SE 245 PUP & Pot Replacement

[mitchewr]

Alright, so I'm in the process of selling some of my "lesser" guitars right now to free up some cash. I will have the option of either A) Tricking out my SE 245 or B) Acquiring an American Strat or assembling a very close equivalent with Warmoth neck, etc.

In the end I will be left with 2 electric guitars, the PRS and some sort of strat. I currently have a Fender Deluxe Players Strat MIM, which is quite the nice guitar...actually has a 3 piece Ash body, but I digress.

Since I don't have $3k to spend on an American PRS, my SE is the next best thing (and believe me, it's the best guitar you can buy outside of an American made PRS. I actually chose the SE 245 over a brand new Gibson Studio) and so I am contemplating buying a 57/08 for the neck and 59/09 for the bridge, along with replacing the stock pots and switch with American PRS parts.

Have any of you out there done so already? If so, how does the 57/08 & 59/09 pups sound in the SE? Were the American pots a simple drop-in replacement or was there a lot of extra work involved to get them to fit? Do you all think this would be worth it or would it be better to pick up an American strat and leave the SE stock?

**If you have dropped the 57/08 AND OR 59/09 in your SE, do you have any sound/video clips you wouldn't mind sharing?**

Thanks for your advice, ideas and thoughts.

PRS Guitars Rule All!!! (Okay, I may be a bit of a fan boy....but I don't care lol)

 

[DHW]

You have to ream out the mounting holes for the pots. It's pretty simple, just go slow and test often. I did not order prs branded parts(other than the bridge) and did mine(see the se mod thread, last page) for under 500. I played a sc245 with 57/08s over the weekend and mine has every bit of the tone and playability now. Absolutely love how it turned out.

 

[gball]

A pickup change will provide a noticeable improvement, IMO. I dropped a Tremonti Treble and Vintage Bass into my SE-245 and it really turned it into a World-class guitar. The original pickups were okay, but a little bland and lifeless. The pickup swap really brought it to life.

As far as the electronics, I wasn't sure what was in there when I got the guitar and figured I would be changing out the pots as well, but was very pleasantly surprised when I opened it up to find Alpha pots and excellent quality wire and hardware. No need to change anything...Alphas are as good as any pot you can buy, and NO pots, including the CRS ones that PRS uses, are made in the US anymore. So, unless you don't like the taper or feel I just don't see any upside in changing out perfectly good Alphas.

 

[DHW]

A pickup change will provide a noticeable improvement, IMO. I dropped a Tremonti Treble and Vintage Bass into my SE-245 and it really turned it into a World-class guitar. The original pickups were okay, but a little bland and lifeless. The pickup swap really brought it to life.

As far as the electronics, I wasn't sure what was in there when I got the guitar and figured I would be changing out the pots as well, but was very pleasantly surprised when I opened it up to find Alpha pots and excellent quality wire and hardware. No need to change anything...Alphas are as good as any pot you can buy, and NO pots, including the CRS ones that PRS uses, are made in the US anymore. So, unless you don't like the taper or feel I just don't see any upside in changing out perfectly good Alphas.

The benefit of going with a better pot is a tighter tolerance. The 550k 9% tolerance cts pots will always be at least their stated value(500k stamp) whereas an alpha pot has a 20% tolerance so they could actually be 400k or 600k and when you mix and match you could get some really funky values when you combine the tone and volume pots and start twisting things.

On another note, the switch quality in mine from the factory was horrid and the jack was pretty iffy too. Changing those out for switchcraft gave a much better feel, holds the cable more securely, and the switch doesn't pop to center with the slightest touch.

 

[gball]

Alpha has different grades as well, and I don't know which grade PRS has spec'd, so you could be right there. But in practice, having changed out plenty of pots over the years, I just don't hear enough of a difference to make the change worthwhile and I have found Alphas to be as good as any. YMMV, of course (maybe my ears are shot).

My switch is fine (basically an Asian Switchcraft clone) and works as well or better than the "real" Switchcrafts I have in my Gibbys. They may use different parts based on what is in the bin on a given day.

My only point was that the stock electronics are darn solid stuff, much better than virtually any other guitar at this price point, and I don't (personally) see the logic in automatically throwing it out. The gains would be incremental at best and non existent at worst (my prediction), while the pickup swap is a huge change.

 

[mitchewr]

Good info. I'm debating between putting a 57/08 or a 59/09 in the bridge. Obviously the 57/08s sound heavenly but I'm wondering:

Will the 57/08 be enough to handle harder rock sounds? I am not a metal player, the heaviest I get is 12 Stones, Creed, Alterbridge, TFK, Falling Up, Breaking Benjamin, etc.

I'm not looking for a strictly heavy sound but would like the pup to be capable of handling it. Would the 57/08 serve this purpose or would I be better off with a 59/09? Keep in mind that I also do play for my church and so don't always need to have the gain cranked (although I do use a lot of gain even when playing church songs...it's not soft music by any stretch)

I would like to get the taper from the American PRS pots plus the Alphas have already (1.5 years old) started to get scratchy and I've had to hit em with some contact cleaner. Plus I like the lamp shades on the American knobs lol.

 

[DHW]

Alpha has different grades as well, and I don't know which grade PRS has spec'd, so you could be right there. But in practice, having changed out plenty of pots over the years, I just don't hear enough of a difference to make the change worthwhile and I have found Alphas to be as good as any. YMMV, of course (maybe my ears are shot).

My switch is fine (basically an Asian Switchcraft clone) and works as well or better than the "real" Switchcrafts I have in my Gibbys. They may use different parts based on what is in the bin on a given day.

My only point was that the stock electronics are darn solid stuff, much better than virtually any other guitar at this price point, and I don't (personally) see the logic in automatically throwing it out. The gains would be incremental at best and non existent at worst (my prediction), while the pickup swap is a huge change.

I definitely agree there, the pickup change was a massive upgrade. With having problems with my switch and jack I just went ahead and did the whole works to be sure everything was within spec including copper shielding in all cavities due to so so continuity in the factory paint. That also made a huge difference in silencing noise.

 

[DHW]

Good info. I'm debating between putting a 57/08 or a 59/09 in the bridge. Obviously the 57/08s sound heavenly but I'm wondering:

Will the 57/08 be enough to handle harder rock sounds? I am not a metal player, the heaviest I get is 12 Stones, Creed, Alterbridge, TFK, Falling Up, Breaking Benjamin, etc.

I'm not looking for a strictly heavy sound but would like the pup to be capable of handling it. Would the 57/08 serve this purpose or would I be better off with a 59/09? Keep in mind that I also do play for my church and so don't always need to have the gain cranked (although I do use a lot of gain even when playing church songs...it's not soft music by any stretch)

I would like to get the taper from the American PRS pots plus the Alphas have already (1.5 years old) started to get scratchy and I've had to hit em with some contact cleaner. Plus I like the lamp shades on the American knobs lol.

The pickup output will be fine. You may need to adjust your gain up a touch but it won't take much and your bass won't get flubby. There's plenty of music that's been recorded thats much harder than your list on pickups with the same specs. Just listen to anything Randy Rhodes played on the yellow gibby, those were stock pickups right about the same output. I am playing on an 8.8k bridge through a marshal dsl 40 with the gain between 5-6(12-1o'clock) on lead 1. I have half the knob left plus the entire lead 2 channel plus an overdrive pedal available. You can push those low output pickups to the point it doesn't even sound like a guitar anymore.

the dsl40 wouldn't be considered high gain in anyones definition either.

 

[mitchewr]

Sweet! So really, the 57/08s would be the best option here? Would there be any reason to leave the 57/08 in the neck but put a 59/09 in the bridge? If not, then I'd just go with two 57/08s. I do like the covers on the 08s...they look sharp.

**FunFact: I use a Bogner Alchemist 1x12 combo that I just re-tubed with a mullard, sovtek and some others in the pre-amp slots and two JJs in the power section. Yeah I love this amp! Freakin roars!**

 

[DHW]

Sweet! So really, the 57/08s would be the best option here? Would there be any reason to leave the 57/08 in the neck but put a 59/09 in the bridge? If not, then I'd just go with two 57/08s. I do like the covers on the 08s...they look sharp.

**FunFact: I use a Bogner Alchemist 1x12 combo that I just re-tubed with a mullard, sovtek and some others in the pre-amp slots and two JJs in the power section. Yeah I love this amp! Freakin roars!**

either would be fine though if you like the covers then go with the 57/08 and let the amp/pedals do some of the heavy lifting.

 

[mitchewr]

Thanks for the quick answers! I think I'll be going with the 57/08s if I choose to overhaul the SE and not pick up an American Strat.

Decisions Decisions....