Magnet swap in PRS pickup?

alex1fly

alex1fly

Well-known member
Chasing a dragon here.

I'd like to try some magnet swaps in my PRS SE Custom 24 (Floyd). The neck pickup (85/15s) is gorgeous - jazzy and fat in humbucker mode, jangly and Stratty in split mode. Great high end, pleasant neutral-ish mids, bouncy lows. The bridge pickup is one that I've fought on and off. It's fine, basically the same characteristics as the neck pickup but with some additional low mids and less highs. It actually has less highs to my ears than the neck position, oddly. Both pickups have some natural compression. I don't know what magnets are in there now, and PRS keeps things pretty secret. What I'd like out of the bridge position is a bunch of descriptive words; when I dig in, I want it to bite back. Some more rudeness in the highs would be lovely. Currently it's just so polite and round, and the high end is a little absent.

Am also considering a pickup swap (I have a JB, Seth Lover bridge, Air Zone, and Virtual P90 in my parts drawer), but am intrigued by the possibility of modifying the stock pickup to get the changes I'm looking for. Any suggestions or warnings?
 
Just buy a whole bunch of magents and test them yourself. That way you can try everything yourself and get a feel for magnet swaps instead of just having a bunch of dorks on a computer throw more descriptive words back at ya. Find a place and buy a ceramic, A2, A3, A4, A5, and A8. If you don't want that many magnets, at least narrow it down to ceramic, A2, and A5.
 
The general consensus seems to be that the 85/15 is most likely A5-based.

If so, I'd suggest a ceramic mag as your first stop. It will increase the output while simultaneously lowering the inductance over an "Alnico" magnet, giving you a bit more of the bite you're after. If it's overly round/warm with an A5, then the ceramic won't be too harsh at all.

Just curious, what year is your CU24? Does it have the G&B pickups or the newer Cort-made versions ("ptp" label on bottom)?
 
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It is odd that the bridge would have less highs. You might can correct that with height/pole adjustments. I put UOA5s into my 85/15 set and preferred it to the stock, which are very likely to be A5. The swap made them sound a little more vintage.
 
Chistopher said:
Just buy a whole bunch of magents and test them yourself. That way you can try everything yourself and get a feel for magnet swaps instead of just having a bunch of dorks on a computer throw more descriptive words back at ya. Find a place and buy a ceramic, A2, A3, A4, A5, and A8. If you don't want that many magnets, at least narrow it down to ceramic, A2, and A5.
Click to expand...

Hey, I like exchanging descriptive words with other dorks, lol. Also if I can get some advice and spend $30 on magnets instead of $60, and in return report back with my findings, I consider it a win-win.


Masta' C said:
The general consensus seems to be that the 85/15 is most likely A5-based.

If so, I'd suggest a ceramic mag as your first stop. It will increase the output while simultaneously lowering the capacitance over an "Alnico" magnet, giving you a bit more of the bite you're after. If it's overly round/warm with an A5, then the ceramic won't be too harsh at all.

Just curious, what year is your CU24? Does it have the G&B pickups or the newer Cort-made versions ("ptp" label on bottom)?
Click to expand...

Fascinating idea. I honestly never considered it. Ceramic gets a bum rap but it's all in how it's used, right?
The CU24 is a 2017 I believe, and I'm fairly certain they're the G&B pickups but I may be misremembering the other two SEs I've taken apart that both had G&B pickups.


BluesIsBlood12 said:
It is odd that the bridge would have less highs. You might can correct that with height/pole adjustments. I put UOA5s into my 85/15 set and preferred it to the stock, which are very likely to be A5. The swap made them sound a little more vintage.
Click to expand...

It is indeed odd. I've done a fair amount of polepiece and height adjustment, and the tone doesn't change nearly as much as it does with some other pickups. Though for due diligence, I probably should crank those polepieces out as far as they'll go and see what happens.

The last time I did magnet swaps Alnico 8 was beginning to get discussed and there was no such thing as roughcast, unoriented, and the like! :14:
 
Chistopher said:
Just buy a whole bunch of magents and test them yourself. That way you can try everything yourself and get a feel for magnet swaps instead of just having a bunch of dorks on a computer throw more descriptive words back at ya. Find a place and buy a ceramic, A2, A3, A4, A5, and A8. If you don't want that many magnets, at least narrow it down to ceramic, A2, and A5.
Click to expand...

I concur. This is a really cheap thing to do and you get a lot out of it. UOA5 and A6 are also great. If A5 is in there right now I would recommend an A9. It's the most aggressive alnico. A8 is also aggressive, but is too sterile for me. The A9 also has a mid spike like A8 but shifted higher up into the highs and has more actual highs, so it would bite back the most out of all the alnicos. Give A9 a try.
 
Where do you all get your magnets? I'm seeing them on Stewmac for $11/magnet, less on Ebay... can you trust Ebay for this stuff?
 
In my opinion as a luthier/repair tech, PRS pickups aren’t all that great.

I’ve had quite a few clients bringing in new PRS guitars to have the pickups replaced.

My impression is always that the neck pickup is too dark. I like a brighter neck tone so you get that sweet round neck thing. If you want it darker turn the tone pot down.

The bridge pickups are barky. And not in a good way.

I always suspected that PRS just didn’t want to pay for Duncan pickups anymore so they made their own. I don’t know why they are so meh, but they are.

Clients have had me replace them with Alnico II Pros, DiMarzio Super Ds, and JBs, etc. in every case it transformed the tone of the guitar.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
DavidRavenMoon said:
In my opinion as a luthier/repair tech, PRS pickups aren’t all that great.

I’ve had quite a few clients bringing in new PRS guitars to have the pickups replaced.
Click to expand...

At the rate people replace pickups in Gibsons, I guess we could surmise that Gibson pickups must REALLY suck! :rolleyes:

People replace pickups in ALL types of guitars, regardless of brand and not all PRS pickups are duds, not by a longshot.

At the moment, I'm digging my SE CU24 with the stock 85/15 "S" pickups (the newer, Cort-made, "ptp"-labeled versions). I keep thinking I could improve upon them with a swap to Pearly Gates or a JB/59 set, and maybe I could, but every time I plug the guitar in, I'm convinced to just leave it alone.

I had 57/08's in my wood library CU24 Floyd and those were awesome, as well, despite being a lot different than what I typically use. I've also played the HFS/VB set and the Tremonti set in other guitars, as well as whatever the stock pickups were in the late-90s CE's. Each did their own thing well and I appreciate that.
 
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Masta' C said:
Using that logic, at the rate people replace pickups in Gibsons, I guess we could surmise that Gibson pickups REALLY suck!
Click to expand...

I’ve replaced more PRS pickups than any other brand, including Gibson. And I work on a lot of guitars.

Funny how people think Gibson pickups suck, then buy a copy of a Gibson pickup to replace it with. Lol

If the pickups have covers, take them off. That will give you more bite. The covers flatten the resonant peak of the pickup. That’s why we all took the covers off back in the day.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
The nicer PRS have good pickups. The downside of selling $15k guitars though is you have to find ways to convince people that they are better than the $3k ones
 
DavidRavenMoon said:
In my opinion as a luthier/repair tech, PRS pickups aren’t all that great.

I’ve had quite a few clients bringing in new PRS guitars to have the pickups replaced.

My impression is always that the neck pickup is too dark. I like a brighter neck tone so you get that sweet round neck thing. If you want it darker turn the tone pot down.

The bridge pickups are barky. And not in a good way.

I always suspected that PRS just didn’t want to pay for Duncan pickups anymore so they made their own. I don’t know why they are so meh, but they are.

Clients have had me replace them with Alnico II Pros, DiMarzio Super Ds, and JBs, etc. in every case it transformed the tone of the guitar.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Ever replace PRS pickups with good 'ol PAF types?
 
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