Mods? Yes, I did some. Here is the story...
I've been a Les Paul, Flying V, Tele and Strat guy for eons. Those tones at their best into an organic amp, like a JTM45 with 30 watt Greenbacks, do it for me. But I like all sorts of modern tones, as well. I tried to get into PRS guitars back in 2009 when I purchased a Mira, thinking it would be a thicker sounding Les Paul Special. That guitar didn't do anything "special" for me, so I sold it.
Fast forward to early 2018. I pop into GC in Paramus, NJ on lunch break with a co-worker and see this cool SE Custom 24 Floyd with a black quilt top and binding around the neck and headstock. I was looking for a Floyd Rose guitar anyway, and this guitar looked and felt very solid. So I came back one Saturday with my Kemper in tow and gave it a listen. First impression? Bright and Boomy. Not knowing what 85/15's were about, I did a little research and immediately understood why (nailed it). But the guitar played so well that I decided to take the plunge and work out the pickup details later. I actually liked the upper midrange cut quite a bit, as it has great crunch. All these pickups needed was to be lowered into "the tone zone" to get the bass under control. There is that magic zone where string definition becomes focused and bass is in balance. That changed my opinion about these pickups. I like 'em!
I go through the switch settings and dial in all my favorite tones. THAT TREBLE BLEED CAP ON THE VOLUME CONTROL HAD TO GO. This guitar doesn't need any more brightness. At my brightest tone setting, I like the tone set around 8.5. But there are many other sweet spots, including a realistic Richie Blackmore Strat bridge tone with single-coil and tone set around 3.5. Not only did I get a killer LP tone, but awesome Tele tones and Strat tones galore. The single coil combo tone with the right volume balance is pure heaven. It's like the best of all worlds. Not a bad tone to be had! I locate all the volume and tone sweet spots to get the best tones out of this masterpiece, but start to get tired of having to stop playing what I'm playing to change settings.
Then this idea hit me. We have a major plus here with the blade switch, but a minus with only one volume and one tone control. I need two volume controls to preset my neck volume different than my bridge volume, and I pretty much know where most of my tone sweet spots are, so what can I do here? I start cataloging all my favorite settings and record the tone pot resistance for each sweet spot. Then I put a 4-pole 5-way switch in, another 500k push/pull (audio taper) pot for neck volume in, and three other pots I had laying around in to set up some preset tone controls. Nice! That let me flick a switch and get a great tone and volume setting for perfect tone to fit the pickup selection. Proving the concept worked was just the start. Now what can I do to clean this mess up and get even more tone settings?
How about this?
https://www.dropbox.com/s/mpws6h6wzbo0hau/Tone Board Prototype Installed.JPG?dl=0
With two coil-split pots (bridge and neck), and five switch settings, that gives me seven "switch positions" to do seven different tone control presets for each position. I already wrote down what sounds best for each selection, so I dial in the exact resistance I wrote down on each 20-turn 500k mini-pot for that selection. Let me tell you, the satisfaction of having the perfect settings at the flick of a switch (or pull/push of a knob) is KILLER! The only thing I have to worry about are the volume controls and sweet spots for those. I COULD do volume presets on another board...you know...but find the tone settings work across the volume range.
So we essentially have five switch settings that start with a more classic tone in position 1 (bridge) and step into more modern tone on 2. Then combo tone on 3 with the bridge pickup slaved to single coil (neck still selectable). I usually like my neck pickup on single coil set to breakup level for quick "cleaner" Strat tone. Position 4 is neck with a brighter edge, but not wide open on tone (takes the high highs out). And finally position 5 is my more classic neck tone. In humbucker selection it's the "woman tone", but in single coil it's clear without the glassy edge. The bridge number 1 selection in single coil is Blackmore country, and in number 2 it's standard bright Strat bridge tone. What about Bridge humbucker tone(s)? Wide open volume in position 1 gets you that classic metal tone. With enough amp gain, this can hang with any classic metal monster, but when you switch to position 2 it gets into thrash land. Think of the tone Metallica got when they went to ESP guitars (Wherever I May Roam...and beyond). Crunchy! But you can instantly go back to a killer Les Paul tone with the volume set between 6.5 to 8.3. You get two LP versions. Position 1 is more "Wah" like, and position 2 more open, but still VERY Les Paul. My favorite "preset presets" are bridge set to humbucker with the bridge volume at 8.3, and neck set to single coil with neck volume at 3.5. That lets me go from two versions of Les Paul tone, to a beautiful Tele combo tone, to a Strat neck breakup tone by a slide of the switch. There are many more Tele variations when you set bridge volume of 8.3 on single coil and go from vintage Tele on position 1 to modern Tele on position 2...then combo on position 3. Like I said before, not a bad tone to be had. This is the MOST FUNCTIONAL guitar I own. And with the Floyd Rose it's completely UNLIMITED. Add to that the ultra solid construction with effortless buzz-free action, and you have a winner! All it needed was better control options. Check!
So here are some pics of the tone board prior to installing it in the guitar. Why 9 pots, and not just 7? I left the option of two treble bleed cap adjustments. The 85/15 set doesn't need them, but I left that option open. I use treble bleed caps on a couple of my guitars, but never 100% in line. I always adjust the amount of bleed with a variable resistor (pot). To do this right, you should use shielded wire. Speaking of that, the twisted red and black were changed to shielded at the last minute before installation. The tone leads to the switches are at ground potential, so no shielding was needed. Some day the red wire from the ground selection in position 3 will get changed to shielded. It ties to the bridge split-coil junction, so it really should be shielded. I ran out of small insulated shielded wire for this project. Back to playing! Three days of total tonal bliss.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ve4jdep4yclm1cv/Tone Board Prototype Front.JPG?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/5nwo3biagrfkbrj/Tone Board Prototype Back.JPG?dl=0
Phil