Help needed with inbuilt Tuner - PRS SE Angelus Custom

Shail

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Dec 28, 2015
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Hello Everyone,

I am new to PRS family so I am glad that the forum exists and its so active.

I recently got hold of an PRS SE Angelus Custom (Made in Korea - Feb, 2012). Got it delivery from Thomann, Germany to Belgium so didn't had a chance to play and try it until it got delivered. They said that its brand new and its looks like one even though the manufacturing year is 2012.

Any how, its a beautiful example of fine craftsmanship and I am loving it so far except few things that I need help with. I am not sure if there is any thing wrong with the guitar (because its four year old) or I am missing something

1. Issue with the inbuilt Tuner: First off, I loaded it with new 9V battery. Now when I use the inbuilt tuner, it never gives correct reading. It reads Low-G as d#, A as G and so on. If I tune it using external tuner that I have, guitar sounds so awesome that I almost cried once ;) but the inbuilt tuner is acting weird. Another piece of info is that I have to tighten the string more in order to get the reading to EADGBE in compared to the external tuner. In fact, I lost the higher E string (it snapped) in order to tune it to High E using inbuilt tuner.
Any one has any idea, what might be going on in here? Is it the pick-up that needs repair or something? It shouldn't be the case if its brand new.

2. Issue with the action: Another thing that I am not very much satisfied with is the action on the higher frights. Its way too high. Not sure why Thomann, didn't set it up before shipping. I know I can get it fixed by sanding the saddle but the problem is that the saddle height is already too low. I took it out to check the real situation and it appears that it was already sanded quite a bit to get it where it is. I am not an expert but it seems to me that the guitar neck angle was really messed up (there is no bowing) and in order to compensate that, some genius just rubbed the saddle off as much as he can to the get the action with in acceptable limits.
Any suggestion on what can be done here? Returning it is not my first choice.

Thank a lot in advance for any responses and advises.
Cheers,
 
Issue two sounds like you have a bit too much relief in the neck. You can adjust the truss rod to fix that, although if the saddle is too low you may have to replace that. I'd give that a try - it's relatively painless. You can find guides online as to which way to turn it (I never remember which way to go). The most important thing to remember is GO SLOW!!! Seriously. Small turns, wait a couple minutes, check the action. Once you start to notice a difference with the action in the higher frets (but before you get it to your target), check your lower frets to see if you're fretting out - no sense spending 20 minutes getting it where you want it to find out the lower end is way too low.

Come to think of it - if someone was screwing with the saddle, it's quite possible they mucked something up with the pickup. Have you tried playing the guitar through an amp to see if it sounds normal?
 
Thanks for the reply Alan.

I checked for guitar relief and there is none at this point. I checked it by place a capo on first fret and a finger on 12th, there was no gap between the string which I guess means adjustments needs to be made to provide some relief. I am afraid that when I do that, it going to raise the action even higher. Am I thinking in the right direction?

Changing the saddle is my next plan of action before I give up and finally decide to return it. Will buy a new bone saddle today and will give it try. Under the saddle pick looks okay though and there is no visible damage.

I haven't tried it with an Amp so far as I don't have one here in Belgium. But as I mentioned, I am planning to go to a store today to get a new saddle and will try it with an Amp too.
 
I would have tested the relief to the last fret instead of the 12th. But you can dial out some of the high action - one way will add relief (and height) and the other removes it.

For some reason I had it in my head that you had some fretting out at the lower frets. Not sure where I got that.

For the tuner, it really seems like either the pickup isn't getting a signal well/correctly, thus the amp comment. Have you tried tuning it w/the external tuner, then checking the harmonics against the internal tuner?
 
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