30th Anniversary SE upgrades...

[Mitchel Horowitz]

After having a bit of a love-hate relationship with the SE, especially with it staying in tune, I am now completely happy!

When I received the guitar, it just wouldn't stay in tune. Not even for a full song. First, I changed out the tuners with Schaller locking, stretched the strings silly, but that didn't do the trick. Plus, I just couldn't deal with the ratio on the factory tuners anyway and the Schallers cost $50 + shipping on ebay -- new in the box. Surprisingly not any better.

Next, based on recommendations here I tried lube in the nut and saddles which helped, but not completely. I could now get through a full song without re-tuning, most of the time.

What did the trick, was replacing the nut with a USA PRS nut, a set of 10s (instead of 9s), and a Mann made USA PRS tremolo. What a difference. Stays in tune, better playabilty, more sustain, better tone. Everything was really simple to install and took me about 30 minutes. It also fixed the "warbly" sound I was getting when playing chords...I wasn't sure if that was the guitar, pickups, or amp.

It plays and sounds so much better, now I can deal with electronics until I can afford a new USA made PRS next year.

 

[shupe13]

Sounds awesome. Congrats!

 

[bodia]

Sweet! Nice upgrades. Enjoy that puppy

 

[CantankerousCarl]

Good moves - The Mann will never steer you wrong!

Pics would make it a whole lot nicer though

 

[bigcraigie_1]

Many congrats Mitchel. Awesome upgrades and pics would be good

I had similar tuning issues with my 30th anniversary SE but not quite as bad as you experienced by the sound of it.

First put a set of Grover locking tuners, then followed but a Tusq nut but still had issues. It was better not not quite there. What really did the trick was the Mann Made trem. Now I can even do dive bombs and it still won't go out of tune. I topped mine off with a set of Seymours (Custom Trembucker and a Jazz).

The guitar is truely out of this world now and puts my top brand USA and Japanese guitars to shame.

I really can't say enough about the Mann Made trem though. It was what really made the guitar come alive.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

I love John's bridges, they're works of art.

One of the issues with the SE bridges is the block. While it sounds good, the holes for the strings are rather tight and can grab the ball-ends occasionally preventing the guitar from going back in tune after some whammy action.

You can try to de-burr the holes with a drill bit wrapped in some fine grit sandpaper and it'll help a little.

 

[John Mann]

B-)

 

[garrettb]

I've noticed the SE nuts are hit or miss, so fixing that up probably would've taken care of just about all of the stability issues. The nut is always culprit number one. However, great mod choices. I bet it's a beast of a guitar now.

 

[Danerada]

The nut on the SE is the first thing I replace. Good call there. The rest of it sounds like outstanding upgrades!

 

[TFC]

What did the trick, was replacing the nut with a USA PRS nut, a set of 10s (instead of 9s)

Care to show how you did this? I want to do this on my non-trem SE but have never replaced a nut before.

[Edit: No need to instruct me on how to install 10s instead of 9s ]

 

[markintime]

I have bought 2 SE's from Sweetwater and in in each case I specified changing the 9's to 10's AND massaging the nut to accommodate that string change. To date they have been faithful to my requests and my SE nuts stay in tune. So, be careful what you ask for...?

 

[Elliot]

I'm planning making all the same modifications when I can afford to.

I know I'm late to the party with this reply but do you think it would affect the setup to keep the 9s instead of changing to 10?

 

[Kazz]

Sticking with 9s shouldn't hurt anything. String gauge, while it does affect the tone and tension (meaning you have more setup work when changing, including possibly adding another spring to the trem when going up), is mostly personal preference.

 

[Boogie]

You shouldn't have to add a spring going from 9s to 10s. From 10s to 11s, yes, but there's plenty of adjustment in the claw to switch between 9s and 10s at will. I've bounced between 10s and 11s on my Cu24 dozens of times without issue; just claw tweaks until the bridge is flat.

 

[Alan Manning]

SWEET !!!