My PRS SE Custom 24 Guitar

[DrNomis_44]

Update:


The new 34mm Sustain Block I ordered for my Schaller Lockmeister Floyd Rose Trem arrived in the post today, actually, I got a parcel-card in my mailbox yesterday so I waited till 5:00pm to go and pick up the parcel from the Winnellie Post Office this afternoon and it was the new Sustain Block, it fitted straight on the Schaller Lockmeister Bridge with no mods needed, glad I've got that issue out of the way now.

While I was doing some trial-fitting on my PRS SE Custom 24 Guitar, I decided to check out the pickups to see whether they're PRS made pickups, I removed the 4 mounting screws for the neck pickup and had a look at the coil mounting-plate, on it was stamped G&B pickup Co., so, since my PRS SE Custom 24 Guitar is basically a cheaper Korean-made version of the USA PRS Custom 24 that PRS Guitars make in their American factory, I'm assuming that the stock PRS SE Custom 24 pickups are also cheaper versions, then I thought to myself "Since I'm upgrading the stock trem to a Floyd Rose, why not do a pickup upgrade as well?", I'm currently having a look through all the pickups that Pitbull Guitars have to offer and a couple of Entwistle models have caught my eye, but, I'm going to have a look at what else is available before I decide, as you can see in the pic I posted the stock pickups are full sized humbuckers, if you feel like it, feel free to post what you think would be a good choice, would love to see your recommendations (note, they have to be pickups that Pitbull guitars have in stock).


The woods used to make the guitar are Maple for the body cap and neck, Mahogany for the body (I think), and Rosewood for the fingerboard, there's a thin Flame Maple veneer on the Maple Body Cap too although it's hard to see given the Cherry Red finish.


Almost forgot to mention that I'll most likely be playing musical-styles that range from Blues to Hard Rock to Heavy Metal on my PRS SE Custom 24 Guitar once I've finished doing the upgrades on it, so that would influence the choice of upgrade pickups.


Oh, and string-gauges are going to be 42-09's but I might change to 46-10's at a later date.

[DrNomis_44]

Update:


Just been checking out youtube demo clips of the Entwistle HDN Zebra pickups, the Entwistle HVX pickups, and the Tonerider Rocksong TRH-1 pickups, and thinking of going with a pair of Entwistle HDN Zebras (they look alot like the stock pickups) for the pickup upgrade has anyone had any experience with them?

[vh2580]

Have only used the Entwhistle Darkstars both normal and Neos and they were really good. The Tonerider Rocksongs are a good quality pickup also and have great tone. The HDNs look a good selection

[DrNomis_44]

Have only used the Entwhistle Darkstars both normal and Neos and they were really good. The Tonerider Rocksongs are a good quality pickup also and have great tone. The HDNs look a good selection

Checked out some demo clips of the Darkstars on youtube, they sound pretty cool, a bit more warmer than the HDNs, but still pretty cool.

[DrNomis_44]

Update:


As it just so happened, the guy I'm getting to do all the Floyd Rose routing on my PRS SE Custom 24 guitar didn't have the Floyd Rose routing templates needed to accurately rout the top of the guitar where the new bridge was supposed to go, so, I ended up ordering a set of templates from Stewmac (Realtone didn't have any in stock) last night, the order has since been shipped via DHL Express so they should arrive within 2-4 business days, it cost me about $40 bucks extra but I'm not too worried, anyway, I also decided to go ahead and order two Entwistle Zebra HDN pickups (one bridge and one neck) while I was at it, just finished the order so all that's left to do is wait.


Update 2:


Just got an email from Adam saying that the HDN pickups are ready to be sent......cheers Adam!!!


Much appreciated mate.


Update 3: Order completed.

[DrNomis_44]

Update 4:


My long awaited order from Stewmac arrived today, and in the package were the Floyd Rose Routing Templates needed for the Floyd Rose Trem installation on my PRS SE Custom 24 guitar, things are really coming together now.



Here's a pic of the set of Floyd Rose Routing Templates I ordered from Stewmac, they are made from 3mm plexiglass plastic and have the centrelines all marked on them, the small pieces of wood are shims for controlling the routing depth according to the instruction manuals:

[stan]

great stuff, onward you go

[DrNomis_44]

I just had a look in the control cavity on my PRS SE Custom 24 and saw that the two stock pots are a couple of 500K Log 24mm Alpha types, now here's an interesting idea, what if I were to replace them with a couple of 24mm 500K Log CTS pots like the one shown in the pic?




And why stop there?, why not replace the original tone cap (the stock one is just a generic 50V or 100V Greencap) with something like an Orange Drop cap?, sure, the stock cap works and sounds fine but why not customize my PRS guitar?





I know where I could order the new CTS pots and Orange drop tone Cap from....Evatco.


Here's the website address if anyone is interested in ordering some stuff from Evatco:


http://www.evatco.com.au/

[stan]

Good idea, while it's opened up give it the major service...

[DrNomis_44]

Good idea, while it's opened up give it the major service...

For sure, although the stock pickup circuitry in my PRS SE Custom 24 is actually working 100%, it only gives a choice of three sounds, Neck Pickup, Neck + Bridge, and Bridge Pickup, the two pots are a Master Volume and a Master Tone, if I re-wire the guitar using the standard PRS wiring (with a 5-Position Rotary pickup switch) I'll get these Pickup settings:


1, Neck Pickup.

2, Outer Coils Of The Neck And Bridge Pickups In Parallel.

3, Outer Coils Of The Neck And Bridge Pickups In Series.

4, Inner Coils Of The Neck And Bridge Pickups In Parallel.

5, Bridge Pickup.


And here's the wiring diagram: