BrettC37
New Member
Hello All,
New to the forum here and new to PRS. I've always admired Paul Smith, the PRS story and have spent mega hours going down the rabbit hole on youtube watching PRS related content. I've got a bunch of guitars, but never owned a PRS and couldn't justify the jack for Core models and the long wait. I'm not a pro, just a long-time player and guitar/gear enthusiast. When the DGT SE was announced and having been a big fan of David G and all the rave over the new DGT SE, I had to have one. Like many, I jumped on the Sweetwater waiting list in 2023 and finally received my tobacco sunburst last fall after 6-9 months and a long journey on a slow boat from Indonesia.
My story hasn't been quite as blissful as many I've read, and I'll explain. This isn't a rant or anti-PRS fake news, just my humble experience. Like cars and everything else we buy, sometimes the quality of an individual unit just doesn't hold up to the hype and we get a lemon. I hope my experience is an exception to the rule, and I suspect it is. I was thrilled with the look and feel of the guitar upon initial unboxing. Beautiful instrument, great feeling neck! Then the not-so-much-fun part emerged quickly. I had several issues right out of the box. First was loss of signal. I removed the control cavity plate and one of the soldered ground connections on a pot housing had popped off. No biggie I thought, and fixed it.
Next issue was major tuning instability and I quickly learned that the infamous 3-over-3 G & D strings were hanging up in the nut slots. Badly. I do most of my own setups and guitar maintenance, so tackled that next and after a little filing and lube I was able to rectify that situation. Next was losing signal in the neck pickup and trying to isolate whether it was wiring, bad pot or bad 3-way. This problem was very intermittent and hard to troubleshoot. When not working, tapping firmly on the neck volume pot made it work. Weird and a new one for me. (I pray this issue doesn't re-surface). At this point, I was super frustrated and setup an RMA with Sweetwater to return to PRS USA for a look-see. I put it back in its case and life got in the way and I never returned it...yet. Shipping guitars is such a hassle. I play every day and have several go-to guitars that get my love, so I marched on.
Fast forward a few months and I recently pulled it out of the bag to re-evaluate and to decide what my next step is with this instrument. I was presented with the worst case of fret sprout that I've experienced on any guitar I own...from a Gibson CS R0 LP to a $500 el-cheapo. I keep an acceptable humidity in my house and have owned over 25 guitars and never had this happen as bad. It was now unplayable. By this time, I'd decided that I wasn't going to hassle with returning it, and had I had it to do over again, I should have just returned it to Sweetwater and called it a day. Longtime customer of Sweetwater, but I think their 55 point inspection is more hype than value. They should have caught the nut issue. Anyways, I have the tools and know-how to fix the fret sprout up and down the neck, top and bottom.
Now I can finally play the guitar again and try to get to know it and decide how I feel about the PUPs, trem system, tone, etc. If I don't learn to love it, maybe I'll hang it on the wall and call it art. Or give it away on Reverb and take my lumps. I sure hope that the rest of you DGT SE owners are satisfied and don't have the quality issues mine is cursed with.
Peace
New to the forum here and new to PRS. I've always admired Paul Smith, the PRS story and have spent mega hours going down the rabbit hole on youtube watching PRS related content. I've got a bunch of guitars, but never owned a PRS and couldn't justify the jack for Core models and the long wait. I'm not a pro, just a long-time player and guitar/gear enthusiast. When the DGT SE was announced and having been a big fan of David G and all the rave over the new DGT SE, I had to have one. Like many, I jumped on the Sweetwater waiting list in 2023 and finally received my tobacco sunburst last fall after 6-9 months and a long journey on a slow boat from Indonesia.
My story hasn't been quite as blissful as many I've read, and I'll explain. This isn't a rant or anti-PRS fake news, just my humble experience. Like cars and everything else we buy, sometimes the quality of an individual unit just doesn't hold up to the hype and we get a lemon. I hope my experience is an exception to the rule, and I suspect it is. I was thrilled with the look and feel of the guitar upon initial unboxing. Beautiful instrument, great feeling neck! Then the not-so-much-fun part emerged quickly. I had several issues right out of the box. First was loss of signal. I removed the control cavity plate and one of the soldered ground connections on a pot housing had popped off. No biggie I thought, and fixed it.
Next issue was major tuning instability and I quickly learned that the infamous 3-over-3 G & D strings were hanging up in the nut slots. Badly. I do most of my own setups and guitar maintenance, so tackled that next and after a little filing and lube I was able to rectify that situation. Next was losing signal in the neck pickup and trying to isolate whether it was wiring, bad pot or bad 3-way. This problem was very intermittent and hard to troubleshoot. When not working, tapping firmly on the neck volume pot made it work. Weird and a new one for me. (I pray this issue doesn't re-surface). At this point, I was super frustrated and setup an RMA with Sweetwater to return to PRS USA for a look-see. I put it back in its case and life got in the way and I never returned it...yet. Shipping guitars is such a hassle. I play every day and have several go-to guitars that get my love, so I marched on.
Fast forward a few months and I recently pulled it out of the bag to re-evaluate and to decide what my next step is with this instrument. I was presented with the worst case of fret sprout that I've experienced on any guitar I own...from a Gibson CS R0 LP to a $500 el-cheapo. I keep an acceptable humidity in my house and have owned over 25 guitars and never had this happen as bad. It was now unplayable. By this time, I'd decided that I wasn't going to hassle with returning it, and had I had it to do over again, I should have just returned it to Sweetwater and called it a day. Longtime customer of Sweetwater, but I think their 55 point inspection is more hype than value. They should have caught the nut issue. Anyways, I have the tools and know-how to fix the fret sprout up and down the neck, top and bottom.
Now I can finally play the guitar again and try to get to know it and decide how I feel about the PUPs, trem system, tone, etc. If I don't learn to love it, maybe I'll hang it on the wall and call it art. Or give it away on Reverb and take my lumps. I sure hope that the rest of you DGT SE owners are satisfied and don't have the quality issues mine is cursed with.
Peace
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