PRS McCarty opinions please.

Adam_MD · September 2013

ICBM;25805" said:
Adam_MD said:

Interesting I thought I would have to lose the in between settings getting rid of the rotary. Ill have to investigate this if I find I miss them too much.

If you only want one of them and not both, the standard McCarty wiring uses a push-pull tone control to split the humbuckers.

I'm already wiring it up with a single push/push for regular coil splits I just didn't realise a second push push would let me have the in between settings from the rotary as well.

ICBM · September 2013

Yes. The coil split when the toggle is in the middle is the same as position 9 if I remember correctly - outer coils, anyway - to get the inner coils you need another push-pull. WD do a nice push-push 500k with the US bushing size, I keep meaning to fit a couple to mine...

Adam_MD · September 2013

The US spec push/push WD is the pot I'm using. The quality seems much better than the last push/pull I had though the prs knobs are slightly too big and slip off. I'm going to try ptfe tape to see if that works. I'll have a go with it wired like a McCarty and if I really miss the other sound ill have a go at the other pot.

ICBM · September 2013

Ah, I forgot it was you that was asking about which push-pull to use, sorry

.

PRS used to put a little piece of cloth tape on the pot shafts to make the knobs grip better - fold it over the top and down the sides so the knob doesn't push it down as it goes on.

DefaultM · September 2013

I'd like to try 11's but I think they might be a bit much for me. I had the Ernie Ball 12s on the bottom and 11s on the top on my Epi Les Paul and the wound strings were actually fine, it was just the G string. It was absolutely ridiculous. Way too much tension for me, so a slightly longer scale length and a trem might add even more?

Zodiac51 · September 2013

new 'lampshade' knobs - FTW! especially the gold ones :P

ICBM · September 2013

DefaultM said:

I'd like to try 11's but I think they might be a bit much for me. I had the Ernie Ball 12s on the bottom and 11s on the top on my Epi Les Paul and the wound strings were actually fine, it was just the G string. It was absolutely ridiculous. Way too much tension for me, so a slightly longer scale length and a trem might add even more?

They do put silly G strings in some of those sets - it's a 22 in the EB I think! Anything heavier than an 18 and it needs to be wound - over-heavy plains not only feel far too stiff, they sound like a broken bell.

The right gauges for a set of 11s are 11, 14, 18p or 20 or 22w, 28W, 38W, 48 or 49w - the standard Power Slinkys are that, likewise D'Addario, Dean Markley etc - the Deans have the advantage of coming with both the 18p and the 20w in the packet so you can try a wound one and then change it if you don't like it.

DefaultM · September 2013

The guitar is set up for 9s. I seem to have got away with putting 10s on there without touching anything, but do you think 11s would be pushing it?
I was surprised because I'm used to any change in string gauge seeing my trem raise 2 inches out of the body.

ICBM · September 2013

On a PRS you will have to widen the nut grooves to put 11s on. You may also have to adjust the truss rod and the trem springs - but not the bridge itself usually, apart from intonation.

The PRS trem comes with four springs if I remember right - whereas Fenders come with three - a Strat-type bridge is less sensitive to string changes with more springs set short rather than fewer ones set longer.

DefaultM · September 2013

Might get another CE for £600. Mine has the maple top, in all honesty if I get a blue painted one which I assume is just all mahogany am I going to notice much difference in tone?
I'm thinking not because how much difference can a small maple top make?

ICBM · September 2013

DefaultM said:

Might get another CE for £600. Mine has the maple top, in all honesty if I get a blue painted one which I assume is just all mahogany am I going to notice much difference in tone?
I'm thinking not because how much difference can a small maple top make?

A lot. I had two otherwise identical PRSs, the Standard 22 and a Custom 22 - the same in every way apart from the Custom's maple cap. (Even the same colour!) The Custom sounded much brighter, tighter, more focused and aggressive.

The maple top is not small either - if you've ever seen a pic of a PRS body cut in half, the maple is half the thickness of the whole thing - it just doesn't look it on a complete guitar because of the top carve which makes it much thinner at the edges.

Check the spec on the CE, it could be either mahogany or alder if I remember right. They do sound slightly different but much less so than from the maple-top ones.

Adam_MD · September 2013

Pre 95 is alder if memory serves. I think it was during 95 they made the switch to mahogany. As ICBM said the maple cap makes a big difference tone wise, not better just different, Though it doesn't look thick because of the curve in the centre of the guitar it's just under half the total thickness. It's not thin like an SEs top.

DefaultM · September 2013

Ah crap I'm going to end up buying it haha. I want one for sticking in drop D and I figure one of the 2 will be perfect.
I realised the difference between the custom and standard but for some reason it didn't register that it would be the same for CEs because of the maple neck. Makes sense though.

crunchman · September 2013

ICBM said:

A lot. I had two otherwise identical PRSs, the Standard 22 and a Custom 22 - the same in every way apart from the Custom's maple cap. (Even the same colour!) The Custom sounded much brighter, tighter, more focused and aggressive.

The maple top is not small either - if you've ever seen a pic of a PRS body cut in half, the maple is half the thickness of the whole thing - it just doesn't look it on a complete guitar because of the top carve which makes it much thinner at the edges.

Would agree. Because of the deep carve the maple top is very thick in the middle where the bridge mounts, so it's going to have a big effect on how string vibrations are transferred to the body.

Maple topped Les Paul Standards are reputed to sound different from an all mahogany Les Paul Custom. Given the thicker layer of maple on the PRS I think the effect is magnified.

DefaultM · September 2013

I think I might prefer this one to the maple topped one.

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PRS McCarty opinions please.

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