Question for Piezo model owners

[Daryl Jones]

Yesterday I had to re-solder the lead wires on my battery holder on the Hollowbody II. I try to be super careful when changing batteries as those leads are only 22 gauge wire and obviously easily broken off. The factory solder points were fine when I got the guitar, but wire is wire after all. I did a reasonably clean and neat job re-attaching them (the second one broke off when removing the holder from the guitar compartment) so I think the wire just gets a tad brittle.
My biggest concern is the wires aren't overly long, and if I lose 1/4"-3/8" every time it happens I'll soon be in a bit of a pickle for length to solder again. I guess if it happens again I should consider soldering and insulating a bit more wire to the leads?
Your thoughts or hints would be greatly appreciated.

 

[FatFingerBlues]

if it was me, the next time it broke, I would replace the wire with a little heavier gauge wire
find some quality made wire that is more flexible
you may have to go to an electronics supply house
Have it on hand if this happens again

 

[JasonE]

If you replace them, go all the way to the board and do it there. You don't really want splices in there. A little heavier shouldn't hurt.

 

[dmatthews]

Is there room for something like this?

Amazon.ca

 

[JasonE]

Is there room for something like this?

Amazon.ca

I wouldn't want that heavy connector in there. That would be a great source for an annoying rattle.

 

[dmatthews]

I wouldn't want that heavy connector in there. That would be a great source for an annoying rattle.

Just thinking outside the box...

 

[Daryl Jones]

I really appreciate the ideas guys. I'll have to get a bit bolder in the future and see what I can do with putting heavier wires in. I totally get the splicing thing, don't really want to go there.

 

[tdroid]

Curious, but would a broken wire be covered by warranty?

 

[Daryl Jones]

Curious, but would a broken wire be covered by warranty?

I doubt it, but it's passed the coverage period anyway. That's actually the one thing I'm not really impressed with on the guitar, that wiring bundle in there is a bit of a cheap rat's nest (my opinion). I have two other (acoustic) guitars with a similar type of battery compartment and have zero issues with either of them.

 

[JasonE]

Curious, but would a broken wire be covered by warranty?

It probably would be but only for the first two years. I just bought a new guitar and for some reason I read through the PRS warrantee information and the electronics are only covered for two years. The rest of the guitar is covered for life to the original purchaser.

 

[JasonE]

I doubt it, but it's passed the coverage period anyway. That's actually the one thing I'm not really impressed with on the guitar, that wiring bundle in there is a bit of a cheap rat's nest (my opinion). I have two other (acoustic) guitars with a similar type of battery compartment and have zero issues with either of them.

I can agree with this. I had a conversation with a guy in a shop years ago comparing PRS to Hamer for build quality and materials. I told him that IMHO on some levels Hamer actually wins. They used metal back plates to help isolate the electronics instead of plastic. The other thing they did is they cut everything to the exact length it needed to be in the cavity. When you open them up and look inside, the Hamer looks much nicer. It doesn't have a big ball of wire spaghetti in there. If you are going to pull and sell the pickups, the extra wire is desired. That is about the only time it is desired.

 

[Daryl Jones]

I can agree with this. I had a conversation with a guy in a shop years ago comparing PRS to Hamer for build quality and materials. I told him that IMHO on some levels Hamer actually wins. They used metal back plates to help isolate the electronics instead of plastic. The other thing they did is they cut everything to the exact length it needed to be in the cavity. When you open them up and look inside, the Hamer looks much nicer. It doesn't have a big ball of wire spaghetti in there. If you are going to pull and sell the pickups, the extra wire is desired. That is about the only time it is desired.

Hollowbody's are a real PITA inside.

 

[JasonE]

Hollowbody's are a real PITA inside.

Thankfully I haven't had the need to get inside of either of mine.

 

[tdroid]

Hollowbody's are a real PITA inside.

I was thinking, that at some point, I'd change the pickups, upgrade the pots, and maybe wire for push/pull coil split and phase switching.

But from what I hear, this might be prohibitively expensive.

 

[JasonE]

I was thinking, that at some point, I'd change the pickups, upgrade the pots, and maybe wire for push/pull coil split and phase switching.

But from what I hear, this might be prohibitively expensive.

If you can't do it yourself, that is probably true. If you are planning on sticking with PRS pickups, you could contact the PTC about it. You would be guaranteed quality PRS work.

 

[tdroid]

If you can't do it yourself, that is probably true. If you are planning on sticking with PRS pickups, you could contact the PTC about it. You would be guaranteed quality PRS work.

I'd be looking at Seymour Duncans. Any idea how much it might cost? Only work I've ever gotten done is a setup on a Fender.

 

[ViperDoc]

So long as you make a high quality connection, there's nothing wrong with a wire splice to add length. Think about it as just another connection. Your preamp has tons of them. You're only dealing with your 9V supply voltage. If your wires are short, I wouldn't hesitate to splice it, use whatever wire you like (so long as it's braided, NOT solid core, and it has to FIT underneath the holder when it's fully seated). But if they're well connected and soldered, there's really no reason to want to take the holder out again, right? Make a solid physical connection of the wire end to the terminal first, then solder it. It should never become disconnected unless the connection sees abuse.

 

[Daryl Jones]

So long as you make a high quality connection, there's nothing wrong with a wire splice to add length. Think about it as just another connection. Your preamp has tons of them. You're only dealing with your 9V supply voltage. If your wires are short, I wouldn't hesitate to splice it, use whatever wire you like (so long as it's braided, NOT solid core, and it has to FIT underneath the holder when it's fully seated). But if they're well connected and soldered, there's really no reason to want to take the holder out again, right? Make a solid physical connection of the wire end to the terminal first, then solder it. It should never become disconnected unless the connection sees abuse.

I'd like to agree with that, but there were some gremlins in the harness when it was new. My tech did deal with it but it was a gremlin after all. And gremlins are hard to nail down. I have since found another way to deal with the damn pest. But it is the Achilles heel of the machine. I'd be very interested in seeing the inside of a Core Hollowbody for comparison sake. Em, not enough to buy one though.

 

[ViperDoc]

Sounds ominous. But if it’s all working to your liking, maybe just rock on!

 

[Jo-]

Which type of battery holder do you have. The old one where you had the mini thumb screws or the newer one with the pop out holder for the battery.

On my ‘03 HBII I had the old style thumb screw holder and it always took 3 hands to get a new battery in. The wires never broke but they always seemed so fragile. After 20 years the piezo board went poof so earlier this year PRS replaced it and added a fret level/crown. I also got them to change the battery holder to the pop out housing. It feels more secure with the pop out holder.