Intonation problems on my SE Custom 24

[Alphite_Ray]

:dontknow: This is my first post as I have just joined the forum. So far I haven't seen any other threads addressing this issue I'm having.

I've owned my PRS SE Custom 24 (2012?) for just over 2 years now and I've not yet been able to have it comfortably sit in Drop D tuning.
I paid for it to be set up in drop d, took about a day for me to notice intonation issues coming back. Me and a friend of mine have spent many hours trying to intonate, adjust the truss and I have installed locking tuners for stability but nothing has changed.
I also tried heavy bottomed strings which seemed to keep the tuning in place for longer but no intonation fixes.

I'm able to have the top 5 strings sit perfectly but the low E (dropped D) will always be too sharp or too flat.

Anyone who has successfully drop tuned this model of guitar WITH THE TREMOLO STILL FLOATING please help. Talk me through it or suggest a place that can set it up for me, based in Essex, England.

:rock: Everything else about the guitar I love, so I really want to get it fixed.

 

[Deleted member 2284]

Just to be clear; is it INTONATION PROBLEMS - or problems with tuning stability??


Anyway, which string size do you use? the SE guitars are factory set up with 9s, maybe you need to have your nut filed?

 

[Alphite_Ray]

I guess I did waffle a bit and beat around the bush. Intonations definitely the issue.
Tuning stability isn't bad considering.

I now have 10's with heavy bottoms.

Having the nut filed makes sense actually.. it'd straighten the angle of the string to the bridge. Smart.

 

[wardog]

Se nuts are slotted for 9's you will need to have nut filed for 10's. otherwise you will get binding at the nut which will cause a ton of tunning issues and intonation problems.

 

[Alphite_Ray]

Oh dear, oh dear.

How should I get it filed without destroying a decent nut?

 

[wardog]

Take it to a guitar tech. should be a quick thing to do for a trained tech. I had my se 24 done while i waited. Had the same issues you had until i remembered I needed the nut filed for the 10's I was using. Drove me crazy. I too put on locking tuners and would go out of tuning quickly once I started playing.

 

[Alphite_Ray]

Take it to a guitar tech. should be a quick thing to do for a trained tech. I had my se 24 done while i waited. Had the same issues you had until i remembered I needed the nut filed for the 10's I was using. Drove me crazy. I too put on locking tuners and would go out of tuning quickly once I started playing.

Ah man, so glad you saw this post then!

Thanks a lot for the advice guys, I'll search for a decent guitar tech in my area.

 

[mezzio]

Id agree with the nut as well. My SECU24 had all sorts of strange issues too, instead of having the nut filed, I opted for a $6 tusq, a few youtube videos, and 24hrs for glue to fully cure, and all my tuning and intonation issues disappeared... except that damn low G note issue I still have.

FWIW, I only opted for the nut replacement because I'm kind of cheap... or broke... cheap because I'm broke, so I looked for the cheapest option available. I did ask around different shops and they were all $40+ to file or replace the nut, Tusq nuts were $6 with free shipping on eBay. I still might replace the nut again with a US PRS nut, just to keep it all within the PRS brand, but its not priority.

 

[andy474x]

I added a black Tusq nut on mine as well. The nice thing is the Tusq nut will accept a pretty wide range of gauges - I went from 9's to 10's, and just recently put the guitar in drop C with an 11-54 set. Dive bombing will still put it out of tune a little, but I've found that a quick upward tug on the trem arm brings everything back.

So, my big question is why haven't PRS fixed this nut issue on SE's? IMO, tuning problems are the #1 complaint, and really the only complaint about these guitars, almost everyone that has a problem mistakenly drops $70 on locking tuners, but it's just a nut thing. I understand the company likes to sell the SE's with 9's to make them play a little easier, but would it be a problem to file the nut for 10's and just put 9's on anyways? Maybe it's an issue with loss of energy transfer if the slots are too big and the strings aren't in tight contact? I dunno. Certainly not wanting to bash PRS, but threads like this seem to pop up every week.

At any rate, Alphite, welcome to the forum, we wish you excellent intonation and riffage on your axe!

 

[mezzio]

I've been wondering for a while why they just don't raise the price of SEs by $10 and put a US nut on them. Most people spend that, or more, trying to fix the issue in the first place, lol. Spend the money up front and have it be perfect out of the box like their US counterparts.

 

[Alphite_Ray]

Glad I'm not alone or just being stupid. A genuine issue on a genuinely good guitar.

 

[Mikegarveyblues]

Yep, don't get it.

There's plenty of people who must get SE's with perfectly good nuts but the issue with the nuts on SE's is so well known that it's not just a few that have slipped through QC.

The nuts are not up to the job, pure and simple.

The QC on the rest of the guitar is stellar.. Indeed, the quality of the guitars have constantly improved over the years with the exception of the nut.

If the nut isn't cut perfectly then tuning will go out of the window. Cheap bit of plastic that is essential. They should be cut perfect everytime!

Can they not be moulded with the slots already in place?

 

[andy474x]

Yep, don't get it.

There's plenty of people who must get SE's with perfectly good nuts but the issue with the nuts on SE's is so well known that it's not just a few that have slipped through QC.

The nuts are not up to the job, pure and simple.

The QC on the rest of the guitar is stellar.. Indeed, the quality of the guitars have constantly improved over the years with the exception of the nut.

If the nut isn't cut perfectly then tuning will go out of the window. Cheap bit of plastic that is essential. They should be cut perfect everytime!

Can they not be moulded with the slots already in place?

I don't know that I would say the nuts aren't cut well - I think they're set up very well for the stock 9's that come on the guitars. The problem is when people want to move to bigger strings, as many, perhaps even a majority, do, and the nut can't work well with them.

Either way, it could use a bit of attention.