2lb Weight Variance in PRS SE Paul's Guitar

[jessethejiant]

I have a trampas green SE Paul's guitar that has become a staple in my studio, so it made sense to get a back up. I ordered one and it weighs less and does not sustain as well at all. The original is 8lbs and the new one is 6lbs. Huge difference it seems like. Of course now I'm on the hunt for the same guitar that also weighs 8lbs which is a pain in the arse. Does anyone know how I can narrow down the pool of options? Unfortunately it can't be the year because I've been having sellers weigh them and they've been getting around the 6 mark.

Is my green one just an outlier? I can't even find one in that color.. it would appear that PRS never even made this guitar in trampas green because I can't find it anywhere. I'd appreciate any info you guys could provide. Thanks.

 

[Stephen J.]

I found an old Reverb listening from 2014, so they were out there at one point. It is showing 8.8 pounds. They probably had a batch of dense wood.

Sold Listing

 

[andy474x]

Most of the ones I’ve played have been light, too.

I wouldn’t necessarily correlate weight to sustain in general, I’ve got an S2 594 that is pretty light and very slightly out-sustains my WL 594. Now, the WL sounds better, but that’s another rabbit hole I suppose. I do tend to get along best with heavier guitars, though, so I can see where you’re coming from. It’s a hard to define thing.

 

[aphantomvaper]

I have a Trampas Green SE Paul's from 2020. I'll try to get a weight for you.

As for availability I believe these were special color ways runs for some dealers. Mine came from AMS in January 2021. It was a gift from work for 10 years, I had no idea they made this color.

 

[JasonE]

Most of the ones I’ve played have been light, too.

I wouldn’t necessarily correlate weight to sustain in general, I’ve got an S2 594 that is pretty light and very slightly out-sustains my WL 594. Now, the WL sounds better, but that’s another rabbit hole I suppose. I do tend to get along best with heavier guitars, though, so I can see where you’re coming from. It’s a hard to define thing.

I agree with not correlating weight with sustain. To my ears the weight has more of an affect on the tone and not the sustain. I find heavier guitars to have a brighter tone and crispness to the notes when they are picked. Lighter guitars have less of this and a different bloom to the notes. This is who I perceive it and someone else may be exactly opposite of that.

My bet is that the setup is more the culprit of it having less sustain.

 

[jessethejiant]

I have a Trampas Green SE Paul's from 2020. I'll try to get a weight for you.

As for availability I believe these were special color ways runs for some dealers. Mine came from AMS in January 2021. It was a gift from work for 10 years, I had no idea they made this color.

I would really appreciate that. Thank you. I've been getting weights from sellers and have not heard of anything close to 8.8. Most I got was 7.7.

 

[jessethejiant]

Most of the ones I’ve played have been light, too.

I wouldn’t necessarily correlate weight to sustain in general, I’ve got an S2 594 that is pretty light and very slightly out-sustains my WL 594. Now, the WL sounds better, but that’s another rabbit hole I suppose. I do tend to get along best with heavier guitars, though, so I can see where you’re coming from. It’s a hard to define thing.

I agree with not correlating weight with sustain. To my ears the weight has more of an affect on the tone and not the sustain. I find heavier guitars to have a brighter tone and crispness to the notes when they are picked. Lighter guitars have less of this and a different bloom to the notes. This is who I perceive it and someone else may be exactly opposite of that.

My bet is that the setup is more the culprit of it having less sustain.

We likely have to define sustain in what frequency range when talking about this correlation. In my experience as a full time studio player, I have found that a heavier guitar will have more sustain in the mid to low range and sound "darker" meaning that I might need to compensate with more treble on the amp for example. I might have to raise those spots in the EQ and I very well may not get brightly sustained high notes for leads. But for rhythms I prefer the more "dense" more "dark" sound. I find it easier to brighten a dark tone then darken a bright tone. The difference is in the sustain of those frequencies.

It has the power to even change the way I play.

On the flip side, lighter weight guitars can have more sustain in the higher frequencies. I've definitely experienced this with lighter Ibanez strat type guitars that are super light but scream when you hit a high note. They're "brighter" and more "chimey." As a random comparison (albeit extreme), think of a guitar track from a band like Polyphia or Steve Vai then compare that to the likes of Foo Fighters or Led Zeppelin. Many guitarists push their gain pretty hard to emulate the sustain you get from the Gibsons and whatever else these guys play. But these guys use a very minimal amount of gain and compression. The result is more "natural." And that's just the result I look for in my guitar tracks.

You guys might know a whole lot more than I do though. I'm just some a$$h0le that dicks around in his studio all day, so please let me know if I'm way off in my assertions.

 

[jessethejiant]

I found an old Reverb listening from 2014, so they were out there at one point. It is showing 8.8 pounds. They probably had a batch of dense wood.

Sold Listing

Yea that one is the one I'm talking about. LOL. My bass player bought it because he liked the color and now it is the center piece of our studio. It appears I have the only one in existence which is cool but also sad because I need a backup.

 

[Faded]

They don’t all come from the same tree

 

[jessethejiant]

They don’t all come from the same tree

Who would have thought?