New/Set Up

[Har-ray]

Is it common for a new core custom 24 to need a set-up?

 

[WEDGE]

Wouldn’t shock me to at least need a truss rod tweak, especially if it was shipped to you

 

[MarcWink]

It's not unheard of to need a little bit of tweaking. Having said that, I always have to have a new guitar set up to accommodate the lowered tunings that I play.

 

[Jimi D]

IME, whether or not a new guitar needs a setup depends on many things. Did you buy it from a big box retailer? then yes... did you buy it on-line and have it shipped to you from a warehouse? then yes... has it been hanging in a store for 8 months without any attention? then yes... do you live in a climate where seasonal changes affect the wood in your guitar? then yes...

Did you buy it from a local shop where you know the people and they set the guitar up to your specs with your strings when you buy it? then no...

I buy from smaller retailers I know and trust, but I also live in Canada, where we go from extremely hot sweaty summers to extremely cold dry winters every year, so I'm accustomed to setting up my guitars to one degree or another a couple times a year... ymmv

 

[Har-ray]

Wouldn’t shock me to at least need a truss rod tweak, especially if it was shipped to you

 

[trisd]

Yes and no. The factory setup is a serviceable one size fits all affair. If you like a lower or a higher action, different gauge of strings etc yes you will need to make adjustments. The frets should be perfect so it is a pretty simple straight forward job, on a new guitar, especially at core price point I would expect a dealer to provide the service for free. If you can't do these types of adjustments yourself by best advice is to hit google and learn how. It's not difficult and is something that every guitarist should be capable of.

 

[Har-ray]

Thank you all for the replies. I feel much better knowing this.

 

[JasonE]

It is very common for me. I do a full setup on every guitar I buy, whether it is brand new or used. I want my brand and gauge of strings on it and the action where I like to play them. The factory PRS action is a little bit higher than I like so I have lowered it on every one of them I have purchased. This is why it is a very good idea to learn how to do your own setups and adjust them for yourself. I find that all guitars have a preferred action they like to play at. This is affected by a number of things. When you know how to adjust it yourself you can play it for a bit then make some small adjustments to get it where you like it for that guitar over a short period of time.

 

[Rider1260]

Sometimes a guitar is a Goldylock guitar and its JUST RIGHT and for me PRS hits that make way more often than most.
BUT every guitar has gotten better after I give it a once over setup with my strings , action , fretboard condition etc just some love after its long journey to my house.

 

[alantig]

It's absolutely common. The Paul's guitar I just bought was tweaked before I left the store. Guitars change with different conditions. Heck, I have a Hamer that was perfect in the store and unplayable two days later. But PRSi are very consistent. Out of all the ones I’ve owned, maybe three have needed to be tweaked more than once.

 

[BrianC]

I have 5 core PRS. Some need way more adjustment than others. I find it settles down after a while but never equal.