having a problem with guitar after setup.

[man-in-moon]

i just picked up a used prs se custom 24 a few days ago. I tried it out everything was fine just needed some tweaking on the set up and new strings. I got it setup everything sounded fine. I am not going to be using the trem so I decided to screw it all the way down and basically make it a hardtail. I readjusted everything but now for some reason I have lost just about all of my harmonics and the low E and g string will not stay in tune. I can get a few natural harmonics to come out but its less than half what it was before. pinch harmonics forget about it I all I get is a tick sound almost like the sting is hitting something to stop them. the sound of the pick hitting the string is about 3 times louder.
I have no clue on what to check now. the string height is the same as it was before I lowered the bridge. theres no buzz or fretting out going on. but so far nothing I have tried is bringing the harmonics back.

 

[Psykel]

Re: having a problem with guitar after setup.

Probably got something to do with lowering the bridge, I guess. Since the problem started after you did that.
Try resetting the bridge height and see if the problem is fixed.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: having a problem with guitar after setup.

The PRS six screw vibrato is designed to float above the carved top of the American-made models. The correct way to render a US-made PRS vibrato "hard tail" is to block it off with specially shaped pieces of wood. This is the technique that I would recommend for the SE Custom - even though its top is flat.

When you lowered your bridge, were the strings;
1) off
2) on but slackened
3) on and tensioned?

For the vibrato to sit properly, the slot machined into all six screws has to be at exactly the same height for the knife edge to sit correctly. If the knife edge does not sit correctly, you get poor vibration transfer and, possibly, very slight intonation errors.

The materials used in the Korean bridge are not as good as those in the US-made version. It is possible that adjusting the vibrato height under string tension could damage either the knife edges in the baseplate or the slots in the screws.

 

[BrianS.]

Re: having a problem with guitar after setup.

Just last week I did a fret level/set up on that same type of guitar. I have to say that it was the most sensitive guitar I've ever had to adjust.

The biggest headache was the saddles. Moving them slightly backward in order to set the intonation had a huge impact on string vibration. The strings really got dead and kind of buzzy as I moved the saddles back. I ended up putting the saddles back in the original positions, even though the intonation was slightly off.

I'm not saying this is your problem, just pointing out that these guitars seem really sensitive to adjustments.

Good luck!