Brand new 10 Top. No mater what I do it feels unplayable - is it me or did the factory rush it out?

If you have bottomed out the saddles you would need to adjust the knife edge screws.
If you do FIRST loosen all the strings and take the springs off.
lower all the screws equally a small adjustment makes a big difference, if you are watching the John Mann set up video he uses a 2.5mm allen to measure the screw height , I had one guitar that worked better with a 2mm allen.
As far as the feel of the guitar goes if 10s on a LP are your thing then 9.5-44 , I believe will get you where you want ( 9s would be killer also ) it will always feel different , bending with a trem takes bit of extra push as the trem moves , also a 24 fret guitar will feel like you are reaching out further when doing open chords but its way more comfortable up high. I have my CU24 and LP set up with 10s and I have considered going up to 11s on my LP
 
First of all, tighten the trem claw screws ever so slightly so that the trem plate is parallel with the body. The trem also needs to be broken in. It is not a Les Paul, so it won’t feel like a Les Paul. It will take approximately 2 weeks for the guitar to get acclimated to your weather, wherever you are. There will be a breakin period both for you and the guitar. You may be expecting too much too soon. I also went from a Less Paul to a PRs and noticed the difference. My personal solution? Sell all my Gibsons.
 
If you have bottomed out the saddles you would need to adjust the knife edge screws.
If you do FIRST loosen all the strings and take the springs off.
lower all the screws equally a small adjustment makes a big difference, if you are watching the John Mann set up video he uses a 2.5mm allen to measure the screw height , I had one guitar that worked better with a 2mm allen.
As far as the feel of the guitar goes if 10s on a LP are your thing then 9.5-44 , I believe will get you where you want ( 9s would be killer also ) it will always feel different , bending with a trem takes bit of extra push as the trem moves , also a 24 fret guitar will feel like you are reaching out further when doing open chords but its way more comfortable up high. I have my CU24 and LP set up with 10s and I have considered going up to 11s on my LP
Thanks for the suggestion. My only concern is that the PRS website says, essentially, "The six screws are factory set, you shouldn't need to mess with them." If that's truly the case why would they have a factory spec, and tell you not to mess with it, that would close you off to a lot of action adjustments?

Also, no one's has directly answered this yet, but has anyone else experienced the action increasing to by 2/64 at the 24th fret (i.e., set to 4/64 at the 12th fret and measures 6/64 at the 24th fret)?
 
My thoughts. You paid good money to Sweetwater for a PRS. Their hamfisted tech wrenched on it, they aren’t luthiers you know. Complain to the sales “engineer” daily and tell them it needs a real luthier setup and Sweetwater will credit you the setup cost. Or tell sales “engineer” you want to return it. Be forceful. Paul’s crew doesn’t build sh#t.
 
Thanks for the suggestion. My only concern is that the PRS website says, essentially, "The six screws are factory set, you shouldn't need to mess with them." If that's truly the case why would they have a factory spec, and tell you not to mess with it, that would close you off to a lot of action adjustments?

Also, no one's has directly answered this yet, but has anyone else experienced the action increasing to by 2/64 at the 24th fret (i.e., set to 4/64 at the 12th fret and measures 6/64 at the 24th fret)?
A guitar need to be set up to your preferences so if a minor adjustment is needed you have to do it , I very small turn of the bridge screws makes a HUGE difference , I am talking less than a 1/2 turn likely. I mean you are talking 1/32 of an inch.
I will answer your other question MY CU24 is between 3-4/64s at the 12 fret and between 4-5/64s at the 24th
( I had to find something to measure in 64s so as not to do more math :) )
The bridge is about 7/64s off the body and my 2 E saddles are pretty much flat on the bridge plate ( just a slight angle for radius )
My Neck relief is almost flat , Capo at the first fret , fretted at the 24th the string will just bounce off the 7th fret ( just a bit of daylight under string )
factory spec for a guitar is a good all around spec and a great place to start THEN adjust to your taste.
I will say this the Trem screws are pretty tough and can stand a lot of abuse IMHO , I have done small adjustments of the trem screws under tension ( 1/4 turn ) with no problems ( your results may vary and I don't suggest this )
And one last thing , Unless you luther or setup tech knows what you like in a setup it will likely be wrong ( or not best for you ) to do the best setup I sit down with the player and see what they like of ask to see there favorite guitar and then I match that to start , i then make a note so I can always do it the same.
My Starting point for all my guitars is Hi E .061" , G .067 , Low E .086 ish with the smallest relief that makes the guitar play well.
 
Thanks for the suggestion. My only concern is that the PRS website says, essentially, "The six screws are factory set, you shouldn't need to mess with them." If that's truly the case why would they have a factory spec, and tell you not to mess with it, that would close you off to a lot of action adjustments?

Also, no one's has directly answered this yet, but has anyone else experienced the action increasing to by 2/64 at the 24th fret (i.e., set to 4/64 at the 12th fret and measures 6/64 at the 24th fret)?
My Custom 24-08 is at 4/64 12th fret and roughly 4.5/64 at the 24th fret with about .010 relief at the 8th fret. If yours is jumping to 6/64 at the 24th fret from 4/64 at the 12th it sounds like something is off.

Give this a try. Set the relief so you can comfortably get a .010 feeler gauge in at the 8th fret. Set the high E string as close to 4/64 as you can get at the 12th fret and then see what your action is at the 24th fret. I’m thinking your neck is too straight which is causing the saddles to sit higher for proper action height which is creating a ramp effect as you go up the higher frets.
 
Sweetwater does not provide a decent setup, regardless of their purported 55 point inspection, to the point that I don’t bother with them anymore. Get a fresh setup to PRS specs, or to your preference for starts. I have learned to buy locally exclusively, even though selection may be somewhat restricted.
 
Sweetwater does a great job at pitching the "service" side of things. Over the years I have found their customer service to diminish a bit. If you truly are not happy with the guitar, send it back and get another one. PRS fixed bridge guitars are great too! :)
 
When I received my S2 Standard 24, the action was very high - almost like it was set up for slide playing. It appears that this is their factory setting. I had to lower the trem a bit to get it in the range that I liked. To do that I took care to turn each screw by the same amount in order to keep the "knife edge" intact. I apparently succeeded as the trem works fine, even though there is not much room for upbends but that is OK with me. Now I have the action (measured at the 12th fret between the bottom of the string and the top of the fret) at 1.5mm high e (which is a bit below 4/64") and 2mm low e (which is just a hair over 5/64") and I love how she plays now. Relief and nut height was fine, I did not make any changes there.

The guitar was set up with 10-46 which is my preferred gauge so I did not have to make any changes there. So other than the fact that the action was set very high out of the box, everything was top notch.

It has probably been written before but if you are not comfortable to do the set up, then contacting the dealer/manufacturer is the right way.

Good luck.
 
My Starting point for all my guitars is Hi E .061" , G .067 , Low E .086 ish with the smallest relief that makes the guitar play well.
That is about 1.6mm high e and 2.1mm low e which is only a bit higher than what I use on my S2. My Custom has 1.3mm and 1.8mm without issues, (i.e. no buzzing or noting out, even on two step bends) and I could even go a bit lower if I wanted. The PRS fretwork is very very good.
 
An update to everyone. So I got in contact with both PRS and Sweetwater.

PRS recommended I go to a relief of .005 and ensure the trem was parallel with the strings. The adjustments made the strings feel slinky but I’m still maxing out at the 4/64 height. They said the next thing to do is adjust the trem height. I’m surprised since this is set correctly at the factory and it’s well documented in forums not to mess with it (even with removing spring and string tension).

Sweetwater said they would reimbyme for a bridge adjustment since that’s considered a repair.

I’m taking the PRS to my luthier tomorrow. Hopefully he can the work tomorrow.

I’m surprised the trem height wasn’t out of the factory, it’s about 3/32 from the body. It guess that’s taking away 2/64 of action adjustments.
 
An update to everyone. So I got in contact with both PRS and Sweetwater.

PRS recommended I go to a relief of .005 and ensure the trem was parallel with the strings. The adjustments made the strings feel slinky but I’m still maxing out at the 4/64 height. They said the next thing to do is adjust the trem height. I’m surprised since this is set correctly at the factory and it’s well documented in forums not to mess with it (even with removing spring and string tension).

Sweetwater said they would reimbyme for a bridge adjustment since that’s considered a repair.

I’m taking the PRS to my luthier tomorrow. Hopefully he can the work tomorrow.

I’m surprised the trem height wasn’t out of the factory, it’s about 3/32 from the body. It guess that’s taking away 2/64 of action adjustments.
Hope you get it the way you want.
 
Honestly, I don't care.

Really.

We're just not supposed to raise customer service issues on this forum. I don't understand why folks don't observe the rule. If you can't get it to your satisfaction, return the damn thing. Sweetwater will take it back.

As if Sweetwater understands the least thing about setting up a PRS. :rolleyes:
 
Honestly, I don't care.

Really.

We're just not supposed to raise customer service issues on this forum. I don't understand why folks don't observe the rule. If you can't get it to your satisfaction, return the damn thing. Sweetwater will take it back.

As if Sweetwater understands the least thing about setting up a PRS. :rolleyes:

Les needs another “dirty” Monkey 47!:p
 
There are plenty of PRS guitars out there. If someone wrenched on this one and caused issues - return it.

The way i look at it, you are spending time fooling with a guitar that could otherwise be used playing one and enjoying it. isn’t that the purpose?
 
Hey Everyone- I wanted to give a quick update.

I ended up working with Sweetwater and PRS, and now my guitar is in the hands of PTC. They identified minor issues with the nut and knife edge. They’re going to fix it free of charge. Additionally, PRS paid for shipping and insured the guitar!

PRS and Sweetwater have fantastic customer service. A lesson to anyone who goes through Sweetwater - just contact them and they will take care of you!
 
Hey Everyone- I wanted to give a quick update.

I ended up working with Sweetwater and PRS, and now my guitar is in the hands of PTC. They identified minor issues with the nut and knife edge. They’re going to fix it free of charge. Additionally, PRS paid for shipping and insured the guitar!

PRS and Sweetwater have fantastic customer service. A lesson to anyone who goes through Sweetwater - just contact them and they will take care of you!
Awesome! Glad to hear it getting sorted out.
 
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