John Beef
Opaque
New to me 1st generation Santana SE Day! I bought this guitar because it was inexpensive, available, and exactly the specs I wanted for this model.
I had around 10 minutes at 10:00 at night to check it out. My first impressions are that it looks great. The photos I saw showed some scratches on the back but the photos exaggerated those; they're very minor. Everything is in fantastic condition, and appears to be original except the nut, which looks to be a black Tusq nut or something. The neck pickup's mounting ring may have been swapped for a thinner one as well (not sure). The neck is fantastic. It's carved exactly like the necks on my black Custom and other 2nd gen Santana so it feels completely natural. I was also concerned with its flat top that it would be uncomfortable on my right arm, like my baritone can be, but the round-over edge is larger on the Santana so it's actually fairly comfy.
After buying my 1st PRS in 2006, my Black Custom 22 with trem, I have owned 3 other USA PRS guitars and six SEs, and every single one of those has been a stoptail model. I wanted to check out another trem guitar, and I know the SE trems are not quite the same as the USA trems, but hey! It was inexpensive.
The tone is warmer and more rounded than the other Santana, which has always been brighter with a sharper attack. The new one is also heavier. The silver Santana is one of my lightest, but this new one weighs about as much as the black Custom which is 8.5 lbs. Their tones are similar, too, with the black Santana sounding like a lesser quality version of the black Custom (given it was about 1/10th the price, it's not 1/10th as good sounding, just maybe like 80% or so). I'm thinking at the very least I might want to replace the pots and add a treble bleed to the volume pot to try to lift the blanket off it a bit, which I know can be done.
That said, I need to install my usual 11s on it and fully set it up. A good setup can improve the tone as much as any pickup/electronic swap.
Only had time for a quick pic.
I had around 10 minutes at 10:00 at night to check it out. My first impressions are that it looks great. The photos I saw showed some scratches on the back but the photos exaggerated those; they're very minor. Everything is in fantastic condition, and appears to be original except the nut, which looks to be a black Tusq nut or something. The neck pickup's mounting ring may have been swapped for a thinner one as well (not sure). The neck is fantastic. It's carved exactly like the necks on my black Custom and other 2nd gen Santana so it feels completely natural. I was also concerned with its flat top that it would be uncomfortable on my right arm, like my baritone can be, but the round-over edge is larger on the Santana so it's actually fairly comfy.
After buying my 1st PRS in 2006, my Black Custom 22 with trem, I have owned 3 other USA PRS guitars and six SEs, and every single one of those has been a stoptail model. I wanted to check out another trem guitar, and I know the SE trems are not quite the same as the USA trems, but hey! It was inexpensive.
The tone is warmer and more rounded than the other Santana, which has always been brighter with a sharper attack. The new one is also heavier. The silver Santana is one of my lightest, but this new one weighs about as much as the black Custom which is 8.5 lbs. Their tones are similar, too, with the black Santana sounding like a lesser quality version of the black Custom (given it was about 1/10th the price, it's not 1/10th as good sounding, just maybe like 80% or so). I'm thinking at the very least I might want to replace the pots and add a treble bleed to the volume pot to try to lift the blanket off it a bit, which I know can be done.
That said, I need to install my usual 11s on it and fully set it up. A good setup can improve the tone as much as any pickup/electronic swap.
Only had time for a quick pic.
