PRS McCarty opinions please.

DefaultM

Unrelated question, but the bar keeps coming out of the trem when I vibrato. I read online and it says there's a grub screw I can tighten, but when I look on the back of the guitar its just a solid block with no screws in sight?

[Deleted User]

It is on the rear of the bridge plate/housing, next to the screws which adjust intonation/string length, immediately behind where the trem arm enters the bridge.

It is a long time since I owned a PRS with a trem but IIRC it is adjusted with a small hex key. Don't bodge it with anything else or use the wrong size key and don't over tighten it - PRS screws are usually made of brass and are therefore very easy to damage.

DefaultM

Thats perfect thanks. This guitar is pretty great. I went from 9s to 10s, it took about 5 minutes to stretch the strings in and I didn't need to make any adjustments.

photek

photek said:

I love both the McCarty and the CE22's. I don't think there is enough difference between the 2 to be worth the money. 10's will make a big difference as will changing pickups. I never really liked the stock pickups in the CE's plus if you have a 5 way rotary it seems to rob quite a bit of tone, swap to a 3 way plus coil tap!

Oooh, got my first facepalm for the above comment, exciting. I would love to know why though anyone care to explain?

DefaultM

10s improved the tone substantially. I was thinking of putting the mccarty wiring in because the rotary is a pain in the arse. The dials are too slippy and it's an awkward place for a switch in the first place.

dindude

Oooh, got my first facepalm for the above comment, exciting. I would love to know why though anyone care to explain?

The first one's hard to take, it gets a lot easier from here. Trust me, I have experiene in this field.

Adam_MD

I'm doing that very thing tonight. Some new pickups arrived from Oily Towers this morning to go with the new 3 way and push/push pot. I opened up the switch hole a little to fit the new 3 way and wired up the pots yesterday just the new pickups to fit tonight and I'm good to go. The only reason I'm switching to the 3 way is to see what it's like as I'm fitting new pickups anyway. I actually liked the 5 way when I got used to it, positions 2 and 4 are excellent.

DefaultM;25737" said:

10s improved the tone substantially. I was thinking of putting the mccarty wiring in because the rotary is a pain in the arse. The dials are too slippy and it's an awkward place for a switch in the first place.

ICBM

DefaultM said:

10s improved the tone substantially. I was thinking of putting the mccarty wiring in because the rotary is a pain in the arse. The dials are too slippy and it's an awkward place for a switch in the first place.

I found 11s even better - you can really hear and feel the whole guitar resonate much more than with the lighter strings. With the sightly shorter scale PRSs are so easy to play you don't really feel the extra tension, they don't feel any heavier than 10s on a Fender.

If your guitar has the new 'lampshade' knobs I really dislike those - too slippery and they look awful. No idea why they felt the need to redesign something that wasn't broken in the first place. (And if you do break one, it's much harder to get a replacement! Since they're exclusive to PRS and no doubt cost as much as cheap overdrive pedal...) At least it's easy enough to put the old 'speed' knobs on.

The toggle switch is a huge upgrade. I actually find it the best place for one, on any guitar - it doesn't look like it should be at first, but it's about the only place where you can never hit it by accident and yet always flip it with the side of your hand between beats.

If you want you could still get both the 7 and 9 positions from the rotary too - use two push-push pots, one to split the pickups and the other to select which pair of coils. That gives nine sounds in total as well.

Adam_MD

ICBM;25766" said:

DefaultM said:

10s improved the tone substantially. I was thinking of putting the mccarty wiring in because the rotary is a pain in the arse. The dials are too slippy and it's an awkward place for a switch in the first place.





I found 11s even better - you can really hear and feel the whole guitar resonate much more than with the lighter strings. With the sightly shorter scale PRSs are so easy to play you don't really feel the extra tension, they don't feel any heavier than 10s on a Fender.

If your guitar has the new 'lampshade' knobs I really dislike those - too slippery and they look awful. No idea why they felt the need to redesign something that wasn't broken in the first place. (And if you do break one, it's much harder to get a replacement! Since they're exclusive to PRS and no doubt cost as much as cheap overdrive pedal...) At least it's easy enough to put the old 'speed' knobs on.

The toggle switch is a huge upgrade. I actually find it the best place for one, on any guitar - it doesn't look like it should be at first, but it's about the only place where you can never hit it by accident and yet always flip it with the side of your hand between beats.

If you want you could still get both the 7 and 9 positions from the rotary too - use two push-push pots, one to split the pickups and the other to select which pair of coils. That gives nine sounds in total as well.

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.

ICBM

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.

Adam_MD

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

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

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

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

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

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

ICBM

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

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

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

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?