_pete_
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2012
- Messages
- 168
I've been looking for a singlecut guitar of some kind for a while now to replace a Les Paul copy that I have that is having some minor issues. I found something on GC's used site and took a shot at it.
It's a 2012 SE 245 in Tortoiseshell. It was advertised as a 2013 but that didn't matter to me. What I did see was that in the one blurry pic they had you could see it had an uncovered black bobbin pup and a nickel covered neck pup. SE 245's have zebra pups stock so I wondered if it was a USA Tremonti set in there but doubted it seeing that the guitar was priced VERY cheap (about $275 less than a new one). All the ad said was “Guitar may have non factory pickups and comes with case.”
When it arrived I was very surprised to see it was in a nice, new black LP style hardshell case. I expected a PRS SE gig bag (which would have been fine). I then plugged it in and it sounded really good. It needed some setup work but every guitar does. Ther also was not one single mark on the guitar. It looked brand new and even still had the plastic peel coat on the back plates.
I pulled the pups to see what I had and damned if it wasn't a USA Tremonti bridge pup! Score! The neck pup was a nickel covered Duncan '59. I'm not a fan of those but I can flip it easily enough.
I had plans for this guitar anyway. It was getting the pups and electronics from the aforementioned LP copy. It has Gibson 490R/498T pups (I like them) and I had wired it up with a very cool variation of the Jimmy Page wiring scheme with four 500K Bourns push/pull pots, Mojotone caps, and a Switchcraft switch and jack. The wiring setup is called the Les Paul Tweny-Dual mix and is flat out awesome. Read all about it here - http://guitarnuts2.proboards.com/thread/3772
I had some other parts from other project that I set aside for the SE also. Locking tuners, PRS USA nut, PRS Ivory pup rings, gold Gibson Bell knobs w/ pointers, and a PRS USA jack plate. I used a scotchbrite pad on the pup covers and the stop tailpiece. The brushed nickel look is much classier IMO. I also used the scotchbrite on the stock truss cover to remove the silkscreened PRS logo and knock the 'cheap plastic shine' off of it.
I'm also going with the PRS hybrid hardware look but haven't got all the gold parts yet.
The guitar turned out great. It sounds very LP like,and plays perfectly, and looks great.
I wanted to get some pics out in the sunlight but I'm in Florida and of course it's raining.
Excuse the dust.
Now for the 1/2 NGD part.
I now had the Tremonti pup and another leftover part from my old LP copy to use so I volunteered my '96 CE22 for a makeover. The pup was the easy part and it just sounds spectacular in that guitar.
The 'other' part will make some of you cringe but I just love it. A Gotoh Floyd Rose.
Yep, I routed the CE out and put the Floyd on it.
I didn't expect much of a change but it took the CE22 from a backup guitar that I never played much to most likely my new #1. It sounds so much more alive now it's just crazy. It feels like a totally different guitar now and I cannot put it down.
I also just scored a Dragon I bridge pup on Ebay that will go into my CE24. It's been a good week.
Pics:
It's a 2012 SE 245 in Tortoiseshell. It was advertised as a 2013 but that didn't matter to me. What I did see was that in the one blurry pic they had you could see it had an uncovered black bobbin pup and a nickel covered neck pup. SE 245's have zebra pups stock so I wondered if it was a USA Tremonti set in there but doubted it seeing that the guitar was priced VERY cheap (about $275 less than a new one). All the ad said was “Guitar may have non factory pickups and comes with case.”
When it arrived I was very surprised to see it was in a nice, new black LP style hardshell case. I expected a PRS SE gig bag (which would have been fine). I then plugged it in and it sounded really good. It needed some setup work but every guitar does. Ther also was not one single mark on the guitar. It looked brand new and even still had the plastic peel coat on the back plates.
I pulled the pups to see what I had and damned if it wasn't a USA Tremonti bridge pup! Score! The neck pup was a nickel covered Duncan '59. I'm not a fan of those but I can flip it easily enough.
I had plans for this guitar anyway. It was getting the pups and electronics from the aforementioned LP copy. It has Gibson 490R/498T pups (I like them) and I had wired it up with a very cool variation of the Jimmy Page wiring scheme with four 500K Bourns push/pull pots, Mojotone caps, and a Switchcraft switch and jack. The wiring setup is called the Les Paul Tweny-Dual mix and is flat out awesome. Read all about it here - http://guitarnuts2.proboards.com/thread/3772
I had some other parts from other project that I set aside for the SE also. Locking tuners, PRS USA nut, PRS Ivory pup rings, gold Gibson Bell knobs w/ pointers, and a PRS USA jack plate. I used a scotchbrite pad on the pup covers and the stop tailpiece. The brushed nickel look is much classier IMO. I also used the scotchbrite on the stock truss cover to remove the silkscreened PRS logo and knock the 'cheap plastic shine' off of it.
I'm also going with the PRS hybrid hardware look but haven't got all the gold parts yet.
The guitar turned out great. It sounds very LP like,and plays perfectly, and looks great.
I wanted to get some pics out in the sunlight but I'm in Florida and of course it's raining.
Excuse the dust.
Now for the 1/2 NGD part.
I now had the Tremonti pup and another leftover part from my old LP copy to use so I volunteered my '96 CE22 for a makeover. The pup was the easy part and it just sounds spectacular in that guitar.
The 'other' part will make some of you cringe but I just love it. A Gotoh Floyd Rose.
Yep, I routed the CE out and put the Floyd on it.
I didn't expect much of a change but it took the CE22 from a backup guitar that I never played much to most likely my new #1. It sounds so much more alive now it's just crazy. It feels like a totally different guitar now and I cannot put it down.
I also just scored a Dragon I bridge pup on Ebay that will go into my CE24. It's been a good week.
Pics:
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). Sounds and plays surprisingly great, but not like a Les Paul to my ears. So, I picked up an LP copy which sounded how I liked, but is too heavy for me. I ended up finding a great LP with 490R and 498T pickups that is just perfect for me. And like you, I really like those pickups. Similar tastes in guitar tone, I would bet 
