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?
