What pickups for a PRS CE 24?

[vchizzle]

When I first got my CE24, I too felt the HFS pup was a little on the weak side. I had considered replacing both pickups with Blackouts.

I took the guitar to my luthier for a set up and to see about the pickup swap, and he suggested first that he put a 1 meg volume pot in the guitar to see how that would sound. It made a lot of difference and was a mere fraction the cost of a new set of pickups.

Just a suggestion as I had a similar experience.

Seems like a smart thing to try 1st....in essence, that would open the sound of the pickup up...give a little more of everything.
Any 4 way conductor pickup should be able to be hooked up to the PRS rotary. Hot, ground - just need to figure out which way the other 2 wires go. Use low watt iron on that rotary switch if its a newer one with the little circuit board(likely is), don't wanna overheat it.

Not sure what to suggest for pickup, I actually like the HFS alot. Have one in my McCarty standard and it sounds great. I find it a bit bright in maple top guitars but like it for solid mahogany - so we have different tastes, I'm guessing. I've had the Godwood which is pretty bright(too much for me), I felt it wasn't quite as hot as I like though....good sounding pickup, just not my style. I'm gonna talk to Wade @ Motorcity and try something of his, maybe an Afwayu. His pickups are priced nicely for a custom builder and he seems to want to make the customer happy.

 

[guitarslinger]

Playing devil's advocate here:

Don't you need to flip the magnet with the PRS switching scheme?

Just like the P-megaswitch from Schaller.

I'm pretty sure you need a flipped magnet to get 5 humbucking positions that are in phase on the roto switch.

Unless you have a normal 3 way toggle with taps or whatever.

 

[Death by Uberschall]

I always thought the 5-way knob was overkill. I never liked it. What bothered me the most was I got maybe two good sounds out of five, and never really knew exactly where it was positioned without starting from position one or five.

 

[vchizzle]

Playing devil's advocate here:

Don't you need to flip the magnet with the PRS switching scheme?

Just like the P-megaswitch from Schaller.

I'm pretty sure you need a flipped magnet to get 5 humbucking positions that are in phase on the roto switch.

Unless you have a normal 3 way toggle with taps or whatever.

Correct. I'm 99% sure PRS pickups have the magnet on the neck pickup mag flipped on guitars with the rotary. So if he just replaces the bridge pickup it's not an issue. If he replaces both pickups with non PRS, then one needs to likely be flipped to get the proper phase or whatever using the rotary switch. It will still work whether the mag is flipped or not, just will sound different - I think. I'm not an expert on the rotary cause I don't use it anymore. The one guitar I have with it, I had it taken out by a tech 12 years ago...no idea if he flipped the magnet or not cause I didn't know jack about it back then. I do occasionally switch back and forth between the rotary and 3way w/coil tap in that guitar without flipping the magnet...works fine, but isn't proper one way. Here's some threads:
http://forums.birdsandmoons.com/forum/s ... id=1315351

Here's a link specifically on magnets and how to tell if you need to flip:
http://forums.birdsandmoons.com/forum/s ... hp?t=45313
The guy that first answered my question knows quite a bit tech wise when it comes to PRS wiring and such.

 

[Audioholic]

I always thought the 5-way knob was overkill. I never liked it. What bothered me the most was I got maybe two good sounds out of five, and never really knew exactly where it was positioned without starting from position one or five.

I admit I mainly stick to positions 1,3,5, almost equally. But there were times when going to the 2 and 4 came in handy, for instance almost can sound a bit more acoustic, and nice for driving an amp less. I also find I pretty much can use all 5 positions on my strat. So while I wouldn't die losing them, its still nice to have.

still not quite sure what I am going to do pickup wise. I can only imagine with a good set of pups, I will love this guitar even more. thanks for the suggestions.