NGD: PRS SE Tremonti

Melisschief

New Member
Joined
Aug 5, 2017
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20
The short version of the story is that I tried my first PRS, and after not much deliberation, I brought her home!

The longer version of the story is that last year I started a "bucket list" project of learning to play the bass. It's been a great journey, and my bass teacher suggested I learn to play the guitar as well to enhance my musicianship. I honestly didn't think I could get my fingers to play chords, but I borrowed my co-worker's guitar, and filed the fingernails on my left hand waaaaaay down, and just like that, I could play chords.

I was hooked! I love playing the bass, but playing the guitar brings things to a whole other level.

I started thinking about what kind of guitar I'd want. I was kind of all over the place. Strats are nice. But maybe an acoustic. Or wait, the Les Paul is very nice. Yeah, all over the place.

I told my guitar teacher that I liked the guitar tone in "Fade to Black" by Dire Straits or "Allison" by Elvis Costello. He said it'd be easier for me to get that kind of tone with humbuckers (even though he thinks Mr. Knopfler is playing a strat in "Fade to Black.")

I started researching Les Pauls online. One of the downsides to me is that they tend to be heavy and they don't have contours.

My next plan was to check out single cut, humbucking guitars whenever I was in a music store to get an idea of what could work for me. I wasn't in a huge rush -- I had a guitar I could borrow indefinitely, and thought the more I kept practicing, the more I'd have an idea of what I wanted in a guitar. In the meantime, I could just have fun familiarizing myself with different types of guitars whenever I was in a guitar store.

One fine day I was in a local independent music store with a wide selection of strats, Gibsons, Epiphones, acoustics, pretty much everything! I had a field day trying all the different guitars -- really, is there a better way to spend an afternoon? And then I noticed this pretty little red guitar hanging on the same wall as the Epiphones. It was a used PRS -- from my limited knowledge of guitars, I figured it was way out of my price range. Looked at the price tag, and it was very affordable, plus it came with a gig bag. Another thing I'd heard about PRS guitars was that you either loved or hated the neck profile, so I needed to find out which camp I was in.

I sat down with the guitar, and it felt nice in my hand. I could play the limited chords I'd been taught, and I could run through scales fairly easily. Nice! And the guitar sure looked nice -- bird inlays on the fretboard, binding, nice wood grain showing under the red. It was pristine -- just a fine coating of dust and maybe some light surface scratches. It was certainly lighter than the Les Pauls I tried, and the PRS has body contours that made it more comfortable for me. Soundwise, the PRS sounded nicer than the guitar I was borrowing, but I might have a slight preference for the pro-bucker pickups on the Epiphone in the store.

The more I played it, the more my plans changed from "I'm just gonna check this out to see if I'd want one in the future" to "this is pretty much exactly what I'm looking for, and I'd be seriously bummed if someone else bought it."

So I bought it. It did come with a gig bag that's way nicer than the one I bought for my short scale bass. Researching the serial number, it looks like it was made in 2010.

I've owned the guitar for a little more than a month. Since then, I've cleaned the fine layer of dust off it, put new strings on it, oiled the fretboard, lubed the nut to get rid of the tink I heard when tuning the G string, and got it a PRS black leather strap with birds on it. I've also started learning barre chords, and this guitar makes it pretty simple to pick up things like that. It's a keeper -- I feel like it's my partner-in-crime/running-mate on my guitar learning adventure.

Thanks for listening.

- Melissa

PS Let's see if I can post a pic. Typical disclaimer applies: it's a terrible pic that I snapped on my phone that doesn't do the guitar justice.

ym5Lte28YxxCho5dA
 
Welcome Melissa,

I started out the opposite. I learned on 6 strings. Then I joined a band that had better players than me but needed a bass so I bought a used P-bass and threw down some bass lines while they did the lead stuff. I had a blast playing live. When I moved for a new job I went back to 6 strings but I like to pull out the bass once in a while and try to remember the lines.

The SE Tremonti should give you lots of good tones. You may have to tweak the EQ on the amp to get into Knopfler territory, but Fade to Black is really bluesy (with some jazz tones thrown in) so you should find some stuff you like pretty easily. Doesn't have to be the same, just something you like.
 
The short version of the story is that I tried my first PRS, and after not much deliberation, I brought her home!

The longer version of the story is that last year I started a "bucket list" project of learning to play the bass. It's been a great journey, and my bass teacher suggested I learn to play the guitar as well to enhance my musicianship. I honestly didn't think I could get my fingers to play chords, but I borrowed my co-worker's guitar, and filed the fingernails on my left hand waaaaaay down, and just like that, I could play chords.

I was hooked! I love playing the bass, but playing the guitar brings things to a whole other level.

I started thinking about what kind of guitar I'd want. I was kind of all over the place. Strats are nice. But maybe an acoustic. Or wait, the Les Paul is very nice. Yeah, all over the place.

I told my guitar teacher that I liked the guitar tone in "Fade to Black" by Dire Straits or "Allison" by Elvis Costello. He said it'd be easier for me to get that kind of tone with humbuckers (even though he thinks Mr. Knopfler is playing a strat in "Fade to Black.")

I started researching Les Pauls online. One of the downsides to me is that they tend to be heavy and they don't have contours.

My next plan was to check out single cut, humbucking guitars whenever I was in a music store to get an idea of what could work for me. I wasn't in a huge rush -- I had a guitar I could borrow indefinitely, and thought the more I kept practicing, the more I'd have an idea of what I wanted in a guitar. In the meantime, I could just have fun familiarizing myself with different types of guitars whenever I was in a guitar store.

One fine day I was in a local independent music store with a wide selection of strats, Gibsons, Epiphones, acoustics, pretty much everything! I had a field day trying all the different guitars -- really, is there a better way to spend an afternoon? And then I noticed this pretty little red guitar hanging on the same wall as the Epiphones. It was a used PRS -- from my limited knowledge of guitars, I figured it was way out of my price range. Looked at the price tag, and it was very affordable, plus it came with a gig bag. Another thing I'd heard about PRS guitars was that you either loved or hated the neck profile, so I needed to find out which camp I was in.

I sat down with the guitar, and it felt nice in my hand. I could play the limited chords I'd been taught, and I could run through scales fairly easily. Nice! And the guitar sure looked nice -- bird inlays on the fretboard, binding, nice wood grain showing under the red. It was pristine -- just a fine coating of dust and maybe some light surface scratches. It was certainly lighter than the Les Pauls I tried, and the PRS has body contours that made it more comfortable for me. Soundwise, the PRS sounded nicer than the guitar I was borrowing, but I might have a slight preference for the pro-bucker pickups on the Epiphone in the store.

The more I played it, the more my plans changed from "I'm just gonna check this out to see if I'd want one in the future" to "this is pretty much exactly what I'm looking for, and I'd be seriously bummed if someone else bought it."

So I bought it. It did come with a gig bag that's way nicer than the one I bought for my short scale bass. Researching the serial number, it looks like it was made in 2010.

I've owned the guitar for a little more than a month. Since then, I've cleaned the fine layer of dust off it, put new strings on it, oiled the fretboard, lubed the nut to get rid of the tink I heard when tuning the G string, and got it a PRS black leather strap with birds on it. I've also started learning barre chords, and this guitar makes it pretty simple to pick up things like that. It's a keeper -- I feel like it's my partner-in-crime/running-mate on my guitar learning adventure.

Thanks for listening.

- Melissa

PS Let's see if I can post a pic. Typical disclaimer applies: it's a terrible pic that I snapped on my phone that doesn't do the guitar justice.

ym5Lte28YxxCho5dA
Welcome, Melissa. Unfortunately, the picture did not come through.

Amazing guitar you've got there. I started my guitar journey with PRS, and occasionally strayed. I've always found my way back, though.
Enjoy the heck out of it, and stick with it. I think I've been more frustrated with learning guitar than almost anything in my life (I'm NOT a natural!), but the rewards have been more than worth it.

Kevin
 
Congrats Melissa, welcome to the club! It's great to stumble across a guitar that you like so much that you can't leave the store without it! That's how the addiction begins! I like the look of that one a lot. I remember that model a little bit, but not the details. Is it a solid mahogany body or?
 
Welcome Melissa,

I started out the opposite. I learned on 6 strings. Then I joined a band that had better players than me but needed a bass so I bought a used P-bass and threw down some bass lines while they did the lead stuff. I had a blast playing live. When I moved for a new job I went back to 6 strings but I like to pull out the bass once in a while and try to remember the lines.

The SE Tremonti should give you lots of good tones. You may have to tweak the EQ on the amp to get into Knopfler territory, but Fade to Black is really bluesy (with some jazz tones thrown in) so you should find some stuff you like pretty easily. Doesn't have to be the same, just something you like.

I hope to be good enough at both instruments some day that I can play my bass to accompany my brother's excellent guitar playing. He's got over 40 years of learning experience on me, so I'd better get crackin'! Oh, and it'd be nice to be good enough at the guitar that I could play it and have people want to join in rather than run away. :)

As far as amps go, I have a used Peavey Rage 108 that I bought for $30. Haven't been able to quite get the Knopfler tone on it. OTOH, I'm not sure I could get his tone on a top of the line amp either. ;-)

Welcome, Melissa. Unfortunately, the picture did not come through.

Amazing guitar you've got there. I started my guitar journey with PRS, and occasionally strayed. I've always found my way back, though.
Enjoy the heck out of it, and stick with it. I think I've been more frustrated with learning guitar than almost anything in my life (I'm NOT a natural!), but the rewards have been more than worth it.

Kevin

Kevin,

Thanks so much for posting my pic!!! I'm not sure if my pic didn't work because I didn't have enough posts to do links.

I definitely am not a natural, but I certainly plan to stick with it. The good news is that at this point in my life, I don't have any aspirations of going on a World Tour. Heck, I'm just happy to get all the strings ringing out on a C barre chord! I'm usually a Type A person, but for guitar and bass, it's all about the journey rather than the destination.

Congrats Melissa, welcome to the club! It's great to stumble across a guitar that you like so much that you can't leave the store without it! That's how the addiction begins! I like the look of that one a lot. I remember that model a little bit, but not the details. Is it a solid mahogany body or?

I know, right? I still can't believe I found this one! Everyone probably says this, but I don't think I'll ever sell this one.

From what I've read, it's a mahogany body. Not sure how many pieces. It has a slightly arched top, but I don't think it's maple.
 
Congrats Melissa! That finish looks fantastic!

That is indeed solid mahogany, making the model an SE Tremonti Standard. ("Standards" in PRS speak mean no maple cap on the body.) The SE Tremonti Standard is no longer made, just the "regular" SE Tremonti with a maple cap, so you have a special guitar there - they can only be found as used or New Old Stock.

And your photo didn't work because of how you have to embed links to Google photos. Kevin grabbed it and put it on Imgur, but it can be linked directly - just a bit awkward getting the link.

Your post had this:

://goo.gl/photos/ym5Lte28YxxCho5dA

(I removed the https at the front to allow it be seen natively)

That is a link to the Google Photo page, not a direct image link.

To embed the image directly, you need to click on your photo in Google Photos to open it in a new window all by itself, and right click to get the image link. Which is rather long (again, I removed the https at the front):

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To show this in your post, you click on the Image icon at the top and paste in the link you copied, which puts IMG tags around it, and you get:

qkbkItl2M877VGyw8o5RmcuCPEhSYahE8qSvQzdAhGypRcitkYPcSGz70HW5sDJsBp3bwu_FTXW_iE5U5Dva-SuESOO2iWY7Mvkg4YHrC4lRf8bnCSxzTHCSQ8RHiNFisDqV8bra-ah4rDO7Y2VPVxeQDHJ9W8W2QIT_d4F0blPZMSgyTwlYaCkMUl_Kuf81QA6wmdXwP1JNnmk8d_YeZWvbLyYmQhudQmE8gWlSkRJfGvhAfEmAeP-10Qia232r3zKS7FmMM-M9kNfVm3N1UT2LijXEu6hCXcLWbPJTY5DMKrgFs6iw07bkctPhAQ6X5hYeMaWtenmef4cFPgCq0h7bKV-La6299zBJk_apvzvGdpBWWnbjscUQqOlBNcVnJGrtS_UAuU2YXt_RFEmAUgeklACNJkYPMPG0jbLaDMgd0y1IntRUoyJaxpHNITR-uiyLascvsb7KXorqcsuUHotNTqBhB53dw1sAJOD_fB1SfLVJU5riBZtfbrLd4tQ8G7-W0cb5mJBAAAAy6HQkjkiV5v-7wUOulZsMxTpggzdQB24YCT8TRHhAb0RAVOq35249Zvo5x1Zq0EUXdtx-n5OKdjTl3Khao3hZ2ClTHWz77whVrMuJyIbh9hMVzW60CY9AjJ5K9TDM03QvjqBXbCrGcDj5TC510tlyoSeEflR8Lg=w795-h1059-no


Ta da!
 
S-weet! Thanks for the image embedding from Google Photos lesson, shinksma!

Thanks also for describing the differences between standard and not standard. I guess I assumed standard meant it was made in Indonesia rather than Korea, but didn't know it also referred to the maple cap or lack thereof.

I've read that the newer Tremonti SEs have thicker bodies - is this due to the maple cap?

Did they start designating Standard/Custom/non-standard SEs recently, or were they always designated that way?

From the headstock and serial number, it looks like I have a 2010 guitar made in Korea. Since I'm around 5 feet tall, I'm thrilled with the fact that it has a thinner body. And since I'm a beginner, I'm equally thrilled with the fact that it has a fixed bridge rather than a tremolo.
 
Last edited:
Hey Melissa,

The designation for "standard" being all-hog, no maple is not new for PRS - they've been using it since 1987, according to the Model History page on their site:

http://www.prsguitars.com/csc/models.html

PRS: 1985 - 1987. Evolved from pre-’85 all-mahogany guitar, became Standard in 1987.

The current crop of SE Standards are all made in Indonesia, I believe, but that is not why they are called "Standard". They happen to be made in Indonesia and not Korea for a reason like a good division of build capabilities and wood distribution channels for optimal cost. PRS can still make "Standards" in the Stevensville factory for the Core line, if they want.

The SE Tremonti Standards were made in the same Korean factory as the regular SE Tremontis, AFAIK.

I cannot comment on the relative thickness of the SE Tremontis. Your question makes me think I read something about it somewhere, but I can't be sure...
 
Thanks, shinksma!

This looks to be a great forum -- I really appreciate you all sharing your wealth of information so I can learn more about my guitar.

I also appreciate the warm welcome!
 
I love a story with a happy ending!

I had a Tremonti SE Standard for a while. Great guitar. It was my gateway drug to the four knob control setup. It led me to an S2 Singlecut Standard and then to the McCarty 594. The SE stacks up quite well, so you'll get a lot of happy playing mileage out of that one.
 
The Stoptail has a thinner body than the Tremonti SE trem. I have them both, and they sound very different. You bought a really underrated guitar, IMHO. My standard (Stoptail) has war wounds that have been fixed, and plays like a dream. I keep it at work because it`s so reliable. Enjoy your fine guitar.
 
Excellent purchase! I had two of of those at one point for my main gigging guitars and they never failed to deliver. I wish that I had access to guitars like that when I was at your stage of learning!

And to other posters, yes, the SE Tremonti Custom is a whole 'nother beast (and one that I would recommend!)
 
Hi guys. Looked about the forums and this one seems to be an ideal one to start with (as I am a new member). My first (and only PRS to date) is the Tremonti SE and I do like it, but I'm starting to have doubts about whether it's right for me. The main reason for the purchase was because of the neck profile (satin finish, thin + wide neck) which I though would be ideal as I have long, narrow fingers but I am struggling to form consistent shapes with my fretting hand. What other PRS would you recommend? I would like to own another, but something with a bit more neck. Thanks in advance.
 
Hi guys. Looked about the forums and this one seems to be an ideal one to start with (as I am a new member). My first (and only PRS to date) is the Tremonti SE and I do like it, but I'm starting to have doubts about whether it's right for me. The main reason for the purchase was because of the neck profile (satin finish, thin + wide neck) which I though would be ideal as I have long, narrow fingers but I am struggling to form consistent shapes with my fretting hand. What other PRS would you recommend? I would like to own another, but something with a bit more neck. Thanks in advance.
Before switching guitars, try taking it to an experienced tech and get them to check the action (string height). You might want lower action if you're having trouble fretting. Should only cost $25-40 (or free if they give it a quick lookie and determine it's fine)
 
Hi guys. Looked about the forums and this one seems to be an ideal one to start with (as I am a new member). My first (and only PRS to date) is the Tremonti SE and I do like it, but I'm starting to have doubts about whether it's right for me. The main reason for the purchase was because of the neck profile (satin finish, thin + wide neck) which I though would be ideal as I have long, narrow fingers but I am struggling to form consistent shapes with my fretting hand. What other PRS would you recommend? I would like to own another, but something with a bit more neck. Thanks in advance.
As Ovibos says, maybe it is just a set up issue. But if that isn't the case - i.e. you are certain the set up is fine, you just don't naturally form chord shapes because the neck feels too "small", then try a guitar with a Wide Fat Neck: either an SE Zach Myers (SC shape like Tremonti, no tremolo) or an SE Santana (double cut, with tremolo like your Tremonti).
 
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