NGD - SE 245 (Sorry, no photos yet)

[Robert Lavin]

Hello,

New (to me) guitar day! (Sorry if the pic's too big and I can't edit the title).



Apologies for the messy background.

2011 SE245 (maple cap) to go with a 2015 SE245 (plain mahogany).

Brief thoughts:

Maple cap is lighter.

Maple feels more "alive" and seems to sustain longer.

Tonally surprisingly different. But this could be a string thing. Both sets look similarly fresh / aged, same weight (10s) but are different brands (brass ferrules vs steel ferrules, nickel plated vs. nickel wound?). Could be a pickup cover thing. Pickup heights are similar.

To me, mahogany seems to have more defined cleans, maple overdrives / distorts more pleasingly.

I was planning to move one of them on, but (I probably knew this would happen) I'm not so sure.

Anyone else had a chance to do a a side-by-side comparison?

 

[DK1984]

http://www.sporthitech.com/genuine-grover-mini-locking-rotomatic-chrome-18-1-3-3-set/

Direct drop in, worth the upgrade on the tuners.

 

[bodia]

Great looking axe. Congrats!

 

[64 Tele]

What pickups are in that SE 245? They don't look like what comes stock on them.

 

[merciful-evans]

Congrats on that.

I'm impressed that you can hear all that difference with the woods.

 

[Robert Lavin]

Congrats on that.

I'm impressed that you can hear all that difference with the woods.

I don't think it's the woods. I'm not totally convinced that they have a huge effect (not wanting to start an argument here).

I reckon it's more likely to be a pickup or string thing. Or just natural variation between individual guitars.

 

[Robert Lavin]

What pickups are in that SE 245? They don't look like what comes stock on them.

I've been thinking that. I can't find a picture of one with covered pickups and as far as I can see, none of the PRS literature has SE245s with covered pickups.

Not definitive, but the pickups each measure a few hundred Ohms more than the plain Mahogany. Bit of a mystery really.

I'll pop them out and have a look when I change the strings.

 

[64 Tele]

I've been thinking that. I can't find a picture of one with covered pickups and as far as I can see, none of the PRS literature has SE245s with covered pickups.

Not definitive, but the pickups each measure a few hundred Ohms more than the plain Mahogany. Bit of a mystery really.

I'll pop them out and have a look when I change the strings.

Here's my SE 245 with the stock ones. The SE Custom 24, I swapped out to Seymour Duncan Seth Lovers.

 

[Alnus Rubra]

Congratulations, hope you have a lot of fun.

 

[Robert Lavin]

I've been thinking that. I can't find a picture of one with covered pickups and as far as I can see, none of the PRS literature has SE245s with covered pickups.

Not definitive, but the pickups each measure a few hundred Ohms more than the plain Mahogany. Bit of a mystery really.

I'll pop them out and have a look when I change the strings.

I've had them out, and they're just G&B 245 pickups, nothing more exciting. A previous owner must have just preferred the look of covered pickups.

 

[Eddie kim]

Hell yeah!