PRS Explains Pickup Design - I was right!

I could swear the 220pF+330pF caps you talking about are not being "added", but simply sending portion of the split signal to the ground, effectively acting as a fixed tone pot. I have a given guitar on my laps. I may cracked it open and probe things a little for you.

Fun fact...

Did you knew, new PRS pickups are also shielded with a copper tape?

Ask privately for more fun facts ;)
I'd love to have that clarified. My understanding (at least with the Paul's Guitar) is that the controls split the humbucker and then add the capacitor to the signal in order to "fatten" the sound to make it more pleasing. From the image in my article, that's how it appears to be wired. I would be surprised if anything was being sent to ground because they specifically state that the mini-toggles allow them to "isolate" a single coil of the humbucker, rather than sending a coil to ground. You can find some info about that on PRS's website here: https://support.prsguitars.com/hc/e...nces-in-TAP-SPLIT-and-ISOLATED-SPLIT-Pickups-. I'm not sure how different that sounds to a traditional split, but I'll be testing it in the future. It does state on that page that the McCarty's use a tap, which I didn't catch before. Perhaps on that model they're using something like 1 and a half of the coils by tapping one of them. But it's also possible they're just mislabeled. On the marketing video, it says "coil split" and not tap. Also on the 58/15 they're selling now, there's no wire for a tap.
 
I'd love to have that clarified. My understanding (at least with the Paul's Guitar) is that the controls split the humbucker and then add the capacitor to the signal in order to "fatten" the sound to make it more pleasing. From the image in my article, that's how it appears to be wired. I would be surprised if anything was being sent to ground because they specifically state that the mini-toggles allow them to "isolate" a single coil of the humbucker, rather than sending a coil to ground. You can find some info about that on PRS's website here: https://support.prsguitars.com/hc/e...nces-in-TAP-SPLIT-and-ISOLATED-SPLIT-Pickups-. I'm not sure how different that sounds to a traditional split, but I'll be testing it in the future. It does state on that page that the McCarty's use a tap, which I didn't catch before. Perhaps on that model they're using something like 1 and a half of the coils by tapping one of them. But it's also possible they're just mislabeled. On the marketing video, it says "coil split" and not tap. Also on the 58/15 they're selling now, there's no wire for a tap.

I get that sorted for you mate. I have posted the wiring diagram for the 35th Anniversary here on the forum, but it got deleted. It was only a graphic representation and I haven't put things on to actual schematic but I may do it for the sake of understanding how it works. Whatever approach was used - the splits are indeed amazing. I grew up on strats and I won't get that far stating my Custom 24 sounds like one, but the flavour is defo there. More so , than on other dual HB guitars I ever tried past 25 years of playing
 
For the PRS S2 Standard 24 Satin, I think the 2017 and later versions use pickup 58/15 S, and the pre 2017 use HFS treble and S2 Vintage bass pickups. Are they about equally good, but different?

When I look at all the graphs at the start of this thread, it seems like they are all equally good, but different, in terms of freq. response.
 
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For the PRS S2 Standard 24 Satin, I think the 2017 and later versions use pickup 58/15 S, and the pre 2017 use HFS treble and S2 Vintage bass pickups. Are they about equally good, but different?

When I look at all the graphs at the start of this thread, it seems like they are all equally good, but different, in terms of freq. response.
You may have mistaken some charts, the HFS and Vintage Bass pickups aren't on any of those charts. The Vintage Bass would be fairly close to the 58/15 "S", but the HFS is very different. At 15K DCR (estimating they're using 43 gauge wire), I'd expect that to have a resonant frequency between 2-2.3kHz. The ceramic pickup would also give it a lot of focus in the peak and less bass end. Like a Seymour Duncan Custom 5 with a ceramic magnet swap.
 
Thanks for the info. I am about to receive a shipment of S2 Standard satin with those pre 2017 pickups. I did not think they were on the graphs, but using the graphs, and the various opinions, it seems like pickups can be different, but just as many people will like one pickup, as others who like another pickup. That is what I meant by equally good. With the exception of cheap bad ones. I don't think any cheap bad ones are in your graphs.

In my case, I was worried if I should have got a post 2017 S2 Standard satin, but now I think the pre 2017 is about as good, just different.
 
Pickups of different specs are absolutely different from each other. When thinking about their sound quality, I would encourage you to not think about pickups in terms of "good" or "bad". Sound is an entirely subjective thing. Calling two dissimilar pickups "equally good" doesn't really tell you much, and even inexpensive pickups can be amazing. The parts certainly don't cost very much.

What I will say is that the HFS and the 58/15 "S" pickups are VERY different. One is a PAF, the other is closer to a metal style pickup.
 
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