PRS 513

As Paults used to say: "Every guitar should have at least 3 pickups."

I read a review in which someone described it as "a coverband guitarist's wet dream." ha ha

I found the 513 interesting because I've been trying to duplicate that versatility in a number of the guitar mods I've done to my Hamers over the years (The Mirage II with the 3-coil, The Centaura with the Rio tallboy humbucker at the neck, etc.).

I know it's not their current style...but I would love it if Hamer did something along these lines.

My understanding is that it is getting rather lukewarm reviews. Why they went with a proprietary pickup dimension is dumbfounding.

Get a Mirage and have a middle SC added and you're on the way.

I still say that! I'd like to hear one of those guitars- the Guitar Player Icon Series PRS 20th Anniversary magazine shows the circuitry of the 513. Lots of wire coming off the pickups to a pair of serious looking switches. Have you noticed they added 1/4" to the scale length? Probably to add more snap to the single coil tone. The price of admission for one of these is quite dear, though. Have you heard/played one?

If the pickup selector can't get the bridge-neck combo, it's useless. How the five-position switch became the defacto standard is beyond me. Someone needs to invent the seven position switch, adding neck-bridge and all on.

If the pickup selector can't get the bridge-neck combo, it's useless. How the five-position switch became the defacto standard is beyond me. Someone needs to invent the seven position switch, adding neck-bridge and all on.

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3 position switch, and a knob that brings in varying amounts of the middle pickup, works well also.

Mike_C's 3 P90 Standard is set up that way.

If the pickup selector can't get the bridge-neck combo, it's useless.  How the five-position switch became the defacto standard is beyond me.  Someone needs to invent the seven position switch, adding neck-bridge and all on.

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3 position switch, and a knob that brings in varying amounts of the middle pickup, works well also.

Mike_C's 3 P90 Standard is set up that way.

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That to me is a compromise. There is no NEED for a variable middle selector - it just needs to be ON or OFF. The mod you described allows you to do it without routing the guitar for new switches. Perhaps if the knob was push-pull, allowing you to turn off the PU completely...

The seven position selector would be the best way of doing it, though.

I disagree that it's any kind of compromise.

I think having the blend control is nice. You get a lot more variety to the sounds, and it works great. A 7 position switch, to me, is way too much of a pain to use, especially if you're making pickup selections on the fly.

A knob can be fully off, and fully on, with all of the selections in between the two.

If you want switches, try a Steve Morse model Music Man. After 10 minutes, it's very easy to use, fast, on the fly.

But if a push/pull, a push/push, or a 7 way switch works better for you, hey, go for it.

Agreed that having the neck and bridge on is key, but I'm not a huge fan of the rotaries. I've got 5 ways in three guitars and it's bad enough knowing where I am with 5 positions to choose from, I'd be smoked with seven! Actually, I think that most practical switching system is the much-maligned three mini switch one. That way you know a pickup is on or off, particularly on the two way minis. Simple and effective. It gets a bit cumbersome on the 3 way minis with the coil splitting (I forget which is up or down sometimes and it isn't as easy to smack on the fly).

I use a blender pot on my "Strat" that adds the bridge or neck pickup, depending on the position of the 5 way switch. There's a good description here:

Blender description

This is primarily designed for three single coils, but I suspect you could use humbuckers and add push/pull coil splitter pots on the volume and tone controls.

That would give you every possible combination, with the added single v. humbucker option in all combinations other than the solo middle pickup. The only shortcomming is the loss of independant tone controls.

Paults is dreamy.

I hope PRS makes a cheaper version with a maple neck at some point, I'd have to seriously consider one of those. Actually a 513 CE would kick serious buttski.

My understanding is that it is getting rather lukewarm reviews.  Why they went with a proprietary pickup dimension is dumbfounding.

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I've heard that some of the early run had problems w/the pickup wiring, but I've had no such problems w/my 513. It's a smoking instrument. Maybe I'm a bit starstruck because it's my first rosewood neck, but the neck may be the best I've ever played. The pickup combinations blew me away in the store (my wife said I was making some very interesting faces when I tried it out) and haven't let me down since. The single coil sounds don't sound 100% Stratish to me - the bridge especially seems to have a bit of Tele in it. I hate to say it, but if I'd bought the 513 before my CU24, I might only have the one PRS.

It's taken a little while to get used to the increased stiffness of the 010s and the different scale length, but that's rapidly ceasing to be an issue.

Wasn't aware that they used a proprietary pickup size, but I don't have any desire to switch the pickups in this beast anyway. I like her just fine the way she is. And the rosewood smells so sweet...

Alan

The controls of my 3 p-90 standard are Vol for the neck and bridge pickup Master tone for all threee pickups and volume for the middle pickup. We were going to go for a push pull on/off but decided to skip that as the dedicated volume allowed for full on/ full off and blending in. Add the tradition 3 way switch and with some knob twirling you get every pickup combination including middle only. It works quite well and is rather simple to operate.

I like it better than having a bunch of mini switches on the guitar.

The only thing you can't do with the guitar is a toggle switch wiggle for that on off effect since the neck and bridge pickup are on the same volume control.

THe only way to do that was to lose the tone control and go with three volume knobs. Something worth considering if it weren't a Hamer.

edited to add I really like the tone control on Hamers.

BTTT

Sniff......There's that smell again.