Jimi D
@ the hundredth meridian
For me, a great guitar is as much an accident of synchronicity as it is an exercise in design. Sure, you can mitigate some of the variables with quality woods and parts and workmanship, and more of your instruments may fall of the assembly line and be bloody marvelous, but ime - for me - I really have to have the guitar in my hands and play it and feel it and hear it to decide if it's one that's going to rock my world. And sure, I have lots of core PRS guitars in my house, but I've played many, many more, and most of them go back on the rack. Same with my SEs...
I don't know if core guitars have more "PRS essence" than SEs, but one thing we haven't really stressed here is how many guitars in the SE line are their own thing, unique unto themselves and without a core analog. I have four SEs at home right now. They include a Santana Singlecut that is the only 24 fret singlecut guitar with a 24.5" scale and a trem in the PRS catalogue, a Hollowbody Standard that is the only laminate, all-mahogany hollowbody model in the PRS pantheon (not to mention that the SE Hollowbodies as a line are completely different in build and shape from their US-made namesakes), and my SE SAS, a resonant and funky little guitar that has no comparable model available currently as a core. Sure PRS has made core Swamp Ash Special models in the past, but none are in production now, and these newer versions have a lot to commend them, especially the satin finished necks, beautiful birds and really decent pickups. Lastly, I have my old original run SE Soapbar... I've had three of these things over the years and I keep selling them because I have my 25th Anni Mira 245 and I keep buying another one because they seem to have their own cheap 'n' cheerful r'n'r vibe going on and they're just fun, light, loud guitars. The core line hasn't really tried anything like them since the Starla X with P90s... What's the point? I couldn't get a core version of any of these today. I think the SE line allows PRSh to play with ideas and models that'd never see the light of day otherwise. SE models aren't just an off-shore copy of the US guitars; often as not they are their own, cool thing.
I don't know if core guitars have more "PRS essence" than SEs, but one thing we haven't really stressed here is how many guitars in the SE line are their own thing, unique unto themselves and without a core analog. I have four SEs at home right now. They include a Santana Singlecut that is the only 24 fret singlecut guitar with a 24.5" scale and a trem in the PRS catalogue, a Hollowbody Standard that is the only laminate, all-mahogany hollowbody model in the PRS pantheon (not to mention that the SE Hollowbodies as a line are completely different in build and shape from their US-made namesakes), and my SE SAS, a resonant and funky little guitar that has no comparable model available currently as a core. Sure PRS has made core Swamp Ash Special models in the past, but none are in production now, and these newer versions have a lot to commend them, especially the satin finished necks, beautiful birds and really decent pickups. Lastly, I have my old original run SE Soapbar... I've had three of these things over the years and I keep selling them because I have my 25th Anni Mira 245 and I keep buying another one because they seem to have their own cheap 'n' cheerful r'n'r vibe going on and they're just fun, light, loud guitars. The core line hasn't really tried anything like them since the Starla X with P90s... What's the point? I couldn't get a core version of any of these today. I think the SE line allows PRSh to play with ideas and models that'd never see the light of day otherwise. SE models aren't just an off-shore copy of the US guitars; often as not they are their own, cool thing.
