Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Please.

[Glorioso]

Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Please.

UGH! So frustrating to find a PRS centric PU. Too many opinions (which I love BTW, makes for a good read), too much about harsh mahogany sounds and there seems to be no real pathway to different tones. I may have settled on the '78 Model for my Custom 24. SD Custom, CC, C5, Pearly, brobucker, etc...all considered

I know it's subjective so no need to reiterate that.

Strats, LP's, Tele, ES's, Hammer's, Kramer's etc..., all seem to be covered pretty well here. The PRS threads are all over the place because we are trying to fit them with Gibson, Kramer or Fender centric PU's. I don't want it to sound like an LP or strat.

SD can give the PU's a cute name like '78 Model, Whole Lotta, High Voltage so we know what we are getting. How about "Proven Response Series - Hot", "Post Rewind Series - Vintage" or something like that. Labeled Vintage, Medium, Hot so we can have some choices when refitting PRS's to SD's. The 5-way switch has a multitude of tones to consider, so they need to tap or split well. They would sell a ton even if they took the classic Jazz/JP combo (or any classic custom shop PU) and made it specifically for a PRS with the maple/mahogany body. "Voiced" for PRS...

Just a thought because it seems like the other manufacturers are covered pretty specifically.

Not complaining here, just looking for specific options from the professionals. I have 14 SD pickups in my current gear and love them all. This one has been a head scratcher...

 

[Drunken Bowling]

Re: Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Ple

Re: Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Ple

PRS guitars can be notoriously difficult to find replacement PU's for.

 

[Glorioso]

Re: Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Ple

Re: Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Ple

Apparently

Let's make that less difficult! SD could come up with some options specifically voiced for PRS and make a set. One set vintage, one medium and one hot. They are the 3rd largest producer of guitars and there seems to be more options for Hammer, Kramer and ESP/LTD that are pretty clear.

 

[stratguy23]

Re: Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Ple

Re: Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Ple

The inquiry begs the question of what "voiced for PRS" means. What problem(s) needs to be solved?

Other ways of putting the question:

1. What is the natural "voicing", if there is one, of PRS guitars?
2. In what ways are stock PRS pickups deficient?
3. What are the best pickup voicings that account for #1 and #2?

Perhaps over-generalizing, but I find that the typical PRS Standard or Custom is mids-forward, like an SG or a Flying V. "Solving" for that would involved mids-scooped pickups, perhaps trembucker-spaced for the PRS tremolo.

That's really all that comes to my mind right now - shop as if for an SG or V, get trembucker version if PRS has a trem.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Ple

Re: Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Ple

PRS just use the tried and true humbucker, or p90. Like all replacement pickups you just choose an eq to suit what you want to hear. People have been doing this for as long as pickups have been swapped.

If you can't find something out of the stock pickups that suits, go to a boutique winder or have specific tonal goals wound by the custom shop. Its not like a PRS is an instrument apart.

 

[Davii]

Re: Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Ple

Re: Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Ple

PRS are 25" scale aren't they? Maybe that makes it slightly harder to pin down, if those on offer are worked around 24.75 and 25.5?

 

[Glorioso]

Re: Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Ple

Re: Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Ple

Now thinking of Antiquity JB2 of JBUOA5...

 

[stratguy23]

Re: Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Ple

Re: Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Ple

PRS are 25" scale aren't they? Maybe that makes it slightly harder to pin down, if those on offer are worked around 24.75 and 25.5?

From having owned many PRSi and Gibsons, I feel that the 25" scale length yields more of a difference in playing feel rather than sound. The overall recipe of set-neck mahogany guitar with rosewood fretboard and humbuckers puts the typical PRS pretty much in the Gibson tone camp. My SE Santana, which has a 24.5" scale length and maple top, is sonically pretty close to a Les Paul.

I just don't think the typical PRS is so exotic of a beast as to require a specialized pickup. In my mind, PRS guitars are pretty much Gibsons with design flaws fixed and some brand-specific quirks (25" scale length, 10" radius, etc.).

 

[AlexR]

Re: Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Ple

Re: Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Ple

^ You've expanded and clarified pretty thoroughly on my point. Although I haven't played a real PRS to know the details of how they sound.

I mean humbuckers are stuck in strats and people do quite fine with the PAF style ones and others even though they were 'designed' for Gibsons.

 

[JeffB]

Re: Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Ple

Re: Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Ple

PRS guitars can be notoriously difficult to find replacement PU's for.

True.

But I am starting to think Alnico IV is where people should start.

 

[Glorioso]

Re: Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Ple

Re: Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Ple

I agree and am completely overthinking. Just easier to pick for Strats, Tele's and LP's and that chatter in the forums about mahogany and brightness and pickups is crazy. I think the idea of looking at it as a SG is probably the way to go. I just want more output than the PRS and as you can see, I love what SD does.

I am considering the classic Jazz/JB combo with UOA5's rough cast (antiquitied). It will be a departure from what I currently have in the herd. I have A5's in my Whole Lotta, A2's in my PG's and Antiquities (A2) in another LP. I think this may be spot on for medium+ output. I want them antiquity to smooth out the tone and bring down the highs and lows a bit.

I have always felt that if the guitar sounds great acoustically you can adjust tone a thousand different ways with settings and EQ. I have worked hard on having my guitars sound awesome acoustically with tailpieces, bridges, nuts, frets etc...

I love this PRS, they are made well.

Thanks for all your help.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Ple

Re: Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Ple

Start with where your pickup sits in from the output point of view and see the typical Duncans from about that area. I mean most of us find we have to do pickup and mag swapping to get 'ideal tone' even if you've got something that was 'wound for a specific scale' (as if that was a be-all or end-all).

 

[VinceT]

Re: Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Ple

Re: Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Ple

Hmmm... quite a subjective thing, for sure. One PUP not mentioned is the 59/Custom - that seems like it would be a slam dunk?


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[Glorioso]

Re: Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Ple

Re: Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Ple

Hmmm... quite a subjective thing, for sure. One PUP not mentioned is the 59/Custom - that seems like it would be a slam dunk?


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One of many on my list. If I get anything A5 it will be roughcast/aged. Thinking High Voltage UOA5 Roughcast and Whole Lotta UOA5 Roughcast. My assumption is the High Voltage is made for a SG and the PRS is also Mahogany.

 

[VinceT]

Re: Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Ple

Re: Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Ple

One of many on my list. If I get anything A5 it will be roughcast/aged. Thinking High Voltage UOA5 Roughcast and Whole Lotta UOA5 Roughcast. My assumption is the High Voltage is made for a SG and the PRS is also Mahogany.

I'd definitely try it before exploring much else - to my ears it's just the right balance of PAF and higher gain. I love it in my Starfield - and still considering it for my Parker Nitefly Mojo.


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[daenius]

Re: Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Ple

Re: Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Ple

Don't forget that no 2 guitars will inherently sound the same, even with the same body wood and specs. Wood is an organic and inconsistent material, even if you made 2 guitars out of the same tree, there's going to be variance in the body's density and weight distribution, which can ultimately affect your guitar's natural.

Like with mahogany, there are different mahogany species out there, and different growth climates or lumbering time of even the same species will make them different, and while we say they land you in the same ball park of sound... a ball park is a BIG area with a lot of variance.

For PRS guitars, it's 25" scale and often times with a 6-screw tremolo bridge. This really puts it somewhere between Fender and Gibson and that's why find that it's rather hard to find stuff that's "voiced" for it, except for PRS's own pickups of course. I would say though, the scale lengthh makes a huge difference and the fact that it's closer to the Gibson scale just means "use any pickup that you would use in a Les Paul, but expect it to sound just slightly brighter because of the slightly longer scale length and the tremolo bridge".

A good question to ask yourself is what exactly are you looking for in a pickup for your CU24? You can really narrow it down if you play with your amp settings and see how your current pickup responds to it, and see how YOU feel about the sound. For example, you can detect that a pickup has too much treble for you if either no matter how you dial your amp, you still hear a harsh ice-picky treble, OR you can manage to get rid of that harsh treble only if you dial your amp tone to just complete mud. You may also find that you have difficulty pushing the amp to a pleasing overdrive without just cranking that preamp gain.

Now after you've done that exercise, you can actually say with confidence what exactly you disliked about your current pickup, and what exactly are you looking for. Like in the example above "too much treble, I want something with less treble response and more output"

 

[Mr. B]

Re: Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Ple

Re: Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Ple

I agree that PRS guitars are more difficult to find replacement pickups for than others. (mine are all mahogany) I have probably changed those out more than any other guitars I own, with the possible exception of a Les Paul. I have ended up with a Seth Set in one and an Air Zone and Paf Joe in the other, but neither is exactly "that" PRS sound.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Ple

Re: Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Ple

I don't find PRS guitars difficult at all to find great pickups for.

Any number of Duncans sound great in PRS guitars: 59's, PG's, Custom Shop PG's, APH-1's, Slash APH-2, Seth Lovers...all sound great in my PRS guitars.

I do think my double cutaway CU22's sound best with Alnico 2 or Alnico 5 pickups. One has 59's with RCA5 magnets and the other a set of uncovered Seth Lovers. I like both but the 59's with RCA5 sound best to me.

My SE Singlecuts also sound fine with either A2 or A5. One has a set of nickel covered PG's and the other a set of uncovered Seth Lovers.

 

[Glorioso]

Re: Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Ple

Re: Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Ple

I know UOA5, what is RCA5?

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Ple

Re: Fender & Gibson are covered. How about some PRS specific custom shop pickups? Ple

I know UOA5, what is RCA5?

Roughcast A5.

Normal production line Duncans, with few exceptions, get polished A2 or A5 magnets.

Custom Shop Duncans tend to get Roughcast magnets.

To me, Roughcast A5 takes a polished A5 pickup like the Duncan 59 a little bit in the direction of an Alnico 2.

Unoriented A5 takes that sound even more in the direction of A2.