Intro/1st question.

[Alexandertheaverage]

Hi Guys,

‘I’ve been strumming an acoustic for 25 years or so (I’m 45), Never really practiced though so low intermediate I’d say.

In the interests of keeping this story short........COVID and YouTube recently made me buy a PRS se standard, it arrived yesterday and looks amazing, surely now I’ll diligently try and master the CAGED system?

I ended up buying on line as none of my local shops had them, this choice was made easier by the fact that all shops online were priced the same but the one I went with offered a free PLEK setup, valued at $300.

‘Now, finally the question.....firstly, the pickups, especially the neck one is quite tilted, in the neck to bridge orientation, secondly, there is quite a bit off string buzz in the higher frets (playing unamped) it just doesn’t feel to me like it’s had a very expensive machine set it up.

I could be way off though as I’ve never owned an electric guitar!

Any help would be much appreciated.

Alex from Australia.

 

[CandidPicker]

Alex,

Welcome to the forum. May I ask a few questions?

1. You said you had purchased from an online retailer, but didn't mention new or used? This will help us determine how to proceed.

2. If used, unless you are familiar with setting up/intonating guitars, you might benefit from taking the guitar to a qualified guitar tech (not Guitar Center [though I'm not sure GC has made its way to AU yet]) to inspect your guitar and perform a set-up.

3. Also if used, it's relatively standard practice that the buyer pay for a set-up once the guitar is received, unless the retailer has indicated that they would do so before the sale.

4. If the guitar is new, the retailer should be contacted and be held responsible (especially since they supposedly plek'd the guitar prior to shipment). It may be that there was a clerical error and the guitar was shipped without any actual maintenance prior to shipment to you.

Your course of action is to call either the retailer if new, or a guitar tech if used.

Or if perhaps you're more adventurous, you could try setting up the guitar yourself. The job requires only a couple inexpensive tools and some patience on your part.

Here's links to a DIY page from the PRS website:

https://prsguitars.com/support/setup

Hopefully these links will help you choose what course to take.

 

[aphantomvaper]

Congrats Alex. Another thing to remember is this guitar is made to be played amplified. Noises that are heard without amplification may not be heard when playing through an amp.

 

[Alexandertheaverage]

Alex,

Welcome to the forum. May I ask a few questions?

1. You said you had purchased from an online retailer, but didn't mention new or used? This will help us determine how to proceed.
2. If used, unless you are familiar with setting up/intonating guitars, you might benefit from taking the guitar to a qualified guitar tech (not Guitar Center [though I'm not sure GC has made its way to AU yet]) to inspect your guitar and perform a set-up.
3. Also if used, it's relatively standard practice that the buyer pay for a set-up once the guitar is received, unless the retailer has indicated that they would do so before the sale.
4. If the guitar is new, the retailer should be contacted and be held responsible (especially since they supposed plek'd the guitar prior to shipment). It may be that there was a clerical error and the guitar was shipped without any actual maintenance prior to shipment to you.

Your course of action is to call either the retailer if new, or a guitar tech if used.

Or if perhaps you're more adventurous, you could try setting up the guitar yourself. The job requires only a couple inexpensive tools and some patience on your part.

Here's links to a DIY page from the PRS website:

https://prsguitars.com/support/setup

Hopefully these links will help you choose what course to take.[/aQUOTE]
Thanks for the great reply mate.
It’s a brand new guitar, I’m a carpenter so I feel confident setting up my guitar (with the help of a good instructional vid) myself, it was more so that the reason I bought off these guys was purely the offer for free” Plek” setup, so I was just trying to ascertain whether it was likely to have been done?
Probably a bit hard to tell with my limited knowledge.
Thanks for your help.

 

[Alexandertheaverage]

Congrats Alex. Another thing to remember is this guitar is made to be played amplified. Noises that are heard without amplification may not be heard when playing through an amp.

Haha, yeah I have every intention of amping it up, was just having a strum acoustically to year the fret buzz.

 

[Bill SAS 513]

Haha, yeah I have every intention of amping it up, was just having a strum acoustically to year the fret buzz.

So I think starting on an acoustic, you may be a smidge heavy handed...and definitely not in a "bad way"...just that you've play acoustic for so long.
Playing electric guitar nuances are much "softer" than acoustic. You definitely wont need to fret, pick, or strum as hard as you do on an acoustic...IMHO.
The norm is also to play harder (harder = louder??) when unamplified, to hear yourself...and this will add buzzes, too.

And trust me when I say this applies for any acoustic player going to any electric guitar.
(however, all guitar necks are adjustable (almost all...), and your new axe may just need a quick adjustment, to add relief)

 

[GADonis]

Buzzing in the higher fret range is usually an indication of too much neck relief. The link provided by CandidPicker has information on making neck truss rod adjustments.

Maybe it's just my suspicious nature but I am surprised that a retailer would offer a free PLEK on a guitar in the SE's price range. I would expect that any guitar that goes through a proper PLEK and setup would not have very much buzz if any at all. Depending upon where the guitar came from it is possible that the neck could have "moved" after a full setup was done as it spent time in various warehouses with varying environmental conditions. So the fact that the guitar may need some additional setup work after shipping isn't an unreasonable thing.

Most of my electrics have a slight amount of buzz that can be heard while playing acoustically. I don't worry too much about it unless it comes through when amped or if it causes sustain issues.

 

[dogrocketp]

I agree with Gadonis. Part two would be that a Plek job can be done several ways. One is to throw it on the machine, and just let it do everything. Another is to use it as a measuring tool, then go back and fix by hand. My buddy has had one for the last 12 years or so. Also, there is plenty of room for operator error. I look at it as a marketing catch phrase that doesn't necessarily guarantee anything. One of the major manufacturers used to advertise that all their guitars were plekked at the factory. I saw one that had left the factory in Nashville a month before. Even a knucklehead like me could see the file marks on many of the frets. It was at the luthier's to have the frets fixed, 4 weeks after being made. It was a special order. So don't be misled by marketing.