Anybody screw down the tremolo on your PRS?

[John Price]

I'm curious to know if anybody here has ever screwed down the trem on their PRS. I'm sure someone here has done it. If so, what were the results? Did it change the feel at all? Maybe the sound changed. Did you still set it up to work as a normal trem such as the trem on a strat?

Thanks.

 

[bodia]

Not me.

 

[Bowtiefanatc]

Nope. Floating for me

 

[aphantomvaper]

Some do as I've gotten some used ones with the trem screwed down. To me, I like the floating bridge better and readjusted to spec, even though I don't use the trem bar at all.

They may sound different "decked" but I've never left one decked one long enough to really tell.

 

[Mike Duncan]

I'm a tremolo flush to the body Strat guy, but have left the PRS trems the way they came.

I think the neck angle, height/angle of the trem unit have to be in agreement for the guitar to function properly.

 

[chicagoslim]

I'm a tremolo user, and I think that PRS Trem's are as good as you can get. It's easy to sell and buy a PRS with a fixed bridge, if you really don't like it.

 

[Simon Says]

I'm not a tremolo user and I screw them down on both my 24's. Thinking to lift them up but still block it with a wood block as the saddles raised like that looks just weird. I'm heavy handed and stringing with 11's so leaving it floating wouldn't work for me

 

[WEDGE]

11’s never held back a DGT…….it’s all in the setup…

 

[RickP]

Not me, but I would be more likely to block it than drop it, were I to want it unmovable. Just never saw the need.

 

[dogrocketp]

No, it works correctly.

 

[Warmart]

I blocked my CU24 for a couple of days but ripped that sucker out as it mangled the tone.

 

[Simon Says]

11’s never held back a DGT…….it’s all in the setup…

You are most likely right. I never give it a chance to verify. I do it since my strat days and thats a years of habit

 

[alantig]

You are most likely right. I never give it a chance to verify. I do it since my strat days and thats a years of habit

According to Chicago, it's a hard habit to break. But it can be broken. And Wedge is right - the 11s work beautifully on a DGT. I've changed from 9s to 10s on several PRSi with no issues - it just takes a few adjustments to the trem and truss rod.

 

[Simon Says]

According to Chicago, it's a hard habit to break. But it can be broken. And Wedge is right - the 11s work beautifully on a DGT. I've changed from 9s to 10s on several PRSi with no issues - it just takes a few adjustments to the trem and truss rod.

I will try it tomorrow on my Standard and will report back

 

[Mike Duncan]

11-52s on my mine. I come from the land of Fender scale length...that 25" is just too floppy for anything less.

Well, I use the same size on my Fenders as well...guess that above statement of mine doesn't hold water.

 

[Moondog Wily]

I've screwed down plenty of things, but never nailed a whammy!

 

[Aahzz]

I definitely deck mine - by tightening the springs until the back is flat on the body, allowing me to drop the tone with the bar, but no upward motion - let's me go to drop D, or do unison bends, or break a string without throwing the tuning all to hell and back. I much prefer them that way. I don't mess with the screws at the knife edge.

 

[Wakester]

You can screw it down, the worst that can happen is you screw it up.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

Yes, you can screw it down, but as several have mentioned, it throws the geometry of the guitar off. With bolt necks you can shim the neck to fix this, but with set necks you can’t. While it will be off, that doesn’t guarantee that you won’t be satisfied with the results.

Tonally, you will get more bottom end. Somewhere between low mids and lows, you’ll get more bottom end. Exactly where it comes depends on all the other factors of the guitar.

If you do it, you get all the advantages Aahzz mentions... quick, accurate drop D on the fly, no “give” when bending, no whole guitar out of tune if you break a string, etc.

The way to get the positives and avoid the negatives, is to block it below. No geometry changes, you can still go down with the vibrato, and all the positives of a decked vibrato.

I prefer decked. I bought guitars that way (Wolfgang, Axis), decked every strat I’ve had, but never done it to a set neck including any of my PRS guitars.

 

[Sybo]

Screwed down for me. Bottomed out at the rear of the trem. I don’t use a trem much so I found my tuning stays better, I like the tone MUCH better, With the Pearly Gates in my S2 Standard, screwed down,it’s perfect…