I guess I'll throw my comments in... (apologizing in advance for not having read every post in this entire thread)

I only have one PRS, a '17 SE Santana. I struggled with it for a good while over tuning stability. I have been working on my own guitars for 30 years and can usually solve any issues like this quickly. I've owned this guitar for about two years (although, it sat in storage for about nine months during a cross country move), and was always re-tuning it.... Every few minutes!

I haven't changed the nut (but, I might before too long). I know that's where the problem lies. In the meantime, I have worked the nut a little bit and been pretty diligent about graphite in the slots. It has slowly begun to settle down and become more stable after a good bit of playing it and letting it acclimate to my climate.

I honestly think it's the nut material. I've NEVER had it be the tuners, on any of my guitars over the years... Never. So, I think the ultimate solution for me will be a replacement nut. Just gotta figure out what direction I go... Bone or plastic.
 
I guess I'll throw my comments in... (apologizing in advance for not having read every post in this entire thread)

I only have one PRS, a '17 SE Santana. I struggled with it for a good while over tuning stability. I have been working on my own guitars for 30 years and can usually solve any issues like this quickly. I've owned this guitar for about two years (although, it sat in storage for about nine months during a cross country move), and was always re-tuning it.... Every few minutes!

I haven't changed the nut (but, I might before too long). I know that's where the problem lies. In the meantime, I have worked the nut a little bit and been pretty diligent about graphite in the slots. It has slowly begun to settle down and become more stable after a good bit of playing it and letting it acclimate to my climate.

I honestly think it's the nut material. I've NEVER had it be the tuners, on any of my guitars over the years... Never. So, I think the ultimate solution for me will be a replacement nut. Just gotta figure out what direction I go... Bone or plastic.

I completely agree. I've left several posts in this thread to that effect, and I'll just repeat one:

I think the tuners get way too much blame. I have a CU24SE with the original tuners but upgraded with a John Mann vibrato. Any tuning problems I have ever had with the guitar are solely due to the nut. Certainly replacing it would be best, but I widened the slots a hair and slopped on the graphite and I really don't have any trouble with tuning at this point, even with vibrato use.

Since then, I traded that guitar in (minus the Mann vibrato, which went in the new one) for a brand new CU24SE and have had precisely the same experience - horrible tuning out of the box, but filing the slots out a hair (really everybody, get yourself a set of nut files from Stew Mac - save yourself a bundle in the long run) and laying on the graphite (I actually use a #1 pencil with the point filed to a fine edge) cured it all. Thomastik-Infeld 010 Blues Sliders, btw.
 
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I honestly think it's the nut material.
Okay! One more
And it's not that it's just, you know, mediocre. It really is particularly bad! It seems like there are more complaints about SE tuning, which as you say all seem to point to the nut, than any guitar I've ever encountered.
Even an exotic nut is a cheap part, relatively speaking. I don't understand why PRS seems to be married to material they use.
 
I had the same thing with my Zach Myers. Replaced the nut and the problem went away. Only thing to watch for when removing the nut, at least in the Korean factory they smothered the whole underside of the nut with glue, not just a couple of dots slighly offset from the ends. They can be a real pitta to remove and as I had been warned by a couple of members on here, often take off a small amount of wood out of the bottom of the nut shelf even when your careful.

I recently bought a SE CU24 and because of the last nut I chose the Floyd Rose version to avoid that particular problem.
 
I guess I'll throw my comments in... (apologizing in advance for not having read every post in this entire thread)

I only have one PRS, a '17 SE Santana. I struggled with it for a good while over tuning stability. I have been working on my own guitars for 30 years and can usually solve any issues like this quickly. I've owned this guitar for about two years (although, it sat in storage for about nine months during a cross country move), and was always re-tuning it.... Every few minutes!

I haven't changed the nut (but, I might before too long). I know that's where the problem lies. In the meantime, I have worked the nut a little bit and been pretty diligent about graphite in the slots. It has slowly begun to settle down and become more stable after a good bit of playing it and letting it acclimate to my climate.

I honestly think it's the nut material. I've NEVER had it be the tuners, on any of my guitars over the years... Never. So, I think the ultimate solution for me will be a replacement nut. Just gotta figure out what direction I go... Bone or plastic.
Thanks fo r letting us know. Do PRS even realize they have a huge problem? They actually tout exceptional tuning stability. We are trying the tuners this week. I’ll keep updating.
 
I don't believe it is a "huge" problem, considering I haven't needed to replace a single nut on any of well over a dozen PRS that I own or have owned. I had a problem with binding on an S2 nut, and it turned out to be a piece of debris in one slot.
 
Do you own any of the SE semi hollow Custom 22s year 2019 from the Korean factory? It would be a huge problem if this entire run had tuning and stability. Just to be clear this is the sample set I am referring to. Not all PRS guitars.
 
I don't believe it is a "huge" problem

It's more of a "big annoyance". Once you do what you have to do with it (i.e., file and lube the slots, which, I suspect most players are going to have to do anyway on an SE unless they plan to play .009's forever) it's fine, at least in my experience. I think the real sting is that when you first get the thing it's not as fun right out of the box as it seems like it should be.

Any amateur astronomers? If you buy a new telescope, it's guaranteed to be cloudy for the next week.
 
Thanks so much all for jumping in. You guys are great. Let me clarify I absolutely love this guitar. It’s a limited run Ebony top semi hollow and nothing- even brand new $3,000 Gibson ES play like it. The tech at my dealer already filed the nut slots with 0 effect. So once we put in the new tuners in the next day or 2 I’ll update.
 
PRS sent upgraded tuners to my dealer. They install the new tuners and it didn’t even affect the problem. Now onto step three. If there’s anything you learn from this buyer guitar from a great dealer who will take care of you. I haven’t paid one extra cent for all of the extra work they are doing. - however, in a strange development I replaced my NXXL rounds with D’addario Jazz Light flats ... now holding tune for 48 hours
 
Certain guitars only like certain strings. There’s also a break in period on the SE’s. I have a bunch of them.
 
Well it’s still not perfect, I have to tuneup a little bit every time I pick it up , and not every string like before. I’ve had it now for four months...I may still replace the nut.
 
Good to know that you are not alone I guess. Picked up a '18 PRS SE Santana (looks beautiful) second hand. Tuners had already been replaced - previous owner must have struggled with the problem before me I guess. I've replaced the tuners again with Gotoh locking tuners and yesterday replaced the nut with a Tusq XL - old one was easy to remove, just a firm push with thumbs and it came off quite clean. Today...strings are still going all over the place after only a little playing. So what is left...the bridge I guess. I'll re-string and use the graphite trick discussed in this thread re the saddles (intonation needs a tweak as well, but has been difficult to grasp with tuning all over the place) and see where we get to. So frustrating as the neck is the best I've used (I've an SG, a USA tele, Rickenbacker, Gretsch, Martin, Taylor for comparison), and only my Fender Tele comes close.
 
Definitely the best neck I’ve played On my 2019 Custom 24 SE . My new Gretsch 5622T Settled right down after 3 weeks. PRS does need settle time too. So I did tuners and string change. Now I’m using Ernie ball hybrids and she’s happy.
 
Definitely the best neck I’ve played On my 2019 Custom 24 SE . My new Gretsch 5622T Settled right down after 3 weeks. PRS does need settle time too. So I did tuners and string change. Now I’m using Ernie ball hybrids and she’s happy.
I'll take your advice re string changes - 9's? I've though about going the whole hog and replacing the bridge....in for a penny and all that. I got the guitar for a steal so I'm not unhappy to do some upgrading if necessary to make her sing.
 
To confirm, it was the nut that did it...tuning now fine. Such a simple change; if you have an SE, get a Tusq XL and a bit of PVA glue.
 
Good advice but I also didn’t replace the nut, PRS Sent my dealer new tuners. I think it’s possible that due to the nature of the nut material that they use there may be an inordinately long settling period.
 
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