jdel77
New Member
- Joined
- May 29, 2016
- Messages
- 31
I'm lucky enough to own four PRS from the Annapolis Factory, an '87 in Emerald Green, an '88 in Vintage Yellow, an '89 in Grey Black and a '90 in Whale Blue.
Love these guitars, they're the ones in my avatar.
My question relates to the pickup wiring of the '87 Emerald Green.
The bridge pickup on this one has always sounded a little different to the other three guitars. The '88, '89 and '90 have that classic I guess more modern full throated, full bodied Les Paul humbucker sound.
The '87 is much more your "Telecaster on Steroids" type sound.
I've Googled up wiring diagrams for vintage PRS, and yes, the wiring and the pickups are subtly different from '85 to '87 compared to from '88 onwards, at least what I can see on the diagrams.
I've also seen a few demo's of '85 - '87 PRS, and the humbucker bridge sound is more that beefy Tele tone in humbucking mode, with the most pronounced single coil "stringy" sound with the Sweet Switch down, and the fatter tone with the Sweet Switch up. This is what my '87 is like.
This is somewhat different to my '88, '89, and '90 Sweet Switch function, in that on those guitars, Sweet Switch down is your classic humbucker, full gain tone, whereas the Switch up brings in a very noticeable midboost, almost like a Rangemaster/Treblebooster/cocked wah sound.
This is really interesting for me - is this what Paul was after in the early PRS years? More of a classic 50's vintage Humbucker/beefy Tele tone, like the very early Les Pauls?
I really thought I was going around the twist with this, and I pulled out the rotary selector on both my '87 and the '88, and they are subtly different. I've compared the wiring ad nauseum, even flipped the black/white leads on the bridge pickup in case they were out of phase, and nope, sounds better as is, but still there's that different sound on the '87 bridge pickup, and I honestly do prefer the setup on the '88 guitars forward, I'm not really after that vintage "Tele on Steroids" tone with the '87.
Should I rewire the rotary selector or replace that bridge pickup?
Through the right amp that '87 will get absolutely monstrous (any amp with a depth knob or extended bass range), but through my old '64 AC30 or my '80 JMP2203, the thinner "Fat Tele"/almost P90 tone is there, and it's kinda bugging me.
If anyone here owns an '85-'87 PRS and can compare to later model PRS, I'd love to know if this is how my '87 is meant to be!
Many thanks.
Love these guitars, they're the ones in my avatar.
My question relates to the pickup wiring of the '87 Emerald Green.
The bridge pickup on this one has always sounded a little different to the other three guitars. The '88, '89 and '90 have that classic I guess more modern full throated, full bodied Les Paul humbucker sound.
The '87 is much more your "Telecaster on Steroids" type sound.
I've Googled up wiring diagrams for vintage PRS, and yes, the wiring and the pickups are subtly different from '85 to '87 compared to from '88 onwards, at least what I can see on the diagrams.
I've also seen a few demo's of '85 - '87 PRS, and the humbucker bridge sound is more that beefy Tele tone in humbucking mode, with the most pronounced single coil "stringy" sound with the Sweet Switch down, and the fatter tone with the Sweet Switch up. This is what my '87 is like.
This is somewhat different to my '88, '89, and '90 Sweet Switch function, in that on those guitars, Sweet Switch down is your classic humbucker, full gain tone, whereas the Switch up brings in a very noticeable midboost, almost like a Rangemaster/Treblebooster/cocked wah sound.
This is really interesting for me - is this what Paul was after in the early PRS years? More of a classic 50's vintage Humbucker/beefy Tele tone, like the very early Les Pauls?
I really thought I was going around the twist with this, and I pulled out the rotary selector on both my '87 and the '88, and they are subtly different. I've compared the wiring ad nauseum, even flipped the black/white leads on the bridge pickup in case they were out of phase, and nope, sounds better as is, but still there's that different sound on the '87 bridge pickup, and I honestly do prefer the setup on the '88 guitars forward, I'm not really after that vintage "Tele on Steroids" tone with the '87.
Should I rewire the rotary selector or replace that bridge pickup?
Through the right amp that '87 will get absolutely monstrous (any amp with a depth knob or extended bass range), but through my old '64 AC30 or my '80 JMP2203, the thinner "Fat Tele"/almost P90 tone is there, and it's kinda bugging me.
If anyone here owns an '85-'87 PRS and can compare to later model PRS, I'd love to know if this is how my '87 is meant to be!
Many thanks.