PRS SE Silver Sky Strat - Mod Journey

[MrBrightside]

The following is my PRS SE Silver Sky Strat Mod journey (thus far).

I wanted to jump back into the SSS strat pool, so I tried the PRS SE Silver Sky as a cost-effective option.

My main issues (and SOLUTIONS) were:

Issue 1: There were high/uneven frets that wouldn’t allow the action to be lowered to an appropriate level.

Solution: I had a local shop perform a fret level, crown, and polish. This works wonders on any guitar. It’s one of the best $150 you can spend. These guitars appear to have issues from the factory as Sweetwater is currently offering free PLEK service on these models. I was able to get reimbursed by the seller for the fret work.

Issue 2: The finish texture on the back of the neck was gritty. It almost felt like unfinished un-sanded wood.

Solution: I used 1000 grit sandpaper to "very" lightly wet sand the back of the neck. It’s a beautiful satin smooth now.

Issue 3: The neck+middle and middle+bridge pickup positions (2 and 4) were a dull and “foggy” sounding. I do like the bridge pickup sound with the tone rolled back slightly (a first for a strat).

Solution: I replaced the Neck/Middle tone potentiometer (stock value measured 230k) with a 500k no-load tone pot sourced from GuitarElectronics.com. I added a .022uF capacitor for this tone pot and moved the stock tone capacitor (0.1uF) to the bridge tone pot. The bridge pickup retained the tone I like (by rolling the tone knob back a few degrees) and the other 4 positions gained some nice high-end chime which can be dialed back a bit with the 0.022uF tone capacitor. This potentiometer change boosted the volume of the Neck and Middle pickups, requiring me to lower them. This also reduced my tendency to hit the middle pickup with my pick.

Issue 4: The middle tone control knob developed a crack in the top a few days after I received it. I saw the same issue with a Silver Sky SE in a local store.

Solution: I emailed the seller and they had PRS send me a new pack of 3 knobs.

Issue 5: I felt like the white pickguard looked a bit toy-ish (just a personal aesthetic opinion).

Solution: I installed a black pickguard sourced from the “Silver Sky Mod Shop” on Reverb.



Silver Sky SE component values (as received) were:

- 3Meg (aka 3000 k ohm) resistor on lug 3 of the volume potentiometer.

- 0.1uF (u = microfarad) Capacitor for both tone controls.

- Neck/Middle tone potentiometer measured 232 ohms.

https://imgur.com/a/8Q01Duo

https://imgur.com/pu55jOK

https://imgur.com/fgxILMx

https://imgur.com/nzj1kpw

https://imgur.com/QJf8ngc

https://imgur.com/wb7INZ3

 

[bodia]

Nice work! Glad you got it to where you like it.

 

[JasonE]

The following is my PRS SE Silver Sky Strat Mod journey (thus far).

I wanted to jump back into the SSS strat pool, so I tried the PRS SE Silver Sky as a cost-effective option.

My main issues (and SOLUTIONS) were:

Issue 1: There were high/uneven frets that wouldn’t allow the action to be lowered to an appropriate level.

Solution: I had a local shop perform a fret level, crown, and polish. This works wonders on any guitar. It’s one of the best $150 you can spend. These guitars appear to have issues from the factory as Sweetwater is currently offering free PLEK service on these models. I was able to get reimbursed by the seller for the fret work.

Issue 2: The finish texture on the back of the neck was gritty. It almost felt like unfinished un-sanded wood.

Solution: I used 1000 grit sandpaper to "very" lightly wet sand the back of the neck. It’s a beautiful satin smooth now.

Issue 3: The neck+middle and middle+bridge pickup positions (2 and 4) were a dull and “foggy” sounding. I do like the bridge pickup sound with the tone rolled back slightly (a first for a strat).

Solution: I replaced the Neck/Middle tone potentiometer (stock value measured 230k) with a 500k no-load tone pot sourced from GuitarElectronics.com. I added a .022uF capacitor for this tone pot and moved the stock tone capacitor (0.1uF) to the bridge tone pot. The bridge pickup retained the tone I like (by rolling the tone knob back a few degrees) and the other 4 positions gained some nice high-end chime which can be dialed back a bit with the 0.022uF tone capacitor. This potentiometer change boosted the volume of the Neck and Middle pickups, requiring me to lower them. This also reduced my tendency to hit the middle pickup with my pick.

Issue 4: The middle tone control knob developed a crack in the top a few days after I received it. I saw the same issue with a Silver Sky SE in a local store.

Solution: I emailed the seller and they had PRS send me a new pack of 3 knobs.

Issue 5: I felt like the white pickguard looked a bit toy-ish (just a personal aesthetic opinion).

Solution: I installed a black pickguard sourced from the “Silver Sky Mod Shop” on Reverb.



Silver Sky SE component values (as received) were:

- 3Meg (aka 3000 k ohm) resistor on lug 3 of the volume potentiometer.

- 0.1uF (u = microfarad) Capacitor for both tone controls.

- Neck/Middle tone potentiometer measured 232 ohms.

Parts tolerances are usually worse with import guitars. That 3M resistor is a bit much though as is the .1 uF cap. I would have changed those out once I found them. Another tricky you can try with a pot to get it to the value you want it at is to add a resistor in the circuit to make up the difference. You should be able to find information on the internet if you search on that.

I have not seen what the pickups in these look like. I would bet temped to swap out the whole pickguard with new pickups and electronics. That would probably turn one of these into a gigging workhorse.

 

[Lewguitar]

I have not seen what the pickups in these look like. I would bet temped to swap out the whole pickguard with new pickups and electronics. That would probably turn one of these into a gigging workhorse.

I changed out the SE Single Coils in both of my SE Silver Skys for some wound by Mike Gray in Austin. One is a '61 set and the other is a '63 set (stronger) with a slightly overwound bridge pickup Mike calls the El Gordo.

Here's what my original SE SS pickups look like:

https://imgur.com/powMmyh

They have five extra polepieces. 11 total.

The six main polepieces are alnico magnets but the five extra polepieces might be stainless steel that becomes magnetized because they're in between the six magnetic polepieces.

The SE Single Coils are good sounding pickups.

Maybe the extra polepieces fill in the field between the real alnico polepieces?

I like the Core pickups of course, but PRS doesn't sell them.

Good for us, there's no shortage of talented winders who can make great '61, '62 and '63 style Strat pickups.

 

[Russ73]

That looks killer with the black guard OP!

 

[Alnus Rubra]

Nice work! Glad you got it to where you like it.

^This^

 

[deepender]

The following is my PRS SE Silver Sky Strat Mod journey (thus far).

I wanted to jump back into the SSS strat pool, so I tried the PRS SE Silver Sky as a cost-effective option.

My main issues (and SOLUTIONS) were:

Issue 1: There were high/uneven frets that wouldn’t allow the action to be lowered to an appropriate level.

Solution: I had a local shop perform a fret level, crown, and polish. This works wonders on any guitar. It’s one of the best $150 you can spend. These guitars appear to have issues from the factory as Sweetwater is currently offering free PLEK service on these models. I was able to get reimbursed by the seller for the fret work.

Issue 2: The finish texture on the back of the neck was gritty. It almost felt like unfinished un-sanded wood.

Solution: I used 1000 grit sandpaper to "very" lightly wet sand the back of the neck. It’s a beautiful satin smooth now.

Issue 3: The neck+middle and middle+bridge pickup positions (2 and 4) were a dull and “foggy” sounding. I do like the bridge pickup sound with the tone rolled back slightly (a first for a strat).

Solution: I replaced the Neck/Middle tone potentiometer (stock value measured 230k) with a 500k no-load tone pot sourced from GuitarElectronics.com. I added a .022uF capacitor for this tone pot and moved the stock tone capacitor (0.1uF) to the bridge tone pot. The bridge pickup retained the tone I like (by rolling the tone knob back a few degrees) and the other 4 positions gained some nice high-end chime which can be dialed back a bit with the 0.022uF tone capacitor. This potentiometer change boosted the volume of the Neck and Middle pickups, requiring me to lower them. This also reduced my tendency to hit the middle pickup with my pick.

Issue 4: The middle tone control knob developed a crack in the top a few days after I received it. I saw the same issue with a Silver Sky SE in a local store.

Solution: I emailed the seller and they had PRS send me a new pack of 3 knobs.

Issue 5: I felt like the white pickguard looked a bit toy-ish (just a personal aesthetic opinion).

Solution: I installed a black pickguard sourced from the “Silver Sky Mod Shop” on Reverb.



Silver Sky SE component values (as received) were:

- 3Meg (aka 3000 k ohm) resistor on lug 3 of the volume potentiometer.

- 0.1uF (u = microfarad) Capacitor for both tone controls.

- Neck/Middle tone potentiometer measured 232 ohms.

https://imgur.com/a/8Q01Duo

https://imgur.com/pu55jOK

https://imgur.com/fgxILMx

https://imgur.com/nzj1kpw

https://imgur.com/QJf8ngc

https://imgur.com/wb7INZ3

Nice

 

[SinSir]

That looks killer with the black guard OP!

I agree! There's no comparison to the white. Looks great OP!

On another note, thanks for calling them mods. That's what they are, mods. So many people say upgrade! It's one of those little things that I laugh at everytime. Just because someone sees something as an upgrade doesn't mean it is to another or even an upgrade at all. Subjective.

 

[IRG]

I had the same issue with mine in regards to the neck, just felt oddly rough. i used 4000 grit, but same results, turned into a glass feeling in about 5 minutes or less. I don’t think I’ve had the other issues you’ve described. I might put a minI SD JB in the bridge position, just for something different, and I’d likely change the pots or at least one at the same time.