New 'The One' Guitar Day

Moe_Zambeek

It’s very red isn’t it the maple neck brings out the colour. Having the bridge uncovered makes the single coil look less out of place too.

I am sceptical about the ‘one guitar to rule them all’ status though, I’m sure I’ve heard that before somewhere...

portobear_65

Congratulations that's a lovely guitar.

I've got a 20th anniversary one, maple board with birds in a raspberry red colour.

They're really versatile guitars, so much so, I'm surprised they aren't a lot more popular with gigging guitarists.

Enjoy your guitar, the back story undoubtedly means it will be a keeper. 

Redlester

The maple neck on that blends beautifully with the red finish. 

guitargeek62

It looks brilliant, nice work with the p'up and switching changes too - glad to hear it's working well for you.

I can't help but feel that a couple of black pickup rings would set it off the scarlet properly, but then again - I'm slightly biased! 

 

ICBM

TINMAN82 said:

Pearly Gates perhaps not the most versatile pickup (assuming versatility is important with all those selector options). I had it in a strat bridge for a while. Great sound but very “Texas Sizzle” to my ears.

You weren't wrong. I did like the brightness of it, and the split-coil sound was really sparkly, but after a while it started to grate a bit - too middy and a bit spiky. The Jazz in the neck was a bit thin on the full-humbucker setting too... while I was wanting a brighter, lower-output sound rather than full-on rock, I began to miss the darker sound of my old Standard. And I really wasn't sure about the mismatching look with one covered and one open-coil pickup...

I have now acquired a pair of original PRS Dragon IIs from @handsomerik - although they don't seem to be the most popular of PRS's stock pickups I remembered them as being pretty good, and not too full-on. I did change the ones in my Standard for Duncans ('59 and Custom Custom), but stupidly didn't keep the originals.

So it's back to looking like it did in the first pic now! But the Dragons are a ton more full-sounding - not really high-output, nor muddy, but they do have a lot more bottom-end. To my slight surprise the bridge pickup really isn't any higher output than the Pearly Gates - I was expecting it to be, given it appears to be higher-wound - which is yet more proof that the DC resistance has very little to do with the output.

Very happy with it now, I think this may be the final set-up - it's got elements of most of the various PRSs I've owned before in it in different ways, and if any of them are 'the one' I think it's the closest. For now .

Danielsguitars

I need to try these push push pots, haven't found any i like so far

ICBM

Danielsguitars said:

I need to try these push push pots, haven't found any i like so far

Having used it at band practice volume now, I have discovered a disadvantage of them - although they’re easier to change from down to up than a push-pull, they’re harder from up to down... you have to more positively push them all the way down until they click, instead of just being able to hit the top and have them jump into the down position - that makes quite a difference if you’re trying to go quickly from ‘quiet’ to ‘loud’.

I think I still prefer them, but it’s not as one-sided as expected.

Roland

It’s fascinating that these things only become apparent when you use them at a gig or rehearsal. I liked the idea of push push pots, but found that I often couldn’t remember which position I’d left them in.

ICBM

Roland said:

It’s fascinating that these things only become apparent when you use them at a gig or rehearsal. I liked the idea of push push pots, but found that I often couldn’t remember which position I’d left them in.

Yes - 'field conditions' really can be quite different from just doodling around at home. These ones don't have that problem - which I have seen on others - because they're as visibly up or down as a normal push-pull, but a couple of times I hit them to go to 'loud' and didn't push them down far enough to lock. That would be very annoying at a gig if it was to go into a solo...

InactiveX

ICBM said:

Roland said:

It’s fascinating that these things only become apparent when you use them at a gig or rehearsal. I liked the idea of push push pots, but found that I often couldn’t remember which position I’d left them in.

Yes - 'field conditions' really can be quite different from just doodling around at home.

You won't be able to play in any fields from tomorrow.