Any PRS SE love among us ?

Re: Any PRS SE love among us ?

2013 SE Santana here, with P-Rails, Triple Shots and Gotoh locking tuners.

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Re: Any PRS SE love among us ?

Own 2: A Tremonti single-cut, and a double-cut, paid about $400.00 each brand new. Swapped out the pickups for Duncan (Screamin' Demon in the bridge on the Tremonti, Gibson Burstbucker in the bridge of the other), also added PRS locking tuners, they are great sounding (and playing) guitars!
 
Re: Any PRS SE love among us ?

I've got one - SE Custom 24. Great guitars for the price - it's hard to find something bad that comes out of the WMI factory in S Korea. I've got a couple gripes - the body is severely ass-heavy, and it's so glossy it tends to slide off the back of my leg when I'm sitting to the point I had to strap it like a V, and the nut is pretty awful and binds all the time - but nothing so serious that it really detracts from the guitar. For the ~$750 price tag, it's way more than you pay for. I put a '59/Custom Hybrid in the bridge and it's good to go.
 
Re: Any PRS SE love among us ?

I own several PRS core models, but I have played a handful of the Se’s and I own several Esp ltd’s made in the same factories. The ltd’s seem to follow the same rules as the Se’s, the earlier wmi ones from Korea were very nicely finished, while the newer Cortek made Indonesian ones are a little sloppy on the finish work.

I have a black flame ltd and it’s so dark the flame top is barely visible, where some of the earlier ones really pop. I have heard the same for the whale blue color on the Se’s that it’s almost black. The Indonesian ltd is super heavy too, but it sounds really good.

It seems like they are getting better though, those Paul’s guitars on the Se line are very tempting and I’ll probably buy a mark Holcomb svn later this year. I know I’ll need tuners and a nut up front. I’m still not sure I would pay the premium for a strandburg made there though.
 
Re: Any PRS SE love among us ?

I've owned a bunch of the older ones and they've all been good to great. When I get bored I look for a deal on eBay or Reverb. They are a superb value used, IMO. I like to tinker with them and generally end up selling them when I get bored again :31:. I have an SE One that I've modified a lot and it's a lifer. Best SE model of all.

I put the Pegasus/Sentient set in a 7-string. Loved those pickups and it was a fun guitar.

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Re: Any PRS SE love among us ?

I've had a couple of the Santana SE models since they came out, I think mine are 2nd year, the year the pickguards were added. One has Seth Lovers in it, the other has an Air Zone and a 36th Ann neck. I had Duncan 59 set in that one and it rocked, but I moved those to my SG.
I've owned a first year SE without the pickguard, but it did not play as well as the later ones I have, so its gone.
Had one of the fatter bottomed Santana SE's, but could not get used to the way it balanced while sitting.
Had an SE model with P90 style pickups but sold it when I realized you couldn't replace the pickups with Duncan P90's.
Bought an SE245 second year they were out because I loved the way they felt, and I liked to never found a pickup set I liked in it. Finally tried 2 pickups I didn't think i would like and it was magic. Regular Norton in the bridge and Fred in the neck. What a great combo. My guess is that a Liquifire would also work really well in it with that Norton bridge.
Would like to try one of the new S2 models that is similar just to see how much difference there is, but I have no complaints about my SE models.
 
Re: Any PRS SE love among us ?

When I switched to playing bass last year, I sold all my guitars to fund it. The only guitar I kept is an SE Custom 24. After trying a few other pickups in it, I went back to the stock HFS/Vintage Bass. The only mod is a set of Planet Waves locking tuners.
 
Re: Any PRS SE love among us ?

Lewguitar said:
I have three SE Singlecuts. Great guitars now that I put Duncan pickups in them all.

I have Seth Lovers in one.

59's with a roughcast A3 and A2 magnet swap in another.

And Antiquitys in my favorite.
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Great to hear !

Once i get mine back, i too will have a Seth Lover set in it.
What can i expect from an SE with these pick ups ?
 
Re: Any PRS SE love among us ?

Lewguitar said:
I bought mine used for about $300 each. Put new pickups in each for an additional $200 - 300. They're actually much prettier than they appear in this photo.

The necks are not wide flat. They remind me of a 1960 or 61 Gibson which I like a lot.
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Got my Santana SE for $230.00.
Add X-amount for the Seth Lover set & Graphtec Saddle Savers + $130.00 for the luthier cost = Pro quality instrument (i hope)

Once i get it after this whole lock down thing.
 
Re: Any PRS SE love among us ?

Rex_Rocker said:
My SE Nick Catanese:

View attachment 104366

As much as I love it, there is also some stuff I don't like about it. First, stock, the tuners were utter garbage, the nut was cut for ****ing 9's and nothing higher, and the TonePros bridge is such a PITA to adjust the action on, and the posts are very easily marred. I replaced the tuners with Grover lockers, the nut with Graphtech, and I learned to live with the bridge.

It's a pretty bright guitar with lots of snap and a tight, fast, and not overly bloated low-end, which is weird considering it's a thick mahogany body and neck. Maybe it's the ebony board? 25" scale? Not complaining though. It sustains and resonates very well, it's just kind of unexpectedly bright. TBH, all other PRS SE's I've owned have been brighter than normal. Not that it's bad, but that seems to be their sonic signature.

I'm not huge on the neck shape. It's kinda baseball bat-y. Very round and thick (it's the Wide Fat profile) and with a round 10" radius fretboard. I don't think the neck shape is too bad, actually, but the 10"... yeah... I'd prefer it if were 12", TBH. The action was spot on, though. Perfectly level frets even without any work put on it, gotta give them that.

I also used to have a Korina SE Singlecut which was so so (very thin-sounding), and an SE Mushok baritone which was BRILLIANT, and I wish I still had it. The Mushok was pretty bright too, but that definitely worked with the low tuning.

In general, I wouldn't say PRS SE's are for me. They used to be very bang-for-the-buck at some point, but nowadays, they're not really cheap and most come with no-name pickups, so-so tuners, and cheap nuts. They don't make them in the World factory in Korea anymore, even. So I don't know. I'd like a Torero or a Holcomb at some point, but honestly, they're not the first guitars I'd look into. At least not for what I play.
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Great info - thank you very much !

So . . . what do you prefer to play ? (style/genre wise)
 
Re: Any PRS SE love among us ?

64 Tele said:
I've got three SE's.
SE Custom 24 (replaced pickups with SD Seth Lover set)
SE Custom 22 semi hollow (again replaced with SD Seth Lover set)
SE 245 (kept the stock pickups which are actually quite nice)
The SE's are a real bargain (even with a pickup swap)
Disclaimer.....I do also have a Core Custom 24, but still get plenty of playing time with the SE's.
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Why did you go with the Seth Lover set ? What do you like about it, if i may ask ?
 
Re: Any PRS SE love among us ?

SirJackdeFuzz II said:
Got my Santana SE for $230.00.
Add X-amount for the Seth Lover set & Graphtec Saddle Savers + $130.00 for the luthier cost = Pro quality instrument (i hope)

Once i get it after this whole lock down thing.
Click to expand...

Should be. If it already plays well and has a natural resonance that you like you should have a pro ax when you're done.

I have Seth Lovers in one of my SE Singlecuts. I uncovered mine and found a set of double creams.
 
Re: Any PRS SE love among us ?

I had a 30th Anniversary Custom. Unusual model with a bound ebony fretboard.
Great guitar, the only mod it had was a core series nut for better tuning stability.
Was quite happy with it, only traded it because I had the chance to upgrade to a core 25th Anniversary, same color.

I consider SEs in general to be good guitars, not just "good at the price."
Of course they do offer excellent bang for the buck too.

My SE 30th Anni


notice the anniversary-style swirled birds


Traded it last Fall toward this core 25th Anni Custom 22.
 
Re: Any PRS SE love among us ?

Lewguitar said:
Should be. If it already plays well and has a natural resonance that you like you should have a pro ax when you're done.

I have Seth Lovers in one of my SE Singlecuts. I uncovered mine and found a set of double creams.
Click to expand...

An image from the luthier, for the time being :

johan prs se 12 klaar 3714752512_n.jpg
 
Re: Any PRS SE love among us ?

SirJackdeFuzz II said:
Why did you go with the Seth Lover set ? What do you like about it, if i may ask ?
Click to expand...
What I didn't like about the stock pickups (SE Custom 24) was how "hot" they were.
I primarily was a single coil player (Fenders) for 35+ years. The Seth Lovers (by description) were low output/"vintage" type humbuckers.
They are warm, yet articulate. I probably could have lived with the stock pickups in the SE Custom 22 Semi Hollow, but decided to go with
another set of the Seth Lovers. The other SD's I looked at were Antiquity's, but am quite satisfied with the Seth's.
I have never understood the really high output/"hot" humbucker concept.....
 
Re: Any PRS SE love among us ?

I love mine. I did replace the pickups in the Tremonti with a Jazz/JB set. The stock P90s in the red one sound great so I didn't mess with that one.
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