Congrats on the NZMD. Belated of course but yeah...
First...WHY does EVERYONE find it MANDATORY to swap the nut on EVERY SE??
If its a matter of binding, that's what God gave us nutfiles, folded sandpaper and welding torch tip cleaners.
On an electric guitar (that presumably will almost always have strings fretted...like when playing chords for example or with a capo on or ANYTIME you press a string) the nut is doing absolutely ZERO for the TONE.
ANYWAY...I could be wrong but I think the SE245 pups are A5 magnets?
If so and if you still want some more of those juicy beefy mids and muscle there is NO need to spend $300 or even $30.
Drop $2.50 for an A2 or A5UO magnet (from addiction-fx..eBay or website) and slide it in. The SE245s are AWESOME pups already. Shockingly good actually. I pull EVERY bridge pup out of EVERY PRS guitar I've ever owned (except the McSoapy...in fact I have to swap almost EVERY guitar's bridge pup...exceptions are, strangely, tele bridge pups. WEIRD) but the SE245 was one I was going to leave alone.
BUT..I "accidently" put a 59/09 in the neck pocket of my SE and then the bridge 245 kinda HAD to go too but that is another story.
So, the SE245 is a great pup already. I think it's probably a great platform for magnet swaps/playing with.
I like the Duncan Custom Custom. It's a fairly high output PAF-ish pup but the thing about it is that it too is a great platform for magnet swaps and in fact, a Duncan Custom and a Duncan Custom5 are both Custom Customs but where the CC has an A2 mag, the Custom has a ceramic magnet and the Custom5, you guessed it...A5.
Like you, I love those warm singing mids.
Try an A2 mag in your SE245s.
BUT, at $2.50ea, you might as well also get an A5UO (unoriented is what the UO stands for) too.
It is kinda in between an A2 and A5. Gives those warm mids you like so much but where the A2 CAN get a bit loose in the bottom end, the UOA5 will retain a bit of that A5 tightnesss to the bottom and will add a BIT of top end sizzle but not harshness. To me an A5 mag is a little overly-mid-scooped for me.
I have an A5UO but haven't tried one yet in my CC pups. Eventually.
So yeah...if I were you...even now that youre satisfied with the SE245s, I would drop a few bucks...ahh might as well make it $10 and snag some others too...maybe an A2, A5UO, A6 and A9?? There are some new crazy mags these days...like the A9 and 6 and blah blah blah.
You never know...if you tell Dennis that Shane sent you and that I told you to ask him about the tonal effects different polepiece alloys provide...well, you MIGHT get a bit of a bonus. Lol..ok fine..enough riddles...between all of you and me, I've been sending a bunch of customers his way and for some of them he included some FREE polepieces to try out. There were orders of a BUNCH of magnets though. Hey, the WORST he can do is say.."tell Shane I said hi" Which reminds me. I NEED to try these slugs and screws on the next string change.
Anyway...FUN WITH MAGNETS!! It's CHEAP and will change the tonal complexion of any pickup.
But also keep your eyes peeled for those Duncan Custom Customs (or Customs or Custom5s if you do have/get magnets to play with) in the used market. I pick them up pretty readily for $50ea. The last one I got for 50 bucks was brand new. It came out of a NEW Washburn guitar. Has a fugly glue bobbin but...
Good luck on the quest and have fun with those magnets. I can VERY safely say that there is NO other guitar mod that will bring as much improvement/difference for less ($2.50) than a pickup magnet swap. Even a set of new STRINGS costs more. Strings can make a big difference too...for a few hours.
I think EVERY electric guitar owner should have a handful of pickup magnets in their box or drawer.
I for one have a VERY hard time spending hundreds (or even hundred) of dollars on a damned simple electromagnet that costs about 5 bucks to make no matter whether it says BK, Fralin OR PRS on it!! Spending $2.50 on a $0.25 magnet though is somehow OK in my books lol. That is 100x markup...the markup on a $200 5x/xx pup is probably only 80x? but still...I kinda REFUSE to pay a mass producer $200 for a $2 item. I'm a cheapskate though...that's just me. Whatevz.
