PRS 8515 MT Wiring & Color Codes...???

Rick Werner

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Oct 14, 2020
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Hi guys!
Hope this is in the correct forum...wasn't sure if it belonged in the Tech forum or not (?)

Anyways,.. I have a set of 8515 MT pickups that we're looking to install into a McCarty 594 and I'm having quite a difficult time finding the specific wiring color codes for these pickups.

Each of these pickups has a total of 5 leads if you will:

Red
White
Black
Green
Bare

Not looking to do anything too crazy, just need the Hot, Ground, and Coil tap for each one....

Thanks in advance,
Rick
 
Thanks Malloc!
I read through that thread and found the info that Garrett had posted spec'ing the MT's out with a meter. I will do the same this evening and see if that info matches what I have. I will post my results if they are different.

IF my results are the same I am still a little confused on the "Correct" way to wire mine up for this McCarty install. Basically just need Full Humbuckers on both, and coil split on both (the McCarty has Push/Pull pots on both Tone controls)

Here is the quoted info that Garrett posted from that thread you linked:


Ya I wouldn’t do anything until you meter it out.
The multimeter is a good friend!

I recently grabbed a set of 85/15 MT myself, though I have no real plans for them so far. It is an ingeniously simple design.


BASS
Red/White 7.99 (ignores extra winds on slug to make two relatively balanced coils)
Green/Black 5.77 (ignores screw coil but includes all the winds on slug to beef up the output)

You can connect them to sound like typical humbucker split/tap if you want a wimpier single coil tone:
White/Black 3.9 (tapped slug only)
Black/Red 4.09 (screw only)

You can even connect them to be super wimpy or super beefy if you want (maybe not useful):
White/Green 1.88 (extra slug winds)
Red/Green 9.88 (all the winds)


TREBLE
Red/White 8.54
Green/Black 5.92

White/Black 4.41
Red/Black 4.13

White/Green 1.51
Red/Green 10.04
[/QUOTE]
 
You have to do something similar to what I have for the tone pot in this diagram:



Basically you'll have all four wires of each pickup going to a single push/pull then the selected hot to three way switch and selected ground to ground.
 
Wire the push/pulls like a 408, but with a couple tweaks. Use the side of the switches for the ground connections. The hot outs that go from the minis to the blade switch on the 408 go to the volume pots instead.

https://www.prsguitars.com/documents/408_2017.pdf

Color-wise, Red and Green are the start/finish wires. Black is the tap between the bobbins. White is the tap on the slug bobbin. The pickups are reverse polarity, so you wire one of them backwards from the other to remain in phase and for hum cancelling when both pickups are tapped to single coil mode.

Oh yeah, bare is shield and always goes to ground. I'd solder it to the body of the push/pull.
 
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Thanks again for your replies Garrett and Malloc!

While I have done tons and tons of pickup installations and modifications,.. for some reason the PRS stuff always seems to be a bit baffling to me. Aren't most humbucker pickups basically made the "same" especially 4 conductor pickups? - In that I mean they should all be made up of two separate "coils" of wire that each have a "Start" and a "Finish"? A majority of the pickups I install are Duncan and Dimarzio. They are color coded differently, but the construction is basically the "same" - I can't imagine the PRS 4 conductor pickups being any different(?)

In terms of what you guys have stated in the previous responses, how does that translate to say the Duncan color coding of their humbuckers? (See attached pic)

Maybe I'm overcomplicating things,... or just not grasping what is going on here, but it seems like the wiring for 4 conductor pickups in a Les Paul type set up with two push pull pots should be pretty simplistic (?)

Thanks again for all of your help on this thus far! :D

https://www.strat-talk.com/media/seymour-duncan-humbucking-pickup-wire-color-code.11226/
 
Most non-MT PRS pickups are similar to the SD diagram you posted except they only expose a series link (red for PRS), not individual finish wires.

The MT design is 4 wire but the fourth wire is a tap on the overwound coil so you have (ground, series link, tap, hot).

That is to say when in non-split mode you have one full coil plus part of the overwound coil then when tapped you have only the overwound coil.
 
Most non-MT PRS pickups are similar to the SD diagram you posted except they only expose a series link (red for PRS), not individual finish wires.

The MT design is 4 wire but the fourth wire is a tap on the overwound coil so you have (ground, series link, tap, hot).

That is to say when in non-split mode you have one full coil plus part of the overwound coil then when tapped you have only the overwound coil.

Ok that makes sense for the most part..


So digging a little deeper on this -

"The MT design is 4 wire but the fourth wire is a tap on the overwound coil so you have (ground, series link, tap, hot). "

You state in the quote above that the MT Pickups have a Hot, Tap, Series Link, and a Ground (Plus bare) - So which color corresponds with each description?

Matt from PRS Called me back today answering a previous question I had in regards to a set of 59/09 pickups and I had since then sent him an emails in regards to this current topic with the MT's - He had sent me a wiring diagram for the McCarty (Which I already had), but he was going to go back and get me the info in terms of wiring up these pickups. He essentially said that these pickups have two "Hots".. .. be curious to see what he comes back with.

Again, all of this info is much appreciated!!!
 
Haven't heard back from Matt/PRS yet,.. anybody else have any info on this by chance?

Thanks!
 
I already answered that in post #5 above.

I read that earlier just wasn't sure how that translated specifically... let me try this:

MT Treb.

Red = Hot
Green = Ground (Along with bare braided )
(Reverse Red and Green on 2nd pickup for phase compensation)

Then is the Black or White the actual "Tap" to ground one coil for a Single coil type sound? - Still a little confused about the whole coil tapping thing with these pups.... :confused:
 
Then is the Black or White the actual "Tap" to ground one coil for a Single coil type sound? - Still a little confused about the whole coil tapping thing with these pups.... :confused:

No prob, they certainly are different.


Treble pickup signal flows like this: Red -> Black -> White -> Green.

Red ->
(start of the screw bobbin)

Black ->
(tap between bobbins, normal pickup split point)

White ->
(tap on the slug bobbin, accesses a portion of the total winds on the bobbin)

Green
(start of the slug bobbin, Paul has said this is another 1500 turns of wire)


With the switch in humbucker mode: Red is ground. Black is connecting the two bobbins. White is hot. Green is ignored.
Since the extra winds on the slug bobbin are bypassed, it gives you a typically balanced humbucker.

With the switch in single coil mode: Red is ignored. Black is ground. White is connecting the two portions of winds on slug bobbin. Green is hot. Since red isn't used, the screw bobbin is inactive, but you get the full winds on slug.



Bass pickup flows backwards due to being reverse polarity: Green -> White -> Black -> Red.

Humbucker mode: Green is ignored. White is ground. Black connects the bobbins together. Red is hot.
Single coil mode: Green is ground. White connects the two portions of winds on Slug. Black is hot. Red is ignored.



On both pickups, the bare wire is shield and always goes to ground.
 
Well I finally got around to wiring up the McCarty last night with the MT pickups... I wanted to say thanks again to Garrett and the rest of you all for holding my hand through this process :)

Ended up using the Whites and Reds as my Hots and Grounds and then the Black as the coil tap (Single wire over to the tone pot OEM location for the tap) and the green un-used - This worked out great!

We have full humbuckers and everyhting is in phase and the coil tapping option works as well

I've got pics of the install and set up... but I guess there's not an option to direcly upload pics on here without using a third party hosting site(?) ... I'll throw a quick vid up on you tube and post it..
 
Hmm... I need to look more closely at all of this and see if this is the same wiring I should use for my mystery 53/10s...
 
Im installing a dpdt switch in my S2 Mira for each pickup to get series/parallel/split. From taking the north finish and south finish off the push pull pot I know they're white and green, but does anyone know which is which?
 
Sorry they're G&B pickups that came in the S2 Mira. All the posts I've seen online say the red and white are for coil splitting but it was the green and white that was attached to the push pull switch terminals
 
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