GK-3 mounting in PRS SE Bernie Marsden

Started by Autana, February 13, 2016, 12:53:49 AM

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Autana

When I had my PRS SE Bernie Marsden in my hands first time, I was amazed of its sustain, tone and intonation, big reasons to decide mount a GK-3 on it. 
In the process I try first with the included mounting bracket for tune-o-matic bridge, but the measures do not match the PRS Stoptail Bridge. After I tried with the pickup spacers and double-sided tape included in the GK kit, but besides eventually the tape end loosened, extra downside came when I had to change a broken/worn string or the complete set. Since the bridge is wraparound, strings holes were blocked by the GK-3, requiring fully loosen the strings and bridge removal.

Then it came the idea of using the bridge humbucker mounting ring in a non-intrusive and easy to handle way, no tape or glue or even less screws holes, keeping fully intact the guitar hardware, and best of all, enabling me to change single strings without loosening strings and bridge, just a simple lateral sliding to remove the hex pickup.

First I cut two small rectangles from one of the Pickup Spacer B stripes (one of the thinner) bundled as GK-3 mounting accessories and glued them to the base of the GK3 pickup with a strong epoxy glue. Of course you can use the material of your choice.

The idea is that these plastic feet get tightly pinched under the mounting ring side facing the hex pup, keeping it in place and firm. To accomplish this the mounting ring screws should be partially loosened so that the plastic feet slide into, taking care of gk placement and magnetic yokes string match, finally the screws are tightened again.   

By using the thin strip pickup spacer for making of the plastic feet pieces, I realized that virtually there is not visible gap between the mounting ring and guitar surface, as seen in the pictures.

So far it has worked really well, and with the plus of not impact any hardware guitar part. Hope this help to PRS owners with Stoptail Bridge looking for a hassle operation.

















GR-55, GP-10, GI-20, Godin xtSA, GodinNylon MultiAc, Giannini classical, 3 GK-3'd gtrs, Cube 80XL, Primova GKFX-21 (x2)

Fear just pulls you out of being true to music, which is coming from a place of love. Love is the opposite of fear. I stay away from anything fear-related.
- Tal Wilkenfeld -

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#1
Autana - clever Gk-3 install on PRS SE Bernie Marsden above - no GK PU screws



and reversible and looks good too!