alex1fly
Well-known member
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.
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.
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