PRS Custom 24 w/Floyd Rose Trem - what neck pickup for versatility & warmth?

M

Monsta-Tone

New member
Over Christmas, I picked this guitar up:


Flamed maple neck
Ebony fretboard
Mahogany body
Thick maple cap
Floyd Rose tremolo

It came stock with PRS's \m/ or Metal pickups. If I played metal, I might like them. I'm currently playing in a cover band and need more dynamics, and less sonic sledge hammer.
I tried my favorite set of pickups, PATB1 neck and PATB1 bridge.
The bridge pickup was wonderful! Hot fat and juicy, but still had great cleans and lots of touch sensitivity.

The neck pickup was too bright and thin sounding.
I'm using this same set in two other guitars and they sound incredible, but those guitars have basswood bodies and rosewood fingerboards.

Should I just swap the magnet in the neck pup from A5 to A2, or should I look at something like the 59?

My band plays everything from James Brown to Hendrix to Sublime to Queen.
The pickup should sound great split as well since a lot of stuff we play is on single coils.
My guitar has a 5 way super switch, so I can wire it any way that I like.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Usually I complain that the neck pickup is a little too dark, not this time.....
 
Re: PRS Custom 24 w/Floyd Rose Trem - what neck pickup for versatility & warmth?

Forgot to mention:
The amp I'm using is a Mesa Triaxis with a 20/20 power amp and 2 open back 1x12 cabinets.

The other pickups I have laying around are:
Pearly Gates neck
59 bridge trembucker
DiMarzio PAF Pro
DiMarzio 36th anniversary PAF
DiMarzio AT-1 F spaced

I haven't had time to mess with any of these pickups yet in this guitar, but thought something might strike a chord with someone.
 
Re: PRS Custom 24 w/Floyd Rose Trem - what neck pickup for versatility & warmth?

All 24-fret guitars have neck pickups with the sound compromised a bit. The two frets push the neck pickup that much closer to the bridge so a lot of that flute tone is lost no matter what pickup you put there. The best solution I've found for this is a neck pickup wound so that it is heavily biased in favor of the screw coil (or whichever coil is closest to the neck) by 1.5k or more. Downplays the middle-pickup-ish sound of the other coil and brings the flute up some. Not a perfect solution but an improvement.
 
Re: PRS Custom 24 w/Floyd Rose Trem - what neck pickup for versatility & warmth?

Thanks Zhang.
I fully understand what you're saying.
I've been wondering about a P-Rails for the neck. Couldn't get more heavily wound in the screw coil position if I tried!

I've had several PRS Custom 24's over the years. This is by far the brightest guitar I've ever owned.
Even my old Carvin ST300 sounded great with the PATB-1n in it.

I remembered this morning that I have a small stash of magnets. Maybe I'll mess with the stock pickups first.

Here are the specs from PRS website:


PRS is pleased to introduce \m/ (metal) pickups! \m/ pickups are great for heavier styles of music and were designed with the metal community in mind. Both the treble and bass \m/ pickups are wound in house at PRS and utilize ceramic magnets for full, powerful and crystal clear tones. Whether used with massive amounts of gain or played clean, \m/ pickups are the perfect tool for the player who wants aggressive and articulate tone.

These high output humbuckers are the first pickups to be sold exclusively as an aftermarket accessory through PRS dealers and PRS Guitars online store. Because they were made to be compatible with either a 5-way selector switch or a 3-way switch with a push/pull tone control, these pickups will work with any PRS model that comes with standard-size hum buckers.

Contact an Authorized PRS Dealer or at www.prsaccessories.com

Specs:

• Magnet: Ceramic
• DC Res: 15.7k treble, 8.5k bass
• Compatible with: 5-way pickup switch | 3-way pickup switch with push/pull tone control
• Available w/ gloss nickel cover only.


The resistance isn't that high, but they must have some freakishly huge ceramic magnets in there. This guitar is far louder than any other guitar I own.

I'm thinking A2 or A5 for the neck and A5 for the bridge.
I do have some A3 and A4 as well, but I've never really messed with them.
 
Re: PRS Custom 24 w/Floyd Rose Trem - what neck pickup for versatility & warmth?

Instead of changing the pickups, add a Brass Big Block to that Floyd. It sounds like the solution you're after. It'll add sustain and warmth over the small stock Floyd block.
 
Re: PRS Custom 24 w/Floyd Rose Trem - what neck pickup for versatility & warmth?

jmh151 said:
Instead of changing the pickups, add a Brass Big Block to that Floyd. It sounds like the solution you're after. It'll add sustain and warmth over the small stock Floyd block.
Click to expand...

+1 to this!

But if you do want a change, I'm loving the Phat Cat in the neck of my 24 fret Warmoth (Mahogany+Redwood body with a Mahogany+Ebony Board)...worth a shot if you want something versatile!

EDIT: Congrats on the new guitar! :headbang:
 
Re: PRS Custom 24 w/Floyd Rose Trem - what neck pickup for versatility & warmth?

Thanks guys!
First thing I did was add a 37mm gigantic brass block.
I also removed the treble bleed cap and changed the tone cap from .033 to .047.

The tone of the stock pickups are actually pretty dark, I'm guessing this is due to the high output. The problem is, that they just have way more output than the rest of my guitars.
The stock pickups are really punchy and have no dynamics.
I tried a set of PATB's in this guitar, but the neck pickup was pretty bright.

I'd like to do two things:
1. Knock the power down to human levels. I've been playing a Strat with the new band and it does pretty well for most of the stuff, but I'd like to use this guitar for the beefier tones like Santana.

2. Darken up the neck position just a touch.

Since I kind of like the overall tone of the stock pickups, and because they are the newer style, I'm thinking that I'll swap some magnets around and see what I come up with.
If anybody has a suggestion for a darker neck pickup with moderate output and great dynamics, I'm all ears though!
 
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