Grateful Dead Music Forum

Hey guys. Couple of questions. Trying to jerry-fy aPRS. Guitar comes factory wired strangely for a 5 way switch. Middle position is the bridge and neck humbuckers. My guitar tech friend has wired it so that middle is the narrow field and added a preamp. Two questions really: It seems like in the past, a 25k volume pot was needed instead of the 500k. Not sure why?? Also, in the current set up, position 2( neck and middle) is very tinny and weak sounding. Phase issue?? Any help would be appreciated!

It’s not a Tiger circuit or the same pickups… so no need to swap values. IMHO, replacing the tone pot with a pull pot and using it to isolate the NF pickup is simple and more versatile.

Wow! Love that wood grain. Look forward to seeing what you create. I have a PRS SE that I may mod

Smolder wrote: ↑Tue Jul 06, 2021 9:23 pm It’s not a Tiger circuit or the same pickups… so no need to swap values. IMHO, replacing the tone pot with a pull pot and using it to isolate the NF pickup is simple and more versatile.

That's what PRS did for me.

ace

Here's a pic of my PRS Special 22 Semi Hollow. Highly modded:

- Push Pull on Volume Knob for Narrowfield Isolation
- Install PreAmp. 9V Battery fits inside electronics compartment so no additional routing or battery cage needed.
- Rewire Stock Coil Taps to be be Pre-Amp On/Off and Bright Switch On/Off
- Route 3 additional mini toggles to allow for Coil Tapping 3 pickups. Location will be parallel to the 5-way blade and above the the two stock toggles.
- Rewire Narrowfield pickup to allow for Coil Tapping (series/parallel actually) - (stock wiring for humbucking use only with a braided cable).
- Replace Output Jack with a TRS Jack (will be used with regular guitar cable) which will be wired to shut off Pre-Amp when guitar is not plugged into a cable.
(after discussion, my tech said that most people will forget to either shutoff the PreAmp or take out their guitar cable, and it will kill the battery quickly, so this is an easy solution.
The Preamp can be turned on and off when a guitar cable is plugged into the guitar, but when it's unplugged, it is always off regardless).

Additional Work:
- Replace Treble Bleed Pot on Volume with a slightly higher value. We determined that rolling off the volume makes the tone slightly darker. My preference is for it to either remain unchanged, or get slightly brighter. This cap can easily be played around with until the desired affect is achieved. He thinks I'll like it at (I believe) .005pf.
- Frets analyzed with a computer and double checked with handheld calipers. Determined that fretwork could be optimized.
- Guitar will be PLEK'd to allow for best setup possible. I was a bit surprised it needed a PLEK, but I'm happy that it should will play even better afterward.
- Strap Locks

So it's basically like a Super Eagle, but it has the ability to Isolate the narrowfield, tap it, as well as use the Treble/Bass pickups in Position 3. So it has the additional option of the treble/bass combo that the Super Eagle does not. Altering the treble bleed cap made the tone knob way more usable for me, and I really like it.

I don't find position 2 (or 4) for that matter to sound weak per se. They are some of my favorite settings. They are a bit lower in volume compared to the bridge or neck alone to some extent. I would play around with the pickup heights/pole pieces - this had the largest impact to me in this department.

Nice studio! https://www.airshiplaboratories.com/ I guess Airship comes in somewhere between Airplane and Starship.

Just curious what you think of the pickups. I them them very strong, certainly not PAF. My Weir tone is with volume set at 5.

ace

Just an observation that I'm sure ace already knows but perhaps it'll assist others. Don't be hesitant to adjust your pickup heights as well as, if your PUPs allow for it, the pole pieces. It's amazing how some PUPs at first deemed too strong, middy, or muddy, can clear up beautiful when lowered.

Yup - first thing I did was adjust the pup heights and pole pieces. Factory for the special 22 was too hot for me, really disliked it with rhythm playing across the board. Once I got these setup, and also did the aforementioned mods, the guitar really came to life, and I absolutely love it. Position 4 with the bridge tapped and the pre-amp on (with bright on or off to taste) with the volume between 7-10 and the tone at 7 coming off of a Sarno SMS-> MAC 250 -> JBL D123 sounds very 77-78 Jerry.. like exactly... I can play along and basically sometimes can barely tell the difference...(tonally hahaha)... sometimes I use a timmy, or other very light overdrive to get some of the jerry hair.

Overall I found the pickups to be WAY too dark for my taste - for a clear and clean type of jerry inspired setup. Once the Mayer-esque (super eagle) pre-amp was put in, it really brought the pickups to life for clean tones. Now its the best clean tones I have aside from my Custom Alembic Super Darling.

Jon S. wrote: ↑Tue Jul 13, 2021 8:18 am Nice studio! https://www.airshiplaboratories.com/ I guess Airship comes in somewhere between Airplane and Starship.

Yep.. well we were going more for a steampunk-esque vibe meets star trek (control rooms look like flight control consoles), but all the above musical references work and are gladly accepted as well