PRS electrics quality control problems

Martyn

Martyn

New Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2020
Messages
4
So I am relatively new to PRS. I bought an S2 594 thinline when they were first available a couple of years ago. The guitar is great and has become my main gigging guitar. Six months in - the pickup selector switch became faulty and had to be fixed. Fast forward to this year - I bought a mint Core 594 semi hollow about 2 months ago on Reverb - love the guitar. Last night, the bridge pickup stopped working. I am taking it to my guitar tech next week. Both guitars are fantastic - but both have had electrical faults early in their life. Has anyone else seen these types of faults or am I just unlucky?
 
Martyn said:
So I am relatively new to PRS. I bought an S2 594 thinline when they were first available a couple of years ago. The guitar is great and has become my main gigging guitar. Six months in - the pickup selector switch became faulty and had to be fixed. Fast forward to this year - I bought a mint Core 594 semi hollow about 2 months ago on Reverb - love the guitar. Last night, the bridge pickup stopped working. I am taking it to my guitar tech next week. Both guitars are fantastic - but both have had electrical faults early in their life. Has anyone else seen these types of faults or am I just unlucky?
Click to expand...

Check PRS Warranty - Electrics are warrantied for 2yrs which is very reasonable - from new assuming you are using 'everything' as it was intended and not changed things. PRS can only guarantee that it left the Factory 'perfect' and had been checked thoroughly by the person on the hangtag. After that it was double checked and packed away. What happens after that is the 'responsibility' of the dealer who sold the instrument as they 'received' perfect instruments. If 'parts' fail, which they generally do quite early if faulty, are covered by Warranty.

As far as PRS are concerned, they sold a 'perfect' and thoroughly well checked Instrument to their dealer. That retailer then sells the instrument to you and if you have a 'faulty' part, you go back to the retailer who fixes it with a straight replacement from PRS if its within the warranty and its not a 'user' created issue. You know the date that guitar was Checked, that was about the last time PRS saw your guitar and it was working then - a lot can happen in the time between them saying your guitar was worthy to be released and you getting your hands on it - how many different people could of messed with 'something' - especially in some shops where all their guitars are out for anyone to 'try'...

If you are buying used, regardless of whether its listed as 'mint' or not, any issues are with the previous owner who either hasn't been strictly 'honest' or was in a rush to put the stock pups back in...

Things can be faulty and fail after a short time, that's why you have warranties and whilst every company may strive to put out 100% perfect product 100% of the time with zero 'faulty' parts that never fail, that is an impossibility. So what sets Companies apart in my opinion is what they do to fix issues, fix faulty parts etc - not fix other users mistakes/accidents - and PRS have an excellent reputation there. So if you buy 'new', you have excellent warranty and support, buying used can be 'hit' and 'miss' because you are 'trusting' the previous owner who is trying to get as much money back as they can, may not even be the OG owner either....
 
Mozzi said:
Check PRS Warranty - Electrics are warrantied for 2yrs which is very reasonable - from new assuming you are using 'everything' as it was intended and not changed things. PRS can only guarantee that it left the Factory 'perfect' and had been checked thoroughly by the person on the hangtag. After that it was double checked and packed away. What happens after that is the 'responsibility' of the dealer who sold the instrument as they 'received' perfect instruments. If 'parts' fail, which they generally do quite early if faulty, are covered by Warranty.

As far as PRS are concerned, they sold a 'perfect' and thoroughly well checked Instrument to their dealer. That retailer then sells the instrument to you and if you have a 'faulty' part, you go back to the retailer who fixes it with a straight replacement from PRS if its within the warranty and its not a 'user' created issue. You know the date that guitar was Checked, that was about the last time PRS saw your guitar and it was working then - a lot can happen in the time between them saying your guitar was worthy to be released and you getting your hands on it - how many different people could of messed with 'something' - especially in some shops where all their guitars are out for anyone to 'try'...

If you are buying used, regardless of whether its listed as 'mint' or not, any issues are with the previous owner who either hasn't been strictly 'honest' or was in a rush to put the stock pups back in...

Things can be faulty and fail after a short time, that's why you have warranties and whilst every company may strive to put out 100% perfect product 100% of the time with zero 'faulty' parts that never fail, that is an impossibility. So what sets Companies apart in my opinion is what they do to fix issues, fix faulty parts etc - not fix other users mistakes/accidents - and PRS have an excellent reputation there. So if you buy 'new', you have excellent warranty and support, buying used can be 'hit' and 'miss' because you are 'trusting' the previous owner who is trying to get as much money back as they can, may not even be the OG owner either....
Click to expand...
Thanks for that - I understand the warranty process and buyer beware if you buy second hand. The core model looks brand new, came with all the original paperwork and has not been gigged. The S2 was fixed under warranty efficiently by the retailer. I was just surprised to buy two PRS guitars - one brand new and one 2 years old and have electronics faults with both of them early on. Maybe I was naive thinking that the PRS brand would be different from other well known brands. I still love both guitars.
 
alantig said:
Maybe you don't, but...

Click to expand...
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Martyn said:
Thanks for that - I understand the warranty process and buyer beware if you buy second hand. The core model looks brand new, came with all the original paperwork and has not been gigged. The S2 was fixed under warranty efficiently by the retailer. I was just surprised to buy two PRS guitars - one brand new and one 2 years old and have electronics faults with both of them early on. Maybe I was naive thinking that the PRS brand would be different from other well known brands. I still love both guitars.
Click to expand...
Glad you love them! We all do too, which is why we hang out here. :cool:

Still not sure why you're conflating what you acknowledge is 'buyer beware' on a 2yo instrument with brand QC. Lots of people here don't gig their PRSes, keep them sparkling looking, and have also futzed with the pickups.

This is a community of enablers - whenever someone asks "should I do X to my PRS?" they're likely to get a response of "Yes! Be an owner! Tell us/post pics about how it turns out."

Odds are there's a funky solder in there (pickups themselves don't really fail.)

Anyway, play them in good health and welcome to the community! Hope you stick around here, it's basically the nicest message board on the internet.
 
I've had switches go bad on one or two S2s I got used. I recall reading about others having a similar experience. I bought Switchcraft switches on Amazon for about $25 and replaced them. I think the switches used in the S2 aren't as high quality as the ones used in the core guitars. Not sure that counts as quality control but rather just plain quality.

As far as the bad pickup, that's really unusual. Most likely a wiring or soldering issue. I've never had an issue like that with a core guitar and I've owned many, all of which I purchased used, and many of which were 10+ years old. I'd bet it wasn't PRS but a previous owner who is to blame.

I hope the pickup issue is a quick and inexpensive fix!
 
Martyn said:
Thanks for that - I understand the warranty process and buyer beware if you buy second hand. The core model looks brand new, came with all the original paperwork and has not been gigged. The S2 was fixed under warranty efficiently by the retailer. I was just surprised to buy two PRS guitars - one brand new and one 2 years old and have electronics faults with both of them early on. Maybe I was naive thinking that the PRS brand would be different from other well known brands. I still love both guitars.
Click to expand...
Sorry, I think you’re unlucky I had a pickup go on a 30 year old guitar, and a pickup switch wear out on my #1. I’ve got a few of them, and that’s the extent of my problems.
 
OP is not alone. I've bought about one new PRS per year for a long time and in the last five-ish years I've seen:
* bad tone cap on a Paul's Guitar
* Intermittent contact on the pickup switch in an S2 594 thinline
* Intermittent shorts in the control cavity and at least one cold solder joint that made the bridge pickup sound really bad, both in the same Core 594 IIRC

I addressed those problems myself because I could and didn't want to ship the guitars for warranty work. Control harness assembly and testing is an area I'd call out where PRS could improve.

I had a hell of a time with that Core 594 before I learned enough to spot some funky-looking solder joints and reflow them.
 
Herr Squid said:
OP is not alone. I've bought about one new PRS per year for a long time and in the last five-ish years I've seen:
* bad tone cap on a Paul's Guitar
* Intermittent contact on the pickup switch in an S2 594 thinline
* Intermittent shorts in the control cavity and at least one cold solder joint that made the bridge pickup sound really bad, both in the same Core 594 IIRC

I addressed those problems myself because I could and didn't want to ship the guitars for warranty work. Control harness assembly and testing is an area I'd call out where PRS could improve.

I had a hell of a time with that Core 594 before I learned enough to spot some funky-looking solder joints and reflow them.
Click to expand...
+1. I had a bad pot on a brand new 594 HBII. PRS fixed it, so no lasting issues, but I’ve also heard of many similar issues in new PRS guitars. The construction is great… first rate stuff. But their pots/switches supplier (or installer) has been letting them down recently. Unfortunately, it’s the kind of intermittent failure that might not be evident until the guitar is being used in the wild.

They wouldn’t be the first company to be plagued by a bad run of parts. They stand behind their product, so no worries, to me anyway. Still love the guitar.
 
Frankly toggles switches are a kinda crappy design longevity wise and surprised they don't fail more often than they do, many can be fixed by slightly bending the contacts and or Detoxit cleaner. On my PRS I have only ever had to replace one toggle.
Storing them in the center position helps them last longer also
 
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