New PRS Owner with a Question

[animalwithin]

Hi guys! I'm the proud new owner of a 2010 PRS 305 and it is INCREDIBLE!! I'm officially addicted to PRS haha.

I'm going to switch out the tuners to Gotoh 510's and have it painted black so I shall upload pics after all that is done.

I just have one question though. It has both a maple neck and maple fretboard; what can I use to safely clean the neck and fretboard? I emailed PRS and they recommended their guitar cleaner however they have a $20 minimum purchase limit so I'm looking for other alternatives. This is the first time I've ever owned a guitar with a maple fretboard and cleaning one is definitely different than ebony and rosewood and I don't want to damage it. Thanks!

 

[Jazzedout]

Why change the tuners?

 

[cmcgrath72]

Yeah, the phase three tuners are dead on. I had gotoh's in my old ibanez. No where's near as good. But congrats on the guitar.

 

[vchizzle]

Isn't that a satin finish on the neck and fretboard? If so, I don't think you use anything besides a damp rag. That cleaner isn't make for satin finishes.

 

[László]

Isn't that a satin finish on the neck and fretboard? If so, I don't think you use anything besides a damp rag. That cleaner isn't make for satin finishes.

This is what I use on my maple neck, too. damp cloth, wipe down immediately with a dry one. Done.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

 

[wardog]

Serg, always a classic!!!!! Glad to see u post, been a minute.

 

[bodia]

Serg, always a classic!!!!! Glad to see u post, been a minute.

Big ditto on this!

 

[animalwithin]

Thanks for the replies guys! The tuners are phase II on the 305's according to PRS, and to go with the black paint job I wanted to get black tuners (the Phase II are 14:1 while the Gotoh's are 21:1). I've also heard good things about the 510's, let me know if you guys have heard otherwise. Call me OCD I guess haha.

I shall clean the fretboard with a damp then dry rag then, thanks!

 

[dogrocketp]

I normally change tuners, but the phase 2`s are very, very good. Don`t let the higher tuning ratio lead you into believing you`ll be more in tune with the Gotoh`s.

 

[Jazzedout]

Thanks for the replies guys! The tuners are phase II on the 305's according to PRS, and to go with the black paint job I wanted to get black tuners (the Phase II are 14:1 while the Gotoh's are 21:1). I've also heard good things about the 510's, let me know if you guys have heard otherwise. Call me OCD I guess haha.

I shall clean the fretboard with a damp then dry rag then, thanks!

Change the tuner buttons to black or ebony...

 

[animalwithin]

I thought about that, if I have problems with the 510s I'll just return them. From my research they are a direct fit, if they aren't then I won't keep them.

I am having tuning issues when I use the trem, most of the strings go out of tune after a few dives. This is my first vintage trem guitar so I'm not too familiar with them. I want to black out the entire guitar so a black trem would be nice too :biggrin: But the stock trem is heavy and resonates very well

 

[Huggy Love]

I am having tuning issues when I use the trem, most of the strings go out of tune after a few dives.

Check out *ALL* the other parts of this equation before changing out tuners, many times tuning issues concerning trems come from other factors like the condition of the nut, type of strings, etc.

 

[cmcgrath72]

I thought about that, if I have problems with the 510s I'll just return them. From my research they are a direct fit, if they aren't then I won't keep them.

I am having tuning issues when I use the trem, most of the strings go out of tune after a few dives. This is my first vintage trem guitar so I'm not too familiar with them. I want to black out the entire guitar so a black trem would be nice too :biggrin: But the stock trem is heavy and resonates very well

You should definitely get a quality setup done by someone familiar with the PRS trem. That should help your tuning problems if not fix them outright.

 

[dmatthews]

You should definitely get a quality setup done by someone familiar with the PRS trem. That should help your tuning problems if not fix them outright.

^^^THIS^^^
I never had tuning issues on my 305, and different tuners won't change anything but the aesthetics. Jazzedout beat me to the button change idea, but go for it if you like, it's your baby!
Congrats, the 305 rocks!

 

[Jazzedout]

If you have some experience setting up guitars check out these:

By John Mann (after the 8:00' ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHA_xu844Rs

By John Ingram: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XylPbPh2JsM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BUFALsv9uY

 

[dogrocketp]

I had the same problem with one of mine. A new PRS nut fixed it.

 

[animalwithin]

Great videos Jazz, thanks! And thanks for all the replies guys!

I'm definitely not blaming the tuners, I am aware that the nut and an improperly set up trem are usually the culprits. I'd hate to replace the nut, its quite unique on this guitar, haven't seen in on others, but PRS sell's replacement nuts so no big deal. I'm going to set up the guitar myself following the video's that Jazz has provided. If I still can't seem to solve the tuning issue, I'll take it to my tech to have it checked out and/or replace the nut. I like pushing trems pretty hard so I'm not really used to the limits of a vintage trem in comparison to a floyd.

 

[animalwithin]

EDIT:

GOTOH 510 TUNERS ARE NOT A DIRECT REPLACEMENT

Much to my dismay what has been said on the Internet is wrong, the 510 tuners require drilling to fit

 

[László]

EDIT:

GOTOH 510 TUNERS ARE NOT A DIRECT REPLACEMENT

Much to my dismay what has been said on the Internet is wrong, the 510 tuners require drilling to fit

No surprise there. PRS guitars use very few off-the-shelf parts.