Mannmade Bridge thoughts - SE Cu 22 SemiHollow

musicroom

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Jun 12, 2020
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First post after reading the forum off/on for a while.

I thought this might be a great place to asked for opinions on getting the most tone for the dollar. With that said, I already have a 2000nos/USA nut/PRS Tuners/PAF style pups - in a SE custom 24 (great guitar). That guitar is the closest I've come in 40years to finding a guitar that feels the best for playing with tons of tones. It's a joy to play. I like/loved the guitar so much I bought a second SE (Custom 24 SemiHollow) this month.

For the semihollow, I had John Mann install a USA nut before he shipped it to me. I did some pickup changes similar to the custom 24 and the guitar plays great and sound pretty good. It's a little thinner sounding compared to the SE cu24 - but has great sustain.

I'm still going to add the PRS tuners and upgrade the bridge. Given that I'm not sure I will get the tone I want after a bridge change - should I lower my investment somewhat by adding the mannmade brass block and call it a day? Or should I go full 2000nos or somewhere in between? I really don't want to spend 2000nos money if I don't need too - but willing.

Thanks for any help.
 
I intended to type "SE Custom 22 SemiHollow" in the post above. Since I'm so new here, can't edit the OP.
 
Welcome and congrats on your new SE CU22. I very new to the guitar world myself. In my humble opinion, I think you should play the heck out of guitar for a while before you spend $$$$ on upgrades. Play with your amp settings, or pedals. But if your going to upgrade, the go full on and get the 2000NOS. That’s what I’m planning to upgrade for my S2 CU24 later.
 
I agree with the venerable Mr. Kim. One of the things we have to do with a new guitar is learn how to hear the difference between what we currently own, and what we buy. In your case the guitar will have slightly more air (thinner) to the sound, but should make up for it with slightly greater clarity. Leave it for 30 days, then make your changes. The exceptions for me would be the tuners (Eddie and I use the Hipshot open back locking tuners) and the nut. The pickups are highly tunable, so go down that rabbit hole before you change them, especially if you have the 85/15s pickups, which are really very good. And above all, don’t wear a Yankees hat when you play.
 
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Thank you for the hold and wait tips Eddie and dogrocketp! But I've been thru the paces with this guitar in a fairly thorough way. Many many hours of playing over the last 3-weeks - also played live twice. Made several pickup swaps to see which flavor I like (I have a several pups onhand) and it really does sound very good. I fairly certain all it needs now is a little more mid-range from swapping out some bridge components. My real question should have been - would the mannmade brass block get me 80% there of where a mannmade 2000nos will take me? Otherwise, I will pony up. :)
 
Isn’t there only like a $25-50 difference between a fully upgraded SE trem kit and the NOS2000?

I have a fully upgraded SE trem that I bought used, and it is nice, but nothing’s as nice as the real deal.
 
Personally with my experience with PRS SE'S, they are base, great guitars. I had to take mine to the factory due to cracking on the binding that they buffed out. I go to the store that was handling it and there was a quarter sized chip on the body right next to the bottom strap button. Took them a month to fix it but they did an excellent job. Personally, I would get a new nut if I were you. The pickups are great by themselves if you don't mind or care about the tonality. If you do, upgrade them to American 58/15's or 85/15's. I would also recommend SE locking tuners. Absolutely great tuners. The tuning stability is ok, the nut needs lubrication. I dont know why mine acts the way it does but for my experience level its fine.
 
Personally with my experience with PRS SE'S, they are base, great guitars. I had to take mine to the factory due to cracking on the binding that they buffed out. I go to the store that was handling it and there was a quarter sized chip on the body right next to the bottom strap button. Took them a month to fix it but they did an excellent job. Personally, I would get a new nut if I were you. The pickups are great by themselves if you don't mind or care about the tonality. If you do, upgrade them to American 58/15's or 85/15's. I would also recommend SE locking tuners. Absolutely great tuners. The tuning stability is ok, the nut needs lubrication. I dont know why mine acts the way it does but for my experience level its fine.


Any thoughts on the mannmade upgrades?
 
Any thoughts on the mannmade upgrades?
They look like they're well built. If you wanna drop that kinda coin on a new bridge, it will make the instrument 100 times better. I would personally do that if I were you. It's heavier and denser material, unlike the SE bridges. They are hard, but not straight up hard steel like the american's. It will improve the tuning stability 10 fold. If you don't feel comfortable doing it yourself, try and contact Shawn at PRS, he fixed my SE and did a great job with it. Best of luck to you!
 
^^^^ Thank you ^^^^
Hey man, Shawn handled and fixed my PRS in 2 months, the first go around was them buffing out cracking on the binding next to the fretboard. Went to go pick it up and it got damaged in shipping I assume and then I got a quarter sized chip on the body next to the bottom strap button on the right of it. And they didn't even charge me at all! They did a great job. Here is a list of what I would upgrade on the guitar itself:

1. American nut, you can install it yourself or send it to PTC, will improve your tuning stability by miles ahead of what it was.
2. PRS SE locking tuners, it's just easy to restring now.
3. Bridge, if you want the tuning to be rock solid, get one, it will save you in the long run a lot of frustration.
 
Hey man, Shawn handled and fixed my PRS in 2 months, the first go around was them buffing out cracking on the binding next to the fretboard. Went to go pick it up and it got damaged in shipping I assume and then I got a quarter sized chip on the body next to the bottom strap button on the right of it. And they didn't even charge me at all! They did a great job. Here is a list of what I would upgrade on the guitar itself:

1. American nut, you can install it yourself or send it to PTC, will improve your tuning stability by miles ahead of what it was.
2. PRS SE locking tuners, it's just easy to restring now.
3. Bridge, if you want the tuning to be rock solid, get one, it will save you in the long run a lot of frustration.

Installed upgrades to-date include:
Bourns Pots
Switchcraft selector switch
.033 capacitor
Switchcraft jack
A4 Magnet in 85/15 S Neck (new chrome cover)
A8 Magnet in Golden Age Bridge (new chrome cover)
(2) dpdt switches "on-on-on" for parallel, split and series - neck and bridge
Shaller strap locks
USA nut

Planned upgrades:
PRS locking tuners
PRS Amber Knobs
Mannmade bridge
 
Installed upgrades to-date include:
Bourns Pots
Switchcraft selector switch
.033 capacitor
Switchcraft jack
A4 Magnet in 85/15 S Neck (new chrome cover)
A8 Magnet in Golden Age Bridge (new chrome cover)
(2) dpdt switches "on-on-on" for parallel, split and series - neck and bridge
Shaller strap locks
USA nut

Planned upgrades:
PRS locking tuners
PRS Amber Knobs
Mannmade bridge
Sounds like you already have kitted out guitar! I'm building a kit for the first time and it's an LP style kit from the fret wire and I'm putting in seymour duncan distortions hipshot locking tuners and gibson wiring (CTS Pots etc....) and I hope it will be good.
 
Should be sweet!
Man I was going to put a 5A Spalted maple top on it, this thing looked like a lion just from the grain. It was 4 pieces of 3/8 inch thick billets of it, 24 inches long in total and I will potentially get something like that for a future project.
 
If you wanna drop that kinda coin on a new bridge, it will make the instrument 100 times better.

For the benefit of this who may frequent our forum for information, the differences are so subtle that most folks wouldn't be able to tell in a blind test.

It will improve the tuning stability 10 fold.

Also a stretch, but I love your optimism. I change almost all my tremolo's to 1-piece bridges but that's primarily because I like the original design. I do believe there *can* be a tonal difference but have never heard it on the many guitars I've 'upgraded'. More often than not, its the fresh set-up with new strings and a shiny new toy that get my attention.

SE's by themselves are good, they just need some work done to them.

Respectfully, I think blanket comments like that might be misleading to those who don't know any better. SE guitars can be wonderful right out of the box for the life of the owner - or the guitar (whichever ends first). The truth is, we like to hot rod our guitars. Its a guitar guy thing to do. And SE's, being so affordable, offer us a great opportunity to make it our own without breaking the bank. Few are the SE upgrades that are necessary.

Just my opinion.
 
Seems like there’s a $56 dollar difference between a completely upgraded SE trem and the one-piece NOS 2000. At that point... I’d go for the NOS. IMO, ymmv, etc.
Absolutely agree with this. The one piece brass bridge vs. the 2 piece SE would be a huge upgrade.
 
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