s2 standard 24 top E string slips off fretboard

Nick Robinson

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Mar 9, 2019
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I've recently bought a second-hand s2 standard 24 in England. Whilst it's an amazing guitar, I have a slight problem - the top E string slides off the fret with only the slightest pressure, I can work around it at the higher end, but the first few frets require great precision for the note to sound clearly.

What can I do to correct this? Would a replacement nut solve the problem, or do I need new (wider) frets. Who in the UK do PRS recommend for carryng out work like this?
 
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Seems like someone put a new nut on it beforehand and didn't shifted it over so alignment is bad...?
 
Pics would help us evaluate it. I agree, I'd suspect a bad nut and that would likely mean a replacement one since they usually won't let something like that out of the factory.
 
Pics would help us evaluate it.

Here's a photo
prs.jpg
 
You didn't mention the guitar's age but that fingerboard looks pretty worn. In the photo, if it's not a trick of the light, it looks like the treble ends of the first few frets are really worn down. I'd take it to a pro for an opinion. You might get by with a new nut with the string spacing narrowed a little, but if that pic is accurate you might need a few frets replaced to get it where you want.
 
Here's a photo
prs.jpg

It maybe the angle but that could probably be the nut. They all look very evenly spaced and the two E strings seem to be equally as close to the ends of the nut. If the Nut fits perfectly, the two E strings should be the same distance from the edge of the fretboard. You have the ability to measure the end of the Nut to the first string and if the distance from the end to the 'E' string is more than the opposite end of the Nut to the 'e' string.

From the angle, it does look quite close but the nut looks relatively evenly cut - even spaces between each string and the same distance from ends to the E strings.
 
Hi Nick, welcome to the forum.

Some photos of the whole guitar would be nice. We all love to gaze fondly at PRS! (In a non-creepy way!)

At first glance (may be an optical illusion) it looks from your photo like the high E string slot in the nut could be slightly too close to the edge of the fretboard. It’s amazing with guitars how such a small difference can make such a big one.

If you have a small steel ruler (plastic will do) measure the gaps between the E and B string slot and likewise the B and G. There should not be much difference.

Also check that the nut isn’t shifting in the slot that’s cut for it in the headstock of the guitar. To do this you will need to slack off the strings and see if it moves with light finger pressure.

If all else fails, the advice of the other guys to look for a good luthier in your area is a the way to go. If any of your friends are guitarists they will point you in the right direction.

Apologies if I’ve given you any “teaching grandma how to suck eggs advice”.

I’d be interested to know how you get on. So a thread about the progress and result would be great on here. With some nice photos too

Good luck.
 
The serial number is 14S2009180 so that makes it 2014? Sadly, my eyesight isn't good enough to measure such fine distances but the top E slot does appear to be slightly wider than the low E slot, but I could be wrong. What's giving me mood swings(!) is that it's by far the most expensive (£725) guitar I've ever bought and I was so in love with it that I didn't notice this issue when I bought it. It's just slightly taken the edge off what would otherwise be a dream guitar. I'm sure it can be corrected, but I have half a dozen other guitars (mostly strats) that play fine & just didn't expect it on a PRS. I can probably adjust my technique to play around it if the fix is too expensive. Thanks for your support, it's really appreciated!

Here's the guitar

prs.jpg
 
I was so in love with it that I didn't notice this issue when I bought it.
"Marry in haste, repent at leisure", as they say. I'm sure none of us have ever been guilty of that! ;)
I recently did basically the same thing - got sucked into a snap decision on a beautiful SE that on further inspection required me to do surgery on the bridge (documented elsewhere on the forum) to get it to play well. Not too costly to fix, but a pain nonetheless.
I don't think the fix to your problem will be too expensive, especially when considered against the value of the guitar, which is pretty posh! Still, the edge of that fingerboard looks like the previous owner had a monkey grip on that first position!
 
It does look like it could be an optical illusion from the angle the pic is taken. Looking at the nut, it appears that both E strings are the same distance from the outside edges of the nut. If the nut is perfectly fitted, both strings should be the same distance from the edge of the fretboard. If the nut is the issue, they can close up the 'gap' between each string and leave a bigger gap at either end of the nut. May make it a bit tight for the strings for fingering.

By zooming in at the full pic, the 'e' string at the PU end of the fretboard actually looks further from the edge than the 'E' string. Again, this could just be the optical illusion from the angle the Pic is taken.

As for the price, the fact its the 'most' expensive, and the 'expectation' of the quality that you get with a PRS, that is negated by the fact that this is no longer relevant with a 2nd hand guitar. There is no way this is new at that price and therefore could have had the nut replaced and cut wrong, the frets could be 'worn' in a way that causes the 'e' to slip off (have you checked either of these) or even the way you play which may suit a 'strat' or wider neck. I am NOT saying its your play style at all, just that it could be a cause or part of it if its a combination of all of these.

Do you have a ruler or gauge to measure the distance from the edge of the Nut to the E string, the gap between E-A, A-D, D-G, G-B, B-e and finally e to the other edge of the nut? All of these measurements should indicate if or where any issues are. If these don't show any issues, you can check the Frets, see if they are evenly as high across the fret top to bottom. It maybe that the bottom (the 'e' side') could be lower than the top ('E' side), slope off to the edge of the fretboard. If these are 'evenly' sloped, they can still appear level from Left to Right (22nd fret to the 1st fret). If the 'plain' (G. B, e strings) had cut a groove into the fret, the previous owner may have been overly aggressive in sanding the lower side to get rid of the dents and levelled them left to right and not bothered to level them from top to bottom as well.

You really don't know the history or the competence of any previous owner(s) or person that may have worked on this guitar through its life. The reason it was up for sale may well be because the previous owner messed with it to sell rather than pay for a professional re-fret and new nut cut. That can cost a LOT compared to the 'value' of the guitar. That may have cost £300+ and not added any 'extra' value to its sale price. Sell for £725 and pocket the lot or spend £300+ and only pocket ~£400...

You cannot blame PRS or expect a 2nd hand guitar to be representative of the brand. Had you bought it new, then you perhaps could apportion some blame to the manufacturer - although they only check it before it leaves the factory. Its in the hands of Distributors who will send them to retailers, who may put them out on display for anyone to come in play. It may well be checked and set-up by the store when its purchased. For 2nd hand guitars, you have to factor in any changes, set-up's to their preference, even possibly replacing the hardware and then returning to stock for selling as they want to keep their after market PU's for their newer guitar. There could be more than 1 previous owner too. Any of these can affect the 'quality' of the instrument since it left PRS.

Its certainly not a brand new guitar - that's cheaper than the RRP for an SE Custom. You really don't know the history, how its been treated, how competent the previous owner or any person that may have done 'work' on the instrument prior to you buying. As I said, the previous owner may well of 'cleaned' the guitar up and been too aggressive with fret levelling, may have replaced the nut themselves etc to sell. Selling a guitar with frets that have string dents in them isn't going to sell for that price and its very expensive for a re-fret. Its a bit like cleaning your car inside an out to make it look better to get a higher price - even though the clutch or something is knackered and really needs replacing...

If you have luthier measuring devices to actually check, maybe take it to a professional and get them to check and assess it - its difficult for us with only a couple of pics to go on.
 
that's cheaper than the RRP for an SE Custom
Maybe not- Nick said 725 pounds, which is about $950 US. A good price, for sure, but about twice what a used SE custom goes for in these parts.
 
Nick, what's the story on that mandolin shaped acoustic in the background? Looks interesting!
 
Maybe not- Nick said 725 pounds, which is about $950 US. A good price, for sure, but about twice what a used SE custom goes for in these parts.

I live in the UK and well aware of the prices for PRS Guitars - A PRS SE Custom 24 costs around £799 here and the S2 Standard's don't start under £1k new. This is why I am able to determine that the price is indicative of a used Guitar...
 
A giveaway that this guitar has been modded is that it has SD pickups, unless an S2 Standard comes with these from the factory, which I don’t think it does.

So there is a good possibility there has been a change of nut.

Remember the distances between the bass strings on the nut will be considerably smaller, due to the diameter of the the strings.

A change of nut is a relatively cheap fix, however a good luthier will be your best guide.

Here’s a few internet pics for comparison.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/rQxncw9GEkiChCp4A

EDIT - I’ve added your photo into the album also.
 
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Hard to tell from the pics, but as Mozzi pointed out, it looks like the string is further from the edge at the body end. I'm guessing you could get a new nut cut and have the guy pull those strings in a little more at the headstock end.
 
I would have a local luthier replace the nut and cut the string slots to compensate for the wear.
 
The way it looks to me, the nut is cut wrong. Look at the distance between the B and E strings and then the distance between the G and B. They are not the same. The E is wider apart from the B than the others. I'd say a new nut will fix it. Just order one from PRS.
 
The way it looks to me, the nut is cut wrong. Look at the distance between the B and E strings and then the distance between the G and B. They are not the same. The E is wider apart from the B than the others. I'd say a new nut will fix it. Just order one from PRS.
It's an illusion. I just measured them on the screen and they're precisely the same. I blew it up so from string center to string center both gaps measured 39/64". The D-G is the same.
 
I took a photo of my standard 22 SC from 2017, I think they have the same pattern neck profile, so nut width should be the same

The S2 range come with USA nuts, so its probably original? They are easy to change out though, goto prs europe and order the correct one for the neck profile, call them if unsure.

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