PRS Wiring Mods Resource Thread

[garrett]

Creating this as a central reference for those wanting to modify the wiring on their PRS guitars. I will post the diagrams I've created and/or shared in various threads over the last few years. All other legitimate mods are welcome from anyone!




Disclaimer: I'm just some rando on the interwebz who likes to tinker. I'm assuming you know how to solder or will take your guitar to someone who does. All schemes I post have been vetted and I'll do my best to help vet anyone else's work, but I can't guarantee this stuff will work for you. Mod at your own risk!

 

[garrett]

I'm going to kick this off old school! The very first PRS wiring mod I ever did. If I remember right, some new customer service guy at PRS called Shawn sent me this scan of a hand drawn diagram.

This is to convert the older guitars from rotary to McCarty switching.

Treble pickup: Black is hot, White is ground, Red is tap
Bass pickup: White is hot, Black is ground, Red is tap
Pickups are reverse polarity

 

[garrett]

Here is my 8-way mod. This is a way to give a Custom the same 8 pickup selections available on a Singlecut or 594.

 

[garrett]

Selector switch mod to give you individual splits in positions 2 and 4. Version on the left gives you slug, right side gives you screw, or you can mix and match.

 

[John Beef]

Placeholder for my newer iteration of what I call the "John Beef" mod. Gotta go to a meeting.

 

[Alnus Rubra]

Nice one. Thanks @garrett

 

[veinbuster]

Garrett rocks.

 

[garrett]

Two ways to get the PRS 5-way settings on a standard super switch.

The first maps it out just like the PRS switch.

The second is maybe a little more efficient on the super switch.

 

[bodia]

Garrett rocks.

Totally!

 

[RickP]

Great idea for a thread! Thanks @garrett

 

[garrett]

Some more ways to get the stock 5-way selections. These are for the PRS single conductor pickups with the white tap wire.

In this scenario, Bare is shield and ground, Black is hot, White is tap. Pickups are same polarity.

At first I worked it out like this. It makes an easy replacement for the stock wiring since you can reuse all the jumpers that were already there. You just need to find a happy place to ground those braided wires. You may want to use some heat shrink tubing to avoid shorts.

I later realized you can do this with only one row of lugs, which frees up the second row for other ideas if you want.

Got a super switch? You only need one row of lugs there, too. Or purchase a 2-pole super switch to save some room.

 

[kipkohl]

Fantastic thread idea!

 

[Geo408]

Bookmarking this for future reference, also. I anticipate many hours of soldering delight, it’ll be awesome to have all these diagrams in one easy to access location! Thanks in advance, for solving frustrating wiring problems.

 

[alantig]

Wait - this isn’t about getting coffee and energy drinks to @Shawn@PRS, @james, and others of their ilk?

 

[SinSir]

This is great guys!

 

[aphantomvaper]

I really like the terminal idea! I had my soldering iron out and hot getting ready to rewire my Camo (neck and bridge reversed on selector switch) and realized the previous owner used an EMG post block when they put in EMG pickups.

A couple loosened screws and some wire swapping, done!

I'm a modder and is great fodder! Thanks for this thread!

 

[garrett]

Placeholder for my newer iteration of what I call the "John Beef" mod. Gotta go to a meeting.

Where's the Beef?

 

[garrett]

Looking to restore an old guitar? Simply a fan of wafer rotaries and sweet switches? This post is for you!

These are all old diagrams from PRS.


First one is slightly confusing with the '85-'94 heading, since it shows only the 85-89 rotary layout, but still super handy.

Another view of the early layout:

The three versions of the wafer rotaries. Fidelity isn't super great, but the cap value on the 89-91 version appears to be .001 microfarad (1 nf).

 

[DISTORT6]

RED THUMBTACK!
Thank you!

 

[bodia]

RED THUMBTACK!
Thank you!

Mr. Mintzer took care of it.