Was the original PRS 5-way switching different?

[eclecticsynergy]

Saw a post that referred to the early PRS switching stating that later ones don't have the "power out-of-phase" position, also that early ones use the two full humbuckers in parallel for middle position.

I LOVE the 5-way on my '87 and hadn't ever realized that they might not all be the same. Position 3 on this axe is fat but bright and sorta reminiscent of Tele middle tone, so I'd assumed it was using two individual coils. Now I'm wondering if maybe it's really both full hums, and the bright punchiness is due to the snappy nature of the T&B pickups. I also like the slightly snotty, almost quacky midrange in position 2 which is so totally different from the others and has to be what the poster was calling power-out-of-phase. (My other PRSs all have 3-way switching so I haven't had the chance to get intimately familiar with any other PRS 5-ways.)

Anyway, I want to convert another guitar to this configuration. I'd hoped to use a Megaswitch-P which claims to duplicate the PRS 5-way; here's the switching listed for it:

Now I'm worried that positions 2 & 3 on the Megaswitch might not actually match the rotary I've become so attached to. (Yes, I understand that humbuckers with a conventional slug coil won't act or sound like my T&Bs.)

So, two questions for the experts:

What exactly are the coil combinations for positions 2, 3, & 4 on my beloved '87 PRS?

And if the Megaswitch doesn't match up, is there another (blade type) aftermarket switch that could be used to duplicate them?

Thanks for your advice. I''m inquiring at a couple of other forums, but this would seem to be a good place to ask.

 

[JeffB]

Re: Was the original PRS 5-way switching different?

You should check out the PRS Forums..that original switching and sweet switch apparently uses some parts long unavailable and is very complicated (comparitively). There are pics and schematics over there IIRC. You will probably need to do a search.

Personally I could not stand 2 and 4 and rarely had the sweet switch off on my old Custom (bought in Jan 88 new, but had been sitting around Chuck Levins for quite some time when I purchased, so I assume 1987, but could have been an 86, I guess)

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: Was the original PRS 5-way switching different?

You should check out the PRS Forums..that original switching and sweet switch apparently uses some parts long unavailable and is very complicated (comparitively). There are pics and schematics over there IIRC. You will probably need to do a search.

Personally I could not stand 2 and 4 and rarely had the sweet switch off on my old Custom (bought in Jan 88 new, but had been sitting around Chuck Levins for quite some time when I purchased, so I assume 1987, but could have been an 86, I guess)

Yah, I had posted the same thing over at the official PRS forum and at VintageRocker as well as TGP. I appreciate the suggestion though.

As for positions 2 & 4, the power out-of-phase in pos 2 took a while to grow on me but I came to like it because it's so different in character from the others. And position 4 really is Stratlike. I love it and I know I'm not alone since it remains in the newer 5-way configurations to this day. I think the brightness of these two sounds is mitigated a little in my axe because it's all mahogany- no maple cap- which might give it a slightly richer tone, more voicelike I think without the hardness of maple. I admit having no tone control took some getting used to also, especially because the T&B pickups are very bright & punchy. I too use the sweet switch a lot, it feels sort of like a vintage/modern mode switch.

Anyway, , I have a somewhat better idea of what I want now. It took some searching (info about earlier configurations of the 5-way wiring isn't very readily available) but I was able to find this:

So the Megaswitch is indeed different from my 5-way, though it may be similar to more recent PRS versions. In middle position mine definitely uses both full humbuckers, position 2 is the "power out-pf-phase" configuration. I've learned from a snippet somebody posted (from the PRS Guitars book) that this is both full humbuckers on, just out of phase.

I'm assuming that position 4 on my 5-way (labeled "Strat" on the paper in the image, and it does indeed sound quite Stratty) involves either inside coils in parallel like the Megaswitch, or possibly the outside coils in parallel. Again, does anybody here know?

So it appears that three of the five positions I want (1, 3 & 5) are perfectly conventional, then pos 2 would be both humbuckers on with one phase-reversed, and pos 4 would be one coil of each pickup running in parallel with each other. I think this could be done with a SuperSwitch rather than the MegaSwitch. Does anyone here know the Superswitch well enough to say for sure?

Again, I appreciate any advice & info you can share on this.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Was the original PRS 5-way switching different?

Don't you have to flip a magnet on one of the humbuckers for the Model P Megaswitch to work properly?

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: Was the original PRS 5-way switching different?

Yes; stock PRS sets have one reversed already, but for other brands you need to either turn the pickup around or flip the magnet to get full humbucking in the middle positions. I sometimes see SE models where one pickup is backwards when the pickups have been replaced. I'd probably flip the magnet myself, just for aesthetic reasons.

But I probably won't be using the ModelP because it doesn't match the original 5-way combinations that I'm looking for. Still hoping I can get the wiring I want using a Superswitch.

 

[jtougas]

Re: Was the original PRS 5-way switching different?

There's a wiring for that circuit in this book: https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Electronics-Musicians-Donald-Brosnac/dp/0711902321/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1477420502&sr=8-1&keywords=guitar+electronics

A looooot of the info is waaaaay out of date, but there're some very cool circuits in there, too.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Was the original PRS 5-way switching different?

Yes; stock PRS sets have one reversed already, but for other brands you need to either turn the pickup around or flip the magnet to get full humbucking in the middle positions. I sometimes see SE models where one pickup is backwards when the pickups have been replaced. I'd probably flip the magnet myself, just for aesthetic reasons.

flipping the pup physically doesnt change the magnet orientation in the pup. its a common misconception since peter green's pup was physically flipped as well as having the magnet flipped

 

[Mincer]

Re: Was the original PRS 5-way switching different?

Yeah, I was pretty sure the physical orientation of the pickup would change what coil is selected in relationship to the other, but not the phase.