New McCarty Issues

eightamrock

New Member
Joined
Aug 26, 2021
Messages
8
Hello, bought a new McCarty from Eddies guitars that came with a bad volume pot. Volume and tone were dropping in and out. Rather than send the guitar back (Because I love it otherwise) I am going to just swap the pot myself. I am reasonably skilled as an engineer and have many hours of soldering under my belt. Are there any gotchas I should look for?

Also, another issue I'm seeing is that when I attempted to give it a quick setup, one of the bridge studs is extremely difficult to turn. I removed all string tension and the bass side turns easily, the treble side needs a lot of force. Im worried I might sheer it off. Any tips to loosen it up? I havent removed the bridge entirely yet to see if there is some gunk in there or something causing it not to turn, but even with no string tension I already marred the head with a coin trying to turn it.

Thoughts?
 
There is a set screw that goes thru the rear of the bridge and to the bridge stud to adjust the overall intonation. Since you didn't remove the bridge before turning the screw you may have that set screw dragging on the post of the bridge stud. Try removing the bridge off the studs and see if that helps.
 
There is a set screw that goes thru the rear of the bridge and to the bridge stud to adjust the overall intonation. Since you didn't remove the bridge before turning the screw you may have that set screw dragging on the post of the bridge stud. Try removing the bridge off the studs and see if that helps.

ok so the new volume pot finally arrived and I swapped it out no problem. Guitar sounds amazing.

With that problem solved I now am moving on to solving my bridge issue. Does the bridge need to be lowered and raised uniformly on guitars with a stop tail?

I have a PRS se model with one, and I can adjust the low and high action independently quite a bit, but on my McCarty the tolerance of the bridge and the brass bolts is so tight I can’t get it to adjust more than 1/128th (about half a turn) difference between sides before the bolt seizes up. I’m afraid if I force it I will sheer the head off the adjustment bolt. Right now both sides have to be the same distance from the fret board.

I can’t believe I’m having this many issues with a brand new $4k guitar.
 
And you loosened the string tension before trying to adjust the bridge?

Yes I was actually changing the strings and the bridge wouldn’t come off. That’s when I discovered that the posts had to be completely level to even remove it. It honestly looks like the bass side will do what those posts are supposed to do and kind of tilt slightly as you raise/ lower it, but the treble side is rigidly in place. I’ll post a picture. But yes once I got them level I tuned it up, check action, loosened the strings all the way up and started making adjustments, tightened rechecked. I just can’t get the bridge to be more than .01” difference on either side without locking up that treble side bolt.
 
Hmm, very odd. Pictures will surely help someone here so definitely do that. I suppose the one post could've been mounted wrong. Intonation screws backed out?
 
Hmm, very odd. Pictures will surely help someone here so definitely do that. I suppose the one post could've been mounted wrong. Intonation screws backed out?

I’ll try to post some pics tomorrow. I think you are right and the post hole in the body is not set straight, the treble side is subtly tilted and that is the side giving me issues. The other side doesn’t lock up at all. You’d think if it was tolerances they’d both jam up at some point. I actually had to lower the treble side down uniformly with the bass side until I got it where I wanted then i just raised the bass side to the right height. No issues doing it that way.

I changed the strings to set of elixir 10’s and the intonation was way out (very very flat). After getting the action as close to where I like it as possible (.06” on low e, .05” on the high e) I set about getting the intonation squared away. I had to almost back the screws all the way out, but it intonated perfectly. It also loosened the bridge up from that treble side bridge bolt a bit. I’d like to push it down to .04, but I’m close enough and intonated perfectly. I’m not messing with it any more.

From the factory, it had both a bad volume pot and this weird bridge issue. I’d also suspect the intonation was way out. So 3 issues for a $4k guitar that is supposed to have the most rigorous QC process in the industry. Not at all what I expected and it has left a very bad taste in my mouth for these guitars. I should have just returned it when I discovered the first issue. I must have gotten a lemon.
 
How long have you had the guitar? If a month or so you should call the dealer, this isn't normal and you definitely shouldn't let this affect your opinion of PRS. Could be bad threads on the post or adjustment wheel, too.
 
How long have you had the guitar? If a month or so you should call the dealer, this isn't normal and you definitely shouldn't let this affect your opinion of PRS. Could be bad threads on the post or adjustment wheel, too.

Yeah, about 3 weeks. I bought it from Eddie's guitars. They gave me the option to return it when I thought the only issue was the volume pot, but now too long has passed. There is an 18 month backlog at PRS for guitars and it was hard to find the model and color I wanted. Rather than have it shipped around for another 3 months trying to get repaired I just kept it to fix.

I have it setup close to how I like it now. I'll keep it for a year and trade it in for a 594. I think this is my best option at this point.
 
If it was me I would Talk to Eddies ( great guys ) and PRS send it back and get it repaired, it would be under warranty.
Would be a bummer to pass along a problem guitar to someone else. likely as easy as resetting or replacing a bridge stud.
 
Yeah, about 3 weeks. I bought it from Eddie's guitars. They gave me the option to return it when I thought the only issue was the volume pot, but now too long has passed. There is an 18 month backlog at PRS for guitars and it was hard to find the model and color I wanted. Rather than have it shipped around for another 3 months trying to get repaired I just kept it to fix.

I have it setup close to how I like it now. I'll keep it for a year and trade it in for a 594. I think this is my best option at this point.

PRS QC isn't what it used to be.
 
PRS QC isn't what it used to be.

I disagree , My new ( and frankly my used PRS ) have been 99% issue free
PRS customer service for me has been second to none , yes mistakes happen but in my case PRS or my dealer has made everything right at no cost to me.even on out of warranty guitars.
Things happen there has been issues from time to time fading , clouding , Flaking finishes , wiring issues. , fading numbers on plastic , broken switch tips
Folks come to forums to complain more often than not , and its often the first place they go.
law or averages says the more things you make the more issues there are even if you are 99% perfect the numbers get bigger.
 
I disagree , My new ( and frankly my used PRS ) have been 99% issue free
PRS customer service for me has been second to none , yes mistakes happen but in my case PRS or my dealer has made everything right at no cost to me.even on out of warranty guitars.
Things happen there has been issues from time to time fading , clouding , Flaking finishes , wiring issues. , fading numbers on plastic , broken switch tips
Folks come to forums to complain more often than not , and its often the first place they go.
law or averages says the more things you make the more issues there are even if you are 99% perfect the numbers get bigger.
Totally this
 
I disagree , My new ( and frankly my used PRS ) have been 99% issue free
PRS customer service for me has been second to none , yes mistakes happen but in my case PRS or my dealer has made everything right at no cost to me.even on out of warranty guitars.
Things happen there has been issues from time to time fading , clouding , Flaking finishes , wiring issues. , fading numbers on plastic , broken switch tips
Folks come to forums to complain more often than not , and its often the first place they go.
law or averages says the more things you make the more issues there are even if you are 99% perfect the numbers get bigger.

Its great that your experience has been trouble free. There are many accounts of issues that would never have happened in the past creeping up. I'll speak to just my own to be fair...

I have personally seen;

  • Poor setups from the factory
  • Significant "binding" bleed on the sides of the body
  • Tool chatter marks in the fretboard of multiple guitars
  • Finish flaking on new instruments
  • Grease Pen marks all over on the body and neck of guitars that needed additional buffing or sanding that made their way to the dealer unbuffed/unsanded in those areas.
 
I don't think you read my post , Yes PRS like any manufacture has some issues , some I have seen as I mentioned below BUT when you go from making a handful of models to dozens and from making guitars in the hundreds or thousands to to the kind of numbers they do today I would expect the quantity of problems to increase EVEN if the percentage remains constant.
IE (10,000 guitars 5% defect ( that would be really impressive IMHO ) rate only 500 guitars with issues , move that up to 50,000 guitars that 2500 guitars with issues with the same quality control )
Here is my take I had a much harder time finding a quality guitar from Gibson , Fender , Ibanez , I have had next to zero issue buying PRS unplayed. Have I had to adjust a setup to my liking YES have I returned a PRS yet NO out of the 20+ PRS I have owned I have had 2 issues and both were fixed under warranty and one was just the knobs on a Silver Sky that's a 94% success rate for me and 100% success after warranty work. Not to shabby I say.


Things happen there has been issues from time to time fading , clouding , Flaking finishes , wiring issues. , fading numbers on plastic , broken switch tips


Its great that your experience has been trouble free. There are many accounts of issues that would never have happened in the past creeping up. I'll speak to just my own to be fair...

I have personally seen;

  • Poor setups from the factory
  • Significant "binding" bleed on the sides of the body
  • Tool chatter marks in the fretboard of multiple guitars
  • Finish flaking on new instruments
  • Grease Pen marks all over on the body and neck of guitars that needed additional buffing or sanding that made their way to the dealer unbuffed/unsanded in those areas.
 
Back
Top