Exit the Dragons - Making a PRS CE22 sound great!

[@EthylOH]

I have an '04 CE22 with the Dragon II's, and I think they sound fantastic. I do agree about the 5-way rotary knob though - definitely a pain compared to a switch.

[@lmassy1]

The CE22 is a real jewel. I’ve got a 2001 CE22 in McCarty sunburst and I’ve replaced the pickups with a Duncan Custom/Distortion with alnico bars, with a 3 way switch and split on the tone pot. I prefer it over my Custom 24, sounds absolutely glorious and huge both full and splitted.

[@BulldogBill]

I especially like the neck pickup tones, both single coil and humbucker mode! However, the two pickups on together in single coil and Humbucker mode are my Favourite sounds. Great Job Tony!

[@TonyEdwardsGuitars]

Yeah, that was a little cool bonus really. We were guessing a bit on the tones of the single coils winding the whole thing backwards, but that's the joy of keeping production bespoke and small - if it isn't right we can just change it and try something else. It's like the guitars I build, its a totally custom process with the customer directly involved.

[@nigelthebald]

"This is a PRS CE [counts frets] 22..." It's this attention to detail that keeps me watching, Tony 😜

[@TonyEdwardsGuitars]

If I knew what I was doing, I'd be dangerous ;-)

[@lordgraga]

I have a CE-22 just like it. I like the Dragon II neck humbucker to be honest. For coil taps, I recommend doing what they do on modern PRS'es: Partial splits, so that the split is done by shorting the coil joins through a 2-4K resistor instead of going directly to ground. Evens out the level, makes the tone shit slightly less drastic, and tends to work better with most humbuckers.

[@remembertheblacksabbath]

Damn Tony, that sounds phenomenal!!!!!🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻

[@rajkomilosevichguera4547]

nice, and nice again... bad side of splits: sparkle is still in picking, not in the sound... it dies after hit. Bucker tones superb.

[@samwilcockmusic]

Great work! Subbed immediately.

[@Bognerman14]

Original Dragons and Dragon IIs sound great. Those Dragons were amazing.

[@TonyEdwardsGuitars]

Have they changed them in recent years? These seem to be largely the least popular PRS pickups with most of my long term customers for some reason (Dragon II)

[@Bognerman14]

@@TonyEdwardsGuitars Mine are Dragon I pickups. I've had them in my CE22 since 1994 and absolutely love them. I've also had the Dragon IIs. Like those as well. Lately, I'm big into the Tremonti pickups, Suhr pickups and Wolfetone pickups. Also love the Rio Grande BBQ. Thanks for the video! Enjoyed it.

[@bluestunes6356]

I envy the lucky guy who owns that! 😉

[@samwilcockmusic]

Did you keep the PRS spec treble bleed in the guitar?

[@TonyEdwardsGuitars]

That's a very good question. Honestly, I now can't be entirely sure, but I don't think so. I certainly don't have one in my guitar which uses a very similar bridge pickup (though the neck is totally different).

[@chuckevol]

What brand are these pickups? They sound fantastic

[@TonyEdwardsGuitars]

Hi. Thanks Chuckevol. These are pickups that I've been building for customers of my custom guitars for a while now, and for a few local customers. The idea behind them is that I can tailor them to particular customers because I know what they need. I've been finding though, that many of the designs have wider appeal, so I'm about to make them available more widely to customers (although they will only be available in small numbers, because I'm just one man in a small workshop making guitars). Website has just gone live: www.clausenpickups.co.uk

[@nikki435]

Where are you located, I need this done

[@TonyEdwardsGuitars]

Hi Gerald. These are made in Norfolk England, and I fit them here in the workshop in Fakenham, Norfolk