New here and basically new to PRS guitars. Adding blend question.

B

BoneDigger

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The title is misleading since I did own an SE Hollow body baritone for a while a few years ago. So, I'm not completely new to the brand. However, after years of owning strats, teles, and Les Pauls, I finally decided to try PRS again. And, I fell in love! Seriously, head over heels! I absolutely love the new necks! And the tone was just what I was looking for. So, after some trading and saving up, I now have three. My first was a SE McCarty 594 double cut. Then came an SE Hollow body II. And now a SE 594 McCarty single cut. I love them all for different reasons, and I see me owning these for the long haul. I tried an S2 and just didn't think it was that much better than the SE series.

Okay, so now my question. For the hollow body 2, is it feasible to add a blend pot or two additional pots to basically make the tone control like that of the McCarty line? By that, I realize anything is possible. I just mean, has anyone here done that or seen it done successfully? And, is it worth it? It's not like the controls are bad as they are.
 
JasonE

JasonE

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It is possible and has been done by a few people. I think if you search this forum you may find a thread or two where guys documented what they did to add it.
 
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BoneDigger

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Thanks guys! I am not sure if it's worth doing or not. It's probably $150 to $200 in time and materials and I'm not sure the benefit would be worth it.
 
JasonE

JasonE

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I am a big fan of the PRS piezo equipped guitars. I have 4 core models with it. I have gigged them a fair amount. It is fantastic to be able to have the acoustic sounds on tap in the same guitar. I always run my outputs separately and run the piezo into a Fishman Aura then to the mixer. It sounds really good that way. If I had the SE version of the guitar, I would probably want the modification done to it. I like the way the core models work for switching sounds at gigs. I use all of the different configurations though the night. Just my 2 cents.
 
Alessandro

Alessandro

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I have the SE hollowbody II piezo and I modded mine to add a dedicated neck volume pot but it doesn’t really do the “blend” thing great because you only have neck volume and master volume. So you can remove some neck volume but not bridge volume. It’s still cool and I did it because I like to roll the neck back and switch between neck/bridge mostly. Also I put the volume pot where the switch was and moved the switch over an inch. Much nicer spot for the switch and the 4 knob look gives it the 335 vibe. Very cool
 
ViperDoc

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More than one way to skin a cat, but here's how you could. I know the SE HB uses two jacks, and I believe the piezo volume is activated when you plug into the "MIX/PIEZO" jack. That means the Piezo volume only works when using two discrete cables. Using a stereo jack and TRS cable allows you to use just one TRS cable to your amp area, and then a Y-cable to split to your mag and acoustic amps individually. OR, you can wear the Y-cable for two transmitters and look like a f&cking Ghostbuster. Which is B4da55. ENJOY.

PRS%20SE%20HB%202%20VOL%20MOD.jpg
 
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Alessandro

Alessandro

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ViperDoc said:
It looks like you did a nice job on that. Any middle switch position that has two volume pots adds a reference to ground through the second pot, but you should be able to blend either volume into the circuit. How did you wire it? Does the SE have a stereo jack to split out the piezo signal?
Click to expand...
It started when I tried to put in a set of 57/08s and noticed the pickups are wired to the switch first. The piezo electronics are a little weird because of the dual jacks and I didn’t have the full wiring diagrams and everything is really buttoned up tight in the body so I was trying to make it as easy as I can.

The existing controls work with a pcb board in conjunction with the dual jacks so I decided to bypass all of that and wire the neck pickup straight to an individual pot and then to the switch. Bridge stil goes right to the switch first. I was more than happy with this since I don’t use much blending of the middle and when I do it actually is to roll off a little neck and have a sort of alternative bridge sound. So it’s like neck rolled off almost clean, mid output less treble in the middle and balls out on the bridge.

So now it has neck volume and master volume. Not the ideal situation as I would prefer dedicated bridge and neck volume but I had to work with what I had. My original idea was actually to move the switch to the upper bout like the 594 but sadly it isn’t hollow up there so I had to abandon that plan.
 
ViperDoc

ViperDoc

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Alessandro said:
It started when I tried to put in a set of 57/08s and noticed the pickups are wired to the switch first. The piezo electronics are a little weird because of the dual jacks and I didn’t have the full wiring diagrams and everything is really buttoned up tight in the body so I was trying to make it as easy as I can.

The existing controls work with a pcb board in conjunction with the dual jacks so I decided to bypass all of that and wire the neck pickup straight to an individual pot and then to the switch. Bridge stil goes right to the switch first. I was more than happy with this since I don’t use much blending of the middle and when I do it actually is to roll off a little neck and have a sort of alternative bridge sound. So it’s like neck rolled off almost clean, mid output less treble in the middle and balls out on the bridge.

So now it has neck volume and master volume. Not the ideal situation as I would prefer dedicated bridge and neck volume but I had to work with what I had. My original idea was actually to move the switch to the upper bout like the 594 but sadly it isn’t hollow up there so I had to abandon that plan.
Click to expand...
I totally understand. Absolutely nothing wrong with the way you did it. Nice job.
 
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