Rookie questions about upgrading/modding an SE CU24. Need some advice

[James Breeze]

Let me start this by saying I have not ever made any sort of modifications to any guitar ha. So I have no experience. But I have some extra cash and an SE Custom 24 so I think it would be interesting to learn how guitars work and all that in addition to being able to play them, plus I could probably improve my sound a bit.
So here are my super basic questions:

1) It seems everyone swaps out the SE nut for a Tusq nut. Is it worth trying out the TUSQ XL, or is there not very much difference between that and the normal Tusq?

2) I know nothing about changing pickups, but I have basic human intelligence ha. Just going off of youtube tutorials and being careful, would someone be able to change pickups without screwing things up too badly, or is it best left to a professional with electronics experience?

3) How hard would you say it is to install locking tuners? On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being "Helen Keller could do it", 10 being "Don't even try it" and 5 being "You could probably figure it out."

Thanks in advance!

 

[Bill SAS 513]

All three are do-able...
1) replacing the nut should be left to a qualified tech, unless it is pre-slotted for your guitar. The depths are crucial for each string. (consider a USA PRS nut??)
2)Not too hard...a little solder talent and you'll be ok. Pre-mark your wires so you know which goes where. On both new and old PUs, in case you need to re-install originals.
3)Easiest of all 3, if you get "direct replacement" lockers...or some drilling may be required...kinda scary if you haven't done it. Practice on scrap wood first if you try this.

 

[Duffy]

The Mini Grover 406c locking tuners are "direct drop in replacements" and look very good, are compact, and don't stand out in any way. They look to the casual observer almost exactly like the stock PRS tuners.

Get a cheap "Weber" pencil type fifteen or twenty five watt straight soldering iron. Get some "electrical" solder that "contains" lead from Radio Shack in the thin one mm or so diameter. Get some paste flux and a brush. No affln. with any company. Practice on some wires. Apply the flux first and heat it up until it smokes, burning off the surface impurities - then apply the solder to a hot joint site and the solder will flow into the wires or sheet out on the top of the pot adhering the wire to the pot; instead of having the solder "ball up and roll off" the soldering site. Practice this for a while and you will see how you get good results. Good solder joints are very important, not piles of solder on top of wires. You want the solder to "sheet out".

Do this at your own risk. This is just an example of how I do it. There may be other safer ways of doing this and others may give you different ideas.

Good luck.

 

[Howlingmine]

Grover 406c and Schaller M6 tuners are both drop-in replacements for the originals turners, even if you take your time installing them, it shouldn't take more than 15 minutes. As a side note, the Grovers have a weird kidney bean shaped tuner button where the schallers have buttons that look exactly like the originals.

 

[Duffy]

Grover 406c and Schaller M6 tuners are both drop-in replacements for the originals turners, even if you take your time installing them, it shouldn't take more than 15 minutes. As a side note, the Grovers have a weird kidney bean shaped tuner button where the schallers have buttons that look exactly like the originals.

Hey! They're not weird looking.

I will admit that I really like my Schallers though. I have them on four of my guitars. I like the thumbwheel on the bottom. You know exactly what the locking mechanism is doing to the string by sight and feel. Plus they look awesome.

 

[garrett]

Spring for the Tusq XL. Bone tone, but with the slipperiness of graphite. Will be great with the trem. I wouldn't bother with a USA PRS nut. (I'm surely in the minority, but I don't like them.)

I think anyone can solder. Just pay attention to the advice you get, practice, be patient, be prepared to screw a couple things up and then redo them.

Hey! They're not weird looking.

I will admit that I really like my Schallers though. I have them on four of my guitars. I like the thumbwheel on the bottom. You know exactly what the locking mechanism is doing to the string by sight and feel. Plus they look awesome.

LOL. I bought the Grovers in spite of the funny buttons, but once I got them on there I warmed to the look quickly. They're great tuners.

I also have a set of locking Schallers on a Strat style guitar, and I prefer the Grovers. The Schallers are great, but they're dang heavy and I prefer the auto locking of the Grover. It's a bit more like the classic PRS wing experience, which is the best!

Hellen Keller could definitely swap the PRS for either the Schallers or Grovers.

 

[James Breeze]

Thanks for the answers so far guys.Follow up nut changing questions:Is it agreed upon then that changing the nut should be left to a pro?And are either the PRS nut or the Tusq XL already set up for 10's, or will I have to file out the slots?Again, I have absolutely no experience ha.

 

[Duffy]

Thanks for the answers so far guys.Follow up nut changing questions:Is it agreed upon then that changing the nut should be left to a pro?And are either the PRS nut or the Tusq XL already set up for 10's, or will I have to file out the slots?Again, I have absolutely no experience ha.

I personally would only minorly file or sand the slots on a new nut "wider", if necessary, but not deeper. If I had to go deeper I think I would let a dude I know that has good luthier skills do that. You don't want to get the slots to deep. If you think something is over your head, it probably is, and that is what good guitar techs are for. Beware though, because a lot of these shops have "so-called" techs that really don't know much, not even as much as I do about a lot of things. Serious guitar and amp techs are around that are super good at what they do and often they work out of their houses as a side line. I have a real good one around here that is very reasonable.

As has been said, you can do almost all the things that you want to do and having soldering equipment around and working on your skills is definitely a good thing, because you never know when a wire might break off or a ground come loose. Then you will need the equipment or you will have to pay to have it done.

I think that most of us should probably know how to perform a wide range of maintenance and modifications to our guitars. It might be fun to get a cheap guitar just to mod. I did and it is now awesome, but my current plan is to always buy a real decent guitar in the first place before I start putting money into mods. It just turns out to be a super nice guitar this way, but either way it can be fun and definitely educational. It will help you out down the road.

 

[CantankerousCarl]

Not a mod per se, but if you are still using the .09s it came with, I strongly suggest moving up to .10s, especially if you are going to go through the trouble to re-nut it.

I had a few of the recent SE CU24s (with the blade & coil-split) and I had EB Cobalt .10s on them, made a huge improvement in the sound to my ears.

Grover mini-rotos are also a no-brainer.