Zach Myers Sig SE

[GuitarAddict]

@GuitarAddict , thanks for the info regarding how you addressed the issues you had with your ZM. And that link to how a sitar bridge works was very informative to me (I had no idea how sitars got that sound, now I know a bit more...).

My ZM has never been an issue for me, nothing like what you reported. Maybe I got lucky, maybe the QC in that factory or its suppliers degraded a bit over time (I got my ZM in the first year of production, and because it was a limited Spalted Maple top run, it might have undergone a slightly different build process).

I do recall many folks unhappy with the "loose fit" of the bridge on the bridge pins. From what I remember from the one and only time all strings have been off the guitar (when I put covers on my pickups), it seemed like a good fit, not too loose, but admittedly probably not as precise as the US made PRSi.

Out of curiosity, what year is your ZM? (You can tell by the Serial Number on the back - the first letter indicates year of manufacture.)

Hmm, now I'm gonna go play my ZM for a while...

It is a 2017 Model, and was actually sold to me as a 2018 model, but I think this was a mistake at the dealer, rather than a deliberate con.
I have since returned to the same dealer and bought another amp, which they gave me a very good deal on.

 

[GuitarAddict]

Two things I’d like to know -

Have you purchased from this shop/supplier before and we’re there any issues?

Is there any information online to suggest other customers have experienced problems with the shop/supplier.

I’m obviously not asking you to name and shame. It’s unusual for a PRS to arrive with the first owner with so many faults. Also any good shop would have a decent return policy, but perhaps shouldn’t have let the instrument leave them without a proper QC.

Good to hear you’ve sorted the problems with it.

It is a large UK chain of music shops, and a PRS main dealer. They are well respected. I continue to shop there, as per my previous post.
They were more than happy to refund me, or have their Tech set the guitar up for me. I wasn't ready to give up on such a beautiful instrument without at least having a go at fixing it. The potentiometer was £2.50, the wiring was about the same, and the shims were £3. Plus a few sets of strings for trial and error and a few hours of my time. I am very glad I stuck with it.
I really really do not like allowing other people to work on my guitars, and if I can possibly carry out a repair myself I will.

 

[Alnus Rubra]

Just one that slipped through the net then?

 

[Shizzrock]

It is a 2017 Model, and was actually sold to me as a 2018 model, but I think this was a mistake at the dealer, rather than a deliberate con.
I have since returned to the same dealer and bought another amp, which they gave me a very good deal on.

You returned it after replacing parts on it?

 

[GuitarAddict]

You returned it after replacing parts on it?

Nope, think you've misread that.

It says, I returned, as in, I went back to.................

 

[Shizzrock]

Nope, think you've misread that.

It says, I returned, as in, I went back to.................

ah yes, I misread

 

[Antmax]

I bought a ZM a few months back. The nut was cut extremely tight to the 9's that came with it. So close tolerance that an old 9 from another guitar would catch in the slot because it was fractionally thicker. In my case I found the 9's too much like spagetti so I changed the nut and switched to 10's. Kept the old nut in case I wanted to go back.

Now I am thinking 9.5's because I miss some of the slinky feel of the 9's but those were way too loose and oscillated to much, so they would buzz if you strummed too enthusiastically. I'm thinking NYXL 9.5's because they tend to be slightly stiffer and might be a nice compromise offering the best of 9's and 10's.

I love my ZM, I am thinking of changing the pickups though. I have a Seth Lover Neck on the way for my Vintage Japanese Les Paul which already has the bridge. Might just switch the Seth Lovers with the Zach Myers. I actually like the stock SE245's but can't help feeling that they have most of the frequencies but not quite ALL the frequencies of my SD Pickups.

The ZM quickly became my primary guitar.

 

[JJJ]

On the SE bridge lean, it seems common and you can cure it with locking bridge studs (the ones where the tops screw down and lock the bridge in place). Just make sure you buy metric threaded ones.

 

[dogrocketp]

Welcome back, and enjoy the crap out of the guitar. I hope you'll give us an update about what you think after you've played the snot out of it for the next few weeks.

 

[GuitarAddict]

On the SE bridge lean, it seems common and you can cure it with locking bridge studs (the ones where the tops screw down and lock the bridge in place). Just make sure you buy metric threaded ones.

Well that's good advice, I've checked them out and will remember for future use. As it is I have a tiny amount of backwards inclination, which I think makes up for the play in the threads going into the studs in the body. So will leave as is for now.

 

[GuitarAddict]

Welcome back, and enjoy the crap out of the guitar. I hope you'll give us an update about what you think after you've played the snot out of it for the next few weeks.

Yes will do, but it's looking good so far.............

 

[stratman2]

I recently purchased a ZM SE guitar. Outstanding instrument. To improve tuning stability, got a bone nut installed on the ZM SE and tried using standard Ernie Ball regular slinky (.010 gauge) pack of strings. Today, I replaced the .017 G string with a GHS super steel .014 G string. This reduced the sitar buzzing that GuitarAddict mentions in his post. For a longer term solution, yesterday, I ordered a MannMade USA 2300 Intonatable Stoptail Bridge.
I own a few U.S. PRS guitars with flawless nuts and bridges - an S2 and an older rosewood neck McCarty. Also, I have a I have a Bernie Marsden PRS SE guitar and the pickups on that guitar and the ZM, are some of my favorite. For the Bernie Marsden, I fixed buzzing on the high E string nut by filing down the nut slot. The wrap around bridge is excellent on the BM guitar.

Having said that I wouldn't post again, I have been left a few PM's which go a long way to explain why I received such a warm welcome here.
I did not intend to insult anyone, or slag off the PRS brand. Indeed I have just placed an order for a John Mayer signature model which I think shows my loyalty to the brand.

The problems I had with the Zach Myers guitar have only this morning been resolved.
I replaced the faulty potentiometer with a new one, and did some rewiring, the standard of the wiring is not really very good. That solved the back ground crackle on the neck pick up.

The most frustrating problem was the lack of sustain particularly on the 3rd string. Open wasn't too bad, but fretted anywhere the string just didn't ring like the others. I modified the pick up mounts to stop the pickups from resonating, and the same with the truss rod cover, in case the annoying vibration from these was cancelling out the string vibration, but it made little difference. I then found that the stop tail bridge was rotating forward under string tension, and that the 3rd saddle was machined at a slightly different angle to the rest, meaning that the string was free to vibrate along the line of the saddle rather than at the end. It sounded like a Sitar, the saddles on which are designed like this.
see link; http://www.sitarfactory.be/maintenance/jawari/

Once I had identified this problem I re-profiled the saddle and cut a new groove, and shimmed the bridge to prevent the forward rotation.

The short scale length which is unique to this signature model guitar adds to this problem if the saddles are slightly out on the profile, or the bridge rotates forward more than an acceptable amount. Being a lower string tension, it exaggerates these problems. With a higher tension string the saddle profile would not be such a problem as the string would hold itself in place more readily. Which is probably why so many Zach Myers guitars are appearing for sale second hand. Indeed if my final efforts to fix it hadn't been successful, I would now be trading it for something else.

I now have a guitar that plays and sounds as good as it looks.

I wonder how many of the owners of the Zach Myers guitars that are up for sale, as mentioned in the previous post, are now put off from ever owning another PRS, if they experienced the same problems I did, but were unable to fix them??[

 

[bodia]

I recently purchased a ZM SE guitar. Outstanding instrument. To improve tuning stability, got a bone nut installed on the ZM SE and tried using standard Ernie Ball regular slinky (.010 gauge) pack of strings. Today, I replaced the .017 G string with a GHS super steel .014 G string. This reduced the sitar buzzing that GuitarAddict mentions in his post. For a longer term solution, yesterday, I ordered a MannMade USA 2300 Intonatable Stoptail Bridge.
I own a few U.S. PRS guitars with flawless nuts and bridges - an S2 and an older rosewood neck McCarty. Also, I have a I have a Bernie Marsden PRS SE guitar and the pickups on that guitar and the ZM, are some of my favorite. For the Bernie Marsden, I fixed buzzing on the high E string nut by filing down the nut slot. The wrap around bridge is excellent on the BM guitar.

Bernie’s rule!