What Did You Do With Your Guitar(s) Today?

[Stone]

Recording part 2 of 5 parts

 

[SillyOctpuss]

Got the five way rotary switch out of my prs case and cleared the old solder out of the holes. Seriously thinking about putting it back to stock with this and the original Dragon IIs. Been listening to a lot of old recordings recently and missing some of those sounds.

View attachment 44554


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That's the replacement wiring loom and pickups out. Took ages to clean up the original pots, 31 year old me should never have been allowed near a soldering iron cause he had no idea WTF he was doing. I swopped pickups a few times after removing the Dragon IIs and younger me made a right mess of the pots, there was solder everywhere and I even had to straighten the lugs.

The only thing I don't have is the original tone cap but an oversized orange drop will look cooler than the ceramic one prs used anyway.

That's enough for tonight. I'll come back to it later.

 

[Jarick]

Can you link it . I haven’t seen it yet.

Sorry! I meant push pull - will fix my post.

I love the idea of a push push but in reality I barely use it. My CE-24 has been rewired so many times the push pull no longer goes up and down.

The current tone pot is a push pull Alpha so slightly smaller than CTS but that's no big deal I have a reamer and have opened the holes on my other PRS. The volume pot is still going strong though a decade later.

 

[Jarick]

That's the replacement wiring loom and pickups out. Took ages to clean up the original pots, 31 year old me should never have been allowed near a soldering iron cause he had no idea WTF he was doing. I swopped pickups a few times after removing the Dragon IIs and younger me made a right mess of the pots, there was solder everywhere and I even had to straighten the lugs.

The only thing I don't have is the original tone cap but an oversized orange drop will look cooler than the ceramic one prs used anyway.

That's enough for tonight. I'll come back to it later.

I have probably installed pickups hundreds of times in guitars and I still feel like an amateur lol. I've been really taking my time lately instead of rushing through and it's better but I'm so jealous of those guys whose wiring looks like a work of art.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

I have probably installed pickups hundreds of times in guitars and I still feel like an amateur lol. I've been really taking my time lately instead of rushing through and it's better but I'm so jealous of those guys whose wiring looks like a work of art.

My soldering became a lot better after I had built a lot of pedals. The biggest jump came from switching to leaded solder and using flux. Oh and a really good solder sucker to clean up old parts.

 

[megametal7]

i learned solo

 

[la szum]

Got the five way rotary switch out of my prs case and cleared the old solder out of the holes. Seriously thinking about putting it back to stock with this and the original Dragon IIs. Been listening to a lot of old recordings recently and missing some of those sounds.

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View attachment 44555

Oh man. Nice work.

My Custom 22 is all stock with the 5 way Rotary and Dragon Pickups.

My McCarty I put in Push/Pull Pots and changed out the Stock Pickups.

I think a 3-way with Push/Pull Pots is a cool option to consider. Can actually get more
tonal options that way than with a 5 way Rotary.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

Oh man. Nice work.

My Custom 22 is all stock with the 5 way Rotary and Dragon Pickups.

View attachment 44704

My McCarty I put in Push/Pull Pots and changed out the Stock Pickups.

I think a 3-way with Push/Pull Pots is a cool option to consider. Can actually get more
tonal options that way than with a 5 way Rotary.

Solid colour double cut 22 fret prs with moons are my favourite.

I originally swopped the 5 way for McCarty wiring with a push pull but I've been missing the split positions on the 5 way and have other guitars that can do the McCarty tones.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

That's the replacement wiring loom and pickups out. Took ages to clean up the original pots, 31 year old me should never have been allowed near a soldering iron cause he had no idea WTF he was doing. I swopped pickups a few times after removing the Dragon IIs and younger me made a right mess of the pots, there was solder everywhere and I even had to straighten the lugs.

The only thing I don't have is the original tone cap but an oversized orange drop will look cooler than the ceramic one prs used anyway.

That's enough for tonight. I'll come back to it later.

Well it's starting to look like my 5 way is knackered. I've got it all wired up tonight and only getting signal from the bridge pickup. Nothing from the neck at all. I've reflowed the joints, desoldered the pickup and connected it again. I've tested the pickup is still working and it's fine, I'm getting 8k and 4k split. Just no sound when it's connected up. I'm going to have one more go and then quit for the night .

Bugger

 

[norminal]

Well it's starting to look like my 5 way is knackered. I've got it all wired up tonight and only getting signal from the bridge pickup. Nothing from the neck at all. I've reflowed the joints, desoldered the pickup and connected it again. I've tested the pickup is still working and it's fine, I'm getting 8k and 4k split. Just no sound when it's connected up. I'm going to have one more go and then quit for the night .

Bugger

Time to bust out the multimeter. Are those 5-ways still fetching PRS dollars?

 

[SillyOctpuss]

Time to bust out the multimeter. Are those 5-ways still fetching PRS dollars?

Yup crazy money for a replacement. I'm not sure how to test the 5 way tbh. I think I might have to fully disconnect it and then just start probing the contacts on the front to see what connects where. I'm 99% certain all of my wiring is fine. I've had the neck pickup disconnected twice now and it tests fine on my multimeter.

 

[la szum]

Solid colour double cut 22 fret prs with moons are my favourite.

I originally swopped the 5 way for McCarty wiring with a push pull but I've been missing the split positions on the 5 way and have other guitars that can do the McCarty tones.

I put 2 Push/Pull Pots in my McCarty so I have independent options on each PU. I never
liked the single Push-Pull and being stuck with both being split-coil or humbuggered.

Edit: Bummer on your 5 way. Ughhh!

 

[SillyOctpuss]

I put 2 Push/Pull Pots in my McCarty so I have independent options on each PU. I never
liked the single Push-Pull and being stuck with both being split-coil or humbuggered.

Edit: Bummer on your 5 way. Ughhh!

I've never had a guitar with independent coil splits. Very cool. Bridge humbucker with neck split is probably a cool sound.

I've got the switch out and cleared the solder out of the holes again. I'm going to give it a good clean later and try to trace the connections on the board to figure it out. If it looks OK I'll have another go at wiring it up. Fingers crossed it gets somewhere this time.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

Yup crazy money for a replacement. I'm not sure how to test the 5 way tbh. I think I might have to fully disconnect it and then just start probing the contacts on the front to see what connects where. I'm 99% certain all of my wiring is fine. I've had the neck pickup disconnected twice now and it tests fine on my multimeter.

Pretty sure there's a fault somewhere but I can't find it so I'm giving up. I've reconnected everything about 6 times now and checked every connection. I'm only getting signal from the bridge and nothing from any other position on the switch. Balls.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

And so my march back towards the same rig I was playing 20 years ago continues. I gave up on the 5 way rotary for now, there's definitely something wrong with it but I can't find the fault so went with McCarty wiring instead.

Just spent a few hrs in prs and Marshall heaven. It's as close to OG spec as I can get for now and it's like getting an old friend back. I even went back from lampshades to the original knobs.

The one benefit of McCarty wiring is having both humbuckers together in the normal middle position and it's bloody lovely. I'll be honest and say I got a bit emotional playing it tonight and don't know why I took these pickups out in the first place. They've spent the last 11 years in the case but they're back where they belong and aren't going anywhere now.

Bloody cat climbed right in there when I set it down and wouldn't move

 

[la szum]

And so my march back towards the same rig I was playing 20 years ago continues. I gave up on the 5 way rotary for now, there's definitely something wrong with it but I can't find the fault so went with McCarty wiring instead.

Just spent a few hrs in prs and Marshall heaven. It's as close to OG spec as I can get for now and it's like getting an old friend back. I even went back from lampshades to the original knobs.

The one benefit of McCarty wiring is having both humbuckers together in the normal middle position and it's bloody lovely. I'll be honest and say I got a bit emotional playing it tonight and don't know why I took these pickups out in the first place. They've spent the last 11 years in the case but they're back where they belong and aren't going anywhere now.

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View attachment 45313


Bloody cat climbed right in there when I set it down and wouldn't move

That's flipping gorgeous, SO!

I am super happy for you. Even if you are making me second-guess my "modded" McCarty.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

That's flipping gorgeous, SO!

I am super happy for you. Even if you are making me second-guess my "modded" McCarty.

Pics of your McCarty please.

 

[la szum]

I am utterly ashamed to admit it's still not finished and in a bit of disarray.

I prefer playing my guitars to working on them 100% of the time, which makes me
wonder why I choose to work on them in first place.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

I am utterly ashamed to admit it's still not finished and in a bit of disarray.

I prefer playing my guitars to working on them 100% of the time, which makes me
wonder why I choose to work on them in first place.

What are you in the middle of doing to it?

I quite enjoy working on guitars tbh.

 

[la szum]

Up early. Taking the day off and staying home to get this project done.

New/different Pickups. Better quality Pots/Wiring (not the stuff in the pic), and then playing
the Mofo. Again.

Should have done it right the first time and not have to redo it.