Just wondering if have any tips or pointers on optimal adjustments for these pickups? Distance from strings, pole piece adjustments, etc. I'm going to be trying out a PS 20th Anniversary this week, and I never trust that the guitar comes from a shop adjusted either as PRS intended or as optimal. ;-)
For 408N owners
- Thread starter greiswig
- Start date
bodia
Authorities said.....best leave it.....unsolved
The "book" says 5/64 treble side and 3/32 bass side. I just saw someone post in a thread the other day that their 408 responded well to pickups being cranked as high as possible without string interference, or funky noise. I have yet to try that though.
bodia
Authorities said.....best leave it.....unsolved
Anytime. that is for both pick ups.
Depressing the string at the highest fret and measuring the distance from the top of the p/u to the bottom of the string on both E strings.
As an added bonus, some like to adjust the pole pieces to match the radius of the fret board. I've never taken it that far though.
CatStrangler
PRS Enthusiast
I think that was me. I think you could always get some noise with these anyway. I think my amps respond well to getting the front end pushed a little harder by the 408s. I think the correct height is whatever your ears decide. YMMV.
No doubt. But I like to start from where the designer thinks it was designed to be, and tinker from there.
bodia
Authorities said.....best leave it.....unsolved
I believe you are correct sir! Credit where credit is due.
Just to be slightly contrary, mine came from the factory perfectly set up, and it's the easiest playing, best sounding, guitar I own. Jack didn't have to make any adjustments on it that I'm aware of.
markintime
Wood Grain Devotee
I very much am of the opinion that adjusting the pole pieces to the fret board radius is the way to go. That should be the first step, then adjust the pickup height according to taste, IMHO.
Okay, I have the guitar in-house. It's a 20th Anniversary Private Stock on trial.
Man, the 408N bridge seems like it has much more bass extension and less low mids than the humbuckers I am used to! Lots less 500Hz honk as well. I am having a hard time getting power chords on the low strings to bite into overdrive the way a regular humbucker does. It just sort of gets woolly, where the humbuckers I'm used to have more upper mids on the wound strings, so there is more bite there. I tinkered with the height a bit, but I've had to turn bass way down on amp settings.
The neck pickup sounds better lower, as per the specs Bodia mentioned above. But that puts the pickup surface below the pickup ring.
Clarity on the upper strings is very good, and very different from other guitars. The pickups respond really well to dynamics, too. Where a standard humbucker guitar seems to want you to dig into the strings, this one seems to prefer a lighter touch.
Man, the 408N bridge seems like it has much more bass extension and less low mids than the humbuckers I am used to! Lots less 500Hz honk as well. I am having a hard time getting power chords on the low strings to bite into overdrive the way a regular humbucker does. It just sort of gets woolly, where the humbuckers I'm used to have more upper mids on the wound strings, so there is more bite there. I tinkered with the height a bit, but I've had to turn bass way down on amp settings.
The neck pickup sounds better lower, as per the specs Bodia mentioned above. But that puts the pickup surface below the pickup ring.
Clarity on the upper strings is very good, and very different from other guitars. The pickups respond really well to dynamics, too. Where a standard humbucker guitar seems to want you to dig into the strings, this one seems to prefer a lighter touch.
You're a tough man to please! I have no such problems with mine with any of my amps. But we're all setting our amps differently, and playing different music I suppose, so one man's "great" is another man's "I dunno..."
These settings work with the 20th Anni really well on my HXDA:
And on my DG30:
In both cases, my bass isn't turned down.
Since I'm a pretty light touch player, I like this part, and agree with that assessment to the extent that it responds to dynamics and a light touch. However, I never seem to feel the need to dig into the strings with my other PRS, so...as I said, we're all expecting different things out of a guitar.
I have a McCarty with 58/15s and a McCarty Singlecut with 57/08s. My settings for those are pretty much the same. I do tweak as per my moods, of course, but those are my "off-the-shelf" settings.
But you know, different speaker cabs or amps, different music, different needs, right?
CatStrangler
PRS Enthusiast
I think Les sort of Summed up my point below. Depending on your touch, string gauge and amp settings, pickup height is a very personal preference. I happen to think 57/08s and 408s sound most excellent pretty close to the strings, If you are not me, through the same rig you may disagree.
You're a tough man to please! I have no such problems with mine with any of my amps. But we're all setting our amps differently, and playing different music I suppose, so one man's "great" is another man's "I dunno..."
These settings work with the 20th Anni really well on my HXDA:
And on my DG30:
In both cases, my bass isn't turned down.
Since I'm a pretty light touch player, I like this part, and agree with that assessment to the extent that it responds to dynamics and a light touch. However, I never seem to feel the need to dig into the strings with my other PRS, so...as I said, we're all expecting different things out of a guitar.
Okay, lesson learned: if something sounds off, it could be any number of things. Tried this guitar through my AxeFX, and it sounded great. Turns out I had a power tube going south on the amp I was using, and although the guitar I was using for comparison sounded okay (hotter pickup, but farther from strings), the 408s have a pretty high output and they just made everything kind of fart out. Soon as I double-checked the bias current, I knew I had something going haywire.
Replaced tubes, biased it up, and voila!
Now I get it. Yes, this guitar definitely does not have the honk of my redwood-topped humbucker. But it has serious clarity and girth to it, and is very smooth. It feels like a good compromise between a single coil and a humbucker. I'd like to get more clarity from the neck pickup, and it looks like it might be possible to wire it up so that the bridge pickup uses the stock .033uF cap, but going to the neck pickup could use a lower value tone cap.
I get it now.
Replaced tubes, biased it up, and voila!
Now I get it. Yes, this guitar definitely does not have the honk of my redwood-topped humbucker. But it has serious clarity and girth to it, and is very smooth. It feels like a good compromise between a single coil and a humbucker. I'd like to get more clarity from the neck pickup, and it looks like it might be possible to wire it up so that the bridge pickup uses the stock .033uF cap, but going to the neck pickup could use a lower value tone cap.
I get it now.
This is really good news! I'm so relieved that you seem to be enjoying it, I'd have felt badly for recommending it so highly if you hadn't liked it.
I love the one I have, for the very reasons you state!
So...do we get pics of it?
