5 way PRS selector knob...

Hootsmon

Some cat was sayin' that some of the positions on the 5 way knob were a bit crappy.....

If you were to mod yours how would you fill the 5x positions?

Roland

1. Neck humbucker.
2. Partially tapped neck.
3. Both pickups tapped.
4. Partially tapped bridge.
5. Bridge humbucker.
To me that's logical for a twin humbucker guitar. On a Telecaster I'd use a tapped bridge pickup (my personal favourite is an Oil City Wapping Wharf):
1. Neck and tapped bridge in series
2. Neck
3. Neck and tapped bridge in parallel
4. Tapped bridge
5. Untapped bridge
Again it's logical to me, and I don't have to think too hard mid song. It puts the combinations which I most use next to each other, and the louder combinations at each end which is helpful if you suddenly want a bigger sound for an unplanned solo.

Gulliver

The only HH I've had with a 5-way was wired like this:

1. Neck humbucker coils in series
2. Neck Humbucker coils in parallel
3. Both humbuckers
4. neck and bridge tapped
5. Bridge humbucker.

I really liked it, as position 2 sounded quite like neck and middle on a strat

ICBM

hootsmon said:

Some cat was sayin' that some of the positions on the 5 way knob were a bit crappy.....

If you were to mod yours how would you fill the 5x positions?

By removing it and fitting a 3-way toggle and a push-pull tone control.

axisus

Got mine swapped out for a switch immediately.

I just hated the concept - a knob to select pickups just feels totally wrong to me. It also really bugged my that they stuck a knob on with 10 numbers! FFS just design a knob fit for purpose! You charge enough for the bloody guitars!

kjdowd

ICBM said:

hootsmon said:

Some cat was sayin' that some of the positions on the 5 way knob were a bit crappy.....

If you were to mod yours how would you fill the 5x positions?

By removing it and fitting a 3-way toggle and a push-pull tone control.

This. Did this on my ce24 and replaced the pickups and it made a very good guitar a great guitar. 

Hootsmon

so we have 3 spaces filled....regular front and back HBs and both HBs on mix.....

what about the other two then...?

Hootsmon

is this do... able?

Position 1: Bridge HumbuckerPosition 2: Bridge Humbucker with Neck SinglecoilPosition 3: Bridge and Neck HumbuckersPosition 4: Neck Humbucker with Bridge SinglecoilPosition 5: Neck Humbucker

I got this ^ from PRS site and just changed out position 4

the original config for position 4 was.... 

Position 4: Neck Singlecoil with Bridge Singlecoil

Elwood

I'm not sure if that would be doable as it would need the main coil on the Bridge Humbucker to go to 4 locations on the switch.

If the only change is on positions 4 then I'd guess they the wires are soldered across a couple of positions.

A wiring jedi might be able to help - @ICBM are you familiar with these switches?

ICBM

You can't rewire the existing switch easily, if at all - it's done with a PCB. If you want different combinations it's best to replace the whole thing with a standard 4-pole rotary switch with wire tags.

octatonic

ICBM said:

hootsmon said:

Some cat was sayin' that some of the positions on the 5 way knob were a bit crappy.....

If you were to mod yours how would you fill the 5x positions?

By removing it and fitting a 3-way toggle and a push-pull tone control.

This.
I'd use a push/push though.

ADP

The original rotary switch used up until 1994 had three wafers rather than a PCB. It could be rewired any way you wanted.

Voxman

Before buying my PRS Cu24 I sat and compared side by side one with a 5 way rotary and one with the 3 way plus push-pull. I wanted tones similar to strat positions 2 and 4. The 5 way gave these, the 3 way push pull didn't.  

If you want those near strat tones, go for the 5 way. If you are ok with the more conventional but thinner tapped tones, then the 3 way/push pull is fine.

With the 5 way, I don't tend to use the middle position much as its a bit duller sounding. But the other 4 tones are great.  

I'm now very used to the 5 way and I can select positions instinctively much faster than having to move a toggle and pulling a tone knob. But if there was a way to replicate the current 4 tones I like and have two genuinely useful additional tones, I'd have no problem in doing a conversion to 3 way with push pull.

ICBM

The toggle/push-pull does have three of the same sounds - the two humbuckers, and the outer split coils. If it's the more Stratty in-between sound you want you can get it by making it split to the inner coils rather than the outer ones, which is the same as the other of the 5-way parallel sounds. This is easy since the wiring is all conventional, not on a PCB.

That will give you at least three of the tones you like, plus two true single coil sounds and the both-humbuckers sound - which I always found the best sound on a PRS, and isn't on the 5-way at all - although I think it was on the originals.

Jonathanthomas83

ICBM said:

hootsmon said:

Some cat was sayin' that some of the positions on the 5 way knob were a bit crappy.....

If you were to mod yours how would you fill the 5x positions?

By removing it and fitting a 3-way toggle and a push-pull tone control.

I had a 5-way switch and switched it out for a 3-way too. I rarely use the push-pull now, but it's nice to know it's there should I need it. Much better guitar for it now!

Jalapeno

axisus said:

Got mine swapped out for a switch immediately.

I just hated the concept - a knob to select pickups just feels totally wrong to me. It also really bugged my that they stuck a knob on with 10 numbers! FFS just design a knob fit for purpose! You charge enough for the bloody guitars!

This, muchly  - completely put me off PRS until they sorted it. (Well that and I couldn't afford one until recently )

Voxman

ICBM said:

The toggle/push-pull does have three of the same sounds - the two humbuckers, and the outer split coils. If it's the more Stratty in-between sound you want you can get it by making it split to the inner coils rather than the outer ones, which is the same as the other of the 5-way parallel sounds. This is easy since the wiring is all conventional, not on a PCB.

That will give you at least three of the tones you like, plus two true single coil sounds and the both-humbuckers sound - which I always found the best sound on a PRS, and isn't on the 5-way at all - although I think it was on the originals.

Are the two true single coil sounds (ie split to the inner coils) exactly the same as the rotary position 2 & 4 (OK, strictly 9 & 7 but you know what I mean)?
 
If I was going to do a switch change I'd like even more tonal variation to make it worthwhile.  There is a way of getting 10 tones with either the 5-way rotary or 5-way slide-selector, which you couldn't get with the 3-way plus push-pull - unless there was a way of doing this with a double-push-pull perhaps?

Here's a link to the mod from the PRS forum:

http://www.prsforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=24379  ;

ICBM

I forget which way round they are, but one of the 9 and 7 positions (outer coils in parallel) is the same as the middle toggle position with the tone knob pulled, yes.

Switching it to the inner coils makes it much more Stratty, especially on a 24-fret model because the pickups are close enough together. On the 22s it's not as good, and in fact there's less difference between the two sounds anyway - which is another reason I don't like the rotary. On the 22s the range of tones from the toggle/push-pull is wider. Of course the rotary was originally designed for the 24-fret model.

normula1

Would one of the Freeway switches be of any use here?

ICBM

normula1 said:

Would one of the Freeway switches be of any use here?

Yes... until it breaks, anyway. They don't appear to be very reliable.

CountryDave

I too have gone the way of the 3 way switch.  Prior to changing I put a black Telecaster knob on as I broke two of the original plastic ones over the space of about 8 years.  Never looked at the numbers anyway.