Help- not bonding with my Core Paul’s Guitar

[Goodsal]

I bought a beautiful 2020 Paul’s Guitar in Faded Blue Jean a few months ago that is gorgeous and plays beautifully. I bought it after owning the SE version which I loved, so I assumed I’d love this one even more.

I’m not bonding with the pickups. Most of my other guitars are vintage type Gibsons and Fenders, and the tones I chase in my head tend to be old school. These pickups are very much a different animal. They are certainly articulate and responsive as described. But they are very bright, almost as if the presence on the amp is turned up to 11. The frequency range sounds very wide to me, and I find myself dialing the tone knob way back, but there’s something I just can’t dial out. The “hi-fi” adjective often used to describe certain PRS guitars seems appropriate here. Maybe I’m just not into modern voiced pickups.

I really want to love this guitar. Is there something anyone recommends I try? Height adjustment for example? Is my experience unusual?

Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[Rider1260]

They are different than many pickups ( 408 style ) the EQ curve is flatter ( IMHO ) than many pickups.
Do try lowering them. Neck at or below the pickup ring , bridge just above the ring if I remember correctly.
Try playing the guitar with a track or in a band situation you will enjoy the sound more they work great in a crowd.
I recommend giving it some time , try the middle position with neck full and bridge tapped to start
Try Playing some early Zep riffs the tele like tones and really great.

 

[AP515]

Is there something anyone recommends I try? Height adjustment for example?

That's certainly a good place to start. Lowering the pups will warm them up. Or you may just need to replace them with some Seth Lover's...

 

[GuitarJammin]

That's certainly a good place to start. Lowering the pups will warm them up. Or you may just need to replace them with some Seth Lover's...

Aren't the core Paul's guitar pickups a special size?

 

[Tone-y]

Here's something to try if you're not afraid to use a soldering iron. Open up the control cavity and de-solder one leg of the small capacitor that is across a couple of legs of the volume pot. This is likely to remove that high presence hi fi sound and make it sound more traditional. And if you don't like it you can always solder the leg back on the pot.

 

[Wailing]

Here's something to try if you're not afraid to use a soldering iron. Open up the control cavity and de-solder one leg of the small capacitor that is across a couple of legs of the volume pot. This is likely to remove that high presence hi fi sound and make it sound more traditional. And if you don't like it you can always solder the leg back on the pot.

That’s an interesting idea ... My Brent Mason has a tendency to be towards the hi-fi sound.. I would be interested to hear if there is a traditional sound in its 408’s.. is there a similar mod I could test out ? ... I love the sound it creates at the moment but would be interested in exploring other options

Happy new year as well to you folks when it arrives

Wailing

 

[Tone-y]

That’s an interesting idea ... My Brent Mason has a tendency to be towards the hi-fi sound.. I would be interested to hear if there is a traditional sound in its 408’s.. is there a similar mod I could test out ? ... I love the sound it creates at the moment but would be interested in exploring other options

Happy new year as well to you folks when it arrives

Wailing

I'm not sure what PRS models have the 'treble bleed' cap fitted. A lot of them do as standard these days. It's easy to see if you look in the control cavity - there will be a small (prob 180pf) capacitor across a couple of the legs. Easy enough job to disconnect one side to see if you like the sound without it. Of course you do then loose the ability to roll the volume down and maintain the brightness but not everyone needs or wants that

 

[swede71]

I had a beautiful custom 22 soapbar with a great neck profile that I never bonded with.Tried to mod it with a new tremoloblock and tried different string gauges but never really got happy with the sound.Traded it for a DGT that is the best guitar I’ve ever owned.

 

[Goodsal]

Interesting idea re clipping the capacitor. I always understood treble bleed caps as being effectively neutral when the volume knob was at 10, so I’m wondering if this cap is different and makes the guitar brighter than it would be without it even at 10?

 

[Tone-y]

Interesting idea re clipping the capacitor. I always understood treble bleed caps as being effectively neutral when the volume knob was at 10, so I’m wondering if this cap is different and makes the guitar brighter than it would be without it even at 10?

It does get said that it doesn't have an effect when the volume is on 10 but this isn't really true unless you have a no load pot (after all, that is the whole reason that no-load pots exist). How much of an effect can vary depending on guitar, cables pot values and how good your hearing is.
To me, even with the volume on 10, there is an extra bit of presence than without it. A normal volume pot will naturally be dropping off a bit of the treble due to internal resistances, capacitance of cables etc. This is partly why a higher value pot is often suggested to brighten up a dull guitar. To me the treble bleed mod seems to turn the volume pot into a reverse tone pot, and shaves off the bass and mid frequencies instead of the high frequencies

 

[jm9239]

I bought a beautiful 2020 Paul’s Guitar in Faded Blue Jean a few months ago that is gorgeous and plays beautifully. I bought it after owning the SE version which I loved, so I assumed I’d love this one even more.

I’m not bonding with the pickups. Most of my other guitars are vintage type Gibsons and Fenders, and the tones I chase in my head tend to be old school. These pickups are very much a different animal. They are certainly articulate and responsive as described. But they are very bright, almost as if the presence on the amp is turned up to 11. The frequency range sounds very wide to me, and I find myself dialing the tone knob way back, but there’s something I just can’t dial out. The “hi-fi” adjective often used to describe certain PRS guitars seems appropriate here. Maybe I’m just not into modern voiced pickups.

I really want to love this guitar. Is there something anyone recommends I try? Height adjustment for example? Is my experience unusual?

Any advice would be appreciated!

I had this exact same issue and ultimately ended up selling the guitar. It looked and played beautifully, but I couldn’t stand the pickups, particularly the top end and how hi-fi they were. With the unique sizing they aren’t easy to replace either. I am personally not a fan of the TCIs and wish PRS would reserve them for use in Paul’s Guitars only. I have no problem cutting through a mix or sounding different than the other guitarist with proper EQ’ing with my traditional HB equipped guitars. And I find that I prefer the sound of my HB, P-90, and SC equipped guitars to the TCIs. It’s like the TCIs are a master of none and trade off too much to help you cut through a mix and other guitars. I get that some people, like Paul, like them, but they’re not for me.

 

[Steve's addiction]

I had "love" issues with a couple of my PRS's and thought about selling. Then I purchased an eq pedal (Boss EQ 200) and all is well in my world. Glad I didn't sell! Not sure this will help but something to consider.

 

[Stephen J.]

When I first got a Paul’s Guitar with TCI pickups, I was unsure about the tone. I seem to have gotten used to it when just playing, but I will use any other guitar to record something. I am not that good at recording and my other guitars give me good tone with no struggle, so I just go with it and tell myself I will get the Paul’s Guitar sorted out next time. It is a unique sound. I describe it as sounding a little bit like a zipper, with a pronounced “vt” or “ft” leading the note articulation. I don’t know if it is because I need to change the strings or what, but I don’t hear that as much as I used to. I bought the guitar in May and haven’t’ bothered to put new strings on it. I don’t know if I would have bought the guitar if I had played it first, but I will say that the longer I have it, the more it makes sense to me. I hope it starts to work for you.

 

[docteurseb]

Send it to me, I'll cover shipping. If I don't bond with it either you can have it back.

 

[Serious Poo]

Turn the tone down a little. Problem solved.

Seriously, there's a reason that those controls are on a guitar.

 

[docteurseb]

Seriously though, do you like what you hear on the official PRS videos of the MEV and Paul's Guitar Core ?
If you do there's no reason you won't be able to get tones like that with the right amp/guitar tone controls.

 

[GuitarJammin]

Turn the tone down a little. Problem solved.

Seriously, there's a reason that those controls are on a guitar.

Well i can relate to the OP's situation since i have the same issue with my Brent Mason. It's more complicated than just turning the tone down. I love my BM but i can't use it on every amp, but I definitely use the 'hi-fi" tone as an advantage sometimes. I'd imagine that if I only had that one guitar, eeesh....but...that's why you don't keep only one.

 

[Goodsal]

Turning the tone knob down helps but doesn't get me to where I want to be. One thing I do notice is the "hi-fi" quality sounds great in a mix when playing with backing tracks. I haven't gigged the guitar but I imagine it would be great in a live situation. Playing alone at home is where the tone bothers me.

 

[Tone-y]

Turning the tone knob down helps but doesn't get me to where I want to be. One thing I do notice is the "hi-fi" quality sounds great in a mix when playing with backing tracks. I haven't gigged the guitar but I imagine it would be great in a live situation. Playing alone at home is where the tone bothers me.

Seriously, if you can unsolder a leg of the treble bleed cap I'm sure this will solve your issue

 

[Wailing]

Well i can relate to the OP's situation since i have the same issue with my Brent Mason. It's more complicated than just turning the tone down. I love my BM but i can't use it on every amp, but I definitely use the 'hi-fi" tone as an advantage sometimes. I'd imagine that if I only had that one guitar, eeesh....but...that's why you don't keep only one.

Hey GJ .. Can you post a pic of your BM harness (I have failed in the post pic ability test) so that the learned folk here can let me know which lead to unsolder ?

cheers Wailing