Tone Report:
For those who missed out on the separate news, it was determined that no pickup changes, no capacitor or resistor swaps, nor potentiometer mods need occur.
With a simple adjustment of the #7S' pickups' height (upwards, downwards, back up slightly) the tone went from bright and subdued to muddy and quacky, then to the "Goldilocks" zone. (For those who don't know this term, it is a term used by astrophysicists to describe the region where the Earth's solar system exists in the Milky Way Galaxy. Perfect to sustain life.)
All that was required separate from the guitar were some gain, level, and tone adjustments within my guitar effects pedalboard. My other guitar (a non-PRS Tele) just requires a volume adjustment at the amp level to offset the lower output of the Tele's pickups. The effects' levels can remain consistent with both guitars.
The tone can best be described as wider ranged and more balanced, going from muted jazz neck tones (tone knobs dialed back) to bright funk bridge ones (tone knobs dimed) with the coil-taps lifted. In between ranges from rock and blues nicely. When pushed (boost & compressor always on) the tone is clean with plenty of volume headroom, clean even when volume is about 8 and only begins to saturate mildly at 10. With my Blue Note (hot switch down to low gain) the guitar sings without any crunch, but more of a violin-like tone that blues and jazz purists crave. Even with the hot switch up, there's really not any crunch going on, just singing overdrive with lots of volume.
I'd likely consider evaluating and reviewing my effects pedalboard again so that a good clean tone can be derived with just the compressor, then use the boost/overdrive for pushed tones alone, or with the Blue Note for leads and solos, or the Blue Note without the boost/overdrive for backing rhythms. My reverb/delay is almost always on as well as my noise gate, for cleaning up any residual noise in the circuit. That evaluation might occur Saturday when time allows.
Have not tried playing any backing tracks to the guitar's recent adjustments, just some noodling. And perhaps I'll address the folks who might like to know how I arrived regards my decision to maintain the guitar's originality and integrity.
TBH, it was a series of phone calls and emails to sales reps, guitar techs and the PTC crew who helped tremendously in this endeavor. Thanks to all that participated.
