Charvel Pro Mod dk-24 tuning issues

I installed my graph tech string trees last night, still hangs up, mostly on the G. Not even a big dive bomb, just a quick smack of the bar or moderate vibrato of a chord and it's out. I again bypassed the string trees and the issue 99% goes away. I don't seem to have any problems with bypassing them, I don't have any odd ringing or strings popping out of the nut, so maybe I just don't need to use them. I hate to keep throwing money at it, but maybe I will just bypass the trees and get some staggered tuners just to be on the safe side.
 
I installed my graph tech string trees last night, still hangs up, mostly on the G. Not even a big dive bomb, just a quick smack of the bar or moderate vibrato of a chord and it's out. I again bypassed the string trees and the issue 99% goes away. I don't seem to have any problems with bypassing them, I don't have any odd ringing or strings popping out of the nut, so maybe I just don't need to use them. I hate to keep throwing money at it, but maybe I will just bypass the trees and get some staggered tuners just to be on the safe side.
I got roller trees but not time to install yet.
 
I decided to forego the string trees and bought a set of Ratio staggered tuners.

I installed them today.

I'll report back after some play time.
 
So did the problem end up being the factory tuners? I’m thinking about picking up one of these when they’re available:

https://www.charvel.com/gear/shape/so-cal/style-2/pro-mod-so-cal-style-2-24-hh-2pt-cm-ash/2966511503

How do you like the neck on yours?
So to be clear I didn't change the tuners because I had any concern with them. I changed them to get staggered posts to eliminate the string trees as that is where I suspected the issue was.

So far so good. I feel like I might finally have it all sorted out. Still want to get a bit more play time first.

As far as the neck, it's great. I have primarily been an Ibanez Wizard guy for 30 years... The Charvel neck is nowhere as thin but it's very comfortable and the feel of it is excellent.

I think even with about $240 extra for locking saddles and staggered tuners it's still worth the money. I could have spent half what I did on tuners but wanted to try the Ratio tuners, which are pretty cool.
 
So to be clear I didn't change the tuners because I had any concern with them. I changed them to get staggered posts to eliminate the string trees as that is where I suspected the issue was.

So far so good. I feel like I might finally have it all sorted out. Still want to get a bit more play time first.

As far as the neck, it's great. I have primarily been an Ibanez Wizard guy for 30 years... The Charvel neck is nowhere as thin but it's very comfortable and the feel of it is excellent.

I think even with about $240 extra for locking saddles and staggered tuners it's still worth the money. I could have spent half what I did on tuners but wanted to try the Ratio tuners, which are pretty cool.

Yeah, I’ve been an Ibanez Wizard guy for a similar length of time, but lately I find myself playing faster and cleaner on thicker necks. I’ll probably need to audition one before making a decision, but I’m really digging what Charvel has been offering lately.
 
I don't know if you've resolved the tuning issue. But, after about a year of what were intermittent, but irritating tuning/instability issues with my DK24 (Root Beer burst, FR), it is finally rock solid. The final fix was taking a very light, ball peen hammer and a punch pin that fit in the hex cavity on the mounting studs. Couple light hits to each of them. Made sure they were level with each other. 2 days now and I've barely even had to use the fine tuners. Finally fixed the one thing that kept me from absolutely falling in love with that guitar.

Not sure if that's something you've tried, but it solved my issue.
 
I don't know if you've resolved the tuning issue. But, after about a year of what were intermittent, but irritating tuning/instability issues with my DK24 (Root Beer burst, FR), it is finally rock solid. The final fix was taking a very light, ball peen hammer and a punch pin that fit in the hex cavity on the mounting studs. Couple light hits to each of them. Made sure they were level with each other. 2 days now and I've barely even had to use the fine tuners. Finally fixed the one thing that kept me from absolutely falling in love with that guitar.

Not sure if that's something you've tried, but it solved my issue.
Why would you not adjust them by turning them? They are threaded for a reason...

Also, you do know there's a small set screw in the bottom of the studs, right? It's an Allen head screw that keeps the posts from "wobbling" in the threads.

If you can't lower the studs further then you are either at the bottom of insert (unlikely) or you need to loosen the set screw.

If you raise the stud you'll want to tighten the set screw after to lock the stud again.

Hopefully you haven't damaged the hex head of the stud (used to raise/lower the studs), the set screw or the threads...
 
Why would you not adjust them by turning them? They are threaded for a reason...

Also, you do know there's a small set screw in the bottom of the studs, right? It's an Allen head screw that keeps the posts from "wobbling" in the threads.

If you can't lower the studs further then you are either at the bottom of insert (unlikely) or you need to loosen the set screw.

If you raise the stud you'll want to tighten the set screw after to lock the stud again.

Hopefully you haven't damaged the hex head of the stud (used to raise/lower the studs), the set screw or the threads...

My feeling was the mounting sleeve was likely not fully seated correctly in the wood. Maybe not fully pressed in at assembly. Hex heads and the rest of the assembly are fine. It wasn't given a beating. It didn't take much more than 2 pretty light taps to resolve it. All I can tell you is, the issue is fixed.
 
My feeling was the mounting sleeve was likely not fully seated correctly in the wood. Maybe not fully pressed in at assembly. Hex heads and the rest of the assembly are fine. It wasn't given a beating. It didn't take much more than 2 pretty light taps to resolve it. All I can tell you is, the issue is fixed.
Ok, that could be. I'm pretty certain mine are fully inserted, but I'll take a look.

I would have taken the bridge off and then put a small dowel over the insert and then tapped the other side of the dowel to knock the insert in.

If you've ever had to remove an insert (or install one), let me tell you it can take a fair amount of force unless the hole is too loose.

The small set screw in the bottom of the post has pretty fine threads. It won't take a lot of force to mess those up.

You should definitely make sure yours are tightened - that will greatly impact stability if they aren't.
 
Ok, that could be. I'm pretty certain mine are fully inserted, but I'll take a look.

I would have taken the bridge off and then put a small dowel over the insert and then tapped the other side of the dowel to knock the insert in.

If you've ever had to remove an insert (or install one), let me tell you it can take a fair amount of force unless the hole is too loose.

The small set screw in the bottom of the post has pretty fine threads. It won't take a lot of force to mess those up.

You should definitely make sure yours are tightened - that will greatly impact stability if they aren't.
Mounting stud sleeves are easy to remove.

Remove the posts, drop something about 1/2” long down into the hole in the sleeve. put the post back on and start slowly tightening. As you do this, the sleeve will lift right out of the hole it is pressed into as you continue tightening.

Only concern is that this can lift the finish on the guitar around the mounting holes if you are not careful. I put several layers of masking tape over the sleeves and expose the sleeves with an xacto to help with this. Also tightening the post slowly as you are extracting the sleeve helps prevent this.

I personally find that putting the sleeves in is harder and riskier than removing them. They need to be straight. If you do not have a press, you need a deadblow hammer. Make sure you have removed whatever you dropped in the hole to remove the sleeves. Get the sleeve on straight. Press as far as you can by hand... probably not very far. Screw the post into the sleeve. Place a piece of wood on top of the post and strike the wood firmly and straight on with the deadblow hammer. Not too hard, just firm strikes.

The post sleeves are risky to mess with. You can distort/expand the hole if you are not careful, then you will have posts that can move and serious tuning stability issues. Just go slow, observe what is happening, and avoid putting lateral pressure on the sleeves while removing or inserting them.
 
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Remove the posts, drop something about 1/2” long down into the hole in the sleeve. put the post back on and start slowly tightening. As you do this, the sleeve will lift right out of the hole it is pressed into as you continue tightening.
I think this assumes the insert has no bottom? For those that have a locking set screw in the post the insert has a solid bottom.
 
I think this assumes the insert has no bottom? For those that have a locking set screw in the post the insert has a solid bottom.
+1. A lot of (most?) sleeves have a solid bottom. The downward force on the guitar body has to be applied outside of the sleeve, not inside of it.
 
I think this assumes the insert has no bottom? For those that have a locking set screw in the post the insert has a solid bottom.
Does yours have the set screw?

My Suhr Custom Modern has a Gotoh 1996t and does not have a set screw. Never removed the bushings themselves, so I do not know if they are closed or open bottom.

Have replaced the mounting studs and bushings in all of my OFRs with FR titanium studs and bushings (8 different instruments). The titanium bushing were open bottom too. 100% were open bottom.

I do recall a puller unit that allows you to use the surface of the guitar to extract the bushings. Never used one since I am working with OFRs. I would not extract the bushings by pulling freehand. Like I said, any lateral tension when pulling will distort the hole the bushing sits in.
 
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Does yours have the set screw?

My Suhr Custom Modern has a Gotoh 1996t and does not have a set screw. Never removed the bushings themselves, so I do not know if they are closed or open bottom.

Have replaced the mounting studs and bushings in all of my OFRs with FR titanium studs and bushings (8 different instruments). The titanium bushing were open bottom too. 100% were open bottom.

I do recall a puller unit that allows you to use the surface of the guitar to extract the bushings. Never used one since I am working with OFRs. I would not extract the bushings by pulling freehand. Like I said, any lateral tension when pulling will distort the hole the bushing sits in.
Yes (which is why I advised MK-9 earlier about what he was doing)... As do all of my Ibanez guitars with the Edge trems. And the Gotoh Floyd on my Suhr Modern.
 
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