleaned any remaining adhesive with naptha (BTW, naptha is also great for cleaning paraffin/potting wax). Then I removed the pole screws and the brass bobbin mounting screws - only on one (treble v bass) side, so the bobbins don't fall off. The bobbin mounting screws were more difficult to remove that expected. They were installed with quite a bit of torque, plus brass is a soft metal - use a high-quality, clean-edged #1 screwdriver bit and take your time. From there, I polished the bottom plate and legs with Flitz polish, using rags and Q-tips. I polished the bobbin mounting screws and re-installed them, then repeated on the other side of the bottom plate.
>>>TIp: For polishing screws - clamp them into the end of a drill or Dremel chuck, put a light amount of metal polish into a rag, then press the screw head into the rag and spin the screw at high speed. Grab a clean rag, and repeat, to buff out to a high shine. Clean any polish out of the screw head with toothpicks or a rag on the end of screwdriver. Minimizing the amount polish compound in the rag helps reduce how much gets into the screw heads. It goes pretty quickly. When you are done, the screws will look better than new!
All that remains now is to re-install the cover, pole screws, stickers and wax pot the pickup. I am still deciding whether to keep the original cover or install black nickel covers and pole screws. Engraving pickup covers may in a fiture DIY post...
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