Re: PRS Bridge Pickup install. Help !!!
Ok guys, here is the deal. If you want the SD pickup in the bridge to funtion like the PRS bridge pickup you have to do two things. First you have to flip the magnet in the SD bridge pickup. It's actually pretty easy to do. Remove the black cloth tape from around the bobbins of the SD pickup. Loosen but do not remove the 4 screws in the baseplate of the SD pickup. You'll need to back them out aprox 3/16". This will free the bobbins from the baseplate. You will be able to see the end of the bar magnet underneith and between the bobbins. If you wiggle the bobbins a little and grab the magnet with a pair of needle nose pliers you will be able to slide the bar magnet out from between the bobbins. Slide the magnet out, flip it over (like you would a pancake - side over side) and slide it back in. Push the bobbins back down onto the baseplate and retighten the 4 screws and then re-apply the black cloth tape.
The other thing you have to do is to use a non-standard wiring for the SD pickup. You will want to wire the white lead as hot, the red lead as ground and the black and green wires will be used as the coil tap lead. If you have the newer, pc board connected 5 way switches you will notice that the pc board is marked with the letters B, R and W over the holes where the pickup leads are connected to the board. Connect the red wire to the B hole, connect the black/green wires to the R hole and the white wire to the W hole. I found it easiest to use small lead ends (stripped) and to tin the wire ends with some solder so they thread through the holes in the PC board easier. What I did was to hold the tinned end onto the hole in the face of the pc board and to heat the hole from the rear of the pc board. When the solder heats up the hole will open and the wire should slide through. Doing this can be a little frustrating but it's the easiest way to do it short of cutting the leads on the PRS pickup and leaving the original wires connected to the switch and then connecting the SD pickup to the old leads.
It is also helpful to connect the green and black wires in a way that leaves only one of the wires copper exposed on the end. If you just twist both wires together and solder them, the wire will be too thick to thread through the hole in the PC board. What I might suggest is to strip those leads long and wrap one around the other back away from the end of the other, and then tin the whole thing so that you really only have the copper from one of the leads going into the hole. It makes things go smoother during installation.
This is the only way to mix SD and PRS pickups with the 5 way switch and keep the inner/outer thing switching correctly with all the coils properly phased and with the correct polarity.
