Does this prs look right?

[Alnus Rubra]

Thanks for your help everyone!

Did you buy it?

 

[JasonE]

They are correctly mounted. At least that's the way the Ltd Editions (2) that I had were.

Just acquired a 2022 specimen, with the neck pickup in that orientation. In the video on the product page (in contrast to the still pics), it's the other way around. Is it a difference that makes a difference?

You would have to mount the pickups legs up to flip the phase; turning the pickups 180 degrees will change nothing in full HB mode. It will change a bit in split-coil mode, though. PRS splits the coils with the screw coil inactive. It sounds better to have an active split coil further towards the neck

Edit: it's Sal Goodman, totally legit

I happened to go on to the PRS web site this morning for something and noticed something interesting in regards to this thread. All of the pictures on the page show the pickup orientation that is on the OP's guitar. However, the guitar that is being played in the demo video has the neck and middle pickup mounted the other way around. So they changed how they mount them at some point. I am sure it is to get the tones they want it to have but I found that interesting. I remembered seeing the pickups mounted the way they are in the guitar in the vide. I hadn't noticed they changed how they mount them so this one looked strange to me.

 

[Simon Says]

I happened to go on to the PRS web site this morning for something and noticed something interesting in regards to this thread. All of the pictures on the page show the pickup orientation that is on the OP's guitar. However, the guitar that is being played in the demo video has the neck and middle pickup mounted the other way around. So they changed how they mount them at some point. I am sure it is to get the tones they want it to have but I found that interesting. I remembered seeing the pickups mounted the way they are in the guitar in the vide. I hadn't noticed they changed how they mount them so this one looked strange to me.

My 35th anniversary also has the screw coil facing inwards. I also needed clarification as to why. I did the digging and just shared my experience. I made my Standard 24 with \m/s the same way.

 

[JasonE]

My 35th anniversary also has the screw coil facing inwards. I also needed clarification as to why. I did the digging and just shared my experience. I made my Standard 24 with \m/s the same way.

Are these pickups magnetically in or out of phase? I know the new 57/08s that are shipping are magnetically out of phase and they have been since at least January of 2017. That is when I bought the set I put in my 594. In the new PRS Studio that I bought last fall, the 58/15 LT has the same phasing as the current 57/08s. That leads me to believe the current pickups in the Special are magnetically out of phase.

 

[Simon Says]

Are these pickups magnetically in or out of phase? I know the new 57/08s that are shipping are magnetically out of phase and they have been since at least January of 2017. That is when I bought the set I put in my 594. In the new PRS Studio that I bought last fall, the 58/15 LT has the same phasing as the current 57/08s. That leads me to believe the current pickups in the Special are magnetically out of phase.

Honestly, I wouldn't be able to tell

 

[JasonE]

Honestly, I wouldn't be able to tell

My thought is that they changed the way they mount them because they changed the pickups to be magnetically out of phase.

I checked the 58/15 LT pickups that were in my 594 and they are magnetically in phase. I checked a newer set as well as an older set of 57/08s and the neck pickup in the newer set has the phase flipped. The pickup in my Studio, a 58/15 LT, is the same phase as the bridge pickup that is currently in my 594. PRS flipped the phase of the neck pickups at some point. From what I can tell they did it to the 57/08s around or before January of 2017.

Another interesting thing I discovered is that PRS makes the screw poles on their pickups as North. I checked a set of Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates I have here and they make the screw poles South.

 

[show_a_little_faith]

I could be wrong, but I thought I had read that their choice to flip the pickups had to do with splitting the coils; making the "single" coil either closer to the neck or the bridge (depending on the orientation) for a preferred tone

 

[JasonE]

I could be wrong, but I thought I had read that their choice to flip the pickups had to do with splitting the coils; making the "single" coil either closer to the neck or the bridge (depending on the orientation) for a preferred tone

That is quite possible. I have also heard that pickups that go in guitars that are PIEZO equipped also need to be magnetically out of phase with each other. I have a few I could test to see if they are in or out. I am not sure if that really tells us anything other than verify that if the guitar has a PIEZO system it has out of phase pickups.

EDIT: Curiosity got the best of me. I pulled out the 4 PIEZO equipped PRS guitars that I own and checked them. I am not sure exactly what this means but it is a data point. The two hollow bodies are in phase 57/08 pickups. The solid bodies have out of phase pickups. One is uncovered 57/08s that are a little hotter and the others are 53/10s. I would say that this debunks that the pickups need to be out of phase to work with the PIEZO system at a minimum. I am not sure what would make a difference between hollow body guitars and solid body guitars in this regard.

 

[shinksma]

I could be wrong, but I thought I had read that their choice to flip the pickups had to do with splitting the coils; making the "single" coil either closer to the neck or the bridge (depending on the orientation) for a preferred tone

This is the case.

Rotating a HB pickup 180 deg does nothing to overall phase.

When the SSH was the Experience Limited thing, the neck pickup-pole-screws orientation was as shown in most places: opposite to the "normal" orientation.

When the SSH went to a normal production core model, it seems the first few (pre-production) copies had the neck pickup "returned" to normal orientation, but it seemed to last essentially zero time, and all production models are like the Exp 2018 version. So the only place you see that normal orientation is the demo video(s).

The NF pickup orientation with gold vs silver pole piece orientation has not been raised as an issue/question before this thread, AFAIK. And as I noted, I doubt there is any difference beyond aesthetics.

 

[JasonE]

This is the case.

Rotating a HB pickup 180 deg does nothing to overall phase.

When the SSH was the Experience Limited thing, the neck pickup-pole-screws orientation was as shown in most places: opposite to the "normal" orientation.

When the SSH went to a normal production core model, it seems the first few (pre-production) copies had the neck pickup "returned" to normal orientation, but it seemed to last essentially zero time, and all production models are like the Exp 2018 version. So the only place you see that normal orientation is the demo video(s).

The NF pickup orientation with gold vs silver pole piece orientation has not been raised as an issue/question before this thread, AFAIK. And as I noted, I doubt there is any difference beyond aesthetics.

The only real way to know is to flip them around and see if there is any difference.