Re-shpaed nut on PRS SE Santana

[T-Bone-BBQ]

I love my PRS SE guitars, but one thing that's always bugged me about the ones with the floating trem is that the nut is so wide and even after getting the nut filed properly it still can seem to cause tuning issues when using the trem slightly. I even went as far as replacing the nut on my 2017 SE Custom 24 with a Graph Tech black tusq nut which helped, but didn't completely solve the problem. After looking at the shaping of the nut on my Yamaha Pacifica guitars I asked him to shape the nut similarly at the top reducing the surface area that the string sets in and it made a big difference. Yesterday I got my SE Santana back and had him do the same to it and after some initial testing last night I can already tell a big difference. No change in sustain that I can tell. I thought I'd share my results with everyone in case somebody out there is going thru a similar problem like I was. Will this mean you can use the trem like a Floyd Rose? No...even with the locking tuners I put on my Santana I wouldn't do that, but it's seemed to hold tune fine so far with moderate trem use.

Hope this can help someone out or give any other ideas for improvements.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Re-shpaed nut on PRS SE Santana

That's a great idea. Glad that your tech was able to do that for you.

 

[T-Bone-BBQ]

Re: Re-shpaed nut on PRS SE Santana

I've got two of my PRS SE guitars done so far and I still have another Custom 24 and a Tremonti SE Custom I'll get him to do the same on.

 

[ICTGoober]

Re: Re-shpaed nut on PRS SE Santana

I work on a lot of PRS stuff, and I've owned a couple. I just don't like the way they cut their nuts. Consequently, I replace a lot of them, or rework just as OP's guy has. The rest of the axe is fine, don't know why Paul wanted his nuts done in such a problem-causing manner.

 

[T-Bone-BBQ]

Re: Re-shpaed nut on PRS SE Santana

I work on a lot of PRS stuff, and I've owned a couple. I just don't like the way they cut their nuts. Consequently, I replace a lot of them, or rework just as OP's guy has. The rest of the axe is fine, don't know why Paul wanted his nuts done in such a problem-causing manner.

I don't get it either. On my Zach Myers PRS SE it doesn't matter because it's a hard tail, but on these kinds of guitars with the floating trem having a nut that wide makes no sense.

 

[Ben1962]

Re: Re-shpaed nut on PRS SE Santana

The nut on the Meyers I had was garbage. I am no cork sniffer by a long shot either, but I think the nut should be replaced on any SE before it gets smashed. Yea, it was THAT BAD. JUNK

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Re-shpaed nut on PRS SE Santana

I typically like the idea of the smaller "Fender" type nuts, but doing what your tech did is certainly one way to correct the 1/4" wide nut. Another way is to do what I always do to wide "Gibson" type nuts...I relieve the back side of the fret slots so the strings only contact the front 1/16" of the nut. Since I make all of my nuts compensated, this is the only technique that will work for me.