Do you think PRS makes their best pickups now or in prior years?

JasonE said:
Them being too dark is exactly what I experienced this week. I don't know how I never noticed it before. I have played the guitar at several gigs and don't remember it standing out. I have been trying some different overdrive pedals out that I have to prepare to reconfigure my pedal board a little and noticed it. It really stood out when comparing to a couple of other guitars and running through several different pedals. At this point I am thinking I am either going to have to swap the pickups or just know that guitar is dark and only use it when I can adjust the amp specifically for it's tone. I am a little hesitant to change the pickups because it is a special run guitar that is in a low number of builds.
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You’re right. I have a Goldtop P22 from 2012 with the 5310’s. If I needed to change stuff on it I’d probably just sell it and buy another PRS:).
 
If you have to much bass in your neck pickup, you can add a .047 orange drop cap in series and attach 1 side of the cap to the hot wire of the pickup and the other side of the cap to where you unsoldered the hot wire from.
On my 5310 neck pu, I’ve got it close to the strings….with the screws raised
 
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Rod/ said:
If you have to much bass in your neck pickup, you can add a .047 orange drop cap in series and attach 1 side of the cap to the hot wire of the pickup and the other side of the cap to where you unsoldered the hot wire from.
On my 5310 neck pu, I’ve got it close to the strings….
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This might be worth a try. I was wondering what I might be able to do with a cap or resistor to make this better.
 
JasonE said:
This might be worth a try. I was wondering what I might be able to do with a cap or resistor to make this better.
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The .047 cap is a great solution. Getting rid of wooly bass clears up the mids & high end..
I just measured the 53/10’s on my P22….
treble pickup is 8.9K
bass pickup is 8.2K….. a bit hot for a neck, hence the darker sound. Neck on DGT’s are 7.3k which is perfect..
Raising the screws on the pickup will bring out more clarity as well…
 
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Rod/ said:
Tons of mids are good! Even for a Bluesrock guy:) I love the Tremonti bridge pickup for that reason. A bit hot, but that‘s what a treble bleed cap/resistor is for. Or a Dragon 1
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It’s got more mids than the Tremonti, at least it feels that way. Squishier and more fun to play, kinda like a Suhr Aldrich.
 
Rod/ said:
The .047 cap is a great solution. Getting rid of wooly bass clears up the mids & high end..
I just measured the 53/10’s on my P22….
treble pickup is 8.9K
bass pickup is 8.2K….. a bit hot for a neck, hence the darker sound. Neck on DGT’s are 7.3k which is perfect..
Raising the screws on the pickup will bring out more clarity as well…
Click to expand...
I thought yesterday about measuring the pickups in the guitar but haven't done it yet. I am very fond of the 57/08 and DGT pickups. I have 57/08s in many of my PRS guitars. Some I put them in and others the guitars I bought came stock with them. I like the DGT pickups as well. These pickups really suit my needs very well. My P22 trem has uncovered 57/08s in it. I am really wishing this guitar had them in it.

I may end up swapping the pickups in this P22. It really would be the perfect stop tail HH guitar for my uses. I love the look and feel of it. However, if I can just add a cap to the wiring and fix it that way, that is a more attractive solution. I had planned on adjusting the pickups when I get a chance to see if I can fix it that way as well. That will be my first attempt. I will try the cap if the adjustments don't do it. I want to spend more time on the bridge pickup as well. I was not loving that one either. With this guitar, I may consider sending it to the PTC and paying the higher price to have them do the work since it has the piezo system in it and it is an uncommon build of guitar.
 
JasonE said:
I thought yesterday about measuring the pickups in the guitar but haven't done it yet. I am very fond of the 57/08 and DGT pickups. I have 57/08s in many of my PRS guitars. Some I put them in and others the guitars I bought came stock with them. I like the DGT pickups as well. These pickups really suit my needs very well. My P22 trem has uncovered 57/08s in it. I am really wishing this guitar had them in it.

I may end up swapping the pickups in this P22. It really would be the perfect stop tail HH guitar for my uses. I love the look and feel of it. However, if I can just add a cap to the wiring and fix it that way, that is a more attractive solution. I had planned on adjusting the pickups when I get a chance to see if I can fix it that way as well. That will be my first attempt. I will try the cap if the adjustments don't do it. I want to spend more time on the bridge pickup as well. I was not loving that one either. With this guitar, I may consider sending it to the PTC and paying the higher price to have them do the work since it has the piezo system in it and it is an uncommon build of guitar.
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Pickup adjustments make a big difference in tones especially with the 53/10’s….. You and I have the same guitar, built the same year. Mine’s a Goldtop stoptail……best of luck
 
My two cents into this, I have a ‘98 McCarty I put some 57/08s in and I really like them. Clear but warm vintage tone! Then I bought a ‘07 Hardtail CU22 and someone down the line put older McCarty Treble and Bass in it and I LOVE that guitar and the sound I get out if it. So much so that I have a S2 594 that I sought out and put older McCarty pups in and they sound dull and boring. Not sure if it’s the pickups or the pickups in the guitar itself. I was bummed they didn’t sound more like the set that’s in my CU22.
 
Chris Martin said:
My two cents into this, I have a ‘98 McCarty I put some 57/08s in and I really like them. Clear but warm vintage tone! Then I bought a ‘07 Hardtail CU22 and someone down the line put older McCarty Treble and Bass in it and I LOVE that guitar and the sound I get out if it. So much so that I have a S2 594 that I sought out and put older McCarty pups in and they sound dull and boring. Not sure if it’s the pickups or the pickups in the guitar itself. I was bummed they didn’t sound more like the set that’s in my CU22.
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I was reading in THE PRS ELECTRIC GUITAR BOOK by Dave Burrluck, that original McCartys used two Dragon neck pickups.

Gibson didn't use pickups calibrated for the neck or bridge position in the 50's and 60's so Paul didn't either.
 
Revelation said:
It seems to be that the team at PRS have learned so much about pickups ever since they studied John Mayer's pickups and others on their analytical machines. Getting old pickups, unwinding them, having them tested and really analyzing them. Paul seems to look at pickups that he can now EQ to get the sound the wants out of them. I had not been a big fan of their pickups in the 90's and I know many that swapped them out for something else back then. In a more recent video, he talked about not needing to go single coil to get a single coil sound. We can see this in the prototype Telecaster guitar we see some people using on stage. The DGT to me sounds like a humbucker Tele already. It will be interesting to see what they come up with next.

What do you think, do you prefer the older pickups they had in the 80's and 90's, or the ones today?
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TODAY.

Next question.
 
Chris Martin said:
My two cents into this, I have a ‘98 McCarty I put some 57/08s in and I really like them. Clear but warm vintage tone! Then I bought a ‘07 Hardtail CU22 and someone down the line put older McCarty Treble and Bass in it and I LOVE that guitar and the sound I get out if it. So much so that I have a S2 594 that I sought out and put older McCarty pups in and they sound dull and boring. Not sure if it’s the pickups or the pickups in the guitar itself. I was bummed they didn’t sound more like the set that’s in my CU22.
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Are they both identical pickups? About 8K? Maybe a little higher like 8.1K?

If so they are Dragon neck pickups.

Paul was super proud of those and described them as the best PAF replica on the market.

Like a 1959 Gibson PAF with an alnico 4 magnet.

He used a "matched" pair of them in the early McCartys...just like Gibson used to use "identical" humbuckers in a set, with no calibrating for bridge or neck positions.
 
Lewguitar said:
Are they both identical pickups? About 8K? Maybe a little higher like 8.1K?

If so they are Dragon neck pickups.
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Where'd you get this info from? I've seen it said here and there, but I've also read otherwise. PRS does recycle pickups, sometimes with minor tweaks, so it's possible, but do we have confirmation from a credible source?
 
SinSir said:
Where'd you get this info from? I've seen it said here and there, but I've also read otherwise. PRS does recycle pickups, sometimes with minor tweaks, so it's possible, but do we have confirmation from a credible source?
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That's the great thing about the Dragon I set: best hard rock pickup ever in the Dragon I treble, and one of the very best PAF neck pickups in the Dragon I bass.

That set should be offered by PRS again.

There's a direct quote from Paul himself about the use of matching Dragon neck pickups in the early McCartys in this book:
https://imgur.com/Ko079r5
 
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