Radical Pick-up swap (Custom 22) or new guitar

[LFliegs]

Hoping I can gather some collective wisdom from folks who may have been down the same road.

I have had my 1996 PRS Custom 22 forever and love the guitar. I recently acquired a 2003 McCarty in a trade and have been blown away by it. It has the familiar feel (surprisingly a tad lighter) and sounds a touch warmer/vintage-sounding to my ears… I’m clearly still in the honeymoon phase!

Even though there are some sonic differences between the guitars - I think they are squarely in the same tone ballpark. I’m considering swapping the pickups in my Custom 22 to get these guitars to have more of their own distinct vibe. Will that get me there? Any radical pickup swap suggestions (P90 or gold foil style) that can drop in without routing?

Anyone been down this road? Any regrets - should I leave well enough alone and look for a completely different guitar to get me in a different tone zone?

Thanks all,
Len

 

[LFliegs]

Here is the happy pair

 

[DISTORT6]

That Cu22 is spectacular.
The McC is no slouch, either.

 

[goat-n-gitter]

How about a set of Duncan P-Rails? P90, Humbucker and single coil all in one. Duncan also offers mounting rings with switches built in to manage them.
Killer guitars BTW!

 

[theDeepender]

Hoping I can gather some collective wisdom from folks who may have been down the same road.

I have had my 1996 PRS Custom 22 forever and love the guitar. I recently acquired a 2003 McCarty in a trade and have been blown away by it. It has the familiar feel (surprisingly a tad lighter) and sounds a touch warmer/vintage-sounding to my ears… I’m clearly still in the honeymoon phase!

Even though there are some sonic differences between the guitars - I think they are squarely in the same tone ballpark. I’m considering swapping the pickups in my Custom 22 to get these guitars to have more of their own distinct vibe. Will that get me there? Any radical pickup swap suggestions (P90 or gold foil style) that can drop in without routing?

Anyone been down this road? Any regrets - should I leave well enough alone and look for a completely different guitar to get me in a different tone zone?

Thanks all,
Len

I visited the Seymore Duncan site. They do a great job with graphs and recordings of helping you to find the tone you’re looking for. They even suggest possible parings. I ended up with a ‘59 at the neck and a Custom at the bridge.

 

[Bowtiefanatc]

PRails as mentioned above would be pretty sweet. I had a set in my old Mira X and it was definitely a cool setup with the triple shot rings.

 

[DISTORT6]

OH!
Dibs on the D1’s if you let them go!

 

[SamIV]

I just put a set of TV Jones pickups in one of my S2’s and could not be happier. Like a brighter, twangier PAF that does overdrive and clean so well to my ears. I put a Classic plus in the bridge and a Power Tron in the neck position. Guess it would be in a similar ballpark to PRS’s unobtainable Core Starla pickups.

 

[LFliegs]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I am hesitant to swap out dragons! So I would be hanging onto them for a bit DISTORT6 even if I swapped out.

I made a little comparison track of the two guitars. In each phrase type it is the McCarty followed by the Custom 22:

McCarty vs 22

Hopefully link works. Let me know your thoughts…

 

[The Bird]

Go ahead, swapping pickups is fun! How about some 58/15LTs? Doesn’t get any better than that. Or go completely different with 85/15s.

 

[Russ73]

OP that CU 22 is amazing...whatever you decide don't dump it!!

 

[Rider1260]

I have McCartys in my CU22 love it , Lots of folks love Suhr Aldrich set

 

[LFliegs]

PRails as mentioned above would be pretty sweet. I had a set in my old Mira X and it was definitely a cool setup with the triple shot rings.

Demos sound cool, but from what I’m reading some folks seem to think that it just does an ok (but not great) job of each pickup style. I wonder if a more dedicated P90 in hum size would do a better job of that sound? I’d trade versatility for a killer tone.

As an aside - any thoughts on ditching the five way knob? Can’t say I love it…

 

[LFliegs]

OP that CU 22 is amazing...whatever you decide don't dump it!!

It’s a keeper! There is too much sentimental attachment to that one… I may not be able to bring myself to mess with the pickups!

 

[Andrew Paul]

Hoping I can gather some collective wisdom from folks who may have been down the same road.

I have had my 1996 PRS Custom 22 forever and love the guitar. I recently acquired a 2003 McCarty in a trade and have been blown away by it. It has the familiar feel (surprisingly a tad lighter) and sounds a touch warmer/vintage-sounding to my ears… I’m clearly still in the honeymoon phase!

Even though there are some sonic differences between the guitars - I think they are squarely in the same tone ballpark. I’m considering swapping the pickups in my Custom 22 to get these guitars to have more of their own distinct vibe. Will that get me there? Any radical pickup swap suggestions (P90 or gold foil style) that can drop in without routing?

Anyone been down this road? Any regrets - should I leave well enough alone and look for a completely different guitar to get me in a different tone zone?

Thanks all,
Len

Both are beautiful Guitars. The CU22, if you enjoy it the way it is continue enjoying it but, if you’re looking for something more, I’ve always enjoyed Lindy Fralin pickups more than a few other pickup swaps I didn’t care for…. not saying that those other companies don’t make good pickups, but they weren’t for me in my PRS GUITAR’s, so I’m not going to mention them for now.

You may want to try a newer model PRS, though maybe get a McCarty 594.

Also, before the end of the weekend I have a 1991, custom 24 with I believe or Fralin high output humbuckers pickups. I just got a double check on that. I bought them secondhand and believe they were slightly under-wound high output humbucker pickups so I will make a SoundCloud audio file for you and everyone on the formum to listen to. This way, at least it will be one comparison to a custom 90s PRS with a five way switch.

 

[LFliegs]

Both are beautiful Guitars. The CU22, if you enjoy it the way it is continue enjoying it but, if you’re looking for something more, I’ve always enjoyed Lindy Fralin pickups more than a few other pickup swaps I didn’t care for…. not saying that those other companies don’t make good pickups, but they weren’t for me in my PRS GUITAR’s, so I’m not going to mention them for now.

You may want to try a newer model PRS, though maybe get a McCarty 594.

Also, before the end of the weekend I have a 1991, custom 24 with I believe or Fralin high output humbuckers pickups. I just got a double check on that. I bought them secondhand and believe they were slightly under-wound high output humbucker pickups so I will make a SoundCloud audio file for you and everyone on the formum to listen to. This way, at least it will be one comparison to a custom 90s PRS with a five way switch.

Very cool - I’ll keep my eyes/ears out for it!

I did try out a newer 594 and I just couldn’t get along with the fatter neck carve. Why mess with the perfect 90s necks?

 

[bodia]

I had a set of these in a 2002 CE-24. Loved them!

 

[Andrew Paul]

Very cool - I’ll keep my eyes/ears out for it!

I did try out a newer 594 and I just couldn’t get along with the fatter neck carve. Why mess with the perfect 90s necks?

Have you tried a Paul’s guitar (2019 and after) 408 pickups are excellent in those. Also used in Modern Eagle V. Necks are fantastic.

 

[Andrew Paul]

I had a set of these in a 2002 CE-24. Loved them!

Those sound great ! If I had a three-way switch instead of the five way, I would consider those. Rhett Shull loves Lollar pickups. I really need to look into them.

 

[Bowtiefanatc]

Demos sound cool, but from what I’m reading some folks seem to think that it just does an ok (but not great) job of each pickup style. I wonder if a more dedicated P90 in hum size would do a better job of that sound? I’d trade versatility for a killer tone.

As an aside - any thoughts on ditching the five way knob? Can’t say I love it…

Ditch it. I did on my CU24 and couldn’t be happier. I kept it on my ‘91 Standard because I didn’t want to mod that one too much.

I didn’t have the Mira X long enough to really run it through its paces with the PRails but I definitely liked how they sounded. I would consider that combo again in the future.