noob need advice on PRS SE range

Raymond

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Joined
Feb 16, 2014
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370
Hi everyone.

I am looking to get a solid (or semi-solid) electric guitar and PRS caught my eye because they are just so striking and good looking guitars. I've done a little bit of research and it sits between a les paul and a strat, which is a good thing in my opinion, best of both. I don't plan to get a US made PRS as it's out of budget, so I am looking at the SE range which from what I can gather, is Korean made. This is not a bad thing as Ibanez is made in Japan which people loves. I also have a Mexican made Taylor GS Mini which is of excellent quality and it plays great, for comparison, I also have a US made Taylor T5.

So looking at the SE range and not knowing a single thing about them, can people tell me a few things that isn't obvious to some noob like me? For example, what are the 245 range like, how come some has 4 knobs, some with 2 and I am intrigued with the ZM model that is coming out this month. Is there anything different in that guitar that is not in other SE guitars?

For example, difference between

http://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/electric_guitars_detail.asp?stock=13070114115558

to

http://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/electric_guitars_detail.asp?stock=13070114102358

I also read somewhere that the soapbar is good? This one? And why would that be over a regular 245? Is the soapbar referring to the Pick Up colour?

http://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/electric_guitars_detail.asp?stock=13021412230758

I apologise for so many questions and thank you in advance for any advice.

p.s. it seems PRS are much more expensive over here in the UK, the ZM guitar is £650, around $1,000 USD. That's not even MSRP, that is the price in store, I hear that it is cheaper in the US?
 
Raymond...First, welcome to the Forum!!! As far as your questions...all good, BTW...If you're looking for a good first PRS (yes, you read that correctly) you can't go wrong with an SE Custom 24. It gives you various great tones, been part of the PRS lineup pretty much forever, and the craftsmanship is great, as on all the SE's. I personally am a big fan of P-90's, but they only offer a few good tones, and are prone to a little noise. But I guess the right answer is to try as many as you can get your hands on and pick your favorite.
As far as knobs, some are set up in a typical Le$ Paul configuration, and others use the latest PRS setup...Master Volume, Tone, and 5-way switch, or 3-way switch with push-pull Tone knob to single coil the pickups.
Have fun, Good luck, and good hunting!!
 
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Welcome aboard raymond! I'll get straight to the point with the differences here...

The SE 245 has a 24.5" scale. It's a very tiny bit shorter than the Les Paul 24.75" scale and gives you a warmer LP-type tone generally. All SE 245s come with the 4-knobs config. The 2-knobs configs are found on the previously available SE Singlecuts and the SE Custom and many others, mostly on the doublecuts.

The ZM model comes with Tonepros adjustable stoptail, while the standard SE 245 comes with a non-adjustable stoptail. It also has the chambered body (or semi-hollow as some people call it) with the f-hole on the bass side of the body and comes in only Trampas Green top and natural back. The satin neck finish is also a feature unique to it and the SE Mikael Akerfeldt. You get the standard 4-knobs, thicker body and Wide Fat neck etc. And you get Zach Myers' name on your headstock! :laugh: Little trivia here, it's the only semi-hollow model left in the SE range as the SE Custom Semi-hollow has been discontinued this year. And it's one really sick semi-hollow!

As for the links posted, the first one is an SE 245. As said earlier, it's PRS's own rendition of the classic LP. The second one is an SE Santana. It's, well obviously, Santana's signature model in the SE range. You get the 24.5" scale, but with a Santana body shape, thinner body as well, Wide Fat neck, and the PRS tremolo instead of stoptail. There's the 2-knobs config, no coil-split, no frills. Just plain old rock and roll.

The 3rd one is an SE 245 with Soapbar pickups. Soapbars are different pickups from humbuckers, which you get on almost all PRS SE models. They're fat singlecoils and they sound terrific. But as with all singlecoils, they hum. Features are all the same as the SE 245 except for the pickups.

Just shoot us any questions about PRS and we will try our best to help you out if possible. There's no need to be shy in asking about guitars, we all discuss them every single day and we're glad to discuss it with you too. :beer: Have fun!
 
Any of those three guitars would make a great guitar. The humbucker guitars will "buck" the noise of the guitar pickups coming thru the amp's speaker, especially at overdrive or high gain levels.

Don't forget about a good amp. There is no substitute for a real decent amp. One idea is to have a plan to spend around as much on your amp as you do on your guitar. A real good guitar, such as you are looking at, will not make a mediocre amp sound great. But, a real good amp will make many a lower quality guitar sound great. So, what I'm trying to say is, don't forget about getting a real decent amp to go along with your real nice guitar.

Good luck. That ZM is a lot more expensive than the US price. I have a new Santana SE in Santana yellow and I really like this guitar in it's stock form. The pickups sound great to me thru a good amp. It is one of my nicest guitars and I have Gibsons and Fenders as well as a really nice Schecter C-1 E/A with the JB and '59 covered "real" Seymour Duncan pickups.
 
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