Putting stock pickups back in an SE.

[Justin Andrews]

I have a PRS Tremonti SE and i replaced the original pickups with Duncan Distortions. I regret the decisions i have made. I have everything ready to go with new CST pots and Orange drop caps and everything, but i have two problems.

1) If i try to strip any of the shielding off of the wire its like there is nothing but a hair fine strand of wire in there, barely anything "workable" compared to the Duncans. Am i doing something wrong or has anyone else experienced this?

2) When i put a multimeter to any of the wires and a pole or other wire im not getting any reading on either pickup. Everything appears to be in tact and the pickups werent mishandled in any way when removed and i can see the copper wire coming from the pickup is intact.

Has anyone put their stock pickups back in an SE? Any other advice or wiring help/instruction I can get would be appreciated. For instance i know two of the wires were wrapped in heat shink but i dont believe they were soldered like duncan suggests. Again, any advice would be a huge help.

 

[andy474x]

If you were relatively careful when removing the stock pickups, I would bet they still work when you put them back in, given you wire them back the same way they were. The wire from a pickup can be quite fine, if you’re unsure and you have enough extra length, strip the wire back a little bit and you’ll know you’re working with the full available amount.

Another thought, you may need to ream your holes for the pot shafts to a bigger diameter for CTS pots on an SE, don’t just use a drill bit, it will rip up your top veneer.

FWIW, I have never been happy replacing an SE/S2 pickup for anything other than another PRS pickup.

 

[Justin Andrews]

If you were relatively careful when removing the stock pickups, I would bet they still work when you put them back in, given you wire them back the same way they were. The wire from a pickup can be quite fine, if you’re unsure and you have enough extra length, strip the wire back a little bit and you’ll know you’re working with the full available amount.

Another thought, you may need to ream your holes for the pot shafts to a bigger diameter for CTS pots on an SE, don’t just use a drill bit, it will rip up your top veneer.

FWIW, I have never been happy replacing an SE/S2 pickup for anything other than another PRS pickup.

Thanks!

For the pots i was able to put tape over the hole on the top and gently and patiently file it till the pot would fit through. I did see other places suggesting drilling it out and that just sounded like overkill to me.

 

[Draconomics]

I have a PRS Tremonti SE and i replaced the original pickups with Duncan Distortions. I regret the decisions i have made. I have everything ready to go with new CST pots and Orange drop caps and everything, but i have two problems.

1) If i try to strip any of the shielding off of the wire its like there is nothing but a hair fine strand of wire in there, barely anything "workable" compared to the Duncans. Am i doing something wrong or has anyone else experienced this?

2) When i put a multimeter to any of the wires and a pole or other wire im not getting any reading on either pickup. Everything appears to be in tact and the pickups werent mishandled in any way when removed and i can see the copper wire coming from the pickup is intact.

Has anyone put their stock pickups back in an SE? Any other advice or wiring help/instruction I can get would be appreciated. For instance i know two of the wires were wrapped in heat shink but i dont believe they were soldered like duncan suggests. Again, any advice would be a huge help.

1. Pickup wire can be a very fine gauge and you may not have much core wire in there. That said, you may be tearing off part of the core wires when removing the insulation. Use the correct size stripping tool and you should be golden.

2. You will only get a correct reading if you are taking a measurement with the correct ground and the main lead. Otherwise, you will get a null reading or only one coil. Check your mutimeter tool, make sure you are on the correct setting to measure resistance and your probes are plugged in to the correct sockets.

3. I have never put stock pickups back into an SE. However, I have put a set of TCI(s) into another axe. I basically bypassed the individual coil outputs and ran them as two conductor pickups. No probs. I did'nt even solder them in, I spliced them into existing wiring, and reinsulated/heatshrunk the connections. Easy money. Soldering isnt difficult but if its your first time, be prepared for a little misery. It gets easier tho.

Also, like Andy said, ream the holes for the CTS pots. They have a thicker shaft. Now you actually can use a drill bit without damaging the top, technically speaking. I actually did it last night (I lent out my reaming tool to another tool), just run that bit at lightspeed. Its when you do it slowly that you gooch the wood. That said, its a hillbilly way of doing it. Get a proper reaming tool and you'll be fine.

 

[Justin Andrews]

1. Pickup wire can be a very fine gauge and you may not have much core wire in there. That said, you may be tearing off part of the core wires when removing the insulation. Use the correct size stripping tool and you should be golden.

2. You will only get a correct reading if you are taking a measurement with the correct ground and the main lead. Otherwise, you will get a null reading or only one coil. Check your mutimeter tool, make sure you are on the correct setting to measure resistance and your probes are plugged in to the correct sockets.

3. I have never put stock pickups back into an SE. However, I have put a set of TCI(s) into another axe. I basically bypassed the individual coil outputs and ran them as two conductor pickups. No probs. I did'nt even solder them in, I spliced them into existing wiring, and reinsulated/heatshrunk the connections. Easy money. Soldering isnt difficult but if its your first time, be prepared for a little misery. It gets easier tho.

Also, like Andy said, ream the holes for the CTS pots. They have a thicker shaft. Now you actually can use a drill bit without damaging the top, technically speaking. I actually did it last night (I lent out my reaming tool to another tool), just run that bit at lightspeed. Its when you do it slowly that you gooch the wood. That said, its a hillbilly way of doing it. Get a proper reaming tool and you'll be fine.

Based on the wiring diagram here when it says tape together do they just need to be taped/shrink wrapped or soldered and wrapped?

https://d159anurvk4929.cloudfront.net/documents/se_tremonti_wiring_schematics.pdf

 

[Draconomics]

Based on the wiring diagram here when it says tape together do they just need to be taped/shrink wrapped or soldered and wrapped?

https://d159anurvk4929.cloudfront.net/documents/se_tremonti_wiring_schematics.pdf

So, they mean of course you spice those together, but I would suggest to do a simple twist splice and put shrink wrap. You can solder them then shrink wrap them too, but if you ever want to undo it youll have to cut the wires further back. Never use electrical tape, itll be great the first week, then itll start coming off.