PRS Wiring Mods Resource Thread

[24Fretter]

For one, we're talking about pots. Mini toggles aren't pots.

There is no misinformation. I'm a luthier and music electronics tech. The pots used by PRS are cheap pots I can get wholesale for $2.50. PRS can get them for much less due to order quantity.

I DO NOT use those pots, I routinely replace them with high quality, tight tolerance CTS pots that measure at least 500k from the factory. These pots cost about double what the cheap pots PRS uses cost, but in PRS order quantity would run about an extra $5-$10 per guitar. PRS SHOULD be using those, or for what a PS/WL/Artist costs, even mil spec pots, but THEY DON'T. if they DID, I wouldn't have to replace them.

 

[Simon Says]

For one, we're talking about pots. Mini toggles aren't pots.

There is no misinformation. I'm a luthier and music electronics tech. The pots used by PRS are cheap pots I can get wholesale for $2.50. PRS can get them for much less due to order quantity.

I DO NOT use those pots, I routinely replace them with high quality, tight tolerance CTS pots that measure at least 500k from the factory. These pots cost about double what the cheap pots PRS uses cost, but in PRS order quantity would run about an extra $5-$10 per guitar. PRS SHOULD be using those, or for what a PS/WL/Artist costs, even mil spec pots, but THEY DON'T. If they DID, I wouldn't have to replace them.

Cheap pots and expensive toggles. It makes perfect sense.

Make sure to let Paul Reed Smith know, and make yourself heard.

Both CTS and Alpha low friction pots are made the same way. Its carbon-covered laminated disk; purely encapsulated and built as cost-effective. It's not like we are talking about sealed conductive plastic pots. If PRS chose Alpha over CTS, they had their reason. Same reason why they went with propriety hardware instead of off-the-shelf parts guitar builders using all over the world.

What's your brand name? I would love to see your work.

 

[24Fretter]

Cheap pots and expensive toggles. It makes perfect sense.

Make sure to let Paul Reed Smith know, and make yourself heard.

Both CTS and Alpha low friction pots are made the same way. Its carbon-covered laminated disk; purely encapsulated and built as cost-effective. It's not like we are talking about sealed conductive plastic pots. If PRS chose Alpha over CTS, they had their reason. Same reason why they went with propriety hardware instead of off-the-shelf parts guitar builders using all over the world.

What's your brand name? I would love to see your work.

So to confirm, you're defending the use of bulk junk pots on $5k plus guitars?

 

[Simon Says]

So to confirm, you're defending the use of bulk junk pots on $5k plus guitars?

I don't consider them to be junk. They are perfectly fine in my 2021 Custom. They were just fine in my 1999 Standard too until last year when I changed the whole electronics; although, not because they became scratchy or anything

 

[24Fretter]

I don't consider them to be junk. They are perfectly fine in my 2021 Custom. They were just fine in my 1999 Standard too until last year when I changed the whole electronics; although, not because they became scratchy or anything

When a component says "500k" +/- 20% on the casing and the order spec, but a sample of thousands shows the mean is well below that, which affects the load on the pickups and hence the height and breadth of the resonant peak in an unpredictable way, and in a way which makes the high end less "chimey" than it should be, that's ok?

When for a few $ more on a premium item with a street price over $5k, they could use much tighter tolerance parts that measured at least 500k, were more predictable, and did not negatively affect the tone of the pickups as designed?

Disagree strongly.

The cheap, highly variable pots make the whole TCI thing a rofl. To tune a circuit, you need to actually measure your parts and have parts that behave in a predictable way. PRS ain't doing that. I do it, and I'm just a little old repair shop.

 

[Simon Says]

Whatever, buddy. I'm tired of this conversation

 

[Wildebassman]

Hello everyone I am new here, just bought a S2 Standard and want to change the pickups to 58/15 LT’s. Did I overlook it but I can’t seem to find the right wiring schematic here. If someone has done this mod and could help out I’d be more than grateful!

Cheers,

Dennis (Amsterdam Holland)

 

[garrett]

Hello everyone I am new here, just bought a S2 Standard and want to change the pickups to 58/15 LT’s. Did I overlook it but I can’t seem to find the right wiring schematic here. If someone has done this mod and could help out I’d be more than grateful!

Cheers,

Dennis (Amsterdam Holland)

No schematics that I'm aware of, but I provided the color codes in your other thread.

 

[Wildebassman]

No schematics that I'm aware of, but I provided the color codes in your other thread.

Thanks a lot!

 

[pkordel]

Can you please enlighten me as to what the sweet switch does? Adds unicorns and rainbows?

 

[Alnus Rubra]

Can you please enlighten me as to what the sweet switch does? Adds unicorns and rainbows?

So they say.

Made from the tears of angels.

 

[bodia]

Can you please enlighten me as to what the sweet switch does? Adds unicorns and rainbows?

Enjoy the read...

How a "Sweet Switch" really works

A lot of people think that the PRS sweet switch circuit is a simple low-pass filter. However, the sweet switch circuit is in fact a very interesting use of an electronic component that is generally not found in music electronics. If one opens up the cavity of a sweet switch-equipped guitar, one...

forums.prsguitars.com

 

[NighTime]

Hi @garett and everybody,

I'm the proud new owner of a lovely Core Custom 24 Piezo.
I've reviewed a lot of the technical discussion here and was hoping you could help me with my quandary.

I want to add a Parallel/Series switch to this guitar as well as enjoy the existing coil split positions (5-way blade) and probably also add an out-of-phase on the neck pickup using a dedicated push/pull switch.

I don't want to drill any new holes in the guitar so I'm limited to the existing ones which means I can add 2 push/pull switches on the existing pots (I don't think I can find a suitable push-pull for the Piezo volume knob so I assume that would have to stay stock).

I'll add that the guitar came stock with 85/15 in 4 conductor wiring (5 if you count the orange wire used for the braided shield) so from an electrical point of view there is no issue providing series/parallel with these pickups.

The Neck phase reversal is easy enough: just wire the white/green from the neck to the DPDT instead of the switch and route the outputs of the DPDT to the 5-position blade at the original locations (just wire a cross on the posts of the DPDT for the reversal switching).

However, the parallel/series is stumping me. If I want to maintain the current switching modes on the 5-position blade switch it means that when I'm in parallel wiring only one of the coil splits is being delivered to the switch (since I can't wire both or I'm possibly shorting the pickups in parallel mode). Do you have any suggestions to allow me to get the parallel sound but still enjoy the coil-splitting options and not have these problematic combinations?

Also, on an unrelated note, I tried playing with switching between inner and outer coil splits (instead of the parallel/series wiring) but I can't seem to figure out a way to implement this without going to a full 4-pole super switch since it's not just a matter of reversing the split coil from hot to ground on the current switch (the 5-way positions are not symmetrical in the splitting of the neck and bridge positions - neck split on positions 2 and 4, bridge only on position 2)

Any suggestions would be super appreciated, thanks!

 

[NighTime]

Didn't get a response to my previous question but I'll try asking a different question.

Does a fender Super switch (5 way, 4 pole) fit a USA core custom 24 (piezo)? I measured the distance between the screws on my PRS and my fender which seem to be identical at ~40.6mm but would appreciate some positive feedback from someone who happened to install that switch in a PRS before I order one.

Please note that this is a core prs and not SE just to make sure (maybe there's a difference?)

Thanks!

 

[LunarRock]

I did some digging, probing, pushing, pulling and palpating and here's the answer to the five-wire 85/15TCI pickup colour codes. The request for wiring info comes up fairly frequently here on PRS forum, so I hope it will be off use to some.

85/15 TCI Bridge:
- GREEN Screw/South coil Start
- RED Screw/South coil Finish
- WHITE Slug/North coil Start
- BLACK Slug/North coil Finish
- SILVER BARE or ORANGE wire - Chassis Ground / pickup shield

85/15 TCI Neck:
- RED Screw/South coil Start
- GREEN Screw/South coil Finish
- BLACK Slug/North coil Start
- WHITE Slug/North coil Finish
- SILVER BARE or ORANGE wire - Chassis Ground / pickup shield

From here, creating the wiring of your choice, should be a breeze

I just want to say thanks, I went back to PRS pickups in my S2 SC, a set of 58/15 LT+ and the wiring colours matched perfectly.
(They came out of a wood library custom 24....they are out there in the wild)

 

[Pauly 6 String]

Hello all. New to PRS guitars and the forum. From this thread I think I have an understanding of how the 5 way switch and wiring works for my new-to-me Custom 24 (2022). I've really only ever worked on 3 way toggles.

Could someone look at the pics I have and tell me if this is factory soldering or did someone have a go at it? If you suggest different pics let me know.

I'm also not sure how I feel about the treble bleed as is. Gets thin quick. Considering an inline resistor. Any thoughts/advice?

Have more thoughts and questions but will post separately.

Thanks

 

[Alnus Rubra]

Welcome to the forum @Pauly 6 String

Subscribed to this, as I’m interested in the answer from more knowledgeable folk here.

 

[JasonE]

Hello all. New to PRS guitars and the forum. From this thread I think I have an understanding of how the 5 way switch and wiring works for my new-to-me Custom 24 (2022). I've really only ever worked on 3 way toggles.

Could someone look at the pics I have and tell me if this is factory soldering or did someone have a go at it? If you suggest different pics let me know.

I'm also not sure how I feel about the treble bleed as is. Gets thin quick. Considering an inline resistor. Any thoughts/advice?

Have more thoughts and questions but will post separately.

Thanks

It can be difficult to tell if the soldering is factory. If someone is good with a soldering iron, you would never know. I do a fair amount of soldering and there are a few joints in there that I would not have left the way they are. That isn't to say they are bad, just not to my own personal standards. They very well could have come from the factory that way. If the pickups are stock and it is working as it is supposed to be, I wouldn't be concerned with it.

 

[Pauly 6 String]

It can be difficult to tell if the soldering is factory. If someone is good with a soldering iron, you would never know. I do a fair amount of soldering and there are a few joints in there that I would not have left the way they are. That isn't to say they are bad, just not to my own personal standards. They very well could have come from the factory that way. If the pickups are stock and it is working as it is supposed to be, I wouldn't be concerned with it.

They are and it is so I’m inclined to leave it as is. However I may be getting in there and redoing the treble bleed circuit so may consider touching up if the OCD wins.

Thanks

 

[JasonE]

They are and it is so I’m inclined to leave it as is. However I may be getting in there and redoing the treble bleed circuit so may consider touching up if the OCD wins.

Thanks

I did see where you mentioned putting a resistor in the treble bleed circuit. If you are looking to do that the typical way, all that is going to do is affect the taper of the pot. It won't affect at what frequency the treble passes through the circuit. Are you able to see any markings on the capacitor? It wouldn't be common for someone to change that capacitor out in a guitar that new but it is not impossible. Some of my PRS guitars have the treble bleed cap and others do not. I added it to a couple of mine that didn't have it. The value of cap that PRS uses gives a subtle but noticeable bleed.