New PRS Owner and How I Got That Way
- Thread starter ExpatGirl
- Start date
aduayer
Zomb!e One, DFZ
congratz. The SE line is a lot for the price you pay. I just got a SE and hot rodded it at PTC, and it's as good as any of my Maryland made ones.
CoreyT
PRS Addiction
Cool, post up some pics of that when you can.I bought a vintage natural SE Custom Semi-Hollow yesterday. I reckon I've got an awful lot of humbucker tones covered with those two guitars.
I got my son a 2012 in natural yesterday, I have pics of it in a thread in this section.
ExpatGirl
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I'm overseas in New Zealand. I wonder how I'd go about getting my SEs hot-rodded. I know I'd have to ship them but damn, I'd hate to be without them for however long it took to get them modified.
I found them! Your son and I have the same finish. The shop had a black one but I didn't like it as much. It just didn't feel right. I'll post a photo of my new baby later on.
CoreyT
PRS Addiction
Cool.
Just wait until you throw some good polish on it, it will make it look even better.
I got the PRS Thank You package a week or so back which included cream polish and cleaner, but have not used it yet.
On my Gibson SG, SE Santana, and my sons semi-hollow, I just use the Virtuoso polish.
The cleaner is only if they are grungy looking.
For in between the main polish job, I have Gibson's Pump Polish which goes on quick as it is a liquid, and no hard buffing required.
Virtuoso claims though with their polish you only need to wipe the guitar down after each use with a cotton cloth to remove finger prints and any dirt, as the polish acts like a protectant too.
There are major differences in build quality between the Korean and Stevensville guitars. However, one is going to pay for those differences.
The body on a maple-capped SE is usually made from six to seven pieces of wood. The mahogany back is made by laminating two or three pieces of mahogany together to obtain the correct width for the body blank. The maple cap is made from at least two pieces of plain maple that are laminated to the laminated mahogany back and carved. Two pieces of figured maple veneer are laminated to the carved plain maple cap. If one examines the figuring on the masked-binding on an SE, one discovers that it does not match the figuring on the face of the maple cap.
The body on a Stevensville maple-capped guitar is made from three pieces of wood; namely, a one-piece mahogany back plus two bookmatched pieces of figured maple. If one looks at the figuring on the masked binding on a Stevensville guitar, one will discover that it matches the figuring on the face of the maple cap. That’s because the maple is figured through the entire thickness of the cap.
As mother nature is not good at producing completely blemish-free (a.k.a. "clear") wood, one has to sort through a lot of lumber to find wood that is of high enough quality and the proper dimensions to build a Stevensville guitar. The Stevensville factory could save a lot of money by using a laminated mahogany back. For example, a completely blemish-free mahogany board that is 6/4" thick, 14" wide, and 20" long is more expensive and more difficult to find than two completely blemish-free boards that are 6/4" thick, 7" wide, and 20" long. High-quality figured maple is very expensive. The plain maple cap plus figured maple veneer approach that is used on the maple-capped SEs results in a significant material cost savings.
The bridges used on the Stevensville guitars are machined in Baltimore, Maryland by Excel Machine & Fabrication. The potentiometers and knobs used on the Stevensville guitars are OEM parts, and the pickups are wound at the Stevensville plant.
With that said, the SEs are very good working musician guitars. They provide a lot of bang for the buck. The decision to purchase a Stevensville guitar is a personal one.
Here’s my one-off 2011 Custom 24:
ExpatGirl
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They have thank-you packs? I wonder if they have them for SE guitars and ship them to overseas customers. Hmmn
themike
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Sadly the thank you packs were a limited promotion that has ended, and was only valid to US customers.
ExpatGirl
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There are major differences in build quality between the Korean and Stevensville guitars. However, one is going to pay for those differences.
The body on a maple-capped SE is usually made from six to seven pieces of wood. The mahogany back is made by laminating two or three pieces of mahogany together to obtain the correct width for the body blank. The maple cap is made from at least two pieces of plain maple that are laminated to the laminated mahogany back and carved. Two pieces of figured maple veneer are laminated to the carved plain maple cap. If one examines the figuring on the masked-binding on an SE, one discovers that it does not match the figuring on the face of the maple cap.
The body on a Stevensville maple-capped guitar is made from three pieces of wood; namely, a one-piece mahogany back plus two bookmatched pieces of figured maple. If one looks at the figuring on the masked binding on a Stevensville guitar, one will discover that it matches the figuring on the face of the maple cap. That’s because the maple is figured through the entire thickness of the cap.
As mother nature is not good at producing completely blemish-free (a.k.a. "clear") wood, one has to sort through a lot of lumber to find wood that is of high enough quality and the proper dimensions to build a Stevensville guitar. The Stevensville factory could save a lot of money by using a laminated mahogany back. For example, a completely blemish-free mahogany board that is 6/4" thick, 14" wide, and 20" long is more expensive and more difficult to find than two completely blemish-free boards that are 6/4" thick, 7" wide, and 20" long. High-quality figured maple is very expensive. The plain maple cap plus figured maple veneer approach that is used on the maple-capped SEs results in a significant material cost savings.
The bridges used on the Stevensville guitars are machined in Baltimore, Maryland by Excel Machine & Fabrication. The potentiometers and knobs used on the Stevensville guitars are OEM parts, and the pickups are wound at the Stevensville plant.
With that said, the SEs are very good working musician guitars. They provide a lot of bang for the buck. The decision to purchase a Stevensville guitar is a personal one.
Here’s my one-off 2011 Custom 24:
That is one beautiful guitar! You must be over the moon with it.
I went to violin making school for a year and a half and learned a bit about wood. Like the wood used on the maple tops of the PRS, violins use two piece of maple for the top and, for violins, the back as well. We were taught about the things to look for in good wood, like tight, regular grain and blemish-free wood. We beginners didn't get the really nice wood, as you might imagine. The students who were further along in the course were very territorial about their wood.
I do want to get a Stevensville-made PRS guitar. It would be my dream instrument, a once-in-a-lifetime purchase. So I've got to make a careful and informed decision. This is going to be fun! In the meantime, I'm thrilled with my SEs.
ExpatGirl
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aduayer
Zomb!e One, DFZ
Funny thing this SE x MD made sub topic. I have both on my collection and the MD made ones, do looks much better and stock, they play and sounds much better too. I don't like much the electronics nor the Hdw the SE's come stock, but after some tweaks, they just fits me perfect and have they spot on my rack. I mean, for me, in the end, it's about quality. An instrument can be made with less refinement and be the perfect tool for the job.
I just got an SE Nick Catanese (I had to replace the EMG's, not my cup of tea) and I just can't put it down.
I just got an SE Nick Catanese (I had to replace the EMG's, not my cup of tea) and I just can't put it down.
To be completely honest, my Custom 24 (CU24) is a bit of a case queen. Being a one-off, it is a one of kind build. One-offs tend to be finished in custom colors (Burnt Orange Tigerburst in this case), which leads me to believe that they may be experiments. One-offs also tend to sport gold hardware. I did not plan to purchase a CU24 when I purchased the guitar. I drove down to Washington Music Center with a list of guitars from their website that I wanted to try. This guitar wasn't even on the list. Brian Meader brought it up from the basement after hearing that I was interested in purchasing a Sunset Burst DGT. I was stunned when I opened the case, but what sold me on the guitar was the its voice. It has a really big voice.
With that said, my "player" PRS is a 57/08-equipped 2009 Mira Korina. If I could only keep one PRS, it would be this guitar.
bluefade
New Member
NEW ZEEEELAND,THE US MODELS ARE THE MAIN MEAL AT THE GUITAR FEAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ExpatGirl
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I have no idea what this is supposed to mean.
aduayer
Zomb!e One, DFZ
nice to know you had the same "problem", I thought my English wasn't good enough or it was a New Zeeland's internal joke.
ExpatGirl
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