Intro, NGDs and 513 pickup question

[Wolfram]

Hello!

I'm David from the UK, and I've just joined the forum, though I've been reading many of the tremendously informative and helpful posts for a few months now while I've been researching and looking to acquire a core PRS (I've owned an early SE Singlecut for many years) as I've started playing electric again after some 15 years playing acoustic guitar almost exclusively.

The dream came true back in February when I scored a used-but-practically-untouched one-piece quilted Wood Library Custom 24 in Burnt Maple Leaf. It's stunning in every way. So stunning, that I decided to try to scratch the 513 itch - I'd always been intrigued by these guitars but had never had the opportunity to try one.

So last week I acquired a 25th Anniversary 513 via reverb. Unfortunately, it's not the plain sailing I had with the
Custom 24: it was extremely poorly setup - 9-gauge strings fitted without rebalancing the trem, pickup heights all over the place, unfeasibly low action with lots of buzz.

I'm pretty adept at doing my own setups, so it's now wearing a set of NYXL 10's, action and truss rod are as I like them and it plays wonderfully. I'm less experienced setting pickup height, but I've dialled it in so it sounds great (bridge pickup is probably still a little high). Looking closer from the side, though, it seems to me that the two double pickups are slanted in the direction of the strings (i.e. lower at the fingerboard side than the bridge side), but my middle pickup is slanted in the opposite direction (i.e. lower at the bridge side).

I'm thinking the pickup may have been removed at some stage and put back in the wrong way round. Could anyone confirm whether the 513 pickups are indeed slanted? I noticed it might be an issue because I was continually hitting the front of the middle pickup with my pick, something I rarely do on other guitars with middle pickups.

Thanks in advance for the help, and I look forward to hanging out and contributing here.

Cheers,
David

 

[RallyFanatic]

I don’t have the answer, but welcome to the forum! Lots of love for 513s here so I’m sure someone can help.

Would love a family photo - the Custom sounds excellent, and I love Burnt Maple!

 

[Wolfram]

Absolutely - I'll take a photo of the pair of them tomorrow when I've got some light.

 

[RickP]

Can’t say I ever really noticed but they do seem to follow the plane of the strings on both of mine, and definitely don’t lean rearward as the middle one you show does. My pickups never needed adjusting, so I don’t know what might be done wrong, but I have heard stories of broken pickups from the over-exuberant adjustor.

Great guitar, the 513. These two have been my #1 & 2 for years. I wander from time to time, but always come home eventually! Congrats on yours!

 

[Tahlee]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Alnus Rubra]

Congratulations on the new guitar and welcome to the forum.

I don’t have the answer for you, but if you want the pickup to sit level, then a small piece of foam under the side that sits low will sort that out.

Hope you get it sorted to your satisfaction.

We’d all love to see photos of them both.

 

[Wolfram]

Thanks guys - hoping that someone can confirm whether the 513 pickups have an angle built into their design, before I try to pull it out and investigate.

In the meantime... I think lockdown has made us all a bit crazy. I noticed that the 513 had its birthday a few days after I got it... and, being a 25th Anniversary model, it turned 10... so I thought I'd better make it a birthday cake!

 

[Wolfram]

And here's a quick photo of my main three axes - on the left is a Parker DF724.

 

[RallyFanatic]

Thanks guys - hoping that someone can confirm whether the 513 pickups have an angle built into their design, before I try to pull it out and investigate.

In the meantime... I think lockdown has made us all a bit crazy. I noticed that the 513 had its birthday a few days after I got it... and, being a 25th Anniversary model, it turned 10... so I thought I'd better make it a birthday cake!

haha - lockdown or not, this should be a new tradition!

 

[alantig]

Thanks guys - hoping that someone can confirm whether the 513 pickups have an angle built into their design, before I try to pull it out and investigate.

How's it sound? If it's good, I'd leave it. 513 pickups were pretty sensitive to adjustment - it's apparently pretty easy to damage them if you're not careful how you go about it. I have one guitar - can't remember which other than it's not my 513 - where the pickup is angled like that. I poked at it a few times, it kept bouncing back to the slant, so I just left it alone.

 

[Maertl513]

513s pickups have no angle, they are mounted parallel to strings. As mentioned, any height adjustment must be proceeded with awareness in order to prevent the base platte (printed circuit board) from any damage.
Sometimes the bridge pickup pair has been flipped around to have the active coil in SC mode nearest to the bridge supporting a more snappier sound.

 

[Wolfram]

Thanks guys. I spent some time getting the 513 setup dialled in, and it now plays and sounds absolutely superb. I love the way it's so versatile but does not sound like a Strat or LP - if I wanted one of those I would have bought one - it sounds like ... a PRS513!

I've not tried a 509, but honestly I think I would really miss having the choice of classic and hot humbucking tones - I use both. Also, I really prefer a wider fingerboard (this 513 has a wide fat carve and it feels pretty much perfect) and as far as I can tell all 509s are the slightly thinner Pattern Regular.

Soo... getting to know this guitar has been a bit of an eye-opener - it really does cover so much ground so very well. Not a lot else - other than my Custom 24, which has a very different character - has been out of the case, and there are definitely going to be a few moving on. I think my perfect guitar would be a 513, with a custom rout to allow the middle pickup to be set a smidge (just 1-2mm) lower, a mini-toggle to fix the neck pickup to single-coil mode (enabling HSS palette with just the five-way selector) and a custom recess under the tremolo to allow a tad more up-bend - say a minor third. Perhaps one day in a perfect (Private Stock?) world...

 

[Bill SAS 513]

Most PUs are spring loaded, (Exceptions include ...Wolfgangs, PUs mounted directly to body, etc...)
and many with these springs "wobble" when touched...I'd leave them alone if it sounds good.
Enjoy, and great collection!!!!

 

[Egads]

I totally agree with you on missing the mild humbucking sound on the 509. I think the 513 is the most flexible non-piezo guitar out there. Congrats, and glad you got it dialed.