Problems with my new PRS Bernie

[richard]

Hi Folks. I bought my SE Bernie about 3 months ago and I think it's a great playing and great sounding guitar. I changed the pickups for Bare Knuckles Abraxas but that's just personal preference as there was nothing bad about the originals. I've played it a lot and done three gigs with it. I think I've changed strings four times. I was doing a string change yesterday and noticed that the tuner for the top E was very loose on the headstock. I tried tightening the screws but nothing happened - no purchase so they were rotating but not tightening. My guitar guy lives nearby so I called round and asked him to check it out.

He had to make a dowel out of a matchstick to solve the issue. He checked the screws in the other tuners and found another three that were doing nothing i.e. rotating but no purchase. He repaired them all but now I am left with a brand new guitar (first new guitar I've ever had) that is partially held together with matchsticks. My tech's opinion is that the headstock wood is not fit for purpose as it's way too soft for the job. I could take it back to the retailer and get a replacement but it may have the same problem. Also I would have to pay my tech to put the original pickups back and then pay him again to install them in the replacement.

I e-mailed PRS Europe yesterday and am waiting for a reply. I have been happily telling friends about the incredible value for money of the Bernie and that I have not been able to find a single flaw. I can't do that anymore. I now have a guitar that I'm worried could fall to pieces at any time.

What do you think would be the appropriate way to resolve this issue ?

[Slartibartfarst42]

I think that build problems like this are VERY rare on the SE range so a replacement should be fine. A while ago I bought a new Gibson Les Paul and there was no play in the trussrod, making the guitar not fit for purpose so I got a replacement and the guitar is superb. I very mush doubt you'll have a problem with a replacement.

[Telerocker]

The SE models usually stand for high value for the money. This is new to me. It is possible that the headstock is made of a less dense piece of mahogany. And yeah, stocktuners are not always the best. I replaced mine with Tonepros and Sperzels, except on my Fender Am. Series tele. Those are great.

Hope you can get it solved.

[Philly Q]

Your tech's seen the guitar and I haven't, so I can't really challenge his opinion about the wood being too soft, but I doubt there's any danger of the guitar falling to pieces.

Stripped screw holes could be due to soft wood - and mahogany is a relatively soft wood.  They could also be due to the pilot holes being drilled slightly too big.  I remember when I dismantled my SE EG a few years ago I found they'd used very small, thin screws to hold the scratchplate and jack plate - I just replaced them with slightly bigger, longer Fender-style screws.  Stripped screw holes can also sometimes be fixed by putting a drop of superglue into the hole to harden the thread (let it dry before putting the screw back in!).

Having said all that, you still shouldn't have these problems with a new guitar.  It's definitely worth contacting PRS.

[gwEm]

I never had something like that with the tuners on any guitar.

Sometimes screws on other parts of the guitar have gone stripped with me. Particularly the scratchplate, but also the strap buttons etc.

I would get in touch with PRS too.

[richard]

I e-mailed PRS Europe 2 days ago, so far no response. A couple of people have commented that it's more likely to be a problem with the workmanship (holes drilled too big) than the quality of the wood. It's taken a little shine off of the experience of buying my first new guitar and first PRS. I always bought used instruments on the basis that, if they've been kicking around for a couple of years and are still in one piece, they're probably okay.

Having said all this, the Bernie is a great guitar. It sounds awesome (the Abraxas set helps) and it has the most comfortable neck I've ever come across. I'd still like to put it up against a contemporary LP standard and see how they compare.

[keith]

The standard tuners I found were not very good. I reamed the headstock holes out and fitted tonepros locking Tuners which are much better.

[grausch]

Realise it has been more than a year since your issue, but has PRS Europe ever responded to your email?

FWIW I have one of the European Limited Run Bernies and I have the exact same issue. Will be fixing this at the next string change with toothpicks and wood glue, but it is a little disappointing that such a great guitar is let down by something like this.

[richard]

Sorry, only just noticed this posting. I can't remember exactly what happened with my complaint but I think they were helpful. No problems since fixing things with toothpicks. Bernie is now my main gigging guitar - I love it. Love the Abraxas pups too.

[grausch]

No problem - thanks for getting back to me.

They are great guitars though - I have 2 of them. One almost stock with just a nut upgrade, and one fully upgraded (except for the bridge) with Mules.