Help please electrical issue with new PRS SE Zach Myers

[gregv]

So I purchased this guitar off reverb about 1 month ago and it has been great and enjoying it. All of a sudden today the bridge pickup started acting up. When I play on the neck pickup no issues. When I switch the the bridge pickup sometimes I have no issues and then other times the volume and tone totally goes very "flat" and almost no volume at all. If I use the volume knob to turn off the volume it won't even turn off but then other times it will. When I try the middle pickup and use the bridge volume knob to turn off the volume it works sometimes but other times the volume just stays on. Very sporadic and inconsistent and seems to be located to the bridge pickup when I select that one or use the bridge volume knob. Neck pickup sound, volume, volume knob etc all work fine.

It was working fine last night and then went to play today and was all wonky out of nowhere. Any thoughts?

The guitar is brand new and I purchased it online from a music shop a few provinces over (so I can't take it back to where I bought it).

Thanks,
Greg

 

[Lewguitar]

Maybe:

1. a wire or a terminal is touching somewhere it shouldn't, like against the conductive paint inside the control cavity.

2. the switch is going bad or the contacts need to be bent slightly to press more tightly together.

3. there's a loose solder joint either on the switch or volume control or jack or somewhere.

4. worst case: the volume pot or switch is shot and needs to be replaced.

With the guitar plugged in and turned up, see if you can get it go on again.

Remove the backplate and gently wiggle the wires around and see if anything changes.

Try flicking the switch and rotating the volume control.

Then just keep narrowing it down until you get closer and closer to whatever the issue is. Bad switch, bad pot, bad solder joint...whatever.

 

[Veetwin]

Yes what Lewguitar said.

I have had issues with the toggle switch and the tone control working only sometimes.

The toggle came right with contact cleaner - took a few times.

The tone control was a terminal touching the conductive paint, the pot was wound down just slightly too far, and the washers had sunk down into the paint. my son moved it around and everything works correctly now.

 

[SinSir]

Spray some detoxit on the toggle and pots.

 

[gregv]

Thanks for all the help! I gently moved the wires around and seemed like nothing changes. As I played with the pickup selector switch I can "feel" it cutting it out and hear it cutting out so I suspect it is indeed the toggle switch.

I'll look at getting some spray and try that.

 

[spawnofthesith]

Deoxit!!!! Spray into the switch!!! When I got my vela I was having a similar problem that fixed it. I’ve seen many others having this issue online and it also turned out to just need deoxit! Seems like the SE/S2 switches seem particularly prone to oxidation. Hopefully thst does the trick


What you are describing sounds very much like what deoxit might fix. Try thst first before yanking any wiring

 

[Birdsofprey]

Replace the switch with a Switchcraft.

 

[Lewguitar]

Replace the switch with a Switchcraft.

If that's what's wrong, good idea! Why go cheap?

Go quality.

 

[gregv]

Deoxit!!!! Spray into the switch!!! When I got my vela I was having a similar problem that fixed it. I’ve seen many others having this issue online and it also turned out to just need deoxit! Seems like the SE/S2 switches seem particularly prone to oxidation. Hopefully thst does the trick


What you are describing sounds very much like what deoxit might fix. Try thst first before yanking any wiring

Thanks! Do I take off the plate and spray into the cavity where the switch is? At a specific spot inside there?

Or just from the outside of the guitar into the switch?

 

[Lewguitar]

Thanks! Do I take off the plate and spray into the cavity where the switch is? At a specific spot inside there?

Or just from the outside of the guitar into the switch?

Take the back plate off.

Have some paper towels ready to grab and protect your guitar finish with them.

Try not to get the DeOxit anywhere but on the contacts. A little spritz should do ya.

Spray the contacts of the switch if you think that's it, then flick it a bunch of times to scrape off the crud on the contacts and then shoot it again and clean it up.

Also take a close look at make sure they're contacting. Might need a little bend to tighten the contact up.

Also, go around and tighten anything you can tighten. Like the output jack for example.

Good luck.

 

[Mark Ray]

I had to replace the switch in my Bernie. Seems to be a weak spot in some of these guitars. I switched out the pups for a set of Suhr Doug Aldrich, and just redid all the wiring with "the good stuff" at the same time.

My Myers is still okay at this point.

 

[gregv]

Take the back plate off.

Have some paper towels ready to grab and protect your guitar finish with them.

Try not to get the DeOxit anywhere but on the contacts. A little spritz should do ya.

Spray the contacts of the switch if you think that's it, then flick it a bunch of times to scrape off the crud on the contacts and then shoot it again and clean it up.

Also take a close look at make sure they're contacting. Might need a little bend to tighten the contact up.

Also, go around and tighten anything you can tighten. Like the output jack for example.

Good luck.

Thanks so much, really appreciate that

 

[spawnofthesith]

I just sprayed directly into the switch in all 3 positions and worked it back and forth a few times a voila

Definitely do keep paper towels handy, and yeah it doesn’t take much

 

[ViperDoc]

Bad grounding.

 

[SinSir]

Thanks! Do I take off the plate and spray into the cavity where the switch is? At a specific spot inside there?

Or just from the outside of the guitar into the switch?

Keep it simple and spray it from the top and work it back and forth multiple times.