MichaelC24
Sucker for Squabbins
I’ve been on a decade-long quest for a Brushstroke 24, and finally found one…and even more shocking to me, it was Local!
I had pretty much given up hope on finding one of these in the color I hoped & at a price that was reasonable, so my next dream
Guitar would have been a Paul’s. Id have been fine with either…but as luck would have it, I not only came across a Brushtroke..but it was the top color choice (violet) and for sale Locally!
See below for photos, but for anyone interested in lending some guidance…strap in, this may be a bit long. I had a bit of an issue with a potential pickup swap.
I purchased a set of used “Paul’s TCI” zebra pickups, and figured they would be either a direct swap…or minimal effort on the wiring front.
I was apparantly wrong. I brought it to one of the local techs, and he said it would take him a day to do the swap. 1 week later, he’s having a really difficult time with the swap. I sent him wiring diagrams for the Paul’s TCI, as well as the original Paul’s diagram. I figured the Brushstroke was just a Paul’s guitar with a Trem & 24 frets. He tells me he needs a couple more days to work it out. Says he has a degree in electrical engineering and it won’t be a problem.
About another week goes by, and still no luck. He tells me it’s not happening, and the original pickups would be re-installed. I pick up the guitar, and he tells me that if I have any issues don’t hesitate to bring it back in.. I was in a rush and I couldn’t really sit there and test the guitar (mistake, I know..) but I had to pick my daughter up from school and I was already running behind. He quickly told me that he had to add jumpers to the pickup wires because when he cut them out, there wasn’t enough lead left to re-install. He said it shouldn’t be a problem at all, but down the line if anything should happen he would happily fix it.
Later that night I plug it in, and immediately the 3 way toggle is having issues. The pickups are cutting out when switching, and touching the toggle it’s making noises.. I reached out to him. No response. Sent an email with a video, also no response. On top of that, I noticed on the back by the trem cover, there’s a hole that looks like it was done with a sharp center punch or something similar…maybe even the soldering iron tip. I don’t care about that so much, it’s cosmetic and the back of the guitar already has a bit of buckle rash..but it just adds to the issues. I have to just make the trip to go see him in person, but I don’t know what I’ll get out of that..other than an apology and maybe some cash back. What I really want is to just get this guitar back to properly functioning..preferably with the TCI Zebra pups!
My question to any of you electronics savvy folks… is this that hard of a swap? The only thing he told me is that these new TCI pickups do not have a braided/ground wire, and that the pickups are not metal but plastic on the back plate..
I also reached out to PRS several times over the last week, both email and phone calls. I left a voicemail as well as a detailed email regarding the situation. No response as of yet…which I totally understand as they are so busy. I am not frustrated on that end whatsoever… I’m sure I’ll get an answer at some point. In the meantime, I’m really trying to get this guitar back to functioning, so any help would be greatly appreciated. I have another guy who does work on my guitars, but he’s super busy and won’t be able to take on any work for a couple weeks, so I’m kind of in limbo at the moment. I definitely do NOT want this original guy to touch this guitar ever again..
Thanks in advance to anyone who may have some guidance for me; and putting up with this long post…
Now to the important part of the thread; Photos!
I had pretty much given up hope on finding one of these in the color I hoped & at a price that was reasonable, so my next dream
Guitar would have been a Paul’s. Id have been fine with either…but as luck would have it, I not only came across a Brushtroke..but it was the top color choice (violet) and for sale Locally!
See below for photos, but for anyone interested in lending some guidance…strap in, this may be a bit long. I had a bit of an issue with a potential pickup swap.
I purchased a set of used “Paul’s TCI” zebra pickups, and figured they would be either a direct swap…or minimal effort on the wiring front.
I was apparantly wrong. I brought it to one of the local techs, and he said it would take him a day to do the swap. 1 week later, he’s having a really difficult time with the swap. I sent him wiring diagrams for the Paul’s TCI, as well as the original Paul’s diagram. I figured the Brushstroke was just a Paul’s guitar with a Trem & 24 frets. He tells me he needs a couple more days to work it out. Says he has a degree in electrical engineering and it won’t be a problem.
About another week goes by, and still no luck. He tells me it’s not happening, and the original pickups would be re-installed. I pick up the guitar, and he tells me that if I have any issues don’t hesitate to bring it back in.. I was in a rush and I couldn’t really sit there and test the guitar (mistake, I know..) but I had to pick my daughter up from school and I was already running behind. He quickly told me that he had to add jumpers to the pickup wires because when he cut them out, there wasn’t enough lead left to re-install. He said it shouldn’t be a problem at all, but down the line if anything should happen he would happily fix it.
Later that night I plug it in, and immediately the 3 way toggle is having issues. The pickups are cutting out when switching, and touching the toggle it’s making noises.. I reached out to him. No response. Sent an email with a video, also no response. On top of that, I noticed on the back by the trem cover, there’s a hole that looks like it was done with a sharp center punch or something similar…maybe even the soldering iron tip. I don’t care about that so much, it’s cosmetic and the back of the guitar already has a bit of buckle rash..but it just adds to the issues. I have to just make the trip to go see him in person, but I don’t know what I’ll get out of that..other than an apology and maybe some cash back. What I really want is to just get this guitar back to properly functioning..preferably with the TCI Zebra pups!
My question to any of you electronics savvy folks… is this that hard of a swap? The only thing he told me is that these new TCI pickups do not have a braided/ground wire, and that the pickups are not metal but plastic on the back plate..
I also reached out to PRS several times over the last week, both email and phone calls. I left a voicemail as well as a detailed email regarding the situation. No response as of yet…which I totally understand as they are so busy. I am not frustrated on that end whatsoever… I’m sure I’ll get an answer at some point. In the meantime, I’m really trying to get this guitar back to functioning, so any help would be greatly appreciated. I have another guy who does work on my guitars, but he’s super busy and won’t be able to take on any work for a couple weeks, so I’m kind of in limbo at the moment. I definitely do NOT want this original guy to touch this guitar ever again..
Thanks in advance to anyone who may have some guidance for me; and putting up with this long post…
Now to the important part of the thread; Photos!
