Modded my HBII!

[pondsnorkeler]

Sounds great! All useable tones. Great job.

 

[Gtrnut]

My understanding is...not enough room for P/P pots in these...so mini toggle is required. That means drilling a new hole, or, as ingeniously done in this case, using existing piezo blend pot hole for this.

My HB11 has a push pull, the dealer's tech did it. The push pull is on the tone switch and is where the 3 way is normally (tone control and 3 way swapped positions).

 

[Gtrnut]

Here are some sounds of the 53/10's in humbucker and split modes, clean and dirty. The split's sound cool and smokey with a little dirt, I like it.
I use an "always on" Analogman CompRosser" to buffer and sweeten my clean tone, light settings. It comes after my dirt pedals to keep each gain stage even. I'm using a Lovepedal Amp Eleven for the dirt sounds, and an Analogman Silver Mod Maxon OD-9 for the single coil leads at the end. I think I left my Trinity reverb (TC HallOF) on the whole time, light room setting. There's a little delay and vibe at the end too. The amp is a Princeton Reverb Reissue with a 5751 in v1, Blackplate Tungsol 6v6, Mullard 5ar4 (all nos glass), Allen TO20 output transformer, and a Celestion G10 Gold. Enjoy!

https://soundcloud.com/jonco74/hbiidemo0629

Love the neck split, over all seems warmer than the 57/08s?
If mine had a WF neck I would put the set of 53/10s I have in it but I think I will be moving it on.

How do like the bridge 53/10 compared to the 57/08?

 

[vchizzle]

Yeah that would scared the hell outta me Nice work!

 

[BuckyB]

My HB11 has a push pull, the dealer's tech did it. The push pull is on the tone switch and is where the 3 way is normally (tone control and 3 way swapped positions).

Hmmm, i like this idea. When you say "3 way", I assume you're talking about the magnetic p/u selector, not the piezo switch, right? Got pics?

 

[intothevoid]

Those are some delicious tones.

 

[rugerpc]

I bought my HBII as a custom order in 2002, back when the piezo optional. I ended up getting the piezo because I thought it might come in handy, especially when playing "Roundabout." But I almost never use it. A Boss AC-3 can do just as good a job of simulating an acoustic sound, if not better, so really, what's the point?

I have both HBIIs with piezo and the Boss AC-3. They don't compare side by side. The PRS piezo is real microphones for each string, each with EQ. The boss is good, but side by side with the piezo it sounds more harsh and 'electronic' for lack of a better word. The timbre just isn't right. The differences between the two are amplified when routing the signal straight through a PA or into an acoustic amp.

 

[vchizzle]

Great tones on your clip by the way, I missed that the 1st time.

 

[tiboy]

Sweet tone and nice playing. Job well done.

 

[LJD]

Following up, after a little more research and schematic reading I figured out how to get the coil splits to PRS specs. These resistors came today. Next string change I'll swap the piezo bridge and install the resistors, should improve the split coil sound and levels.

 

[justmund]

Missed this aswell! Great tones and playing dude, that guitar has the mojo! Giving me motivation to mod my SE Semi-hollow now and put in mini-toggle coil taps for the 53/10s (I had always planned to do this when I had time...)

I've done the resistor mod before too, but I used mini-pots so I could vary the resistance. This may be too much trouble, but I'm wondering if it would be worth doing a trial wire with a switch which bypasses the resistor? Just so you can properly A-B with and without the resistor mod.

 

[LJD]

Update:
Today I motivated myself to open her up again and install the resistors for the coil splits. I also installed the new bridge (a PRS adjustable). The resistors were done to the DGT coil split specs, and it's a fantastic improvement. Now I get way less volume loss, and much more body to the tone with it still sounding bright and jangly/splarkly. I think the new bridge has improved the sound a little, everything's sounding great.


I trimmed the the junction ground wire I had made the first time around and added the resistors.



New bridge

 

[Egads]

Looking good! You are a brave soul to open up that guitar as your first big project.

 

[dgt4me]

nothing ventured is nothing gained. Kudos on that work.

 

[HDJK]

I know, old thread... but I have some new pickups on order for my HB II and would like to ditch the piezo, install a coil split with two mini toggles and also mod the tone knob to be a bass roll off. Problem is, even with the PRS wiring diagrams I'm not quite sure how to pull it off. LJD hasn't been seen around here for years, but maybe someone else can point me in the right direction? Many thanks!

 

[show_a_little_faith]

I know, old thread... but I have some new pickups on order for my HB II and would like to ditch the piezo, install a coil split with two mini toggles and also mod the tone knob to be a bass roll off. Problem is, even with the PRS wiring diagrams I'm not quite sure how to pull it off. LJD hasn't been seen around here for years, but maybe someone else can point me in the right direction? Many thanks!

pipthepilot has shared a lot of great info (mostly in the Tech Center Forum ), I'd suggest seeing if he could maybe help you

 

[BWTISME]

Update:
Today I motivated myself to open her up again and install the resistors for the coil splits. I also installed the new bridge (a PRS adjustable). The resistors were done to the DGT coil split specs, and it's a fantastic improvement. Now I get way less volume loss, and much more body to the tone with it still sounding bright and jangly/splarkly. I think the new bridge has improved the sound a little, everything's sounding great.


I trimmed the the junction ground wire I had made the first time around and added the resistors.



New bridge

Hi - I am thinking of doing the same thing - i assume your HB II has 58 / 15 “s” pickups like my 2021 model - Are you still happy with the results and how is the volume drop ? Appreciate your help Cheers Brian