Cherry Bomb Off to the PTC

[Tom Bradovich]

Yesterday I packed up my beloved Cherry Bomb (S2 McCarty Thinline) and shipped her off to the PTC. I've had her for coming up on 2 years, and a number of niggles and one big issue finally tipped the scales and I decided it was time.

The biggest issue? Those darn pots! DeOxit D5 cleared up the scratch on both the volume pots, but I just couldn't totally clear the tone pots, and over time they became pretty much an on/off switch with only two tones - screech or dull. After talking things over with Ryan at customer support, I decided to have PRS upgrade all 4 pots and also the 3-way switch to the Core spec'd ones.

The smaller niggles I guess I lived with for too long, so the PTC will evaluate those and hopefully track down the causes and correct. The low E saddle had no travel left, and I couldn't get that string to intonate properly. It would get close, but no cigar. The saddles don't match the fretboard radius for both the E strings - they sit high. Don't know if that contributes to the intonation issue or not. Also, the open G string would buzz and vibrate from time to time. Maybe the nut slot was cut too deep or there's a high fret somewhere along the fretboard.

I've done guitar setups before, but when I purchased this PRS, I bought a Music Nomad kit of gages to get things exact, but a solution to that darn low E string only getting close to perfect and that open G issue continued to elude me.

Anyway, she shipped out yesterday. Guess I'll be without her for a while, which means my DC-127 comes out of it's case. It's been there since Cherry arrived.

 

[Moondog Wily]

Hope it gets back to you faster than expected and with PRS perfection!

 

[Tom Bradovich]

Yes indeed. Did a setup on the Carvin - other than being out of tune, I'm amazed at how close everything stayed. Neck relief needed barely an eighth turn to tighten things up, minor string height tweek, and couple of string length changes to zero in on the intonation and she's back to playing action. Funny, I never named this Carvin or my other guitars, just the PRS. Wonder why? Hey Moondog, like your new avatar!

 

[ViperDoc]

Certainly could have been some bad pots. The "on/off" or "no taper" effect is typical of poor or no grounding.

 

[Moondog Wily]

Hey Moondog, like your new avatar!

Thanks!

 

[Tom Bradovich]

Certainly could have been some bad pots. The "on/off" or "no taper" effect is typical of poor or no grounding.

Could be. But, either way, the Indonesian electronics will be out - replaced by Core-quality parts. The pups will stay the same. I really like the way they sound in the Thinline. With the new pots, I'll be able to once again balance volume & tone to my heart's content.

 

[Broseph]

Best of luck. The pots and electronics are an easy fix. Those intonation and vibrating strings can be frustrating. My guess would be nut or tuner issues. I’ve plek’d a silver sky before that resolved my buzzing issues.

 

[Tom Bradovich]

My guess would be nut or tuner issues.

Funny you mentioned tuner issues, because sometimes it seemed like the noise would come from the head stock. What part of a tuner would cause that vibration with noise?

 

[Broseph]

If it’s loose and vibrating. Or if a tuner key portion is falling off. Which i would doubt since the tuning keys are glued on.

 

[Broseph]

Did you get your cherry bomb back?

 

[Tom Bradovich]

Yes, I did. Sorry for not closing the loop on this thread earlier, but it seems a bunch of medical issues have ganged up on me. Nothing totally serious, but it's like death from a thousand cuts. I think I'm at about 750 so far.

Anyway, Cherry Bomb returned home May 23, so it was a relatively short turn around, but I haven't had a whole lot of time with her since. The new electronics drop-in parts have brought back the wide palette of tones that she had when new, and it's a pleasure to hear her sing again.

The PTC also replaced the nut (not bone, just synthetic) and so far, no open G string buzz.

The issue with no travel left on the low E saddle was cured, but I don't know how. When I sent the guitar off to the PTC, I had the tailpiece floating off the deck somewhere between 1/32 and 1/16 inches - I prefer a bit slinkier feel on the strings. When it was returned, the tailpiece was snugged down tight on the deck. I don't know if or how this would have solved that problem, but now there is travel on that saddle, and the guitar intonated perfectly. I did raise the tailpiece back up to 1/32, and everything sounds good.

Ryan was my POC at PRS, and he did a great job of fixing a couple problems with the RMA and shipping labels.

If there was one disappointment with how things proceeded, it's this: On the website, it mentioned that the PTC would keep me apprised of everything that transpired along the way. I assumed that meant the repair tech would text me on what he found and what he did to fix the issues. Here again, Ryan did his job, but I still don't know how the no saddle travel was cured. New nut???

But, all's well that end's well, and from here it looks like everything has ended well. Oh, by the way, the guitar was cleaned and polished up nice and shiny when I got her back.

 

[Broseph]

Happy to hear it went well. Congrats on the upgraded parts. I installed the drop in core pots and a switchcraft selector on my thinline.

I didn’t like the scratchy sound I heard when splitting or adjusting. deoxit works but not what I wanted to deal with long term. Oddly enough I’ve never had the issue on a Paul’s sE. I swear they used better parts for it.