HELP NEEDED: Rewiring my PRS Santana SE

imalrightjack

Hi all,

Recently acquired a 2003 PRS Santana SE. It plays great but the volume pot is past its best and I'm thinking about rewiring from scratch. I got an Oil City wiring loom for my Les Paul and that is the most wiring I've done. I'd quite like to do this from scratch.

Any advice on parts, etc.? Does anybody have a diagram for a 3-way switch, one volume/one tone setup?

Biggest question is: how much can I do outside of the body? I.e. Create my own loom/harness.

Also looking to acquire new pickups and do it all in one. Not fussed about coil-tapping, as I have done it on numerous guitars and never used it!

Thanks!

professorben

You could wire the pots and everything up then just have connector blocks for the pickups and jack sicker. 

drwiddly

Axesrus for the parts and Irongear website for wiring diagrams. Job done!

Funkfingers

Make a sketch of the existing circuit - or take photographs. Work to that.

Once the original controls are removed, make a cardboard template of the pots and switch hole layout. Mount the new components on the template. Orient them to suit the control cavity. Pre-solder as many of the connections as is practicable.

Do not solder anything into the selector switch ground lug at this stage. 

TTony

imalrightjack said:

Recently acquired a 2003 PRS Santana SE. It plays great but the volume pot is past its best and I'm thinking about rewiring from scratch. 

.....

Also looking to acquire new pickups and do it all in one. 

I too have a 2003 Santana SE.

I replaced the stock p'ups with the Blues Engine / Dirty Torque set from Iron Gear.  I bought a few IG p'ups in those days.  Most of the IGs are now gone, usually replaced with Oil City units,  ut I've kept that set in the Santana SE.  You can probably take that as a recommendation.

As long as you've got a decent soldering iron and a reasonable technique, you shouldn't go too far wrong.

The Seymour Duncan site has just about every wiring diagram imaginable.  Great resource.

imalrightjack

Thanks, all. @TTony Interesting. As an Oil City user, it was my first stop - and the snob in me looked past IGs. Maybe worth a go. 

Something like this worth getting?

https://www.axesrus.co.uk/Wiring-Kit-HBHB-3-Control-p/3ctrlprssewiringkit.htm

shuikit

I've found this site which has loads of wiring diagrams useful.
https://sites.google.com/site/phostenixwiringdiagrams/

imalrightjack

I've gone with a bunch of stuff from Irongear/Axetec, so that should occupy tomorrow nicely presuming it arrives on time. 

I intend to use this diagram (Tesla Sharks are 4-conductor):

http://www.irongear.co.uk/2_x_humbuckers__1_vol__1_tone_switched___3-way_toggle_v03_igwm.gif

My question is, when it says a wire goes to ground, where do you hook it up? Forgive my ignorance! 

imalrightjack

Further to the wiring diagram, I've bought all of the stuff shown. I've gone with braided wire. Where it says to ground, or the yellow and blue lines (I.e. Anything not coming from a pickup), can anybody help me understand this better? Thanks!

imalrightjack

Anybody? Please

professorben

imalrightjack said:

Anybody? Please

The braided wire should be to ground I believe. 

professorben

imalrightjack said:

I've gone with a bunch of stuff from Irongear/Axetec, so that should occupy tomorrow nicely presuming it arrives on time. 

I intend to use this diagram (Tesla Sharks are 4-conductor):

http://www.irongear.co.uk/2_x_humbuckers__1_vol__1_tone_switched___3-way_toggle_v03_igwm.gif

My question is, when it says a wire goes to ground, where do you hook it up? Forgive my ignorance! 

Sorry ground is the back of the pot. 
Just solder all the grounds to the back of the volume pot, just be careful not to cook it. 

imalrightjack

Thanks, @professorben - what about those that aren't coming from pickups? Just the core cable, unless stated? 

professorben

imalrightjack said:

Thanks, @professorben - what about those that aren't coming from pickups? Just the core cable, unless stated? 

Anything labeled ground must have a connection to each other, ultimately you are connecting all the grounds to the output jack, it's just easier to use the back of the pot as a 'hub' and a single wire to the jack socket. 

imalrightjack

@professorben What about, for example, the yellow between pots?

Also, on the tone, what's with the ground on the left? Sorry for being dim...

professorben

You've got a yellow from the switch to the volume 
and a blue from the switch to the tone. 

The ground on the tone pot is to

1) ground the tone pot
2) ground the pull switch. 

Basically when you turn down the volume pot on a guitar, you are sending more and more of the signal 'to ground'
same as when you split a pickup you send half ( or howevermuch) 'to ground' 

essentially you have to 'send' the signal somewhere it doesn't just disappear, you are sending it to a part of the circuit that dissipates it to ground (earth) 

imalrightjack

professorben said:

You've got a yellow from the switch to the volume 
and a blue from the switch to the tone. 

The ground on the tone pot is to

1) ground the tone pot
2) ground the pull switch. 

Thanks again, @professorben. ;

The yellow and blue - are they just the core of the braided cable?

How does the wire on the tone physically connect?

professorben

imalrightjack said:

professorben said:

You've got a yellow from the switch to the volume 
and a blue from the switch to the tone. 

The ground on the tone pot is to

1) ground the tone pot
2) ground the pull switch. 

Thanks again, @professorben. ;

The yellow and blue - are they just the core of the braided cable?

How does the wire on the tone physically connect?

No if you look at the diagram closely
you have 4 wires coming from the pickup. 

Red
White
Green
Bare (ground)

i apologise I mistakenly said the braid should go to ground, I had in my head it was a Metal braided cover, it's not. 

Just the 4 wires to connect. 

Red ones go to your toggle switch one on each of the 'outside' tags. 

Green and white you solder together then solder them to the middle tag on each side of your pull pot (tone)

Bare goes to the back of the volume pot. 

Now run 2 wires soldered together at one end to the middle tag on the toggle switch, yellow and blue. 

Other ends of the two, Yellow goes to the tag on the volume pot, Blue goes to Tone. 

Now just connect all the ground points to the back of the volume pot.

one wire to the jack socket outside tag ( note if you mix them up it will still work but buzz like a bitch)

Also note there will be an 'extra' wire going from somewhere in the body to a ground point, that's from the guitar bridge, it's not shown on the wiring diagram, that's where the grounded signal goes..... into your hands!!!

This is why if you completely let go of the guitar, it buzzes, especially with high gain. 

professorben

I'd just run a little wire across the pull pot switch to the back of the tone pot, then another wire connecting the two pots casings together, then the orange resistor goes from the tone pot tag to the tone pot casing. 

professorben

imalrightjack said:

professorben said:

You've got a yellow from the switch to the volume 
and a blue from the switch to the tone. 

The ground on the tone pot is to

1) ground the tone pot
2) ground the pull switch. 

Thanks again, @professorben. ;

The yellow and blue - are they just the core of the braided cable?

How does the wire on the tone physically connect?

I'd suggest watching a couple of YouTube videos about the basics of soldering. 
Tinning, dry solder joints etc. 

Trust me you almost will definitely fuck it up, I did. 

But it just be methodical and patient. 

Give yourself plenty of time, a good strong cuppa, nice music and take your time. 

imalrightjack

So, @professorben, the yellows and blues coming from the tone and vol to the switch, am I right in saying they're the core of the braided cable I have?

The blue from vol to jack, again braided cable, split at the jack with the outer as the ground?