So how do you improve on this guitar? Well, besides getting rid of the rotary switch and installing a push/push pot system for coil taps, there's not much I would do. The guitar itself plays great and feels great. So I decided to change out some of the parts to see if I could get it to look even better than it already does.
I identified 3 things I would like to change out:
Pickup rings: I actually love the way PRS does faux body binding (although I'm not sure that's what they call it). I'm referring to the strip of the maple cap along the edge of the body that they leave unstained, and it simulates a plastic body binding that you'd find on say a Les Paul. Well my Custom 24 doesn't have that, and I thought the next best thing would be some maple pickup rings. These would provide some contrast and separation between the red body stain and the black plastic pickups.
Tuner buttons: hey at the right price, why not. I decided on some ebony tuning buttons and with combined shipping I thought they were pretty reasonable. Ebony doesn't really need to be finished, so I just put a coat of paste wax on them to buff them up. Plus they really add to the tone of the guitar.... ;)
Truss rod cover: this is another thing that was a minor annoyance with this guitar - a buzzing truss rod cover. I decided to see if I could get rid of it by replacing it with an ebony truss rod cover to match the tuner buttons. If not, I'll have to take more drastic dampening measures. Fingers crossed!
I started looking online, and found a seller on eBay that was selling precisely what I was looking for. At first I wasn't sure if the Phase II buttons would fit my winged locking tuners, but after some research I determined that they are both the same size (Schaller M1 replacements). The place I got my stuff from was crazyparts.de (they have an eBay store too).
So now...some before and after photos!
Before:
After:
More photos to come - pickup rings haven't arrived yet, and when they do I may need to oil and finish them before installation.
Update:
So the pickup rings arrived, and they were unsealed maple.
I firstly sealed it with a couple of light coats of shellac, then proceeded to put about 7-8 coats of clear gloss lacquer on it. I waited a couple of weeks, then wet sanded it to P2000.
I fitted them on the PRS after that. I'm still not 100% about the way it looks overall but I am happy about the way the pickup rings turned out.
