PRS SE 24-08 SE wiring diagram? Taming brightness.

[edfardos]

Hi PRS folks, I'm a new PRS owner, trying to tame the brightness of a 2023 PRS Custom 24-08.

My Reference tone is a 1990's Les Paul Classic with 57 Classic pickups. I can get close with
the volume at 8.5 and the tone around 4.

I clipped the treble bleed cap, better, highs roll off nicely at volume of 8.5

I swapped both pickups with Seymour Duncan 59's, luckily, with no wiring diagram and educated guesses.

I tried a 33uF tone capacitor, which killed all volume at the lowest tone position, surprising to say the least.

The wiring diagram provided by PRS is entirely inaccurate
https://support.prsguitars.com/hc/en-us/article_attachments/10785441347483

Seymour Duncan indicated PRS has not posted a diagram for 2023 models.

When I opened the guitar I was confronted with this sorcery
https://craiger.org/craiger/prs-se-2408.png

(keep in mind, i installed SD 59's and clipped the treble bleed, red/green is reversed on the PRS bridge pickup?)


So, given those facts/observations,

Does anyone have a wiring diagram for the 2023, Custom SE 2408?

What is the purpose of the blue capacitors near the micro-toggles? the lower one appears to be a high-pass filter for the bridge.

What are the values of the capacitors? (green has no label, blue caps read 221 and 331)


Thanks for the all the help, I appreciate it.

-edfardos

 

[Veetwin]

My unwanted vote will be put it back to stock, change the strings and EQ your amp. The folks at PRS did not spend countless hours tuning the pickups ( And Paul himself) for nothing. The TCI pickups sound very good. When I first got mine I thought it was very bright. I changed the strings and fitted locking tuners. Problem fixed.

The strings I would try are the The Classic Ernie Ball Rock N Roll Super Slinky Custom Gauge Pure Nickel Wrap Set 2253

My Guitar shop suggested these as they will reduce brightness. Worked perfectly for me.

 

[edfardos]

My unwanted vote will be put it back to stock, change the strings and EQ your amp. The folks at PRS did not spend countless hours tuning the pickups ( And Paul himself) for nothing. The TCI pickups sound very good. When I first got mine I thought it was very bright. I changed the strings and fitted locking tuners. Problem fixed.

The strings I would try are the The Classic Ernie Ball Rock N Roll Super Slinky Custom Gauge Pure Nickel Wrap Set 2253

My Guitar shop suggested these as they will reduce brightness. Worked perfectly for me.

Part of me wants to make the 9's work, as I normally play 10's and the playability of the PRS, with 9's is second to none. amazing really. but Yah, in the end, I might end up putting 10's on. I purchased an extra trem spring the other day in anticipation of this inevitability.

Paul has some good youtube videos, one of which he clearly states their goal is to make humbuckers sound like single-coils. Noble, but not if you're after the Les Paul sound. I really like the flexibility of the coil splits too. I might just bypass the extra caps in turn to see what they're doing to the tone, especially the bridge high-pass filter. but, without values printed on the components, and no wiring diagram, it's just feeling around in the dark.

cool,
-edfardos

 

[opnoob]

I found the PRS wiring diagram for the SE 2408 completely inaccurate as well. I had to do a little guessing and checking before figuring out what was what and honestly still wouldn't be able to tell you off the top of my head.

 

[andy474x]

I'd go back to stock as well, minus the treble bleed if you liked that. Then, if you've not already, try different string compositions. The PRS Classics are a little warmer sounding, almost like a pure nickel string - and then, of course, you could go pure nickel, too.

The SE Customs are bright sounding guitars, or maybe I should say they have a very immediate and sometimes harsh attack, due to their maple neck.

 

[edfardos]

I found the PRS wiring diagram for the SE 2408 completely inaccurate as well. I had to do a little guessing and checking before figuring out what was what and honestly still wouldn't be able to tell you off the top of my head.

I pinged PRS to see if they have a schematic.

For posterity, for others trying to figure it out

PRS TCI-S pickup wire colors micro switches, Neck on left, bridge on the right:

R G | G R
X W | X B
X X | X X


Seymour Duncan pickups

G R | G R
X W | X W
X X | X X

(blacks to three-way switch)



I think the problem is that the PRS bridge and neck pickups use different wire colors. Heck the Neck pickup has one pair in coax too.

 

[frankencat]

Yep, the SE pickups color codes are/can be different than the core pickups, glad you got that sorted out. The resistors on the mini toggles are partial splits and are tuned for each pickup/position. The idea is to limit the amount of volume drop when tapped and also keep a tiny bit of hum cancelling. If you find that it is still very bright after sorting out the wiring to your liking, one trick I use is to swap out the 500k tone pot with a 250k CTS. I find that this changes the circuit enough to roll of just a little bit of the extreme high end. I also find that changing out the stock pots and wiring brings an improvement but I can’t explain exactly why. We have a theory in my shop about the total inductance and impedance of the circuit changing slightly with different quality or brand of components. I use CTS and Switchcraft almost exclusively. Honestly though that part is a bit of a mystery, all I know is what works. Try the tone pot swap if it’s super bright.

 

[edfardos]

Sweet - thanks guys, Yah, I agree with all your comments. It'be fun to hear a before/after on frankencat's pot upgrades. LRC circuits are fun and unpredictable.

After some quality time with a multimeter, jumpers and soldering iron, I also discovered:

Each blue cap at the micro toggles bleeds off treble if and only if in coil-tap mode.

There is an 800K resistor bleeding volume across the output... honestly it makes no sonic difference to me.

 

[Broseph]

PRS TCI-S pickup wire colors micro switches, Neck on left, bridge on the right:

R G | G R
X W | X B
X X | X X


Seymour Duncan pickups

G R | G R
X W | X W
X X | X X

(blacks to three-way switch)

I can’t thank you enough for this. I like the way the Paul’s SE sounds so I kept that stock. The same pickups aren’t as clear to me on the 2023 SE 24-08. The diagram online didn’t match what was in my guitar. I followed your color coding and it was perfect. I installed some bare knuckles using this guide. BKP have a nice page that translates the wiring colors to other major brands. Saved me from reselling the SE 24-08.

For all those searching online: follow this man’s post about swapping (some may say upgrading) pickups on the SE Paul’s and SE 24-08!!!