PRS Heel Mod/Removal

[frankencat]

Anybody ever removed or modified the heel on a PRS to make it less protruding?

[khromagi]

Anybody ever removed or modified the heel on a PRS to make it less protruding?

A note of warning, I don't know what it will do to the overall integrity of the neck so beware.

Not an A PRS, but I have done this with a Warmoth neck on a different guitar. It is a wenge neck so it is not finished. All I did was file it to the shape I wanted, then used a small hand sander then fine sand by hand. I used my hand as a guide for how much to take off.

[GM Reszel]

A certain Roman guitar god thinks the neck heel on a PRS is too obtrusive but I tend to think it makes for stability. There's a tremendous amount of tension from around the 17th on up and the truss really doesn't make it stronger, thus the squared and extended heel.

Like the above poster says, use caution and of course everyone will chastise you about devalueing your instrument which is true.

[walterw]

everyone will chastise you about devalueing your instrument which is true.
not to mention the tone loss.

[9fingers]

So how come the "old factory" PRSi with the short heel (I have one) play & sound & hold up fine? Not that I would carve up a newer one but I never did understand the big clunky heel when the older ones work fine.

[GM Reszel]

So how come the "old factory" PRSi with the short heel (I have one) play & sound & hold up fine? Not that I would carve up a newer one but I never did understand the big clunky heel when the older ones work fine.

It's a matter of numbers is my guess. Yours may be fine but perhaps they were having a problem with weakness/warpage and there were warranty return issues. They must have responded for some reason and decided to make it stronger.

I have done some neck-throughs where I shaved it more rounded and sleek up there and a couple of them (out of only 30 built) had started to weaken and tilt there (around the 17th).

I found the roman god's rant, I'll post it and add my comments:

Q. When and WHY did PRS go to that VERY LARGE BULKY uncomfortable neck heel?
A. 1995 -- PRS went to the new longer neck heel to improve the strength and tone of the guitar. When you reduce the length of the neck you increase the strength by its cube (x3). When you increase the thickness you increase the strength by its square (x2). The playability of the guitar is opinion based since we have found no problems with this design in reaching notes at the upper register.
Comments from Ed Roman on Answer #1
I believe that answer to be ridiculous, the neck was already plenty strong, I have only seen one PRS neck break anywhere near the heel and it was a later model one. I suppose if you needlessly overbuild something just so you can say it's better than the original because the old ones were in demand and the new ones weren't. I suspect that the new automated plant required some type of flat spot on the neck so that a machine could easily grip the neck while it was being carved robotically.
Paul told me while driving to a restaurant for lunch that the reason for the large heel was to add mass to the neck to eliminate any so called dead spots on the neck. I suggested a number of other options.
1. Insert 2 brass weights into the heel of the neck before inserting the neck into the guitar. This would add sufficient mass and still retain the original playability.
2. Attach the pickup directly to the tongue of the neck. This would not only easily add the required mass to the neck but it would make the guitar sound better because the spring dampening would be eliminated and the pickup would resonate in time with the actual neck. See Quicksilver (http://www.edroman.com/guitars/quicksilver.htm)

My response to Roman's comments: He says, 'I've never seen one break at the heel'. It's not about breaking there but giving way to tension over time - that's my experience with a weak heel (as I mentioned with my neck through experiences).

Insert brass weights? - Don't add mass and sustain by adding metal in my opinion (remember Fatheads and the brass fads?). I don't think we want our PRS's any heavier by putting brass in?

Attach the pup to the neck - he's addressing Paul's comment about adding mass. Mounting the pup to the neck will give the mass desired? No! Wood for more mass not a pickup (the stronger heel remember)? I don't think he gets it here, sorry Roman fans.

Finally, any rep from PRS isn't likely to say they had a rash of returned guitars because of a problematic heel. My proof is my 2 guitars out of 30 I've built where the heel area has started to collapse; this is only on my mahogany neck builds hmm...

[frankencat]

But there are plenty of guitars with a smooth heel so why is it such an issue on a PRS?

[Chiba]

If you want a guitar with a smaller heel, buy one instead of carving up one you already have.

Don't believe anything you read on Roman's site... it's filled with hype and utter B.S.

--chiba

[frankencat]

Yeah I know about Ed and I have also hear what Paul said about it - basically it's there to counteract dead spots. But my question remains, why such an issue for PRSi?

Don't get me wrong here folks. I am a big fan and am not one to carve up nice guitars but this has been an issue for me in the past. It affects the playability of the 22 fret instrument in the upper registers IMHO so I am curious to hear what others have done. Let's just say you have a "beater" PRS and maybe it needs some refin or even repair work on the neck or you just want to strip it down anyway.

[GM Reszel]

Yeah I know about Ed and I have also hear what Paul said about it - basically it's there to counteract dead spots. But my question remains, why such an issue for PRS?
Maybe PRS is being more particular - any guitar design is subject to its maker(s) and their experience and they felt this was an important issue.

Let's just say you have a "beater" PRS and maybe it needs some refin or even repair work on the neck or you just want to strip it down anyway.

If you've got the desire then do it. Forget what anyone says about hurting the value and go for it - this is how we learn. For every apparent failure I've had I've gained insight. For every success I've had with taking a chance on some mod I have learned from this as well.

I hated the way the corner on the heel of my LPC dug into my hand. After years I had worn the finish off and was even rounding the wood a little so out came the files and I've been happy ever since. Albeit this mod was less obtrusive but I still broke the seemingly sacred, "you can't alter a traditional design" taboo.

I spoke with Ed on several occasions myself and it was interesting conversation. He was very outspoken, opinionated and it was tough to get a word in but I actually enjoyed speaking,,,er listening to him.