TM pickups to TCI

[Smnelson]

Sorry if this is has been asked and may seem obvious.

I found a late 2019 custom 22 I wanna buy however it has TM pickups but I would like TCI pickups.

My question is: will that a be a direct swap? I can’t find if TM has split coils but I wanna make sure the guitar has the hardware to make that swap.

Also: the guitar was late 2019. Is that a nitro finish? Thanks!

 

[Broseph]

Likely v12 finish. And if you’re talking 85/15:
it should be a direct swap.
I would suggest trying the stock pickups first. I have my doubts you’ll hear a ton difference between tci and tm.

 

[Stephen J.]

TCI has the unfortunate status of being both a manufacturing process that all the PRS guitars get and also a specific set of pickups, most generally in the Paul’s Guitar model. TM typically follows the 57/08, 58/15, and 85/15 labels on those specific pickups. TM stands for Trade Mark. 2019 was in the transition time, so that guitar may or may not have both TCI (process) pickups and nitro finish. Sending the serial number to PRS customer service might get you more information about that particular guitar.

 

[SinSir]

I'm in the camp that my understanding is that TCI is a process, and I'm not sure what benefits can be had by swapping TCI pickups.

 

[Smnelson]

I appreciate the input. I was the current pickups are 85/15 and I wanted to make sure the TM pickups have the split coil humbucker setting which would make the swap easier. Tbh I’ll probably wait to change them if I even do. I mostly wanted to keep that in mind in case I ever decide to.

I appreciate everyone’s input!

 

[ViggoP]

The ”TCI” version isn’t necessarily better. They might be a little different but that doesn’t mean that you’ll like them more, that’s very subjective. The stock pickups are still very good and swapping them for the “TCI” version will likely result in a very expensive step sideways. If you for some reason don’t like the stock pickups, then consider changing them for something else.