Pre 2007 Swamp Ash Special Wiring Mod

Beargrylls21

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Hey everyone,

I just recently happened upon a pre-2007 swamp ash special at a great price. The guitar was very well taken care of and has almost zero signs of wear, and I am thoroughly enjoying it so far!

The pre-2007 models have the 3-way toggle with the push pull tone pot, while the post 2007 models have the 5 way blade to get more tonal options from the 3 pickups. I was curious: has anyone replaced the 3-way toggle on a pre-2007 SAS with a 5-way rotary switch to get the same tonal options as the later models? If so, does anyone have a diagram they can share? Any other modifications along these lines that anyone has done on their SAS?

Thanks! Here is a pic of my new SAS from the listing on reverb where I bought it.

https://applink.reverb.com/item/8579384-prs-swamp-ash-special-2006-two-tone-burst-tobacco
 
That's a really clean one. Great score.

I've dreamed up several mods for these. The possibilities are many depending on your acceptance level of push/pulls and drilling holes for mini toggles.
 
That's a really clean one. Great score.

I've dreamed up several mods for these. The possibilities are many depending on your acceptance level of push/pulls and drilling holes for mini toggles.
Yeah @garrett I was shocked at the great condition it was in. And the case looked almost brand new upon arrival.

After looking into things a bit more, an easier solution might be to install a push pull pot on the volume knob so that one pot would simply activate the middle pickup and the other would split both humbuckers. Any chance you are familiar with a mod like this? I’ve seen other forums describing doing this, but haven’t seen any diagrams.
 
Yeah @garrett I was shocked at the great condition it was in. And the case looked almost brand new upon arrival.

After looking into things a bit more, an easier solution might be to install a push pull pot on the volume knob so that one pot would simply activate the middle pickup and the other would split both humbuckers. Any chance you are familiar with a mod like this? I’ve seen other forums describing doing this, but haven’t seen any diagrams.
Truthfully I’m open to most any mods that don’t involve drilling in the event I ever need to re-sell.
 
Yeah @garrett I was shocked at the great condition it was in. And the case looked almost brand new upon arrival.

After looking into things a bit more, an easier solution might be to install a push pull pot on the volume knob so that one pot would simply activate the middle pickup and the other would split both humbuckers. Any chance you are familiar with a mod like this? I’ve seen other forums describing doing this, but haven’t seen any diagrams.

That's a sensible mod. You knocked out that push/pull mod to your Custom, so this one will be easy. Just leave the middle pickup wires alone and hook up the humbucker split wires to another push/pull according to pretty much any coil split diagram.

Another no-holes mod is a 5-way rotary (wafer style, not the PRS PCB one). You could use it to get the usual Stratty positions, or with a 4-pole version you can get really creative. You can make it as crazy as you want with two push/pulls, too.

Ask yourself, what tones do you want that you currently can't get?
 
That's a sensible mod. You knocked out that push/pull mod to your Custom, so this one will be easy. Just leave the middle pickup wires alone and hook up the humbucker split wires to another push/pull according to pretty much any coil split diagram.

Another no-holes mod is a 5-way rotary (wafer style, not the PRS PCB one). You could use it to get the usual Stratty positions, or with a 4-pole version you can get really creative. You can make it as crazy as you want with two push/pulls, too.

Ask yourself, what tones do you want that you currently can't get?
Thanks @garrett. After giving it some thought I think it’s the start type tones I am looking for, which mean the 5 way rotary switch is likely what I’m looking for. In this case, I guess I would replace the toggle switch with the rotary switch and require the push pull pot to split the humbuckers rather than to activate the bridge pickup. Do you have a rotary switch you would recommend?
 
StewMac has 'em. They even have a 4-pole 6-way, which means you should be able to get the usual 5-way, plus outside pickups. You'd probably have to work out your own wiring schematic, though.

You can still get the Strat tones with a three-way and push/pull for the middle pickup. It just depends on which method you prefer.
 
StewMac has 'em. They even have a 4-pole 6-way, which means you should be able to get the usual 5-way, plus outside pickups. You'd probably have to work out your own wiring schematic, though.

You can still get the Strat tones with a three-way and push/pull for the middle pickup. It just depends on which method you prefer.
Thanks, and good point about the dual push pull pot still being able to get the strat tones.

The push pull pot for sale on the PRS website: does it work only as a tone pot or can it also be used as a volume pot? The listing only calls it a tone pot although I don’t see why it couldn’t work both ways.

https://us.prsaccessories.com/products/push-pull-tone-pot
 
Right. They just call it a tone pot because that's what they use it for and it's prewired with the cap.
Just finished installing the second push pull pot. Everything worked as expected and now the SAS is as versatile as I ever could have wanted. Really impressed with how the McCarty humbuckers split. I would definitely recommend this easy mod to anyone who buys a pre-2007 SAS. Honestly it should have come standard!

Thanks again for the advice on this @garrett
 
Resurrecting this thread…
I’ve never been a “tone knob guy.” I leave it the hell alone lol.

Thoughts on replacing the tone push/pull on a old core SAS with a toggle (as small as I could find for the hole lol) to basically switch between “strat mode” (split humbuckers and middle pickup) and “les Paul mode” (two humbuckers)…3-way would operate as expected.

The idea of putting in a 5-way rotary intrigues me, but I hate them live (I took the one out of my 97 CE and would quickly replace the one in my 04 if I could find a schematic for what I need for a 3 way)
 
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