What are the factory specifications for my PRS SE Silver Sky guitar setup?
At John Mayer’s request, Silver Sky tremolo bridges are set up differently than PRS’s normal tremolo-equipped guitars. PRS’s standard setup allows for the tremolo to go up in pitch a little bit and down in pitch a lot. The PRS Silver Sky [USA manufactured & SE] is set up so that the back edge of the tremolo plate rests on the body in a neutral position and the tremolo bridge only goes down in pitch. The reason for this type of tremolo set-up is so that the bridge plate is in contact with the body in the at-rest position. This improves the signal-to-noise ratio of the single-coil pickups by increasing the acoustic volume of the guitar and therefore creating more differential between the actual volume of the guitar as it’s played and the normal single-coil pickups’ hum and noise. (The in-between sounds on the PRS Silver Sky are noise-canceling; the individual single-coil sounds are not).
- First, once the strings are thoroughly stretched, tune the instrument to pitch. Repeat stretching and tuning the instrument.
- Then, adjust the truss rod relief, and re-tune the instrument.
Using a capo at the first fret, measure the distance from top of fret to bottom of string while depressing the string at the 1st and last fret: Relief for PRS SE guitars should measure .3/64" - .6/64" (.1mm - .25mm) at the 8th fret.
Once the relief has been set, re-tune the instrument. The measurements for string height should be as follows (measure from the top center of the fret, to the bottom of the string):
- Treble side string height 1st fret: .6/64” - 1.5/64" (.3mm - .6mm)
- Bass side string height 1st fret: 1/64” - 1.9/64" (.4mm - .7mm)
- Treble-side string height at 12th fret: 2/32" - 2.5/32" (1.7mm - 2 mm)
- Bass-side string height at 12th fret: 2.3/32” - 2.7/32" (1.8mm - 2 mm)
- String height should escalate in value from Hi E to low E
Silver Sky Setup: Flush Mount to Floating Trem | PRS Guitars - YouTube