Wiring an HH setup W/Split in a PRS SE

[H00PL4H_KH4N]

       Hey folks, n00b here. Looking for general advice for wiring up my PRS SE with a ceramic Nailbomb in the bridge, and an AlNiCo Coldsweat in the neck, both of them 4 conductor.

Here are my main questions

1. If I were to set up coil splitting that I controlled through my pot/s; would I have to have each pickup be controlled by a different pot? It might be cool to have my bridge on hum and split my neck while I am using both, so having them controlled individually might be cool. Is this worth it? useless? way too much soldering? All advice welcome.

2. I have seen people drill new holes to have their split controlled by a master switch, is it worth the risks involved with drilling just to have the ability to split both pickups more easily?

3. In wiring up my selector I have come across some diagrams that scramble my brains. It is referred to as a "Five-way Humbucker special" and uses DiMarzio color codes as examples. Here's the selector setup:

         POS 1. Bridge series
         POS 2. Inside coils (bridge and neck) parallel
         POS 3. Inside coils (bridge and neck) series
         POS 4. Neck parallel
         POS 5. Neck series

           3a. It says "Inside coils parallel". Is that splitting the pickup through the selector/Can I do this with my BKP's?         
           3b. Are the advantages of having series/parallel options worth F***ing with this setup?
           3c. The diagram does not allow for use of the two H-bucker's, not split, in unison. Does this matter?

4. I really want to do the wiring/soldering myself so I can learn how to do it for the future. My plan was to get some beater guitars and undo/re-do all the soldering for some practice. My question is; How much damage can you really do to pickups/guitar if you are in-experienced?

Thanks for the read, and remember kids; Heroes get remembered but the force will be with you, always.

                           H00PL4H_KH4N 0UT

[PhilKing]

Hi, a couple of questions:

• Which PRS SE do you have - does it have a blade switch (like a Fender) or a toggle switch (like a Gibson)?
• Do you want set combinations or the ability to decide what to have separately?

Based on that, there are a few different choices.  Rather than go through all of them, I'll wait for your answer.

You can't do much damage to the pickups, but you can damage the pots if you overheat them.  Having said that, I've been doing rewiring since I was 16, but had done a lot of soldering before that.

[H00PL4H_KH4N]

           
   Hey Phil thanks for the reply,
   
      So this is my guitar http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/prs-se-singlecut-korina-electric-guitar#productDetail
     
      It has a toggle switch and as far as options go I would like to have the ability to split AND wire in series/parallel. My guitar has 1 tone and 1 volume, could I possibly wire it so that one pot controls the split and the other the series/parallel. Is there an easier way to achieve the ability to control both?

      Thank you for your considerations
               -H00PL4H

[PhilKing]

Nice guitar - I have the PRS SE Zach Myers, which is probably pretty similar, though it has 2 vols & 2 tones.  I swapped out the pickups in that but left the wiring stock.  You can do one of two things easily.  One is to have coil split on both pickups (which is what PRS do on the ME II), using a push pull pot on the tone.  This will not let you do individual selections though, so the other option is to put push pulls on both the volume and ton and have the neck split on the volume and the bridge split on thee tone.  You could also make it series/parallel rather than split with this method.  I like parallel more than split, as it keeps the humbucking and doesn't get hum like a single coil.

This is  the series parallel wiring diagram:

http://guitarelectronics.com/2-humbuckers-3-way-toggle-switch-1-volume-1-tone-series-parallel/

This is the coil tap:

http://guitarelectronics.com/2-humbuckers-3-way-toggle-switch-1-volume-1-tone-coil-tap/


They have many other diagrams too - just make sure you get the colours of the wires correct and good luck with it.  If you run into problems I'll try to help you out.

[H00PL4H_KH4N]

This seems to be more in line with what I was looking for http://guitarelectronics.com/2-humbuckers-3-way-toggle-switch-1-volume-1-tone-coil-tap-series-parallel/

Any disadvantages to this setup?

[PhilKing]

No, if that's what you are thinking, then go for it.  The advantage to this is that if you don't like it, you can go to one of the other schemes easily, as you'll have 2 push-pull pots.