This PRS Opeth is doing my head in!! Argh...

[Pierre]

A friend of mine gave it to me to do some work on it. Mostly install two DiMarzios and set her up for a set of 12-52s in C#...



which is proving impossible.


1) nut was way too high and generally a piece of ****. Guitar can't stay in tune, at all. A single bend on the high E and bam, out of whack. I've smoothed out the slots but I think a new nut is a better way to go...
2) bridge block string holes are too deep: the ball ends are too close to the break to the saddles and as such the string's windings around the ball ends touch the point of contact between trem block and the actual bridge. I wouldn't be surprised if this contributed to the tuning issues
3) guitar is impossible to intonate, which is partly due to the string slots being way too high in the nut
4) trem screws actually go deeper than the wood and poke through the trem cavity

What's worse is that the guitar sounds and plays well enough. Very bad points to construction and especially setup though.

Now I need to figure out how the **** I'm going turn this POS into something playable. I may be exigent with the guitars I work on but I've never encountered anything this far off where I want it to be. I've also not worked on nuts in a while and I'm not confident enough to replace this one (no proper tools to clean up the nut slot and install a new one).

 

[Diego]

Re: This PRS Opeth is doing my head in!! Argh...

I'd give it back to her and have it taken to a tech.

The nut issue, you could probably deal with, but 2 and 4 seems out of whack.

 

[Varg]

Re: This PRS Opeth is doing my head in!! Argh...

Is this a cheap version of Akerfeldt's sig guitar? Surely the real one isn't such a POS?

 

[Pierre]

Re: This PRS Opeth is doing my head in!! Argh...

It IS Akerfeldt's sig guitar. It's not a POS, but it's just not perfect and it's got setup issues and a horrible nut.

Had it had a better nut from the factory I would have much less bad things to say about it.

 

[That90'sGuy]

Re: This PRS Opeth is doing my head in!! Argh...

All of PRS' stuff typically come with that graphite nut. Is part of the problem just the string gauge that's being used? They typically don't have tuning issues unless this one just happens to be an unfortunate lemon.

 

[alteredbeast]

Re: This PRS Opeth is doing my head in!! Argh...

but it has that way cool sticker on it. thats gotta count for something right?

 

[Maynardo]

Re: This PRS Opeth is doing my head in!! Argh...

Opeth model it's a korean SE, and every single one of them has a crappy nut made out of cheap plastic, get it to a luthier and put a graph tech nut in there, not really expensive stuff.

 

[Pierre]

Re: This PRS Opeth is doing my head in!! Argh...

Yeah I'll advise that to my friend whose guitar it is. I had to widen the slots for the bigger string gauge either way.

 

[Varg]

Re: This PRS Opeth is doing my head in!! Argh...

The Akerfeldt PRS is a Korean SE?

Oh, BTW, I assume this IS a cheap model or you wouldn't be doing a setup on it (no offence, you said yourself you're not confident with nut work).

 

[Pierre]

Re: This PRS Opeth is doing my head in!! Argh...

Ah I used to do a bit of nut work but it was years ago and I lack the practice. I'd do it on my own guitars but not on a friends': I just widened the slots and filed down the top of the nut so there wouldn't be half an inch of undeeded nut material there..! And the Akerfeldt is indeed a Korean PRS. All SEs are Koreans aren't they?

 

[Diego]

Re: This PRS Opeth is doing my head in!! Argh...

Yes they are.
But none I've played gave me a bad feel at all. I mean, they had the nut messed up, but just that.

 

[Varg]

Re: This PRS Opeth is doing my head in!! Argh...

All SEs are Koreans aren't they?

No idea man, I just assumed Akerfeldt would be using a guitar made in the USA or Europe not a Korean one.

 

[Maynardo]

Re: This PRS Opeth is doing my head in!! Argh...

Akerfeldt uses Private stock american made guitars, but his sig model for the public it's made in korea, BTW SEs are very cool guitars, they just come with a crappy nut, which is one the cheapest upgrades you can make to an ax

 

[Pierre]

Re: This PRS Opeth is doing my head in!! Argh...

His own probably is US made but his sig model is in the SE series. I doubt he plays his signature model, but rather a custom guitar.

 

[Surgeon]

Re: This PRS Opeth is doing my head in!! Argh...

About #2: the quick fix would be to do as such: use some cut-off balls from dead strings and slip them on the strings (as if making a necklace or something). This will artificially elongate the ball-end of the string, bringing the windings further down in the guitar... dunno if my explanation makes sense but it works easily. The bad part about it is that whenever you change strings, you have to remove the balls from the broken string and slip them on the new one... if you friend changes strings (or breaks them) often, this may be a pita.

*that would make a very nice post to take out of context with the "balls" "cutting 'em*...just sayin'...

#4: drilling and plugging is probably the way to go for a nice permanent fix. Other wise, shorter screws (possibly bigger as well) would probably be adequate and cheap.

Nut: you could easily remove it and file it from the bottom. In order to keep it flat, use double-sided tape to fix some sandpaper on a scrap of wood and slide the removed nut on it, going little bits at a time, repositioning it on the guitar every time to check string height... should work nicely and do a good job. I'd make sure the grooves are nice, round and follow the fretboard radius first though...

Amuse-toi mec!

 

[Varg]

Re: This PRS Opeth is doing my head in!! Argh...

Akerfeldt... his sig model... it's made in korea, they just come with a crappy nut, which is one the cheapest upgrades you can make to an ax

Are you kidding? How much is it to upgrade a nut? That's a job I wouldn't do myself, and I do pretty much everything myself to my guitars. Replace a bridge, pickup, complete rewire, machine heads, easy. But replace a bad nut? That's a job for a tech, and that means paying some dude to do it, so I'm wondering how you think it's one of the cheapest upgrades you can do?

A guitar with Akerfeldts name on it should have a decent nut on it - Epiphone manage it, so do Squier. F**k, plenty of cheap manufacturers manage it. So how come these guitars are so bad?
I like Opeth's older stuff, I think Mikael is a great player - why is he putting his name on this kind of s**T?

 

[Pierre]

Re: This PRS Opeth is doing my head in!! Argh...

#2 is how I normally proceed, but I didn't have enough left this time. I should have tried it to eliminate at least a potential reason though but well... I need to keep ball ends from all old strings...

#4 is no biggie but I didn't expect this out of a 800 euros guitar...

The nut slots are good, I re-did them all for the right strings. But I'm hesitant to do anything that involves taking the nut out/in due to my lack of equipment and the fact that it's been a while.

 

[LtKojak]

Re: This PRS Opeth is doing my head in!! Argh...

The nut in my PRS SE EG is just fine.

It's NOT cheap plastic, it's a graphite nut and it's soft, a bit too soft for my taste. It's very easy to ruin it if you go too file happy specially if you don't have the specialized tools of the trade, but if you know what you're doing, it shouldn't be that much of a problem.

Getting a nut done it's a job for a pro. That's just NOT something you can save money on and it should come with a sticker saying "Kids, don't try this at home".

HTH,

 

[Pierre]

Re: This PRS Opeth is doing my head in!! Argh...

Calling someone a pro doesn't make anyone good, just like anyone being good doesn't have to be a pro.

And yes it's very soft material. I'd just polished the newly shaped nut (first with fine nut files, then 1,000, 1,200, 1,500 and 2,000 grade sandpaper, then 0000 steel wool) and one stray string rubbing against the nut top made a new mark...

 

[Maynardo]

Re: This PRS Opeth is doing my head in!! Argh...

Are you kidding? How much is it to upgrade a nut? That's a job I wouldn't do myself, and I do pretty much everything myself to my guitars. Replace a bridge, pickup, complete rewire, machine heads, easy. But replace a bad nut? That's a job for a tech, and that means paying some dude to do it, so I'm wondering how you think it's one of the cheapest upgrades you can do?

A guitar with Akerfeldts name on it should have a decent nut on it - Epiphone manage it, so do Squier. F**k, plenty of cheap manufacturers manage it. So how come these guitars are so bad?
I like Opeth's older stuff, I think Mikael is a great player - why is he putting his name on this kind of s**T?

Even some Gibys and Fenders come with a plastic nut, I don't see too much drama in it, personaly I always take a guitar to a luthier and get a Bone nut installed, super cheap.