UNDER THE HOOD
We examine the switching differences of the SE and core models
While both versions of Paul’s Guitar outwardly have the same controls and functions, remove the backplates and they’re noticeably different. The USA model, with its master volume, master tone and three-way toggle switch, has evolved from the original designs that initially had a pre-set tone switch (the Sweet switch) instead of a tone control, and a five-way rotary pickup switch that pre-dated the use of a three-way toggle.The pots here are 500k, the tone cap is 0.033 microfarad, and the volume uses PRS’s standard 180 picofarad capacitor for its treble-bypass circuit.
But there’s a little more going on. The two mini-toggles are three-pole, double-throw, on-on switches. Two poles allow the single-coil split that voices the slug coil, but, unusually, completely removes the screw coil from the circuit.“These switches don’t imitate the sound of a single coil; we’ve changed the wiring so it is a single coil,” states Paul Reed Smith.
The third pole on each switch allows some additional tuning. On the neck pickup there’s a 330 picofarad capacitor between hot and ground that works only on the single coil. On the bridge pickup, two pieces of approximately three-inch-long
hook-up wire (one for each mode, presumably) provide a slight capacitance roll-off (although we now understand PRS prefers it without). There’s also a generous piece of hook-wire running from the volume to the output jack. Again, we suspect this is playing a subtle part in tuning, or sweetening, the high-end.
The SE circuit does pretty much the same, obviously with more cost-effective components, but the difference lies in the mini-toggles, which are more standard two-pole switches. This means that while the TCI ‘S’ pickups can be switched in exactly the same fashion, there are no extra poles to allow that additional tuning.