Maple Neck with Ebony Fingerboard, really short sustain

[jl789]

Hi guys, I recently bought a new PRS Wood Library Custom 24-08. Mahogany body, one-piece quilted maple top (main reason I pulled the trigger), roasted maple neck and ebony fingerboard. First time having a guitar with this combo. Tbh, I'd have bought it sooner if it had the usual mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard.

The setup was great, you know, as usual, so was the build quality, but I noticed it has really really short sustain. A note rings for about 4 seconds then it dies. As a set-neck guitar, that was really strange. Anyways, I compared it with other guitars I have, an Ibanez AZ2204 (Strat style) and a Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul. I played the same notes and recorded all three in DAW. As I mentioned before, a note played on the PRS only rang for 4 seconds, and the Ibanez for 10 secs, and the Les Paul, well, over 20 seconds. I think it should be about the same as the Ibanez, at least. And nearly all the tests I recorded have similar results.

This is my fourth PRS, I had a 30th Anni Custom 24 Artist Package, SC245 AP and 35th Anni Custom 24-08 10-Top. I really enjoyed the 24-08 but foolishly sold it and that's why I bought this 24-08.

I've emailed PRS CS the other day but haven't got their reply yet. I know it might seem strange considering this is my first post, but I was just wondering if it's just normal with this wood combo?

 

[shinksma]

That doesn't sound "typical" to me. Maybe there's an issue with the bridge set up? Also, are you playing an open string (unfretted) note or fretted? Have you tried both?

Because if only impacting open notes, that might be a nut issue.

Maple & Ebony for the neck shouldn't make the note die so quickly. I have that combo on my JA-15 (yeah, nothing really like a CU24 body-wise) and I don't have a sustain issue.

I think my SE Akerfeldt is maple neck ebony FB. I don't recall any sustain issues with that either. Now I need to go check later today.

EDIT: one more thing - how close are the pickups to the strings? If too close, that can damp out a string fairly quickly.

 

[Stevie_boy]

Wondering about string distance to your pickups. I've had guitars sound dead when the magnet from the pickup (especially the bridge it seems) is too close to the strings.

 

[veinbuster]

It isn't the wood combination.

 

[5Springer]

All good points posted above.. definitely not a wood combo issue for the neck, IMO it doesn’t get much better than ebony and maple.. I’ve got a bolt on CE limited run ebony board on Maple and she sings like a angel : )

Charles

 

[tedtan]

Sounds like a setup issue rather than a maple/ebony issue.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Four seconds is like a lifetime within the context of a song.

 

[jl789]

Thanks. PRS CS suggests send it back for inspection. I'll check if the pickups are too high. I was asking because I remember I read somewhere that Suhr doesn't recommend mahogany body and maple neck, and some builders don't like ebony as well. I've always wanted to try this combo but was afraid they were true. Anyways, I'll let you guys know.

 

[jl789]

I lowered both pickups. They were noticeably higher than what PRS recommends on the website. I also changed new strings, though I already did that when I got the guitar. But still, very short sustain. I recorded an open A chord, and it did ring longer than my Ibanez AZ.

I'm so lost. I know the nut and the bridge can also affect sustain, but I don't know what to do, as they seem fine. What really bothers me is not short sustain, but how it decays. It's like there was a gate pedal, and every note dies rapidly. After about four seconds, the note suddenly dies, as if I was muting it.

 

[opnoob]

My guess would be the potentiometers. Much like how rolling off your tone or volume knob can kill your sustain, I might look at replacing them.

 

[SinSir]

I'd definitely send it to PRS like they suggested before swapping parts. It's a new WL not a se. Let them take care of it.

Adjustments and strings are one thing, but anything more than that on this level wouldn't make much sense in a new guitar.

 

[bodia]

I'd definitely send it to PRS like they suggested before swapping parts. It's a new WL not a se. Let them take care of it.

Adjustments and strings are one thing, but anything more than that on this level wouldn't make much sense in a new guitar.

Agree completely

 

[jl789]

I got it right before I left US, so really can't send it back. At this point, I guess I'll just adjust truss rod and saddles, but I don't think it's gonna make a difference.

 

[jl789]

My guess would be the potentiometers. Much like how rolling off your tone or volume knob can kill your sustain, I might look at replacing them.

I don't think it's the pots. I tried to play it unplugged and the notes still had very short sustain. Right after you pick a note, it decays rapidly.

I wanted to loosen the truss rod but it has some relief already, and the action is not very low. No string buzz at all.

When I played it unplugged, I noticed it just doesn't resonate well, kinda... dead... And tbh, I'm a little bit let down. I know without inspection, there is nothing they can do, but some suggestions at least would be helpful. All I got is suggesting sending it back.

 

[Steve Dombroski]

I had this happen on 1 PRS Custom 24 a while back, and I sold it. I loved the look and feel of the guitar, but it just sounded dead to me. I typically play stoptail guitars though, so I just wrote it off as that. One option you could try would be blocking the trem.

 

[VHTStark]

I had this happen on 1 PRS Custom 24 a while back, and I sold it. I loved the look and feel of the guitar, but it just sounded dead to me. I typically play stoptail guitars though, so I just wrote it off as that. One option you could try would be blocking the trem.

Yup, guitars are made of wood and no matter how impeccably built they are (like a PRS Core), you will get variation. We all have specific things in the way a guitar reacts to our playing and it sounds like, unfortunately, this particular WL model does not tick those boxes for the OP. I have been down the rabbit hole before of swapping pickups, electronics, etc to try and get a guitar to respond the way I wanted it to and it never worked out fully how I wanted. Flip the guitar and find the one that ticks all the boxes.

PS: New Custom 24 stoptail....I wish! Lol

 

[Steve Dombroski]

Yup, guitars are made of wood and no matter how impeccably built they are (like a PRS Core), you will get variation. We all have specific things in the way a guitar reacts to our playing and it sounds like, unfortunately, this particular WL model does not tick those boxes for the OP. I have been down the rabbit hole before of swapping pickups, electronics, etc to try and get a guitar to respond the way I wanted it to and it never worked out fully how I wanted. Flip the guitar and find the one that ticks all the boxes.

PS: New Custom 24 stoptail....I wish! Lol

I've been lucky enough to track down a few custom 24 stoptails, I'm up to 5, with a 6th being built!

 

[12manD]

Hi guys, I recently bought a new PRS Wood Library Custom 24-08. Mahogany body, one-piece quilted maple top (main reason I pulled the trigger), roasted maple neck and ebony fingerboard. First time having a guitar with this combo. Tbh, I'd have bought it sooner if it had the usual mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard.

The setup was great, you know, as usual, so was the build quality, but I noticed it has really really short sustain. A note rings for about 4 seconds then it dies. As a set-neck guitar, that was really strange. Anyways, I compared it with other guitars I have, an Ibanez AZ2204 (Strat style) and a Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul. I played the same notes and recorded all three in DAW. As I mentioned before, a note played on the PRS only rang for 4 seconds, and the Ibanez for 10 secs, and the Les Paul, well, over 20 seconds. I think it should be about the same as the Ibanez, at least. And nearly all the tests I recorded have similar results.

This is my fourth PRS, I had a 30th Anni Custom 24 Artist Package, SC245 AP and 35th Anni Custom 24-08 10-Top. I really enjoyed the 24-08 but foolishly sold it and that's why I bought this 24-08.

I've emailed PRS CS the other day but haven't got their reply yet. I know it might seem strange considering this is my first post, but I was just wondering if it's just normal with this wood combo?

Is this happening on a specific note, if so what note on what string? Is it across all notes?

 

[jl789]

Is this happening on a specific note, if so what note on what string? Is it across all notes?

Yes all notes. I noticed it first when I bent 14th fret on the G string, but then I recorded some notes across the fretboard, all had short sustain.

 

[László]

Hi guys, I recently bought a new PRS Wood Library Custom 24-08. Mahogany body, one-piece quilted maple top (main reason I pulled the trigger), roasted maple neck and ebony fingerboard. First time having a guitar with this combo. Tbh, I'd have bought it sooner if it had the usual mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard.

In a hollow body guitar, maple and ebony do a different thing than in a solid body guitar because a hollow body is a large resonator. I have maple and ebony on my PS acoustic, and it's a classic tone. But not so much in an electric, in my experience.

I believe Greywolf recently posted a video by Breedlove where he mentioned the science behind how sound travels measurably more quickly through some woods than others. If you think about the ADSR envelope of a synthesizer, you can make the attack very fast, the decay short, the sustain and release can be adjusted as well. I feel that wood works kind of like that - each species has certain ADSR characteristics.

On an electric I find a maple neck plus ebony fretboard sustains the shortest of any wood combination, except perhaps maple/maple. Just my personal experience. Great for chicken pickin' or funky stuff, but I don't care for it for sustaining notes.

Although four seconds of sustain sounds kind of short, even for that combination.

I've had several WL models with maple necks and sold them all. The classic PRS combination of mahogany and rosewood works better for me, because I'm a melodic player and need notes that sustain. So I've given up on maple necks altogether, same with ebony on a solid body - and I've had several with ebony that just didn't work out for that very reason, most recently a Special Semi-Hollow.

I know, only a crazy person makes the same mistake over and over, and I keep doing that so I must be quite mad, but I thought with the semi-hollow body it'd be different. It wasn't. After nearly two years with the guitar I gave up.

Again, we're all different and play differently. That's great, and if maple works for someone else, I'm all for that!