The ole 5-way rotary sw....Has it been relegated to history's dust bin?

El Rey

El Rey

New Member
Joined
Jul 20, 2023
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Location
Denton, TX
My recent 2023 mfr'd core model acquisitions have me questioning if I should put my well used old friend in a 2007 EXP CU24 back to the way it was designed.

vve0Ser.jpg


Got it used back in 2009. Put a 5-way rotary PU select sw in it because that is how my last CU24's (long gone) came back in the early 90's. Kinda silly isn't it?

Are the 5 sw's a thing with anyone anymore?

I'm thinking they aren't.

I welcome your comments.
 
If my '95 and '97 CE22's didn't have the rotary switch I'd play out with them more often.

Love the sounds tho.

I will never put a 3 way in. Seems disrespectful at this point in my life and those guitars are worth more stock than altered.

https://imgur.com/AbMz9k9

The guy I bought my '00 CE22 from sold the original D2's and put mismatched Duncans and a 3 way in it.

https://imgur.com/88XJ9r5

I removed the Duncans and put Bare Knuckle Abraxas pickups in it with a coil splitting tone pot, and upgraded the volume pot and wiring but kept the Switchcraft 3 way.

It's one of my favorite guitars.

https://imgur.com/1LClnHH
 
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I have three 80’s/90’s CU24’s with the rotary switch and love um and I’m very used to them. Like anything ( neck shape, pickups) it took some getting used to but once you’re on board I’m not converting them. I have CU24’s in pretty much all the iterations and it’s my fav model. I just got the third rotary 24 and had 59/09’s, a toggle and push/pull all set aside to “modernise “ this guitar. After unpacking it and setting it up to my specs I remember why I love this version. Looks like those parts will go into another PRS down the road. And Lew the only thing I’ve changed is the bridge pickup to a Duncan Pearly Gate (zebra of course) On my first two that I bought. Third one staying 100% stock.
 
I am not a fan of the rotary switch. I have one guitar with it, a core CU24. I would never change it because that is the OG recipe of PRS.

If you are not planning on selling the guitar anytime soon, leave it how you want it. If you are thinking about selling it, you will probably sell it faster in it's stock configuration.
 
JasonE said:
I am not a fan of the rotary switch. I have one guitar with it, a core CU24. I would never change it because that is the OG recipe of PRS.

If you are not planning on selling the guitar anytime soon, leave it how you want it. If you are thinking about selling it, you will probably sell it faster in it's stock configuration.i will
Click to expand...
Yes thank you for that. Much appreciated. I believe I will lean toward your advice. In my old age I've been hanging on to most of my gear. The CU24 pictured has more put in to it than I will ever recover. Plus as silly as this sounds, I love the guitar mostly for the SS refret Phil Jacoby did to it.
 
El Rey said:
Yes thank you for that. Much appreciated. I believe I will lean toward your advice. In my old age I've been hanging on to most of my gear. The CU24 pictured has more put in to it than I will ever recover. Plus as silly as this sounds, I love the guitar mostly for the SS refret Phil Jacoby did to it.
Click to expand...
Most of my guitars have had more put into them ($$$) then I or my heirs will ever recover.

But that's what folks who like hot rodding do...right?

I replaced the rotary on my '95 CU22 with a 3 way when I installed Duncan Antiquitys, which don't coil split.

Played it that way for 20 years, then put the Dragon 1's back in and the rotary switch too,

I bought a birch dowel just slightly bigger than the larger hole I had to ream to put the 3 way in.

Sawed off about 1/4" of the dowel and shaped it with sandpaper until it fit perfectly in the 3 way way hole and glued it in.

Let it dry overnight, drilled it for 3/8" and put the rotary back in.

Absolutely undetectable unless you remove the rotary switch.
https://imgur.com/YuulcX3

Those cream Antiquitys are about 25 years old and are now in one of my Bernie Marsdens.

https://imgur.com/J4K9o4C
https://imgur.com/fuydfm0
 
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Lewguitar said:
Most of my guitars have had more put into them ($$$) then I or my heirs will ever recover.

But that's what folks who like hot rodding do...right?

I replaced the rotary on my '95 CU22 with a 3 way when I installed Duncan Antiquitys, which don't coil split.

Played it that way for 20 years, then put the Dragon 1's back in and the rotary switch too,

I bought a birch dowel just slightly bigger than the larger hole I had to ream to put the 3 way in.

Sawed off about 1/4" of the dowel and shaped it with sandpaper until it fit perfectly in the 3 way way hole and glued it in.

Let it dry overnight, drilled it for 3/8" and put the rotary back in.

Absolutely undetectable unless you remove the rotary switch.

Those cream Antiquitys are about 25 years old and are now in one of my Bernie Marsdens.

https://imgur.com/J4K9o4C
https://imgur.com/fuydfm0
Click to expand...
Awesome stuff!! Beautiful guitars Lew.

Here in the past couple of years, I've had to restrain myself. As much as I like to mod things.

I envy your collection and your being able to live in CO. Of the four corners, Colorado is my favorite. NM (Cloudcroft) being my second (much to others chagrin I'm certain). Wife and I itching to head up to Blackhawk for Thanksgiving.
 
I have actually been on a kick of putting my guitars back to stock. I swapped a pot out on my Hamer to darken it up a bit. I put the stock pot back in it.

I have a Heritage H157 that I swapped the pickups in it due to some unwanted feedback at gig volumes. It had Seth Lovers in it. I put a set of Pearly Gates in it and they really worked. I swapped the original pickups back into it.

I had put a Tremol-No in my SAS. I removed that and put the stock trem claw back in it. I also put 57/08 pickups in it along with a Fralin Blues Special middle pickup. I have been thinking of swapping those back too but haven't. Part of the reason is that I like the way the 57/08s sound in it and I measured the original SAS pickups and they are actually slightly weaker than the old version 57/08s I put in the guitar. I may swap them at some point but I decided to leave the pickups alone for now.

My tweaking itch now is with pedals. After I built my first one, I really got into it. I have 4 more in the build process right now. I have been thinking of taking a few pedals that I have that I don't use very often and modding them. There are a bunch of mods out there with all the information I need to know what to change. We shall see once I finish these 4. I have an idea for another double OD pedal that I may do next. I think it will be a killer pedal if I do it.
 
I like the rotary on my CE22. I don't gig--hell, I barely play--so if I'm not super proficient at finding the setting I want it's no big deal.

I think if a person doesn't like the rotary but loves the guitar... Switch it out. These things are reversible. Why not enjoy the instrument and worry about resale at some point in the unknowable future? I also don't think it has a huge impact on resale value. Enough of them were sold with McCarty switching stock. Keep the rotary in the case.
 
The one unique tone I really loved with the rotary was the bridge humbucker with the neck split. When I recently converted my rotary to 3-way toggle, I simply wired the push-pull tone to only split the neck - got me exactly what I wanted when pulled (neck-only split, or neck split + bridge full HB). With the switch pushed, I get the stock N/NB/B humbucker options. I don’t plan on selling this 06 CU24, and this configuration is perfect for me.
 
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