Did I wire up my pickups correctly? PRS Custom 24 w/ 5-way Blade Switch

M

Myriad_Rocker

New member
So, I spent some time yesterday doing my first pickup swap. I've done mic cables before, so I decided to tackle pickups. I chose the JB and Jazz except that I swapped the magnets in them for A2's instead of the stock A5's. Someone did this for me when I bought them and he's knowledgeable in that area (or certainly talked like he was).

When I got them wired up, I plugged in. The cleans sounded good. Bell like quality, very chimey. I switch over to the dirty channel (Marshall JVM410H...a new amp for me) and it just sounds kind of nasty. Very mid heavy with an ice pick quality. I've talked to others that thought they may be out of phase. But to me that means the sound would be really weak and it's not. They're loud for sure.

When I was wiring them up, the guy that sold them to me said that I needed to flip (pull it out, turn it over, put it back) the magnet in the Jazz and then wire them backwards (green becomes black, black becomes green). I did that before I did anything else.

So, I use the PRS schematic for a 5-way blade switch (2010 model, so the generic 5-way blade schematic). Using the following, I get to soldering...

JB
Duncan Black = PRS White
Duncan Green = PRS Black
Duncan Red+White = PRS Red (coil splitting)
Duncan bare wire = PRS Shield

Jazz w/flipped magnet
Duncan Green = PRS White
Duncan Black = PRS Black
Duncan Red+White = PRS Red (coil splitting)
Duncan bare wire = PRS Shield


Any thoughts here? Did I wire this thing up correctly?
 
Re: Did I wire up my pickups correctly? PRS Custom 24 w/ 5-way Blade Switch

No one? Bueller? Bueller?

I got out my Les Paul and plugged in. The amp sounded fine through it. I then plugged in the PRS with the pickups I wired in. The phase problem became very evident after that. The dirty channels just sound very weak and wimpy...and there's that ice pick thing going on, too. It seems like I can hear it on the cleans some, too, but it's not anywhere near as apparent as it is on the dirty channels.

Now I have to figure out where I went wrong...
 
Re: Did I wire up my pickups correctly? PRS Custom 24 w/ 5-way Blade Switch

Its been a while since i did any pickup wiring, but im pretty sure since both pickups are SD then you should definitely not be flipping one of them because then they will be out of phase. Im really not an expert in magnet swapping, but if the orientation of the magnet affects the phase then flipping the magnet AND wiring it backwards should be redundant.

Im sure someone can chime here who can help you more than me but i would start be re-wiring which ever one you wired in reverse. Unless of course thats how you wired it the first time and the wiring in reverse came afterwards. If neither of those set ups worked then im not really sure.
 
Re: Did I wire up my pickups correctly? PRS Custom 24 w/ 5-way Blade Switch

I tried flipping the magnet back in the neck pickup. I double checked all my wiring on the PRS 5 way rotary schematic...coordinated the colors with the Duncan pickups...and still...OUT OF PHASE.

At this point, I think I'm confused about the wiring. Is it this?

Duncan Black = PRS White
Duncan Green = PRS Black

OR is it this?

Duncan Black = PRS Black
Duncan Green = PRS White
 
Re: Did I wire up my pickups correctly? PRS Custom 24 w/ 5-way Blade Switch

Is that a dig on me? :33: :9:

That is helpful, but I wonder about it since it just talks about the bridge pickup? If both pickups are SD, do I need to flip any magnets? I don't think I do, because I think the assumption is that the existing PRS neck pickup would have a flipped magnet. If I don't, I assume the hot wire, etc stays the same color. Also, it's for the rotary switch, not the blade. But still, this should help. Knowing which PRS wire is the hot wire helps. I thought it was black.

I called Seymour Duncan, but the guy seemed unsure about the wiring.
 
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Re: Did I wire up my pickups correctly? PRS Custom 24 w/ 5-way Blade Switch

scottish said:
Im assuming the switch was pre-wired and all you had to do which change out the pups. If you need to rewire the whole switch then you need this one:

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=prs_mod_2
Click to expand...

Yes, all I had to do was change the pups. However, it's not the rotary switch. It's the 5 way blade. This one.

So, I think I may have to flip the bridge magnet anyway...due to the wiring on the switch. Regardless, I have some new info so I'm going to check everything tonight. If I can't solve it tonight, it's going to a tech.
 
Re: Did I wire up my pickups correctly? PRS Custom 24 w/ 5-way Blade Switch

Damn it! Didnt catch that part.

If you look at the duncan wiring diagram again, it shows which pup combos you have in each position. If the combos are the same then i suspect it will be the same thing. Flip the bridge and dont flip the neck and use the color coding in the duncan diagrams.
 
Re: Did I wire up my pickups correctly? PRS Custom 24 w/ 5-way Blade Switch

Well, I give up. I rewired the thing 4 times now. I'm just going to take it to a tech and let them figure it out and put the A5 magnets back in. Hopefully they can figure out which way they go in. Obviously I'm not cut out for pickup wiring. At least not something this complicated yet.
 
Re: Did I wire up my pickups correctly? PRS Custom 24 w/ 5-way Blade Switch

Sorry to hear it man. If its any consolation you are jumping in the deep end with splits and magnet flips. Sorry I couldn't be more help
 
Re: Did I wire up my pickups correctly? PRS Custom 24 w/ 5-way Blade Switch

You were plenty of help. Thanks. I just couldn't get the job done. It's just above my skillset right now when it comes to installing pickups.
 
Re: Did I wire up my pickups correctly? PRS Custom 24 w/ 5-way Blade Switch

Myriad_Rocker said:
You were plenty of help. Thanks. I just couldn't get the job done. It's just above my skillset right now when it comes to installing pickups.
Click to expand...

Im trying to do the same, but with the Suhr Aldrich set (same wiring colors as Duncans). If you achieve installing your new pups... can you please post how you finally do it.

thanks in advance.
 
Re: Did I wire up my pickups correctly? PRS Custom 24 w/ 5-way Blade Switch

Well, I finally got around to playing the guitar after getting it back from the shop sometime last week. It's still screwed up. It sounds horrible...no better than when I took it there in the first place.

Here's exactly how it's wired up right now. This is how I had it at one point in my 4 different wirings. I was sure this was right when I did it. Since the tech came up with this wiring, too, I think it's correct. I need to confirm with you guys, though.

f1ekt55kd7gd5cf6g.jpg


If this is correct, I suspect this is all an issue with the magnets.



Demonium said:
Im trying to do the same, but with the Suhr Aldrich set (same wiring colors as Duncans). If you achieve installing your new pups... can you please post how you finally do it.

thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
If you're sure the wiring is the same as a Duncan, refer to the diagram above. I THINK this is the right wiring. Try flipping the magnet (turn it over like a pancake) in the bridge pickup and see what that gets you.
 
Re: Did I wire up my pickups correctly? PRS Custom 24 w/ 5-way Blade Switch

What positions sound bad??

I think 1 and 5 are bridge and neck on full series mode. If these are sounding bad then there is something seriously wrong that isn't just the wiring. I'm just chasing up the wiring diagram I got with a PRS style switch to see how that relates to what you've got.

The magnets should be a simple issue. One of them needs to be flipped, and it really shouldn't matter which one as phase only affects when coils interact....and its either in or out, not a third option. What I'm trying to say is that you fix phase issues by flipping any one magnet. Flipping also need for the long side of the magnet to face the opposite direction. There are 3 possible ways to flip a magnet.....its easiest just to rotate it like a clock hand. (or the end that came out first goes in first.) If you've still got the magnets, then place them with the long sides together. 1 north and one south will be attracted together. In pickups the same polarity is put on the screw coil side.
 
Re: Did I wire up my pickups correctly? PRS Custom 24 w/ 5-way Blade Switch

Attached is the diagram I got with my Stewmac PRS type bridge

So the poles would be
1. Red/white of neck
2. Vol pot hot
3. Red/white bridge
4. Green bridge
5. Vol pot ground
6. Black Neck
7. Black bridge

Green bare of neck goes to volume pot casing as does the bridge bare.

Looking at your diagram you've got #6 soldered wrongly according to this. It should be neck black.
 

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Re: Did I wire up my pickups correctly? PRS Custom 24 w/ 5-way Blade Switch

Funkfingers said:
I would like to see the PRS colour code version of this diagram, please.

Like AlexR, ​I suspect that you have the Neck green and neck black conductors the wrong way around.
Click to expand...

It's this one: http://www.prsguitars.com/csc/schematics/schem08/5wayblade.pdf



Let's say those two wires are wrong and need to be fixed. That means the neck pickup is wrong. So when I run it by itself, it will sound wrong, correct?

Let's also say that I haven't flipped the magnet in the bridge pickup like I've read you should do when installing SD pickups in a PRS (I just recently understood this, for some reason). So when I run it by itself, it will sound wrong, correct?

So...if both of the above are true, ANY combination on the switch would be wrong, right? I'm confirming this because that's what I'm hearing when I try the guitar. No position sounds right.
 
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Re: Did I wire up my pickups correctly? PRS Custom 24 w/ 5-way Blade Switch

Funkfingers said:
Flipping the magnet in the treble pickup only makes any difference when both pickups are in circuit.

Similarly, having the black and green conductors the wrong way about on the neck pickup should only make any difference when coils from both pickups are selected.
Click to expand...
Doesn't seem like this change will work, then. When I have just the neck on (position 5), it sounds wrong. When I have just the bridge on (position 1), it sounds wrong.
 
Re: Did I wire up my pickups correctly? PRS Custom 24 w/ 5-way Blade Switch

The PRS switch I have from stewmac I just wired up last night, and it sounds ok using the details I gave. There was only one change I think you had to make, which was the swap from green to black on the neck pickup (black soldered to the switch, green to the back of the pot.

If you have a multi meter, check the pickup wires unsoldered from the switch. Check between black and white, and red and green. These are the lead pairs for the coils. There is NO way a pickup can be out of phase just by itself. For a pickup to sound bad in series mode there is either damage to a pickup coil (or both) or the switch is faulty
 
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