PRS wiring
Ross Edwards
to the point where I think it could do with a little pick-me-up...
I'm happy with the Dragon II pickups, but the rotary switch is noisy
and, in a live environment, a bit of a pain to use - especially if I
want to flick from bridge h/b to neck h/b - 5 clicks!!
I'm looking a few options, namely PRS own 3-way, coil-tapped, drop-in
replacement (but they'll only ship to the US... Nick?); plus also
options from RS Guitarworks (www.rsguitarworks.net) and Rothstein
Guitars (www.guitar-mod.com)... Plus, of course, there's always the
"home-brew" option.
Question for PRS users out there (USA or SE, I'm no snob) - which do
you prefer, the toggle or rotary? What have I got to lose?
Cheers,
Ross.
Woody
I have one of the rotary switches, I was going to put it on the SE, but
the hole is different, and I didn't want to drill it!
Which settings do you use? If you only use bridge and neck hb you may as
well use the 3 way version.
--
Woody
Paul McCrone
What I would do is this. Get the dimarzio DP1111 Petrucci type switch
this will give you the bridge humbucker, the two inner coils and the
neck humbucker. You could add two push push pots (push pulls are a
PITA) one to coil tap the neck when on position 1 the other to add in
the two outer coils when in position 2 ala the BFR Petrucci. you could
probably wire it so the neck coil tap also affects the bridge but I'm
not particularly a fan of that sound. This would give you 6 different
sounds. Similar to what you already have but without the parallel
option for the neck humbucker assuming the PRS switch does the same
job as the 5 position Ibanez switch for 2 humbucker equipped guitars.
So to sum up
Push push pots off
position 1 Neck Humbucker full on
Position 2 Neck and Bridge humbucker coil tapped iner or outer coils
depending on prefference
Position 3 Bridge Humbucker full on
Coil tap on
Position 1 Neck bumbucker coil taped
position 2 No affect
Position 3 Bridge Humbucker coil tapped
outer coil switch
Position 1 No effect or makes it full humbucking if coil tap is in use
position 2 Both humbuckers full on
Position 3 No effect or makes it full humbucking if coil tap is in use
The sound you lose is the neck in parallel but gain the neck and
bridge coil tapped on it's own which you don't get with a PRS iirc
It really depends what tones you actually use and like, you could wire
it so it's a normal les paul type switching then add in a coil tap to
get the above sounds and you still have a pot that you could mod with
say a high pass filter ala the Ibanez JS series but I'm a big fan of
the two inner coil sounds, very stratty and great for cleans and I
prefer to go straight to it rather than having to select position 2
then hit a coil tap. I keep meaning to rewire my JS guitars this way
one day I will get round to it it's just a bit complicated to get it
wired correctly.
Cheers
P
Grant
> Question for PRS users out there (USA or SE, I'm no snob) - which do
> you prefer, the toggle or rotary? What have I got to lose?
>
http://www.prsguitars.com/csc/switching.html
a.. Position 10: Treble pickup
b.. Position 9: Outside coils parallel
c.. Position 8: Series inner single coils
d.. Position 7: Parallel inner single coils
e.. Position 6: Bass pickup
I've used a rotary switch for 15+ years, it's versatile except you miss both
humbuckers. I use positions 6, 7 & 10 the vast majority of the time so a
toggle switch would be ok and easier to use. Pos 9 is handy for country type
stuff but do punters notice the difference between 9 & 7?
Usability is the main drawback of the rotary switch for me, I choose a
position for a song and stick with it till the end. I take a strat to jams
and it's great being able to switch pickups during a song - even during a
solo. My Yamaha SG has a toggle and push pots for single coils, which is
really versatile but I was always getting the wrong combination when playing
live ;-)
netdog
You may love your pickups, but personally I don't think they are PRS's
strong point. I dropped some Tom Andersons into a friend's PRS and it
really came alive.
Stan Barr
Fit a knob with a lever, such as the ones Framus used to use, it's as
convenient as a toggle. I made one for my friend's Burns bass by
drilling a hole in the side of a metal knob and gluing in a short
piece of stainless rod.
Chickenheads are the cool way to go...
--
Cheers,
Stan Barr plan.b .at. dsl .dot. pipex .dot. com
The future was never like this!
icarusi
news:8j27j1...@mid.individual.net...
> Fit a knob with a lever, such as the ones Framus used to use, it's as
> convenient as a toggle. I made one for my friend's Burns bass by
> drilling a hole in the side of a metal knob and gluing in a short
> piece of stainless rod.
>
> Chickenheads are the cool way to go...
+1! I found a knob with a 'tusk' pointer which I can also work it by feel:-
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2029/2021915863_aac3beca5d_b.jpg
The guitar now has 3 pu, a HB in the middle which can slide. The switch is
2P6W so it's N+B,N,N+M,M,M+B,B and the tone control is a 'blend' control
between any of the double pu selections.
icarusi
--
remove the 00 to reply
http://icarusi.wordpress.com/
Stan Barr
> "Stan Barr" <pla...@dsl.pipex.com> wrote in message
> news:8j27j1...@mid.individual.net...
>
>> Fit a knob with a lever, such as the ones Framus used to use, it's as
>> convenient as a toggle. I made one for my friend's Burns bass by
>> drilling a hole in the side of a metal knob and gluing in a short
>> piece of stainless rod.
>>
>> Chickenheads are the cool way to go...
>
> +1! I found a knob with a 'tusk' pointer which I can also work it by feel:-
>
> http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2029/2021915863_aac3beca5d_b.jpg
This is more what I had in mind:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30379212@N03/sets/72157607486164543/
or google for Framus Nashville...
Steve Robinson
>
> This is more what I had in mind:
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/30379212@N03/sets/72157607486164543/
Maton have something similar
http://www.guitarpug.com/wp-content/uploads/guitarpug/2008/05/ms500body1.jpg
JNugent
> On Sat, 30 Oct 2010 15:41:11 -0700, icarusi<icar...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> "Stan Barr"<pla...@dsl.pipex.com> wrote in message
>> news:8j27j1...@mid.individual.net...
>>
>>> Fit a knob with a lever, such as the ones Framus used to use, it's as
>>> convenient as a toggle. I made one for my friend's Burns bass by
>>> drilling a hole in the side of a metal knob and gluing in a short
>>> piece of stainless rod.
>>>
>>> Chickenheads are the cool way to go...
>>
>> +1! I found a knob with a 'tusk' pointer which I can also work it by feel:-
>>
>> http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2029/2021915863_aac3beca5d_b.jpg
>
> This is more what I had in mind:
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/30379212@N03/sets/72157607486164543/
>
> or google for Framus Nashville...
or Fender Electric XII...
<http://www.chicagomusicexchange.com/products/Fender-Electric-XII-Candy-Apple-Red-1966.html>
Actually, Burns Guitars are about to introduce a replica of the 1950s Antoria
LG50 (also marketed as a Guyatone) with a similar control knob. It is
possible the item may be available as a replacement.
icarusi
news:8j566p...@mid.individual.net...
> Actually, Burns Guitars are about to introduce a replica of the 1950s
> Antoria LG50 (also marketed as a Guyatone) with a similar control knob. It
> is possible the item may be available as a replacement.
You need to be careful using some of those extended T-knobs as they can put
a lot of torque on the wafer switch and loosen the retaining nut or bend the
spindle stop, probably one reason why LF came up with the Tele/Strat switch
mech.
JNugent
Hmmm...
It's never happened with my Fender XII... in... er... 44 years...
Ross Edwards
I like your thinking (and it's eminently do-able) but at the moment,
I'm thinking that "less is more"...
The settings I tend to use most are:
Bridge h/b (pos 1 on the rotary)
Neck h/b (pos 5)
Neck/bridge outside coils in parallel (pos 4, I think)
The other two settings (neck/bridge inside in series and inside in
parallel) are hardly touched...
Ross.
Ross Edwards
Thanks for posting this... Yup, my favourites are (using the above) 6,
7 and 10 also. FWIW I completely agree on the usability... I like to
change pickups and ride the volume/tone controls throughout a song -
it's fine to go from, say, 10 to 6, but trying to stop (cleanly) at
any other position is a nightmare!
Having a "both humbuckers" setting would be nice but, with only a
master volume control, it's tough to get that "woman tone"...
Now you've got me thinking about using push/pull pots as vol/tone for
each pickup... Nurse!
Ross.
Stan Barr
And I made my friends Burns one over 30yrs ago!
Big lever knobs are used on a lot of professional radio gear with no
problems, and some of it ended up in the hands of soldiers!
Eddystone used some nice chrome ones.
Come to think of it some radio knobs might work, lets see on eBay...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2-Daka-ware-Pointer-knob-LARGE-/200496092032?pt=\
UK_Guitar_Accessories&hash=item2eae7f9380
Giant chickenheads! (watch the wrapping...)
icarusi
>> It's never happened with my Fender XII... in... er... 44 years...
>
> And I made my friends Burns one over 30yrs ago!
> Big lever knobs are used on a lot of professional radio gear with no
> problems, and some of it ended up in the hands of soldiers!
> Eddystone used some nice chrome ones.
Old wafer switch mechanisms were more robust than the current items in
guitars with a 'normal' knob to do the switching. I've got some of the older
ones in a box somewhere and they're the size of an old penny, with a lot of
metal to the cage and a threaded section with two flats so they don't rotate
in a similar hole (with 2 flats). The modern ones usually rely on star
washer to grip and another washer with a bent lug to limit the ways, so a
4P3W can also be set up as a 2P6W, 2P5W or 2P4W.
Ross Edwards
Ok, more thinking...
It's going to be more economically viable for me to buy the individual
components than a replacement harness (£69 for the standard PRS is the
cheapest!), so I'm thinking along the lines of two push/pull or push/
push pots and, instead of coil taps, using them for series/parallel
switching of each humbucker - that should give me thinner, single-coil-
esque tones but remain hum-cancelling...
However, I've never (knowingly) tried series/parallel switching of
humbucker coils... Worth a try?
Ross.
Frank A Muller
> However, I've never (knowingly) tried series/parallel switching of
> humbucker coils... Worth a try?
My Ibanez Artist is fitted with two Tri-Tone switches that permit
series/parallel/single-coil switching for either pickup. With the two volume &
two tone controls, it certainly gives the guitar a huge range of tonal options.
Frank A Muller
Woody
My ibanez prestige is fitted with two stacked tone controls, center
indented which also push pull.
Means I have bass, middle level, middle freqency, treble and two
volumes. Sometimes there is too much control!
--
Woody
Stan Barr
You have a valid point there. Some of the electronics used in
guitars these days is not what I would call professional quality.
As for the cheaper model...well...
I have a Squier Strat on the workbench atm with a duff switch, one of
the pcb base ones, I'll replace it with a quality one - not expensive
- I'm sure the owner won't mind paying!
George Weston
I've had my Strat modified to suit my simple brain.
The tone controls are now, respectively, bass and treble - just like a
hi-fi - with each control working on all three pickups.
Wonderfully ergonomic.
In normal use, both controls are turned full on.
Too much treble or bass? - just roll it off as required.
Nice...
George
icarusi
news:uIWdnX_155mm7lLR...@westnet.com.au...
I was recently checking the spec of my DiMarzio Dual-Sound pu and one of the
reasons for splitting the coils, over the Super Distortion was for
series/parallel switching. I only ever used it for HB/sc switching. Didn't
realise there was the s/p option. Don't recall seeing it on the install
leaflet.
Ross Edwards
> "Frank A Muller" <Fr...@Work.In.Australia> wrote in messagenews:uIWdnX_155mm7lLR...@westnet.com.au...
>
> > Ross Edwards wrote
> >> However, I've never (knowingly) tried series/parallel switching of
> >> humbucker coils... Worth a try?
>
> > My Ibanez Artist is fitted with two Tri-Tone switches that permit
> > series/parallel/single-coil switching for either pickup. With the two
> > volume & two tone controls, it certainly gives the guitar a huge range of
> > tonal options.
>
> I was recently checking the spec of my DiMarzio Dual-Sound pu and one of the
> reasons for splitting the coils, over the Super Distortion was for
> series/parallel switching. I only ever used it for HB/sc switching. Didn't
> realise there was the s/p option. Don't recall seeing it on the install
> leaflet.
>
> icarusi
Well, I've taken the plunge and ordered a couple of push/push pots and
a Switchcraft toggle switch from WD... Time to break out the soldering
iron!
Ross.