[ButterflyFracture]

So I recently picked up a pair of Illuminator pickups with the intention of putting them in my PRS SE Custom 24 (1vol, 1 tone coil split push/pull, 3 way blade). I have installed them as best as I can but they don't coil tap and sound a bit weak. Can anyone help me get the right wiring for them? The first picture is PRS from factory and the second is my attempt at installing the illuminator... Please be aware I have never soldered before haha!

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Lfw-xAzWSOtfcRAHP0lWGHrnoSd-PxQS

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1zE9suBlBhuoYd9Dlj229O1b75HYP3t81

Thanks for your help!

[darkbluemurder]

If the original wiring comes with a push-pull knob but your replacement pickups do not have coil taps you can still wire them in as straight humbuckers. Put the red wires of your pickups to the contacts at the switch where the original pickups'  wires were and put the green wires to ground (can be the back of a potentiometer). You should then be able to set the pickup combinations with the toggle.

If you want the coil tap the but the pickups do not have them you either have to change the pickups (again) or modify your pickups to four conductor wires. If you are new to soldering this is not something I would recommend doing yourself, though. Best to take it to a competent tech.

Cheers Stephan

[jcknowles89]

So there are two ways of doing this....

a true coil SPLIT - completely takes one of the coils out of the signal all together - This is done by Sending the Series coil link (for Dimarzio pickups it would be Black and white wires) to ground. this often will result in a volume drop and a brighter tone.

a coil TAP - is done also by sending the series link to a resistor (PRS uses a 1k for the bridge and a 2.2k for the neck pickups) and then to Ground. What this does is it does not completely ground the Series link and thus will let some of the other coil into the signal. This theoretically will keep the volume from dropping as much but also may yield a fuller sound closer to what you would expect from a single coil in that spot.

In my experience the difference is subtle but its definitly there. Ill let you decide if you like it better one way or not.

what this looks like in a push pull situation.... Wire the Series link (black and white wires together) to the middle slug of the switch, one pickup on each side. From there take the bottom slug of the switch and wire that to your ground for a true coil split. For a coil tap use a resistor to ground instead of a wire.

Best of luck.