Creaking/Popping Bolt on Neck joint (brand new CE24)

[seanchristopher]

Hi guys, I just got my first PRS guitar (a beautiful CE24), and it has blown me away so far. But i've been hearing this cracking or creaking sound coming from the bolt on neck joint. I'm concerned that the guitar neck has too tight of a fit and might have cracked somewhere in the joint, or that the neck joint is having some other issue.

I noticed the creaking from the first time I picked the guitar up. It was a pretty pronounced popping or creaking sound and it freaked me out lol. After that I've noticed it every time i've picked up the guitar and every time I put it away. It sometimes even creaks when I tune the guitar up or when I just move the guitar while it's on my lap if i'm holding the neck.

I tried doing the classic "loosen the neck screws, retune, and re-tighten neck screws", to let the tension re-seat the neck. But when I did it, I did it with the guitar laying string side down instead of upright, idk if that makes a difference or not. After doing that, the creaking and popping is less but I still hear it every now and then.

Should I be worried the neck is cracked?

Should I take the neck off and check? I haven't even done that with my strat and the thought of doing it is intimidating lol.

Do I need to do the "re-seating the neck" while the guitar is upright on the bottom strap button instead? Or do I need to do something else while I'm loosening and then re-tightening the neck screws?

Or is this a normal thing to experience with the PRS CE24?

Even if the neck isn't cracked now, i'm worried the neck joint is too tight or something and I don't want to crack the finish or the wood in the neck joint in the future if it isn't already cracked.

I have a MIJ 88 Fender Strat and i've never heard a single pop or creak from the neck joint, so i'm a bit concerned that something isn't right with the neck joint and i'm praying the neck isnt' cracked or anything like that. Because I love the look and feel of the guitar and i'm hoping I don't have to return it. It's still within the return window for the next few days so i'm trying to get the few minor issues with it worked out before the return window closes otherwise i'll probably return it which I really really don't want to do lol.

 

[seanchristopher]

Just wanted to add, I tried looking in the forum archives for similar threads and the solutions in those threads were pretty much the same "loosen neck screws, tune to pitch, and then re-tighten neck screws" and although that helped, there's still some creaking/popping from the neck joint when I pick the guitar up or put it down.

Is there a specific way you have to go through the process of loosening, tuning to pitch, and then re-tightening the neck screws? Or since i've already done it, does that indicate that the creaking sound could be caused by a crack in the neck joint?

Should I take the neck off and check the neck for cracks in the joint? I'm not sure how tight the fit is and since i'm not experienced with taking off and putting necks on guitars, i'd be wary of doing it on my own.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated guys!

 

[theDeepender]

I see nobody has jumped on this to reply yet. I can only assume that it is either so common or so uncommon that nobody knows how to respond. I can only guess. I’m thinking that you might have a nice tight neck pocket (which is probably a good thing) with some finish in it that is rubbing hard against the neck finish. As the wood ages, it will shrink a bit, and should loosen that pocket a bit. Will the current situation cause cracking of the finish? I honestly don’t know. I’m hoping that you can get an answer from someone at PRS. You might try to send a PM to @Regan@PRS .

 

[seanchristopher]

I see nobody has jumped on this to reply yet. I can only assume that it is either so common or so uncommon that nobody knows how to respond. I can only guess. I’m thinking that you might have a nice tight neck pocket (which is probably a good thing) with some finish in it that is rubbing hard against the neck finish. As the wood ages, it will shrink a bit, and should loosen that pocket a bit. Will the current situation cause cracking of the finish? I honestly don’t know. I’m hoping that you can get an answer from someone at PRS. You might try to send a PM to @Regan@PRS .

I'm not sure how common it is or isn't but, I tried searching for other threads on the subject on this forum and only found one post about it unfortunately.

I tried emailing their customer service but the automatic reply from them stated the reply time could be a few days or more since I emailed over the weekend. The return window for the guitar closes on Monday so I'm hoping I can figure out if it needs to be returned or if the issue is fixable as soon as possible.

I'll definitely try sending a PM to the person you mentioned! I appreciate the help a ton!

 

[Alnus Rubra]

What about the dealer you bought it from?

They should be dealing with this for you.

 

[seanchristopher]

What about the dealer you bought it from?

They should be dealing with this for you.

I got it from Sweetwater. I'm currently waiting for my rep to get back to me about all the issues with the guitar. He's gone for the weekend so I probably won't hear from him until Monday or Tuesday.

I have a feeling his solution will either be : send it back and having the techs there do another setup and fix the neck joint issue, fix the tuning peg issue, and fix the potential nut slot depth issue. Or he'll suggest I just return it since it has a few issues.

I'm a little hesitant to ship it back to Sweetwater because their luthiers just did a setup on the CE24 before it got sent out to me and the setup had pretty high action(even though I asked for low action), the neck almost had a tiny bit of backbow (I asked for a tiny bit of relief), and the nut slots are cut super deep (possibly too low) so now the strings are buried in the nut slots. The strings are so deep in the nut slots that the low e sits barely below the level of the top of the nut.

I'd worry that the luthiers or techs there would chip the finish or wood when taking off the nut and that the next nut slots could be cut too deep again.

And the techs at Sweetwater got two tiny dents in the finish while working on it and a good number of little scratches before sending it out to me. The pics from the warehouse from before it got worked on didn't show any dents or scratches in the light but when I got it in person it was pretty scratched up unfortunately.

I've always heard great things about the luthiers or techs at Sweetwater and that their setups are typically great. But my first experience with a full setup and string gauge change from them wasn't great and i'm pretty hesitant to send it back to them for any work after all of that.

Plus, sending it back to get it worked on and then waiting for it to get back to me would be excruciating because Sweetwater takes up to a week to do a setup on a guitar and they would most likely only cover standard shipping both ways and the standard shipping takes more than a week each way since i'm on the west coast.

And on top of the setup, theyd have to take off the neck and check the neck joint, check the nut slot depth and possibly replace the nut and re-file nut slots, and then they'd have to check out the tuner for the A string that's not smooth when turning the peg and possibly fix whatever is causing that. I'd worry all that work would add on another few days or more than a week to the total amount of time it would take to get it back since Sweetwater has a long eta for any work done in the guitar workshop at the moment.

I'd send it in and have all that done if needed. But i'm really hoping I can somehow avoid needing to lol

 

[Alnus Rubra]

I got it from Sweetwater. I'm currently waiting for my rep to get back to me about all the issues with the guitar. He's gone for the weekend so I probably won't hear from him until Monday or Tuesday.

I have a feeling his solution will either be : send it back and having the techs there do another setup and fix the neck joint issue, fix the tuning peg issue, and fix the potential nut slot depth issue. Or he'll suggest I just return it since it has a few issues.

I'm a little hesitant to ship it back to Sweetwater because their luthiers just did a setup on the CE24 before it got sent out to me and the setup had pretty high action(even though I asked for low action), the neck almost had a tiny bit of backbow (I asked for a tiny bit of relief), and the nut slots are cut super deep (possibly too low) so now the strings are buried in the nut slots. The strings are so deep in the nut slots that the low e sits barely below the level of the top of the nut.

I'd worry that the luthiers or techs there would chip the finish or wood when taking off the nut and that the next nut slots could be cut too deep again.

And the techs at Sweetwater got two tiny dents in the finish while working on it and a good number of little scratches before sending it out to me. The pics from the warehouse from before it got worked on didn't show any dents or scratches in the light but when I got it in person it was pretty scratched up unfortunately.

I've always heard great things about the luthiers or techs at Sweetwater and that their setups are typically great. But my first experience with a full setup and string gauge change from them wasn't great and i'm pretty hesitant to send it back to them for any work after all of that.

Plus, sending it back to get it worked on and then waiting for it to get back to me would be excruciating because Sweetwater takes up to a week to do a setup on a guitar and they would most likely only cover standard shipping both ways and the standard shipping takes more than a week each way since i'm on the west coast.

And on top of the setup, theyd have to take off the neck and check the neck joint, check the nut slot depth and possibly replace the nut and re-file nut slots, and then they'd have to check out the tuner for the A string that's not smooth when turning the peg and possibly fix whatever is causing that. I'd worry all that work would add on another few days or more than a week to the total amount of time it would take to get it back since Sweetwater has a long eta for any work done in the guitar workshop at the moment.

I'd send it in and have all that done if needed. But i'm really hoping I can somehow avoid needing to lol

If there are issues and you’re not happy, maybe get a refund and find another guitar.

I wouldn’t be happy accepting problems with a brand new guitar.

A CE is after all a US made instrument, that you’ve paid a decent chunk of change for and it should be right first time.

 

[Mentalo87]

I own a 2016 CE24 and a 1998 CE22 no creaking noise under any conditions with both guitars.

 

[seanchristopher]

If there are issues and you’re not happy, maybe get a refund and find another guitar.

I wouldn’t be happy accepting problems with a brand new guitar.

A CE is after all a US made instrument, that you’ve paid a decent chunk of change for and it should be right first time.

Yeah...I was considering returning or exchanging. Or I might give the Sweetwater workshop a chance to fix the issues.

The only thing is, aside from the neck creaking, the other stuff is minor and hopefully would be able to be addressed with a good setup. Even though the strings are buried in the nut slots, I don't know if that's an issue or not and I just figured it wasn't normal because none of my current guitars have nut slots that are cut that deep. There's still a tiny gap between the strings and the first fret so I'm hoping that as long as there's a gap that it's okay. I'm hoping someone can chime in and let me know if that one is normal or not lol.

And for the tuning peg issue and the action and relief, i'm hoping all that stuff is fixable with some setup adjustments.

I was thinking I was just being picky about all this stuff and I kind of hoping I could address most of the issues and that they were minor.

But now i'm worried if I take off the neck to check for cracks and take off and put the tuner back on and work on it anymore than standard adjustments, that Sweetwater won't take it back and they'll blame any current issues on me.

I just love the finish, look, feel, and sound of the guitar and I was really hoping I could avoid having to return it. But with so many issues, I'm on the fence as to wether or not I should try to fix the issues myself. I'm at a loss and I don't know if I should remove the neck and check for cracks and reintsall the tuner.

 

[seanchristopher]

I own a 2016 CE24 and a 1998 CE22 no creaking noise under any conditions with both guitars.

This is definitely alarming to hear! Seeing that other post on the forum where someone mentioned the issue i'm experiencing, a few other CE owners mentioned that they experience it too but it didn't seem like it's very often for any of them.

Hearing that both of your CE's don't have any creaking noises from the neck joint or anywhere else is worrisome and I really hope my neck joint isn't cracked or anything like that.

I want to take off the neck and check but i'm worried Sweetwater won't take it back if I do. If I take it off and find a crack, I don't want them to blame that crack on me.

But on the other hand, I really want to try to address the current issues myself and avoid sending it back because I love the guitar lol

 

[theDeepender]

If there are issues and you’re not happy, maybe get a refund and find another guitar.

I wouldn’t be happy accepting problems with a brand new guitar.

A CE is after all a US made instrument, that you’ve paid a decent chunk of change for and it should be right first time.

This

 

[rcsrich]

I don't know if it's a sign of bigger issues, but I've owned lots of different bolt ons including a CE and never experienced this.

 

[Rider1260]

If someone brought me a guitar with a creaking neck I would
Loosen the strings and loosen and remove the neck, replace then neck and tighten the neck screw, by hand with a quality , proper fitting screw driver , Lift guitar by the neck , give it a good wiggle around , listen for anything and recheck for tightness.
Restring guitar , stretch strings , tune up to pitch give it a good play , listen for noises. If you have noises now it is likely string related , tight nut slots or Trem springs IMHO.
I have never had a bolt on PRS ( for any guitar ) need more than this.

 

[Mentalo87]

What I did to some of my Fender style bolt on‘s is to loosen the screws slightly by a quarter turn while the strings are under full tension. This way you can assure that the neck sits tight and snug. But I‘m not to familiar with the PRS style joints, so this could go horribly wrong.

I‘ve noticed that on some prs guitars the fretboard on the last fret collides with the pickup ring of the neck pickup. You could check if that’s the case on you guitar, and the creaking noise might be from the PU Ring.

 

[seanchristopher]

If someone brought me a guitar with a creaking neck I would
Loosen the strings and loosen and remove the neck, replace then neck and tighten the neck screw, by hand with a quality , proper fitting screw driver , Lift guitar by the neck , give it a good wiggle around , listen for anything and recheck for tightness.
Restring guitar , stretch strings , tune up to pitch give it a good play , listen for noises. If you have noises now it is likely string related , tight nut slots or Trem springs IMHO.
I have never had a bolt on PRS ( for any guitar ) need more than this.

Thank you for the advice! I'm about to do the process you mentioned and I have a good feeling about it!

Do I need to be worried about doing any damage when taking off the neck?

I have a 88 MIJ Fender Strat and i've never had to take the neck off so I'm wary of doing it lol. But it seems like it would be pretty straighforward.

I'll post an update after and let you know how it goes

 

[Rider1260]

Thank you for the advice! I'm about to do the process you mentioned and I have a good feeling about it!

Do I need to be worried about doing any damage when taking off the neck?

I have a 88 MIJ Fender Strat and i've never had to take the neck off so I'm wary of doing it lol. But it seems like it would be pretty straighforward.

I'll post an update after and let you know how it goes

You should not worry about removing the neck , it will be a sung fit likely , just don't use any sideways movement.

 

[seanchristopher]

What I did to some of my Fender style bolt on‘s is to loosen the screws slightly by a quarter turn while the strings are under full tension. This way you can assure that the neck sits tight and snug. But I‘m not to familiar with the PRS style joints, so this could go horribly wrong.

I‘ve noticed that on some prs guitars the fretboard on the last fret collides with the pickup ring of the neck pickup. You could check if that’s the case on you guitar, and the creaking noise might be from the PU Ring.

I tried loosening and then re-tightening the screws while the strings were under tension and it helped a tiny bit for a few days but the creaking has continued unfortunately.

I'll definitely check if the last fret is rubbing up against the neck pickup ring.

 

[DISTORT6]

Between this and your other thread, this guitar is just a dud. It happens.
Send it back, get your money back, and go with a dealer that will give you better service and actually check and setup the guitar before it leaves. And not cut the nut wrong. The first time.

 

[aphantomvaper]

Perhaps it's your elbow and not the guitar? Trying to be funny, and one percent serious.

Good luck.

 

[seanchristopher]

Between this and your other thread, this guitar is just a dud. It happens.
Send it back, get your money back, and go with a dealer that will give you better service and actually check and setup the guitar before it leaves. And not cut the nut wrong. The first time.

I was definitely considering this!

I talked to my rep at Sweetwater and their support team is going to reach out to me and I guess what they usually do is have people bring their guitar to a local luthiers or tech and Sweetwater covers any and all parts and labor for any repairs or replacements needed.

I'm considering doing this instead because my financing is through Sweetwater and I waited a long time for them to get any CE24s that have a darker look with black headstocks, and the other one I had posted about liking as well is now sold lol. Otherwise I would've just swapped for that one.

I took the strings off the guitar, completely unscrewed the neck screws and reseated the neck, and then re-screwed in the neck screws using a cross pattern and going little by little so the screws were relatively even when being screwed in. And it seems to have helped a hell of a lot luckily!

I have to give it a bit of a play and check again today but, I haven't heard a single creak or anything since I did that last night

So hopefully that's one issue down lol