LandShark1
New Member
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2023
- Messages
- 11
I have a new CE24, and I’m having some trouble getting it set up. I’ve been setting up my guitars for a long time, and I don’t usually have any trouble unless there is an issue with the guitar. This is a brand new, sealed from the MD factory CE24, but I didn’t buy it locally so I don’t have much help from the dealer.
The problem is there is a lot of buzz on the 3rd through 6th strings, and I’m having issues fretting cleanly and with getting clean sounding slides around the center of the neck (between the 7th through 12-14th frets). The 1st and 2nd treble strings seem fine. The 6th string has buzzing and clanking, but it’s almost acceptable. It’s the 3rd, 4th, and especially 5th strings that are the issue. I can occasionally get it to sound clean and somewhat ok, with a decent tonality and sustain, if I pick extremely lightly and be absolutely precise with my finger placement in order to get clean notes without choking. It seems like it has to be pressed in exactly the right spot. But I don’t have to be anywhere near this precise with any of my other guitars in order to get clean notes, making this very difficult to play.
I know PRS guitars like having perfectly straight necks, and I set up my other PRSs as straight as possible. I have the guitar within PRS relief specs, with about .10mm of relief at the 8th fret (measured with capo on 1st fret, and fretting last fret). I’ve tried slight rod adjustments in both ways, and it only gets worse, so I come back to about 0.10mm. I would go slightly straighter if I could. I normally set my action around 1.75mm at the 12th fret, but i can’t get this guitar below about 1.9mm due to the aforementioned issues. It’s currently set at about 1.9mm, which is high and I still have the issues. I can get the 1st and 2nd strings down to 1.6-1.75mm, and I can get the 6th string down to about 1.8 with normal buzz, but these strings don’t seem to have the playability and tonal issues of the others. I’ve used a fret rocker and see nothing unusual. The trem is even and parallel. The nut looks fine, and capoing the first fret to take the nut out of the picture doesn’t help the issues either. There are new 10-46 D’addario strings. Pickups are currently set right at PRS height specs.
Normally, I don’t have issues with setup unless there is a problem with the guitar. Which makes me wonder if there might be a slight neck twist or hump in the middle of the fingerboard that I can’t see. As I mentioned, the relief on the 6th string is about 0.10mm, yet it’s higher at about 0.25mm on the 1st string. Is this normal for bolt-on PRS, or is this indicative of a neck twist? I measured my other set-neck guitars (I don’t have another bolt-on here to measure at the moment), and the relief was basically the same between the bass and treble sides. If there was a difference, it was imperceptible. Would PRS typically replace the neck under warranty in a situation like this if the neck is twisted, or is there an “acceptable level” of twist that they try to pass off?
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what might be causing this, and what I might try to rectify it? Or if it’s likely a twisted neck, if PRS would be likely to replace it under warranty?
I have a local luthier I have used for fret and electronics work, but I don’t want him working on it and trying to file frets down to fix it, when it’s brand new and if there might be a warranty issue. And if it’s a neck twist, he’s not the person to be dealing with warranty issues anyway. If so, I’d prefer to go directly to the PRS tech center.
The problem is there is a lot of buzz on the 3rd through 6th strings, and I’m having issues fretting cleanly and with getting clean sounding slides around the center of the neck (between the 7th through 12-14th frets). The 1st and 2nd treble strings seem fine. The 6th string has buzzing and clanking, but it’s almost acceptable. It’s the 3rd, 4th, and especially 5th strings that are the issue. I can occasionally get it to sound clean and somewhat ok, with a decent tonality and sustain, if I pick extremely lightly and be absolutely precise with my finger placement in order to get clean notes without choking. It seems like it has to be pressed in exactly the right spot. But I don’t have to be anywhere near this precise with any of my other guitars in order to get clean notes, making this very difficult to play.
I know PRS guitars like having perfectly straight necks, and I set up my other PRSs as straight as possible. I have the guitar within PRS relief specs, with about .10mm of relief at the 8th fret (measured with capo on 1st fret, and fretting last fret). I’ve tried slight rod adjustments in both ways, and it only gets worse, so I come back to about 0.10mm. I would go slightly straighter if I could. I normally set my action around 1.75mm at the 12th fret, but i can’t get this guitar below about 1.9mm due to the aforementioned issues. It’s currently set at about 1.9mm, which is high and I still have the issues. I can get the 1st and 2nd strings down to 1.6-1.75mm, and I can get the 6th string down to about 1.8 with normal buzz, but these strings don’t seem to have the playability and tonal issues of the others. I’ve used a fret rocker and see nothing unusual. The trem is even and parallel. The nut looks fine, and capoing the first fret to take the nut out of the picture doesn’t help the issues either. There are new 10-46 D’addario strings. Pickups are currently set right at PRS height specs.
Normally, I don’t have issues with setup unless there is a problem with the guitar. Which makes me wonder if there might be a slight neck twist or hump in the middle of the fingerboard that I can’t see. As I mentioned, the relief on the 6th string is about 0.10mm, yet it’s higher at about 0.25mm on the 1st string. Is this normal for bolt-on PRS, or is this indicative of a neck twist? I measured my other set-neck guitars (I don’t have another bolt-on here to measure at the moment), and the relief was basically the same between the bass and treble sides. If there was a difference, it was imperceptible. Would PRS typically replace the neck under warranty in a situation like this if the neck is twisted, or is there an “acceptable level” of twist that they try to pass off?
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what might be causing this, and what I might try to rectify it? Or if it’s likely a twisted neck, if PRS would be likely to replace it under warranty?
I have a local luthier I have used for fret and electronics work, but I don’t want him working on it and trying to file frets down to fix it, when it’s brand new and if there might be a warranty issue. And if it’s a neck twist, he’s not the person to be dealing with warranty issues anyway. If so, I’d prefer to go directly to the PRS tech center.