What is the factory orientation of the 3-way toggle switch?

[Permanent Waves]

This seems like a very silly question, but I have come across my first PRS with a 3-way toggle pickup selector switch - all the others I played had the 5-way rotary knob.

What is the factory default orientation for the 3-way toggle pickup selector? I assumed it was like a standard LP, bottom position is for bridge pickup. Turns out it's the opposite - upward is bridge pickup only.

Is this Factory Default? I first thought I would just reverse it but the switch can only be installed one way, so reversing it means unsoldering and flipping the wires. I was just curious if someone had changed it on my guitar.

Thanks!

 

[Ovibos]

This seems like a very silly question, but I have come across my first PRS with a 3-way toggle pickup selector switch - all the others I played had the 5-way rotary knob.

What is the factory default orientation for the 3-way toggle pickup selector? I assumed it was like a standard LP, bottom position is for bridge pickup. Turns out it's the opposite - upward is bridge pickup only.

Is this Factory Default? I first thought I would just reverse it but the switch can only be installed one way, so reversing it means unsoldering and flipping the wires. I was just curious if someone had changed it on my guitar.

Thanks!

Yeah, that’s backwards.

 

[Aahzz]

Definitely been switched, that's backwards.

 

[Permanent Waves]

That's what I thought - thanks!

 

[Wakester]

You might have one of those Australian models

 

[alantig]

Alright - who's the wise guy who put the left-handed switch in the right-handed guitar??

 

[gush]

I prefer mine to point in the direction of the pickup I'm using.

I'm weird

 

[markd21]

What's the guitar? I ask because that is what I do with my 3 way toggles. Granted, only with guitars that have the toggle on the upper bout/horn. I tend to hit the switch sometimes...

 

[Permanent Waves]

What's the guitar? I ask because that is what I do with my 3 way toggles. Granted, only with guitars that have the toggle on the upper bout/horn. I tend to hit the switch sometimes...

It's a 92 CE24. Guy at the shop told me it was all original with no mods. It's hard to tell if the solder was re-done, but if so, it was well re-done.
On Les Pauls, I like them to point down on the bridge pickup for the exact same reason, in case I get over-enthusiastic with the picking.
On this guitar, not so much, but for habit's sake I thought it would be the same. I think PRS were pretty open to customizing orders back then.

 

[Nice F Holes]

Maybe the switch was taken out and just installed turned around, without anything actually being removed? Or maybe the original pups were taken out and reinstalled, and the switch put in backwards. You should be able to flip it around without disconnecting (desoldering) anything.

 

[aphantomvaper]

I prefer mine to point in the direction of the pickup I'm using.

I'm weird

That's what Buzz from The Melvins does...a little weird but likeable!

 

[Stephen J.]

It's a 92 CE24.

I would expect a’92 CE-24 to have the 5 way rotary switch.

 

[Permanent Waves]

Maybe the switch was taken out and just installed turned around, without anything actually being removed? Or maybe the original pups were taken out and reinstalled, and the switch put in backwards. You should be able to flip it around without disconnecting (desoldering) anything.

That was my first thought, but the inside part of the toggle can only fit in one direction inside the cavity. However, the mystery is solved. I studied the PRS wiring diagram and found some inconsistencies. Basically the reversal was not at the toggle switch, but at the push-pull switch. The neck pickup wiring was soldered to where the bridge pickup wiring was supposed to go and vice-versa. Also, one of the pickups had the black and white leads reversed, so it was out of phase. That's why I couldn't figure out what the push-pull did because the guitar sounded very weird with both pickups on, very metallic.

I would expect a’92 CE-24 to have the 5 way rotary switch.

So I am pretty sure this was not done at the factory . I also would have expected a rotary switch from the factory but the McCarty Electronics option was available (or else installed later). I assume someone wanted to experiment with out-of-phase pickups and alternate switch orientation, or else someone worked on it who had absolutely no clue what he was doing. Given that the neck pickup was installed backwards when I got it, I suspect the the latter . Anyway, it is back to sounding the way it should. Thanks!