PRS Wiring Mods Resource Thread

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 wire Chassis Ground

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 wire Chassis Ground

From here, creating the wiring of your choice, should be a breeze
The 85/15 TCI pickups have an orange wire that is the chassis ground and not the silver bare wire.
 
That’s interesting that they are like that. I got my info on mine from Matt King at PRS. Is there a difference between the core and the Private Stock 85/15 TCI pickups?

Doubtful - just cant see them setting up new production line for the same type of a pickups. Maybe they have decided to cheap out by using 5 separate strings of wire than one 4 conductor + shield? All I know - my notes are taken from actual pickup by reversing the wiring in my guitar. I can post it here but I believe it will be removed like the graphic layout was.

EDIT: I will have a look if your info matching mine otherwise. Give me an hour
 
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Well since 58/15LT and 85/15 just showed up for sell at the PRS accessory shop and wiring questions becoming more frequent I have decided to do few wiring diagrams.

Three diagrams for now:
- Custom 24 with 5-way rotary (modern wiring)
- Custom 24 with 5-way Slide (modern wiring)
- McCarty 3-way with a DGT style resistor split.

I may do some more, if I get more free time later in the week. I would appreciate a second pair of eyes to go trough them

EDIT - I appreciate the hosted pictures are potato quality - feel free to DM for a PDF version.




 
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Hi Everyone,

First post here. I just bought the 85/15 TCI Limited Edition to install on my SE Custom 24-08. The wiring diagram for my guitar is https://support.prsguitars.com/hc/en-us/article_attachments/10785441347483/SE_CU408.pdf
As seen on the diagram, I have 4 colors on my original SE 24-08 pickups (black/white/red/green). The new 85/15 TCI has 5 colors. My question is what would be the color mapping between my SE Custom 24-08 and the new 85/15 TCI pickups. Can I just match the colors? And second, what do I do with orange (Chassis ground) wire? Sorry, not sure where is the chassis ground on my SE 24-08.
Thank you!
 
Hi Everyone,

First post here. I just bought the 85/15 TCI Limited Edition to install on my SE Custom 24-08. The wiring diagram for my guitar is https://support.prsguitars.com/hc/en-us/article_attachments/10785441347483/SE_CU408.pdf
As seen on the diagram, I have 4 colors on my original SE 24-08 pickups (black/white/red/green). The new 85/15 TCI has 5 colors. My question is what would be the color mapping between my SE Custom 24-08 and the new 85/15 TCI pickups. Can I just match the colors? And second, what do I do with orange (Chassis ground) wire? Sorry, not sure where is the chassis ground on my SE 24-08.
Thank you!
Core (85/15 pickups) 24-08 wiring is on a PRS website. You would need to change the switches to 3PDT on/on. Trust me, its worth it

 
Core (85/15 pickups) 24-08 wiring is on a PRS website. You would need to change the switches to 3PDT on/on. Trust me, its worth it

Thank you. I think, I will definitely change those switches next. Is there any harm with the current switches? And the core wiring that you shared doesn’t have the orange colored wire on it? And am I safe to assume all the other colors should match between two wirings diagrams (the one that I shared vs the one you shared) ?
 
Thank you. I think, I will definitely change those switches next. Is there any harm with the current switches? And the core wiring that you shared doesn’t have the orange colored wire on it? And am I safe to assume all the other colors should match between two wirings diagrams (the one that I shared vs the one you shared) ?
There is no harm but the 3rd row on a switch will let you to isolate one coil and add the small value capacitor in a split mod. I own the 24-08 (35th Anniversary) and I absolutely adore the way the split is archived. With DPDT toggles as it is you will only have the ordinary, old school split. If you really want I can figure out the way to do the conversion but a 3PDT cost less than 5 quid and the benefit is worth it.
 
There is no harm but the 3rd row on a switch will let you to isolate one coil and add the small value capacitor in a split mod. I own the 24-08 (35th Anniversary) and I absolutely adore the way the split is archived. With DPDT toggles as it is you will only have the ordinary, old school split. If you really want I can figure out the way to do the conversion but a 3PDT cost less than 5 quid and the benefit is worth it.
Thanks. Could you point me to the 3pdt switches that you are referring to? On reverb I see them as $50ish. Hopefully I can find them locally since I live in a big metropolitan area.
 
Thanks. Could you point me to the 3pdt switches that you are referring to? On reverb I see them as $50ish. Hopefully I can find them locally since I live in a big metropolitan area.

Wow, 50 smakaroos? I'm in a wrong biz.

Let me know where are you in the world and I will collect you a little bill of materials.

I need to hit the hay now as its nearly 2am in the UK and I'm working tomorrow but I will be on it the moment I get up
 
Wow, 50 smakaroos? I'm in a wrong biz.

Let me know where are you in the world and I will collect you a little bill of materials.

I need to hit the hay now as its nearly 2am in the UK and I'm working tomorrow but I will be on it the moment I get up
Awesome, thank you! I live in SF bay area. I can always order from Amazon as well. Please let me know any materials I need. Thanks bunch!!
 
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I have a guitar that I plan to wire in the same plan as Paul's Guitar (core model). I have the schematic, but have a few questions that I am hoping that you can help me with... Can anyone help me understand what kind of mini toggles are being used other than standard 9 pole on/on sdtp switches? What brand is being used? I have found several, but can't find any with the ground lug on the side of the switch. Not even sure that is important to the function. Any guidance would be appreciated.

Additionally, I was hoping that someone could help me understand the correlation of the wiring colors on the TCI pickups vs something like a Seymour Duncan 4 wire humbucker? Just trying to figure out how to match wires in seymour duncan to the correct lugs showing in the wiring diagram.... Any help would be greatly appreciated and I apologize if I have hit on any topics that have already been covered.
 
I’m sure the right person will be along that can answer all of your questions, all I can do is to tell my own experience that only partly relates.
Mine is an SE Custom 24 that I modded with Duncan pups and separate coil split switches. Instead of adding mini toggles, I opted for two push/pulls to avoid drilling and to preserve the authentic look of the Custom 24. I used this diagram, which differs a good bit from Paul’s guitar.
I also added a treble bleed and experimented with different caps to find the one I wanted. Don’t remember the values.
Regarding the ground lug; whenever I don’t have a ground lug, I find a good spot on the metal housing and put the ground wire there.
 
Sorry if already answered and I missed it.

I replaced my 58/15 LTs from my 594 with historic style pickups (single wire; hot with braided ground). I’m going to install them with the 50’s style wiring scheme. I’m content that I will be losing coil split, and just want to know if I use the coil split pot as a typical non-splitting pot, will there be any issue? I don’t want to modify the pot hole, so that’s why I’d like to reuse the PRS push/pull pots for tone.

Not an issue at all.
 
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