CE24 Owners: tightness?

[Kinsman]

Hey all, been playing my CE24 now for about 6 months and I love it. I have noticed though that it just feels tight. I've got 10s on there and they feel like 11+. Has anyone else experience this?

I'm considering putting 9s on them to help out, thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[MichaelS]

I like the tens on my Santana and CE24. The CE has a MannMade trem now, but even before I was good with tens. My SE Custom 22 (also MannMade trem) has 9s and I think they are too flabby. Just leaving them on cuz my son plays on that one he's too young for tens...

 

[Kinsman]

I like the tens on my Santana and CE24. The CE has a MannMade trem now, but even before I was good with tens. My SE Custom 22 (also MannMade trem) has 9s and I think they are too flabby. Just leaving them on cuz my son plays on that one he's too young for tens...

Think the trem could be the issue? Everything on my CE24 is stock, so I've not made any adjustments, yet.

 

[Ovibos]

Yeah, my RLCE24 was defn tight with 10s. I have a Mannmade on it now, and it's less so. Might just be a setup thing tho...

 

[Kinsman]

Yeah, my RLCE24 was defn tight with 10s. I have a Mannmade on it now, and it's less so. Might just be a setup thing tho...

Hm, so where can I grab myself a Mannmade? Do I need to ship the guitar or can my guy swap out the trem himself/myself?

 

[MichaelS]

Hm, so where can I grab myself a Mannmade? Do I need to ship the guitar or can my guy swap out the trem himself/myself?

It's pretty easy. I swapped both mine myself, so your guy can definitely do it.
Price went up a bit... https://store.guitarvaultusa.com/PRS_NOS_Vibrato_Bridge_p/2000nos.htm
On Backorder for a couple of months...

My original trem on the CE was a bit sticky. The SE was fine, but the MannMade is just so shiny and nice and a great tone upgrade.

 

[Ovibos]

It's pretty easy. I swapped both mine myself, so your guy can definitely do it.
Price went up a bit... https://store.guitarvaultusa.com/PRS_NOS_Vibrato_Bridge_p/2000nos.htm
On Backorder for a couple of months...

My original trem on the CE was a bit sticky. The SE was fine, but the MannMade is just so shiny and nice and a great tone upgrade.

Just make sure you follow instructions exactly. The holes do need to be drilled or you will snap screws.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

I don't believe the block is drilled as deep for the strings on the SE trems (or the new Core trems for that matter) as the Mann is. You'll notice more of the ball-end string braiding/wrap poking through towards (or almost out of) the saddles on the Mann... I'm assuming that may be the reason.

 

[bodia]

I've done two of the MannMade. They're pretty easy to do. Watch his video first though.

 

[Drew]

Run 3 springs on your trem, instead of 4, and switch your strings to 9's. Problem solved. The original CEs came strung with 9's. Not sure why they made that change.

I never liked the stock setup on trem equipped PRS guitars. It feels like you are playing a block of concrete. 10's are overkill, as far as strings go. I know I know.. bigger strings = tone. I should know better. But, I also know that some of the fattest and most revered tones ever put to record were done with 9 gauge or lower strings.

 

[Kinsman]

Run 3 springs on your trem, instead of 4, and switch your strings to 9's. Problem solved. The original CEs came strung with 9's. Not sure why they made that change.

I never liked the stock setup on trem equipped PRS guitars. It feels like you are playing a block of concrete. 10's are overkill, as far as strings go. I know I know.. bigger strings = tone. I should know better. But, I also know that some of the fattest and most revered tones ever put to record were done with 9 gauge or lower strings.

Hadn't considered removing a spring. Interesting. I'm open to changing the gauge, as well, as I'm really loving everything about the guitar except for that one thing and tone can be tweaked, comfort is a lot harder to achieve (for me).

 

[gush]

I was going to suggest removing a spring as well. Even if you stay with 10s, three spring setup should work a little better.

FWIW. I tune to Eb and with 4 springs I find that using trem for chord vibrato will try to compress the springs as you're on the "up" portion of the vibrato.

 

[shinksma]

10's are overkill, as far as strings go. I know I know.. bigger strings = tone. I should know better. But, I also know that some of the fattest and most revered tones ever put to record were done with 9 gauge or lower strings.

I play 10s on most of my PRSi, with 11s on my HB and 12s on acoustics because I don't like flabby strings.

I just swapped the G (thickest) string on an Irish tenor banjo from a 40 to a 48 because the 40 was way to flopsy, too easy to push around (and off the fretboard with certain chords/fingering).

If I play a guitar with 9s I feel like I have wet noodles under my fingers, and my picking has nothing to engage.

But to each their own. I started out on elec guitar playing 9s and could not understand why anyone would play those huge 10s. Then I started mixing up acoustic with electric in the same practice/gigging session, and found if I was in good acoustic shape the 10s on an electric were smooth as butter.

 

[Kinsman]

I play 10s on most of my PRSi, with 11s on my HB and 12s on acoustics because I don't like flabby strings.

I just swapped the G (thickest) string on an Irish tenor banjo from a 40 to a 48 because the 40 was way to flopsy, too easy to push around (and off the fretboard with certain chords/fingering).

If I play a guitar with 9s I feel like I have wet noodles under my fingers, and my picking has nothing to engage.

But to each their own. I started out on elec guitar playing 9s and could not understand why anyone would play those huge 10s. Then I started mixing up acoustic with electric in the same practice/gigging session, and found if I was in good acoustic shape the 10s on an electric were smooth as butter.

I think this is more a CE thing than a string gauge thing. I have 10s on all my other guitars and I love them, but somehow on the CE those 10s feel like 11s or 12s. Very tight.

 

[CatStrangler]

Hey all, been playing my CE24 now for about 6 months and I love it. I have noticed though that it just feels tight. I've got 10s on there and they feel like 11+. Has anyone else experience this?

I'm considering putting 9s on them to help out, thoughts?

Thanks!

The first thing I would check is relief. I usually know when I need to tighten the truss rod a bit when the strings start to feel a bit tighter.

 

[Dancing Frog]

I'd go with checking relief first as well. 6 months is more than enough time for things to seasonally drift.

 

[Fro]

I also have a Mannmade on my Reclaimed CE24 and I'm running size 10 Slinky's. Mine doesn't feel tight at all.

 

[ibanezfan1]

I have a '96 CE24 and I experienced the same feeling of the tension as you. I removed the 4th spring and have 3 springs now - problem solved. Bodie

 

[ReptilianNosewood]

I look for the balance between relief and saddle height to soften the string feel, i try to get the least possible sharp break angle off of my saddles. I have 10's on my Strats, Custom 24 and SC245 and they all feel similar even though they have different scale lengths.

 

[Russ73]

OP I'm chiming in late but I use 9.5s on all my PRS, theyre a good balance of ease of play and tone...give em a try before you go replacing the bridge and such, you wont even need to intonate the guitar or even adjust anything they should fit right on try em!