SE PU replacement / TCI requirements

D

docmoore

Chasing sympathetic harmonics ....
Joined
Jul 14, 2013
Messages
89
Have not seen much discussion on this aspect of PU replacement.

I assume that part of the TCI process includes custom spec’d pots capacitors and resistors … by
actual measurement of each component to meet the needed values.

So just dropping 58/15 LT pickups into a SE guitar with its current wiring or also replacing the pots, caps, and resistors how does one keep the TCI … assuming each component varies from is stated specs …

Apologies if this has been covered but I was unable to locate a relevant thread while searching.
 
docmoore said:
Have not seen much discussion on this aspect of PU replacement.

I assume that part of the TCI process includes custom spec’d pots capacitors and resistors … by
actual measurement of each component to meet the needed values.

So just dropping 58/15 LT pickups into a SE guitar with its current wiring or also replacing the pots, caps, and resistors how does one keep the TCI … assuming each component varies from is stated specs …

Apologies if this has been covered but I was unable to locate a relevant thread while searching.
Click to expand...

I don’t remember this topic being discussed here.

@Simon Says and @garrett will certainly have some input here.

Can’t remember the member who shared a TCI thread here. But he will definitely have some valuable info.
 
Gonna have to look at core specs for LTs. Check McCarty and 594 to get a feel for caps and resistors used on push pulls. It is often overlooked when guys upgrade the pickups. Very worthwhile. I would focus less on TCI and more on what Paul intended that pickup to match it. I assume you’re aiming for a McCarty sound. Which will come close with an SE but keep in mind the McCarty and 594 are thicker by a 1/4 and 1/2 inch respectively to a custom 24
 
I've replaced the pickups in all of my SE Singlecuts and there was nothing special inside them. Just 500K pots and a cheap tone cap that I replaced with a .02 Sprague Orange Drop. Two now have Duncan Antiquitys and the third has Duncan 59's. They all sound great! The Korean pickups were really the only thing keeping them from being totally professional guitars.
 
I say the pots and pickup selector are worth upgrading. I find the pots scratchy even after deoxit applied. And the pickup selector eventually craps out on me. All cheap and easy to upgrade. Kudos to you if your pots and selector work well!

Also if it’s a single cut you’re dropping these LTs in: newer singlecut 594s come with + versions to increase the brightness of the neck pickup that may sound a tad dark in single cuts. Clearly your mileage may vary. Some will be happy with the neck pickup LT as is. I imagine an Ebony board would compensate as well.
 
I have my personal beliefs on what TCI is. I said that before here on the PRS forum. I believe it's not so much the individual pickup or the parts the pickup is connected to. It's more a relation between pickups in a split or when working together.

Historically - The Silver Sky pickups were first coming as TCI. They all very closely specced to each other. Coming from a strat world, I know that if you have pickups speced very close - the in-between tones will have more pronounced quack. Pickups with spec way off will demonish the quack effect.

So what I believe is going on with HB TCI pickups is - when neck and bridge HB is split, the TCI aim is to match the coils of both HBs to as close spec as possible for that stratty quack.

It's just a theory, and I may be wrong, but it may have sense. New PRS in-between positions are spectacular
 
docmoore said:
Have not seen much discussion on this aspect of PU replacement.

I assume that part of the TCI process includes custom spec’d pots capacitors and resistors … by
actual measurement of each component to meet the needed values.

So just dropping 58/15 LT pickups into a SE guitar with its current wiring or also replacing the pots, caps, and resistors how does one keep the TCI … assuming each component varies from is stated specs …

Apologies if this has been covered but I was unable to locate a relevant thread while searching.
Click to expand...
Check out the thread. There may be one or two others created by this forum member. Some great info.

forums.prsguitars.com

PRS Explains Pickup Design - I was right!

I'm so happy PRS released this information to the public in their latest video: I wrote an article earlier this year explaining what I believed was PRS's TCI process (link: https://guitarpickupdatabase.com/prs-tci-pickups-explained/). Every time I heard Paul describe how pickups have a...
forums.prsguitars.com forums.prsguitars.com
 
Thank you all for the quick replies and learned advice.

My Paul’s SE is articulate and defined but perhaps a bit thin tonally …
and with a Strymon Sunset driving it sounds wonderful. I am seduced
by the idea of changing out the S pickups for 58/15 LTs but think
that perhaps moving to a McCarty with those pickups biased at the mothership
might be less of a shot in the dark tone wise.

I recall distantly a comment concerning the lengths that PRS goes to in order to match components … I would have to purchase multiples by 10 of components in order
to replicate their tolerances … neither cost nor time efficient.
 
Broseph said:
I say the pots and pickup selector are worth upgrading. I find the pots scratchy even after deoxit applied. And the pickup selector eventually craps out on me. All cheap and easy to upgrade. Kudos to you if your pots and selector work well!

Also if it’s a single cut you’re dropping these LTs in: newer singlecut 594s come with + versions to increase the brightness of the neck pickup that may sound a tad dark in single cuts. Clearly your mileage may vary. Some will be happy with the neck pickup LT as is. I imagine an Ebony board would compensate as well.
Click to expand...
The pots and switch do work well in my SE's. But time will tell. I'll replace them when they go bad, but so far so good.
 
docmoore said:
Thank you all for the quick replies and learned advice.

My Paul’s SE is articulate and defined but perhaps a bit thin tonally …
and with a Strymon Sunset driving it sounds wonderful. I am seduced
by the idea of changing out the S pickups for 58/15 LTs but think
that perhaps moving to a McCarty with those pickups biased at the mothership
might be less of a shot in the dark tone wise.

I recall distantly a comment concerning the lengths that PRS goes to in order to match components … I would have to purchase multiples by 10 of components in order
to replicate their tolerances … neither cost nor time efficient.
Click to expand...
The new McCarty pickups are supposed to be a big improvement over what they were using a few years ago. But it's hard to believe they wouldn't work just fine with regular CTS 500K pots, .02 Sprague capacitor and a a good 3 way if you wanted to replace that stuff. They'd probably work great with what's in your guitar right now! This isn't brain surgery. :) I replaced pickups in all of my SE guitars with Duncans. No muss/no fuss.
 
Does anyone know if the 9pin 3DPT is a drop in fit for the two SE switches ... is the spacing
on the SE correct for the 3DPT?

Thanks
 
I was informed by my local dealer that the SE Paul's guitar ... in using the TCI-S pickups
is unable to be upgraded to the 58/15 LTs as the TCI-S are similar to the near fields in the
core and there is a size difference in the pickups.

Does anyone know if this is correct?

Thanks,

Bob
 
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