Neck pickup orientation on 35th anniversary CU24s

[Jim Halinda]

Hi All,

This is my first post on the PRS forums!

And I am expecting delivery of my first PRS, hopefully tomorrow (a brand new SE Custom 24 35th Anniversary in Black Gold Burst)!

While waiting, I have been scouring the web for clips and information about the 35th anniversary Custom 24 (all versions: core, S2, and SE).

What drew me to this particular model was that it included the TCI pickups and coil isolation switching. I have followed the development of TCI pickups with great interest, and that was the tipping point, I had to have one (and the SE version was the only one in my budget range).

To my comment / question: I notice that the core 35th anniversary CU24 has the neck pickup reversed, so that the slug coils face towards the neck. Yet the S2 and SE versions are not oriented this way.

From what I've heard in the demo clips (and maybe I'm imagining it), the core model has a little less 'quack' when both pickups are on and the neck pickup is in single coil mode. To me it sounds closer to a 'Tele' middle position sound rather than a 'Strat' middle plus neck/bridge sound.

I just bring it up as a point of interest. I notice the same thing with Paul's guitar (core version only), the neck pickup is reversed. Could this be because Paul prefers more of a 'T' style middle position sound than an 'S' style sound?

I know my personal preference leans towards the 'T' style middle sound myself.

So, once I receive my SE 35th, I will of course play the heck out of it and explore its tones, and then one day I might reverse the neck pickup (if the wiring harness allows), to see if I like it better.

Was just wondering if anyone else had noticed, and would have a preference either way?

Any thoughts/comments/information welcome!

Regards,

Jim

 

[Straight_six]

Unfortunately I don't have any experience with any of those models but welcome to the forum!

 

[Jim Halinda]

@Shawn@PRS , any official word on this? Someone has asked about it on another forum as well.

I know PRS is all about the details, so I’d love to know why the core models have the neck pickups reversed (and why the non-core models don’t).

Regards,

Jim

 

[Simon Says]

Necro bump to this

Got my 35th Anniversary for almost 2 months now and I have just yesterday noticed the neck pickup orientation. I have asked PRS customer support and got quick reply without much philosophy behind Paul's vision other than personal preference

On the guitars with mini toggles, Paul prefers to reverse the pickups so that the inner coil is active when in single coil mode. On other models, the outer coil is active when in single coil mode.

Any ideas why Paul personally would prefer it?

 

[Jim Halinda]

Well I can see that inner coils active would be more like a strat in between sound (ie. active coils closer together) where outer coils active would be more like a Tele middle position sound (ie. active coils further apart). So Paul is picking the orientation that sounds best to him.

But what is odd with that response from PRS is that it is supposedly the slug coils that are active when in single coil mode. So Paul's reversing the neck pickup would move its active coil to the outer position on the neck pickup, further away from the bridge pickup. Their explanation seems to have it backwards.

Oh well, I turned the neck pickup around in my 35th and to be honest, it is a subtle difference. I will play it like this, and then next string change might turn it back around.

 

[Simon Says]

Thank you for responding. I was a bit confused with the answer myself. I believe they have enough PRS noobs to deal with and they would rather cut on time responding to my question.

I may do same as you did and flip it with a next string change. It won't explode.

Interestingly I had this conversation of FB with a guy who was impressed with a "tele sound" with both pup's in split / mid toggle position. My impression - as an ex Fender guy was it sounded like a decent strat position 4 tone more than tele. There's much more to Telecaster tone than just the pickups so we couldn't stay on the same page.

Anyway - I must say that 85/15TLC grew on me. On day one I was looking around to sell these and get usual BKP's. Today I love them a lot. Not sure if this is just my brain but the guitar sounds totally different to what arrived a month ago.... I really could swear it started talking brighter, yet juicy.

 

[Jim Halinda]

The whole reason I bought the 35th CU24 SE was to try the TCI pickups... after watching many videos and demos, I really believe that Paul's TCI method helps him get the pickup voicing right where he wants it, whether on the Silver Sky, the Paul's guitar, or the Custom 24. That is what convinced me it was time to get a PRS.

So for my first PRS, I wanted to get the Custom 24 with the TCI pickups, to have the latest and greatest version of the original PRS flagship. It can't get much more PRS than that except maybe for Paul's guitar, but I wanted the trem and 24 frets.

And I really like the TCI pickups, although they are quite a bit brighter than most of my other humbucking guitars, so it has been an adjustment for me. But it is a great sounding guitar, with great sustain and overtones, good sounding coil splits, and volume and tone knobs that really work well without getting muddy. It is everything I had hoped a PRS to be!

Regards,

Jim

 

[Simon Says]

I have the core model and pickups in my guitar has not been to bright at first - which I didn't like in the beginning. But as stated above the tone significantly shifted to the brighter side. It might be just my brain, might be the fact that guitar is being played (A LOT), might be the way I pick this particular guitar.

I had a chat with few friends and they believe that it makes no difference as HB pickup is constructed in a way that both coils are in series so with both coils active signal is generated in both and travel trough both.. difference may be palpable in split mode only.

Others believe that if the pickup screws face the neck, you will get more low end - so flipping neck 180 degree will yield opposite results to what I want this guitar to be. I may just keep it the way it is

 

[Simon Says]

@Jim Halinda

So I have flipped it last night and I liked it better tonewise. I have used different string set with it so it could be a sting related change too.

I normally play 11-50, I have put 10.5-48 of the same brand and the neck pickup had more presence, more controllable bass, not so overpowering as before. I have put it back as it was, strung my usual set and I'm back to where I was. I will flip it again with 11-50 with next string change so will report back in about 2 weeks how is it

 

[aphantomvaper]

I'm with you guys. After getting my SE Paul's I was doing further research and noticed the Core Paul's have the neck flipped so the screws are away from the neck. My SE Paul's have the pickups in traditional orientation same as most all I've seen here and on the net.

I flipped mine so neck has the same orientation as the Core. Looks "authentic" and I am not sure if it sounds different yet.

This was just yesterday, nice to coincidentally see a post about this item!

 

[FunkyFreeman]

PRS has been doing this to core models with mini toggle switches, started from 2010 Signature limited. I think the reasons behind this is to move the single coil which will be activated when in splitted mode to be in inner side of orientation. I think that affects tone only a bit, but coupling this technique with narrowing the coil aperture on those Sig, PG, 408, then this concept begins to make more sense.

For core 35th Anniversary guitars, despite theoritically having less impact comparing with 408/PGs, but I think it's good to see it there. But my doubt is that, are the pickups wires inversed to another side also?

 

[aphantomvaper]

After flipping the neck p/u and playing with it for a couple of days the only thing I've noticed is the volume change from single to hum mode is almost nil now. Only the tone changes (to my ears)

The SE PG TCI s pickups had a slight drop in volume before the flip (S2 594 has a noticeable volume drop in single mode...as expected) but now its almost not noticeable at all. Pretty cool.