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

[seanchristopher]

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

Good luck.

I'll keep an eye out for it!

I appreciate the luck, brother!

This whole experience of getting this guitar and now trying to figure out keeping it or exchanging it, and possibly getting the issues fixed, has been a trying and exhausting experience lol

 

[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.

Last night I removed the strings, unscrewed the neck screws, and completely reseated the neck, and then screwed the neck screws in using a cross pattern and tightening little by little to keep the screws as even as possible as they were screwed in.

It seems to have helped! Last night I didn't hear anymore creaking. I have to check again today to confirm, but I think it fixed the creaking!

But one thing that I noticed, was that the holes in the body for the screws aren't drilled out like they do on strats and teles, so I'm not sure if that's affecting the ability to get good contact between the neck and body. Is that normal for PRS bolt on? Or did they forget a step while mine was being made? Lol

I'd think PRS would drill out the holes in the body so the screws would go through with no friction, so the screws would only be screwing into the neck, and the body and neck would be getting clamped together basically.

And also, I wasn't able to actually take the neck off, it was way too tight. I tried taking it off but pulling up towards the headstock and it's too tight near the upper sides of the neck pocket so it wouldn't come out.

I also tried pulling it out of the guitar while it was laying on its back, pulling the neck up off the body same direction you'd pull a pickup out of the body of the guitar, and I was able to get it out a tiny bit more that way but I didn't want to force it so I gave up.

I was able to reseat the neck still but, is it normal for a PRS bolt on to be THAT tight in the neck pocket? Do I need to worry about cracking in the finish or wood later on?

And should the holes in the body be drilled out more, like a strat or tele would have?

 

[Rider1260]

I do know the early CE had a really tight neck pocket , as good asa set neck guitar and many said it could be held up without the screws

 

[gush]

The only thing I can offer is this.

I got my used 97 ce22 about 10 years ago. The neck pickup wouldn't lower??????

Took strings off and pulled pickup to find the two long screws sticking up through the pickup cavity.

There are two long screws and two short screws that held the neck on. Whoever had neck off put the screws in the wrong locations meaning it had been shipped that way and played like that for a while.

I loosened the strings and put screws in proper locations.

I don't remember if it popped as a result but it COULD be possible to have those neck screws in wrong location on yours. Unlikely but possible. I'm thinking that the short screws being where the long screws are SUPPOSED to be COULD cause neck to move around a bit????

Worth checking.