It's all good bro! And yeah, me too. There have been times where my Cu24 was rock solid, then driving me nuts. Probably due to worn trem screws and just needed to do some maintenance, which is the only thing I don't like to fiddle with on my PRSi. The nut has been replaced once in 15 years by PTC, so I know it was done right and without doubt, I'm sporting winged tuners, too.
It would be great if I had guys like you and my buddy Ron from Ohio to show me how to cure this issue, because we should all be self sufficient in this area...but alas, not so.
Under nominal conditions, my PRSi with trems are the most stable instruments I've ever experienced. Keeping them that way has been my challenge.
I need to find the ambition to start a thread detailing all the little things I do to keep the guitar in tune. I've done so over the years in many threads, but never in one place that's easy to find. There seem to be enough guys out there that have issues (and some that either resort to "decking" the trem or giving up all together ) to warrant it.
I
almost made another video the other day when reading a TGP thread about this subject.. but then I vacuumed he house or something instead.
If all else fails, Skype me or call me when I'm drunk and I'll talk your ear off (typing is hard).
My friend has a McCarty Korina with a trem that you can pull on all day and it wont go out of tune, he has another PRS that the trem works just OK. I believe at this point its just not a universal thing that they function perfectly, some just work better than others.
There may be some fine-tuning that needs to be done but, all five of my trem PRS
work. From SE to Core, with a mixture of different saddles, arms, screws, blocks, and nuts. The only constant thing about my guitars are the old Phase I "winged" tuners, although my KL33 worked well while it still sported the Phase II's.
As long as the strings are stretched properly, there are no "wraps" of string around the tuner posts, and you always tune
up to the note (never
down), the units should work equally as well.
If problems still persist, then (in a completely unscientific study I've conducted called "life") I can tell you that 99% of the time it's the nut. Even if the PTC set it up, even if it's a Private Stock, and even if it's a self-lubricating-unobtainium-brass-impregnated-Tusq-
whatever... If that sh!t ain't completely smooth and free from burrs, a string can get hung up and you'll get p!ssed.
I posted the (potentially embarrassing) videos above to at least show some sort of proof that you
can do wide-travel/dive-bomb sh!t with a PRS/MilCom/Mann Made trem bridge. There will be some stuff you
might have to keep an eye on, and you
might have to break out some tools (sandpaper, maybe a pencil, or some lip balm) but you gotta find out for yourself if it's worth it. For me, I think it is. I'd rather do that once a year or two than have to keep an allen wrench and some wire clippers around just to change a f@ckin' string.
Oh boy, this is getting long. I should've just started that thread I was talkin' about...
So... to the OP: Yeah, tuners and trem won't be any more of a problem than any other type, just
different ones.
