PRS SE (Orianthi) Pickup conductor colours and wiring options

[yurasuka]

Hi all


Firstly, please excuse me if this is the wrong area to post this question in!


A friend of mine sold me the stock pickups (SE HFS and Vintage Neck - manufactured by G&B) from her PRS SE Orianthi, but only after she already had the pickups in her guitar changed, so I couldn't have a good peak first at how it was wired up.

Until such a time as I can buy myself an S2 Singlecut (this one!), I want to use the PRS SE pups in my old Cort M520 (the pickups of which lack... quite a bit infact. No character except in split coil mode, and on the neck pup only). The M520 has two humbuckers with one volume, one tone (push/pull split coil).


I've Googled and Bing-ed and otherwise searched for info about the colour codes and wiring options for these G&B Pickups but cannot find anything that
1) clearly tells me what the colours are and
2) if/why the VB and HFS pickups are wired differently.


Can anyone shed light on how these G&B pickups are/are supposed to be wired? I've followed this video to determine the pickup polarity and identity of the wires (or at least I thought I did), but when I try to wire it using a well known diagram such as this one it sounds horrid and noisy. The neck pickup sounds ok, but the bridge pickup sounds like it must be out of phase (thin and tinny?) and overall there's an awful amount of noise (hum as well as higher frequencies).


I've since reinstated the cruddy old pickups just to get something out of it.


What I have in the guitar are the following:
- Tone pot (500k) / push pull
- Volume pot (500k)
- .033uF cap (I have some .022 Orange drops and other .022 caps as well)
- 3-way toggle switch
- Mono jack socket.


So, if those of you that know, can PLEASE help me with this I'll be very grateful! And if you're in my area (HP16, UK) I'll even buy you a beer (or 3 !)


Thanks
J

 

[yurasuka]

I assume the SE HFS and Vintage Bass pickups in all the SE models would have the same conductor colours, so any ideas anyone?

Thanks
J

 

[wardog]

if you can describe the wire setup or post a pick of it, we can help more. For example, is it a single wire with a ground lead and pickup lead ( colors can vary) or is there an additional lead for tapping.

 

[yurasuka]

Thanks wardog, that's a good point. I'll upload some photos when I get a moment.

These pups are 4 conductor (red, green, black and white) plus bare. At first I (very wrongly!) assumed it would be the same as the SD humbuckers. Nope!

Cheers
J

 

[wardog]

ok, red and white need to be joined together. it is the tap wire. Green is join with ground and black is the hot lead that goes to toggle. This should be the case for both pickups. for a diagram go to www.guitarelectronics.com and check out the schematics for 1 vol, 1 tone/push/pull and 3 way toggle. PRS does not provide schematic for the SE or S2 line on the support page. But the link I provided should get you the schematic you need.

 

[yurasuka]

Thanks, I'll try that this weekend if I get the time!

I took a couple of photos, but since im doing this from my phone the upload doesn't seem to be working properly. So, here are some links instead:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vc72u6ud5h2kbld/photo 03-07-2015 20 05 23.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/j50fseepott4rpc/photo 03-07-2015 20 06 06.jpg?dl=0

 

[yurasuka]

Hi wardog:
I did what you suggested, plus used the "2 Humbuckers/3-Way Toggle Switch/1 Volume/1 Tone/Coil Tap" diagram found here.


Something is pretty wrong with this setup though. In humbucking mode it sounds out of phase on all positions. When I pull the tone pot it sounds nice and clear - to my ears quite a nice single coil sound (much better than before already so there's hope!).


I quickly recorded a few tracks to try demonstrate what I'm hearing. Clean, Crunchy clean & Lead channels on my amp. (and please excuse the über sloppy playing!)


On each track I recorded 6 bars, 1 bar per position (and position tapped)


Test 1: 1. neck humbucking, 2. neck tapped, 3. both humbucking, 4. both tapped, 5. bridge humbucking, 6. bridge tapped


https://soundcloud.com/yurasuka/m520test1


Test 2 and 3: 1. neck tapped, 2. neck humbucking, 3. both tapped, 4. both humbucking, 5. bridge tapped, 6. bridge humbucking


https://soundcloud.com/yurasuka/m520test2
https://soundcloud.com/yurasuka/m520test3

I assume it would require swapping some wires but I haven't a clue which.

Thanks

 

[wardog]

Ok then that means the se pick is wired like the core if it went out of phase. The neck pickup magnet maybe flipped. You should be able to use the custom 22/24 wire diagram on the support page under schematics

 

[wardog]

Looking at that diagram I think it is not right for the pickups.
Try this one
http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=2h_1v_1t_3w_1pp

it shows the push/pull on the volume control. i would keep the push/pull on the tone. But follow the wiring to the push pull as indicated.

if it still sounds wonky, put the green and red leads together for tapping and put the white with ground.

 

[yurasuka]

Ok then that means the se pick is wired like the core if it went out of phase. The neck pickup magnet maybe flipped. You should be able to use the custom 22/24 wire diagram on the support page under schematics

I might look at this schematic as well this week. What do you mean the pickup may be flipped? I checked with a compass and the neck and bridge pups are both (direction neck to bridge, neck being north): north-south.

 

[yurasuka]

I've had another go and ended up studying the earlier posted video re polarity and identifying the conductors. Made some notes and worked out some stuff, then experimented a bit until I got this working - can't imagine it will sound any better if I tried.

To reiterate, my setup is 1x vol, 1x tone+push/pull, 3way toggle switch

Bridge ("HFS"):
Black = Hot; wire to switch
White + Green = Tap; wire to push/pull as per guitarelectronic.com diagram used before
Red + Bare = Ground; wire to vol pot

Neck ("Vintage Bass"):
Red = Hot; wire to switch
White + Green = Tap; wire to push/pull
Black + Bare = Ground; wire to vol pot

Anyway, maybe this will be of help to someone else.

Thanks wardog, for your time looking at my problem.

Cheers

 

[vultage 24]

I have been searching forums and schematics,.. trying to find the actual color codes for hours now, along with soldering, unsoldering, trial and error!!! What a pain,.. I didn't expect to have a problem finding the wiring. I also used meter, and found the pairs, along with +/-s. First time digging into pups I didn't have the info on, it has been quite the marathon of a nightmare!!! I finally found this post, and it looks to be the same model pups I have. I can't solder anymore tonight, but first thiing in the am, I will be attempting to try w this theme! Thank you for posting your results!! I think you may have been help to someone else,. probably more than just me!!!!