P Rails w/Triple Shot Rings in 2008 PRS Mira

[axman53]

Heya. So, I just got my PRS Mira back from a guy who works at this great independent guitar store around an hour away from me. I never used him before but he seemed to be well reported on so I gave him my guitar project, which was to mod my 2008 PRS Mira with the P Rails and triple shot rings, and replace the wrap around bridge with the MannMade intonatable bridge. This model of Mira was built in the US as a PRS core guitar back in 2008. The bridge installation was fine and the pickups are awesome as long as I have either the neck or bridge pickup selected. But when I put the 3-way pickup in the middle, where I should be hearing the mixed output of both pickups, the output drops and goes very thin, as in zero bottom end. I pointed it out to him and he just said, well, if you mess with the switches on the rings it fills out some and he didn't seem like he was willing to pursue it any further. But I'm certain something is not right with wiring and I don't know where to start. Thoughts?

 

[Mincer]

Welcome to the forum!

Without seeing the wiring, it sounds like that thin sound is happening because the 2 pickups are out of phase.

 

[axman53]

Welcome to the forum!

Without seeing the wiring, it sounds like that thin sound is happening because the 2 pickups are out of phase.

That was the first thing I suggested to the guy who did the work. What do I need to post here to get specific guidance? Pictures of the cavity wiring? I have electronics background and can solder and such, but I was hoping not to have to get into it. Looks like I'll have to.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Yeah, sounds like out of phase.
Pretty easy to fix if you have soldering skills. There are 2 wires plus a ground wire coming from the Triple Shot. Follow the black and white wires from ONE of the TS rings (neck OR bridge), and where they are connected to the switch (or volume pot, I'm not that familiar with the Mira), just reverse them...black goes to where the white wire is currently connected and white goes to where the black wire is currently connected.

 

[axman53]

Here's what I found. The individual pickups seem to be wired according to the WGBR markings. At the switch, I have a white/orange and a white/blue from the pickups to the switch with the black for each pickup connected to ground. On the surface of things, that would seem to be right. But you're telling me to swap one of the pickup wires (let's say the white/orange) with the black from the same pickup. That would put the white/orange to ground and the black wire to the switch. Do I have that right??? Thanks for sticking with me on this.

 

[jeremy]

thats the first thing i would try, yes

 

[axman53]

Yeah, sounds like out of phase.
Pretty easy to fix if you have soldering skills. There are 2 wires plus a ground wire coming from the Triple Shot. Follow the black and white wires from ONE of the TS rings (neck OR bridge), and where they are connected to the switch (or volume pot, I'm not that familiar with the Mira), just reverse them...black goes to where the white wire is currently connected and white goes to where the black wire is currently connected.

Finally got around to this. I bought some clip leads on Amazon, disconnected the white/orange and black wires from their solder points, and then used the clip leads to compare both the original connection and a swapped connection. Swapping the leads fixed the problem! So I soldered them to their new respective solder points and everything is as it should be. Thanks for the pointer to that as a fix!

I do still have a question about the switch positions of the P rail triple shot switches. The diagram that comes with the pups is clear about series humbucker and parallel humbucker settings. But for the P90 setting, the diagram is not labeled P90, but uses the terms "right side coil on" and "left side coil on". I don't know what that means. What setting is for the P90 only? Thanks for any additional help.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Very easy to check. Plug your guitar into the amp, set the TS ring with both switches pointed to the P-90 coil. With a screw driver, tap the pole pieces of the P-Rail and tap the rail. Which is louder? If the P-90 is louder, that's the coil the switches have selected

 

[axman53]

Very easy to check. Plug your guitar into the amp, set the TS ring with both switches pointed to the P-90 coil. With a screw driver, tap the pole pieces of the P-Rail and tap the rail. Which is louder? If the P-90 is louder, that's the coil the switches have selected

Yep, that worked. Thanks again.