Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum

Forum Ringside => Tech => Topic started by: Stevepage on January 30, 2012, 12:05:45 PM

Title: PRS Trem annoyance
Post by: Stevepage on January 30, 2012, 12:05:45 PM
I've had my CE22 for over a year now and I've never been able to not get annoyed with the trem. I've tried nut sauce in the nut and where the strings meet the saddles, metal lubricant on the screw notches of the trem, stretching strings and adjusting the claw to get the correct angle on the bridge. Nothing works, the G string will always go out of tune by about half a semi tone. I never dive bomb, only little wiggles and flutters and I'm only using 11-48's in E so I'm not using excessively big string gauges.

Any one know what I can do?
Title: Re: PRS Trem annoyance
Post by: darkbluemurder on January 30, 2012, 02:41:24 PM
That is strange - the trem on my PRS Custom works flawlessly. To further assist we need more information. A few questions:

1. Do you have locking tuners? If so, they should not be the culprit.

2. Try lifting the G string out of the nut. Can you do it easily?

3. Detune the G string and retune. Do you hear any sqeaking noises (ping, poing etc.)?

If the answer to 2. is yes and to 3. no, then the nut should be ok. Time to look at the trem itself.

4. How tight are the mounting screws? They should not be so tight as to bind the trem plate.

Cheers Stephan
Title: Re: PRS Trem annoyance
Post by: Stevepage on January 30, 2012, 03:02:28 PM
Yeah it has the 'winged' locking tuners and moving the G string out of the nut is easy and there's no squeeking. The 6 bridge screws all look fine. All the same height so the bridge plate is sat in nicely.
Title: Re: PRS Trem annoyance
Post by: Twinfan on January 30, 2012, 05:09:35 PM
The 6 screws on the trem are notched and must be lined up right with the trem plate to give the correct break point.  Have you checked they're all in line OK?
Title: Re: PRS Trem annoyance
Post by: Tellboy on January 30, 2012, 07:37:44 PM
Unusual - never had any problems with PRS trems.  As it's only the G string could the G bridge saddle have some play in it when you use the trem? To check this you could try swopping it with one of the others to see if you get the same results.
Title: Re: PRS Trem annoyance
Post by: Sifu Ben on February 01, 2012, 05:22:51 PM
Friend of mine had some problems with his Custom 24 a while ago, he swapped the saddles for Ferraglides and it was all sorted.
Title: Re: PRS Trem annoyance
Post by: Ratrod on February 02, 2012, 11:01:34 AM
9 out of 10 times the problem is at the nut. The D and G mostly.

Press down the G-string behind the nut (don't laugh) and if it doesn't return to pitch, the slot needs to be widened a bit.

Somtimes I put a little curve in the end of the nut slot towards the peg.

But if that isn't the problem, it's the trem itself. I assume it's a fulcrum style trem and those are a bit of a b!tch to setup right.
Title: Re: PRS Trem annoyance
Post by: Stevepage on February 02, 2012, 02:45:16 PM
I think I may give it to a tech to get the nut slots looked at. I may look into new saddles too.
Title: Re: PRS Trem annoyance
Post by: AnnunakiMassacr on February 02, 2012, 02:58:17 PM
Try gettin a graph Tech TUSQ XL nut fitted. Excellent for Non-Locking Trems. The strings really glide through them, and locking tuners would give you reat tuning stability :)
Title: Re: PRS Trem annoyance
Post by: Philly Q on February 02, 2012, 04:58:55 PM
I believe the PRS already has a low-friction nut and locking tuners(?)
Title: Re: PRS Trem annoyance
Post by: Stevepage on February 03, 2012, 05:25:37 PM
That's right. It's a regular CE22 with a trem.