guitargeek62
New Member
Would you?
I have a core series Paul's Guitar ("PG") here that I've owned for ~18months or so. Its USP is the rather-lovely (TCI-)408 pickups and switching system, as well as a few fancy features and cosmetics. This is actually my second PG, having owned one previously for a couple of years back in ~2016-18. As some of you may know, I'm quite a fan of PRS guitars and they really do hit the sweet-spot of build, feel, and tone for my personal preferences - particularly with solid-bodies.
Now to the conundrum. Those same 408 pickups*, while fantastic and versatile, are not quite working for me anymore - particularly the bridge unit. They have a P90-ish characteristic to them in HB mode, but the output level is hotter than I'd like. The usual adjustments of pickup height etc. aren't getting me there, so I'm looking at more drastic options.
Yes, I could sell it, and have flip-flopped on this since the summer having listed it and retracted it a few times. This PG has a few finish marks that stop it from commanding 'top' value, but I like the guitar enough to want to keep it around irrespective of any ongoing changes I want to make and subsequent hit on resale.
Options:
Considerations:
Hmm indeed. WWYD?
I have a core series Paul's Guitar ("PG") here that I've owned for ~18months or so. Its USP is the rather-lovely (TCI-)408 pickups and switching system, as well as a few fancy features and cosmetics. This is actually my second PG, having owned one previously for a couple of years back in ~2016-18. As some of you may know, I'm quite a fan of PRS guitars and they really do hit the sweet-spot of build, feel, and tone for my personal preferences - particularly with solid-bodies.
Now to the conundrum. Those same 408 pickups*, while fantastic and versatile, are not quite working for me anymore - particularly the bridge unit. They have a P90-ish characteristic to them in HB mode, but the output level is hotter than I'd like. The usual adjustments of pickup height etc. aren't getting me there, so I'm looking at more drastic options.
Yes, I could sell it, and have flip-flopped on this since the summer having listed it and retracted it a few times. This PG has a few finish marks that stop it from commanding 'top' value, but I like the guitar enough to want to keep it around irrespective of any ongoing changes I want to make and subsequent hit on resale.
Options:
- Do nothing: Live with it as-is, recognising I play it less than I'd like to alongside other guitars.
- Sell it & replace with a McCarty or similar: Tempting, and probably the sensible choice, but I otherwise really like this particular PRS.
- Limit changes to reversible mods, e.g. make up some new pickup rings to accommodate traditional Firebird or Mini-HBs for various options without needing to drill new holes or open up existing cavities. But I'm not convinced either of those will tonally get me where I want it to be. Note: a magnet swap looks risky as well given how these are constructed, else I'd be looking at AlNiCo II / III for them.
- Irreversible mod: Widen the bridge** pickup cavity by ~3mm to accommodate a full-sized humbucker; this would also require a special pickup ring (likely 3D-printed) to leverage the existing mounting holes and be otherwise reversible/invisible once the 408 was put back in. The dimensions are pretty close, but there's no other way to fit a full-sized HB in there without routing the body. The extra space would however be hidden by a 408 pickup ring though.
Considerations:
- I'm very comfortable with my skills in completing any of the above options. Jigs, templates, dummy-runs etc will be used before taking any tools to the PG. The existing finish is nitro, and I would carefully score and scrape the affected areas too before routing to limit any finish problems - I'm tempted to do the rest of the work with some of my lovely and surgically-sharpened chisels rather than a router as it's a pretty small change and less likely to cause other problems, though a router can be faster and arguably tidier.
- Option 1 - Boo, this one's dull and feeds no GAS.
- Option 2 - being the sensible one, still forces me to lose the neck 408 pickup, along with the mini-toggle switching which I prefer over push-pull pots. Also just to reiterate, I really like how this particular guitar plays and feels too, so that's a risk - although McCarty's are pretty much the same spec with more traditional electronics.
- Option 3 - Easy to implement, draw up some rings in Blendr/similar, have them 3D-printed, install new p'ups.... probably still won't hit the sweet-spot though.
- Option 4 - Will inevitably affect resale value if/whenever I actually sell this one along. Even though the work would be invisible (short of any f*ck-ups) it's still something I would disclose to any would-be buyer.
Hmm indeed. WWYD?
