PRS middle pickups for Jerry tone (Special 22, Studio 22, ME-V, Dead Spec)

[SonicBlue]

Both the Special 22 semi-hollow and Modern Eagle V are said to be Inspired by the Super Eagle that John Mayer and Paul collaborated on as an all-in Jerry Garcia / Dead & Co Mayer tone machine.

Jerry lived on the middle pickup, either single coils on Strats/Travis Bean or a humbucker split to single coil in strat position most of the time. (I suspect he went into humbucker when he needed the noise cancellation live, not for tone because he preferred more focused single coils.

When Mayer is after Jerry tones, from what I can tell, he's on the middle pickup much of the time.

The Special 22 Semi-Hollow is a dream machine of a guitar... but the middle pickup can't be isolated, it can only be blended with the bass or treble pickup and you can't split the middle pickup to single coil. Only the bass/treble can be split. Middle position on the 5 way is both treble and bass pickups - it doesn't even use the middle pickup in that position.

The Modern Eagle V has an undersized single coil middle, which Paul said was there to blend with the bass or treble pickups. You can isolate it, but I don't know how well it would stand on it's own in a Jerry tone quest. And due to how the body is cut out for it, it wouldn't be easy to swap in another single coil.

The Studio 22 is H/NF/NF configuration that does allow middle pickup isolation, but you can't split the NF's to single coil... if you don't care about splitting the NF's, this is a direct path to middle pickup Jerry tone without any mods.

The Silver Sky is obviously a direct path to middle pickup single coil tones, whether Dead Spec or regular silver sky, you will get there.

With all of the Grateful Dead and Mayer involvement, it's really surprising to me. Its looking like this Special 22 is heading into PTC for some mods as soon as I figure out what I want to do.

 

[Rider1260]

If set up like mine the SSH in position 2 and 4 with the humbuckers split has plenty of that middle single coil sound , the narrow fields to me don't really sound like humbuckers ( I have a NF3 core and a Special and a Studio ) if you play with the middle pickup height it is like a volume boost for the humbuckers and a cool honk with the humbuckers tapped ( but mine has the 58/15mt pickups ) another option is look at the Fiore

 

[Greywolf]

Jerry also liked the neck which was usually a single on his Irwin~Alembics and the mid together ..

 

[SonicBlue]

After listening to many demos of the Special, there's not a bad sound that guitar makes and paying attention I think you're right - the middle-bass and middle-treble settings do sound amazing and do the Jerry thing. I'll give pickup height adjustment a try.

Jerry Tone:

Daniel Donato gets amazing tones with every setting.

All around Demo, but at 5 min mark he demos both humbuckers and it sounds fantastic. I was considering modding to eliminate this setting and have the middle position just isolate the middle pickup, but I think I want to keep that unique setting on this one, which sounds different than most due to the flipped neck pickup.

 

[SonicBlue]

For reference, isolated middle NF on a super eagle w/no coil splits, treble boost or eq enabled.

 

[Greywolf]

Of course , growing up in Palo Alto and meeting Jerry and Bobby at Brown's Music where they worked I've been a lifelong fan.
Jerry was always looking for an ULTRA clean tone, why he played the aluminum neck Travis Bean for a spell, then he got Wolf his first Alembic made by Doug Irwin ,( one out there now without the wolf inlay north of 25 kilobucks!)

and Tiger , and a few more followed.
this "plain" one with the Cocobolo 20 grover clevelands ..

for the full story .. https://jerrygarcia.com/guitars/

In my endless quest to nail Jerry's tone I finally gave in and got an Alembic .. instant magic.

What I find a bit odd is while Alembics start at $15k , the "Tiger" model ( aka tribute) is WAY less than the Super Eagle .

No doubt the Super Eagle is on my lotto dream list . until then my Special Artist with pedals works fine

 

[SonicBlue]

Of course , growing up in Palo Alto and meeting Jerry and Bobby at Brown's Music where they worked I've been a lifelong fan.
Jerry was always looking for an ULTRA clean tone, why he played the aluminum neck Travis Bean for a spell, then he got Wolf his first Alembic made by Doug Irwin ,

and Tiger , and a few more followed.

for the full story .. https://jerrygarcia.com/guitars/

In my endless quest to nail Jerry's tone I finally gave in and got an Alembic .. instant magic.

What I find a bit odd is while Alembics start at $15k , the "Tiger" model ( aka tribute) is WAY less than the Super Eagle .

No doubt the Super Eagle is on my lotto dream list . until then my Special with pedals works fine

What a great post to wake up to! I got to see the Dead with Jerry but never met them, thanks for sharing such a cool experience. I got to see Rat Dog at a high school auditorium right after Jerry died, I could have approached them at any time but never did. I really like how Bobby still plays smaller intimate shows regularly with Wolf Brothers.

Your Alembic and Special both look amazing. Never played an Alembic before, but everyone seems to love them. That Further is a work of art and reminds me of the Scott Walker Revelator.

I've tried so many guitars through the years that I'm pretty set on staying with PRS going forward. The neck and body shapes just do it for me like nothing else does. Pattern/Wide-Fat necks are home for me.

 

[Greywolf]

Jerry was extremely gregarious , Bobby as sweet as sunshine . The Maid of Honor at my wedding back in '79 was on their sound crew so we got a good amount of tapes straight off the mixboard and backstage once , and in the audience of the Touch of Grey video .. which happened after the show was over at Laguna Seca (3 day run) , all the campers were invited back in for the shoot .. it was MAGIC !

Back in 68 I'd moved up to South Lake Tahoe where my dad started the first City Fire Dept. He did the inspection for the concert venue ..met the band and when we had dinner that night he asked my brother and I ( who has been in a band together for 5 years) if we'd ever heard of them .... LOL .. OH Pop they are THE Greatest!!! ... He didn't share that opinion and banned their music from the house.

Years later I made it a point to put on Acoustic Dead when they came over , Mom always loved it and Pop to an extent until he found out who it was.. then he just endured .... silly old Marine