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Comparing two Santana SEs

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  • Comparing two Santana SEs

    Thought this might be of interest to some folks. I picked up two PRS Santana SEs this month with the intention of squaring them off against each other and picking one. There are some interesting differences that I wasn't expecting, and it's brought up some questions about construction methods, design, and the effect of weight & wood combinations on tone.


    Here are the two guitars:
    https://reverb.com/item/35226830-pau...buckers-orange
    https://reverb.com/item/33742522-201...vintage-cherry

    The orange one is from 2010-ish and has C&B Santana pickups. It's mahogany with a pretty thick maple top, mahogany neck, rosewood board. Made in Korea. 7.2 lbs. Short frets, radius feels flat. Sounds and feels amazing with a set of Dadarrio 9s on it. I usually prefer .10s at the minimum, so this was a surprise. The tremolo floats and the thing just sounds massive and classic. Very similar sound to my Gibson SG re-issue with 59s. The weight is a bit disappointing, because the seller weighed it at my request at 6 lbs, and I purchased it because the light weight. But I've run out of Reverb's 7-day return window and feel like kind of a jerk requesting a return when the guy didn't make the weight part of the selling post. Beautiful guitar, plays and sounds perfect, but unfortunately the weight (and cost of an additional guitar) is a deal breaker.

    The red one is from 2015 and is surprisingly different. It has C&B 245 pickups, which sound more like an overwound modern voiced pickup with a bump in the low mids. All mahogany, rosewood board. Made in Indonesia. 6.2 lbs, light, awesome. The frets are taller and rounder and the radius feels rounder. Feels plinky with .09s, so it's getting a bigger gauge soon. The tremolo does not float and I wish I had pictures ready, but the tremolo cavity has a lip of wood that prevents the bridge block from rocking forward where the orange one has no such lip. Not sure if this is a purposeful design or an oversight. The nut on this guitar is getting replaced ASAP - the high B and E string slots are much lower than the other slots so they buzz on the first fret, which may have occurred from being stored for 5 years with the strings at tension. Or it's just a bum nut because the A string slot is narrower than the D string slot. Pretty weird. Despite the oddities, the guitar plays great and feels great on my back. Not thrilled with the tone yet - sounds muffled, like the tone knob won't go past "6", making the low mid bump even more prominent - but then I haven't played much with the polepieces and pickup height.

    Anyways, just thought I'd share my journey since it's been interesting to A/Bed two of the same models in my own music space. Any thoughts on some of the issues or differences would be appreciated (nut, tremolo, tonal muffledness), but not necessary.

    Alex

    Edited with updated pickup information after I pulled them out and took photos.
    Last edited by alex1fly; 10-13-2020, 10:44 AM.
    Originally posted by crusty philtrum
    Anyone who *sings* at me through their teeth deserves to have a bus drive through their face
    http://www.youtube.com/alexiansounds

  • #2
    The yellow one is awesome. I prefer the heavier ones when I can find them because I've noticed a lot of the earlier PRS SE guitars tend to be super light (light, the guitar feels like a toy).
    -=The Dali
    --== Unabashed Alex Lifeson Fan

    Visit My Guitar Building Blog at www.hammersandchords.com

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    • #3
      The yellow one is indeed awesome. Fantastic player, looks great, set up perfectly, filled with the "mojo". If I was in the market for a lighter-than-a-Les Paul type guitar, this would totally fit the bill. I already have heavy instruments though and this purchase was solely to have something light that felt like a toy, haha.
      Originally posted by crusty philtrum
      Anyone who *sings* at me through their teeth deserves to have a bus drive through their face
      http://www.youtube.com/alexiansounds

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      • #4
        Keep the 7 pounder

        Also, that's wacky LOW weight for guitars in general anyway, so just be happy it ain't 12 lbs
        "New stuff always sucks" -Me

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        • #5
          obviously your choice but 7 lbs isnt bad at all and if that one is all around better other than a 1 lb difference, id keep it

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          • #6
            +1

            Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk

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            • #7
              I love the look of the orange and yellow ones, but it sounds like the Santana is the 3rd PRS I need to get.
              aka Chris Pile, formerly of Six String Fever

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              • #8
                "The red one is from 2015 and is surprisingly different. It has PRS' Santana pickups, which sound more like an overwound modern voiced pickup with a bump in the low mids. All mahogany, rosewood board. Made in Indonesia. 6.2 lbs, light, awesome. The frets are taller and rounder and the radius feels rounder. The guitar plays great and feels great on my back. Not thrilled with the tone yet - sounds muffled, like the tone knob won't go past "6", making the low mid bump even more prominent - but then I haven't played much with the pole pieces and pickup height"

                I've got about a 3 year old Sanata SE similar to the description above.
                Neck feels close to my SG's. The SE has a slightly flatter radius ... maybe 11 or slightly higher making it somewhat flatter than the other guitars in the SE line up.
                Guitar was an end of the year close out. Picked it up and it felt like a long lost friend.
                The action and setup was excellent. Had it set up for GHS 10's.
                Agree with your observation about the sound. Took the time to adjust .. listen .. adjust .. the muffled tone would not fade into nothingness.
                Swapped the stock pickups for a WLH - 59/Custom set up.
                Tried this pick up combination in a SG and my LPC. Wasn't thrilled with this combination in either guitar. In the SE, both pickups sound incredible and my appreciation for the 59/Custom has grown considerably.

                The SE has an excellent purchase and a keeper. Since I travel to see friends and family, I bought it to take with me on trips and leave the good guitars home. It has been to the golf coast and to Wisconsin during the late summer and late fall. So far the guitar hasn't given me any problems.

                That is not dead which can eternal lie,
                And with strange aeons even death may die.

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                • #9
                  I took some photos and have some updated information! The plot thickens...

                  The orange one has pickups marked "Santana", while the red one has pickups marked "245". I mistakenly assumed they were the other way around, based on model years and hearsay on other forums... but not the case! I've updated the first post with this new information.

                  Model year of the red one confirmed as 2015, orange one as 2010.

                  Photos attached of the two tremolo cavities. Looking closely, the orange one's cavity is much wider than the red one's. The red one's tremolo block butts right against the wood up near the saddles, while the orange one has free reign in both directions.

                  I'm fairly certain I'm keeping the red one. The weight is a big deal to me for this particular guitar. I have heavier, better sounding ones, but with a 1 yr old at home and living this insane pandemic life, right now I need something light as heck that I can pick up with zero effort. I was looking at Parker Flys for a bit (2-3 lbs), but PRS SEs are a more known quantity to me. I know there are ways to reduce weight, but it seems like you either go down a rabbit hole of time & money for replacement hardware or you chamber the body, thus destroying resale value and possibly altering the sound.

                  Condemned Soul - thanks for sharing. Interesting that you had a similar experience. I wonder which stock pickups yours had? The 245s don't sound bad, they're just a little flat and unbalanced. Granted I haven't taken the time to really dive in to the polepiece adjustment, but I can't help but wonder if the sound would open up and get richer with different pickups and/or higher quality pots.
                  Last edited by alex1fly; 10-13-2020, 10:47 AM.
                  Originally posted by crusty philtrum
                  Anyone who *sings* at me through their teeth deserves to have a bus drive through their face
                  http://www.youtube.com/alexiansounds

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    7 lbs is a great weight for a guitar. I have 2 in that weight range. Another one is 7.5, another is 8 and my lightest is 6.5. Pick the one that plays best and go with that. That's my thought.
                    My heaviest guitar is a 9 lb Les Paul Trad Pro and unless I have a 2.5" leather strap on it, my back doesn't like it. Once I got the right strap, it feels no different that having my lighter Strat slung on my shoulder. Don't underestimate the strap.

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                    • #11
                      I keep playing these axes and am getting better tones from the red one after lowering the pickups maybe 7 turns on each side. More expressive and responsive for sure. Though I'm getting an itch bad to throw this Dimarzio Virtual P90 I've got laying around in to the neck position just to see what it sounds like... I've certainly enjoyed playing on an SG P90 model and this red one is pretty similar construction-wise minus the tremolo. Then try it in the bridge... then in combination with this old Air Zone... then with a Full Shred... dangit, here we go again. I thought I swore off pickup swaps...
                      Originally posted by crusty philtrum
                      Anyone who *sings* at me through their teeth deserves to have a bus drive through their face
                      http://www.youtube.com/alexiansounds

                      Comment

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