SE 24 Custom, 35 Year Anniversary Edition arrives.

AtkinsGS said:
Looks like compound on the frets.

most of the new guitars I have bought came with dead strings or with some rust on the strings.
Depends on how long it sat in the box some place .

Factory strings always go the garbage on the first day .

some sort of inspection was missed for sure along the way . Maybe the dealer did some work and don’t wipe it down when done hard to say?

My dealer did a final review of the guitar I purchased.

Can’t say I have ever received a guitar that didn’t have a dry fretboard that didn’t require
Conditioning. Even a 3500 Gibson I bought had a dry board.

If oiling the board solves your board issues
Re what you thought was a crack , cracks can’t be fixed with oil. Is there still a crack or was it just a Wood grain that’s natural and has faded now that it has been oiled?
If you have a crack , send it back for sure .


Btw I sold that 3500 Gibson and I have the 35th prs SE in its place along with JV strat.

Could not take the hum on the Gibson with the pc board. Gibson could not stay in tune to save its life with me as an owner.

guess I like mine a lot and could not be happier with mine ... prs stays in tune as well, it’s a killer
Guitar for the $ and shoots way above its price.

Hope you enjoy your new prs SE 35th as much as I do
Click to expand...

I did a bit more than apply oil.
Roger Out.
 
Chris Sederqvist said:
You see, I've done that part of the research. This guitar was produced in Indonesia, shipped to the European Tech Centre (York in the UK) for checkup, then sent to Sweden for storage.
Click to expand...
Chris, not that this has any bearing on anything, but are you in Sweden? You may have stated that but I missed it.

The reason I ask is that I have family there and spend a lot of time there each year. It's kinda like my second home. Unfortunately due to covid, this is the first year in a very long time that we've not been able to return, and we miss it very much.
 
Hi Chris,

Seems like we've had some similar problems. Thanks for your feedback regarding the pickup noise on mine.

The first 35th edition guitar I received was in pretty great shape when it came to workmanship (pickup noise was its own thing, I guess.) It's top was also half-washed out (similar to the picture you posted.) I did the exchange through Sweetwater, and the replacement had a great top on it, but the frets were in rough shape. I took the strings off and hit them with some micromesh pads (4000 and 6000 grit on most... some needed me to start at around 1500 and work up.) There are also some small blemishes in the chrome plating on the bridge, and some swirl marks in the finish.

In the end, I am finding all this to be rather disappointing. It's a limited edition guitar that retails for $1000.

When it comes to hostile forum members - I find the ignore feature to be quite useful! :)
 
AaeCee said:
Chris, not that this has any bearing on anything, but are you in Sweden? You may have stated that but I missed it.

The reason I ask is that I have family there and spend a lot of time there each year. It's kinda like my second home. Unfortunately due to covid, this is the first year in a very long time that we've not been able to return, and we miss it very much.
Click to expand...

No, I'm not in Sweden, but it's like a two hour drive to the Swedish border, in Norway, so close by. I sure hope your family is managing to stay healthy.
The outbreak that hit Sweden pretty hard a few weeks ago was not a good thing. Peace. Take Care.
 
singularity6 said:
Hi Chris,

Seems like we've had some similar problems. Thanks for your feedback regarding the pickup noise on mine.

The first 35th edition guitar I received was in pretty great shape when it came to workmanship (pickup noise was its own thing, I guess.) It's top was also half-washed out (similar to the picture you posted.) I did the exchange through Sweetwater, and the replacement had a great top on it, but the frets were in rough shape. I took the strings off and hit them with some micromesh pads (4000 and 6000 grit on most... some needed me to start at around 1500 and work up.) There are also some small blemishes in the chrome plating on the bridge, and some swirl marks in the finish.

In the end, I am finding all this to be rather disappointing. It's a limited edition guitar that retails for $1000.

When it comes to hostile forum members - I find the ignore feature to be quite useful! :)
Click to expand...

The good part:

I was starting to think I had some nasty spell cast over me. Now I can rest. That is a good thing.

It also made me more confident that the choice I made to NOT return it was the best choice after all.
The one I got had its issues, yes, but it was problems I knew how to fix, also
it was ONLY the neck / frets / wire that had outer flaws, I of course checked for signs of twisting and the likes that aren't easily fixable.

The rest of the body and the finish, the electronics, tuners, headstock, switches, pots etc was 100% pristine.
If I'd gone ahead and returned it, I might have ended up with one that I didn't have the tools or skills to fix myself. I would have hated that.

I totally love how the PRS looks and plays now, after it got the TLC it so badly needed, so I don't regret a thing.

The not so good part:
What you're saying here isn't very reassuring in any way.
If both the original guitar had flaws that made you get a replacement AND the replacement turns out to be almost as bad, but in a different way...
Well it ain't good.

It does confirm my belief in that the saying "you'll get what you pay for" is still relatively valid, though I did once buy a Yamaha Pacifica for 1/3 of the PRS
that looked and sounded great, and still does after about 10 years or so, the last years being in my daughters possession (so this is a true survivor).
That proves that it is possible to make quality stuff, even from outside the US borders at much lower prices.

What I don't like is that a $1K+ guitar from a respected place like PRS is now part of that bunch of "what you pay for" guitars having that starting price.
I was kinda hoping that my case was the exception that validated the rule that PRS produces only high quality stuff.
(big heads have come up with this thing about the need for an exception to validate something as a rule)

The sad part:
I think that too much of this kind of stuff hurts PRS much more than it hurts you or me.
PRS stated that one of the main reasons for starting to produce the SE series was to make great instruments available to a larger audience, without sacrificing the quality.
I wouldn't say that examples like this backs up that statement or does PRS' reputation any favors.
 
Chris Sederqvist said:
The good part:

I was starting to think I had some nasty spell cast over me. Now I can rest. That is a good thing.

It also made me more confident that the choice I made to NOT return it was the best choice after all.
The one I got had its issues, yes, but it was problems I knew how to fix, also
it was ONLY the neck / frets / wire that had outer flaws, I of course checked for signs of twisting and the likes that aren't easily fixable.

The rest of the body and the finish, the electronics, tuners, headstock, switches, pots etc was 100% pristine.
If I'd gone ahead and returned it, I might have ended up with one that I didn't have the tools or skills to fix myself. I would have hated that.

I totally love how the PRS looks and plays now, after it got the TLC it so badly needed, so I don't regret a thing.

The not so good part:
What you're saying here isn't very reassuring in any way.
If both the original guitar had flaws that made you get a replacement AND the replacement turns out to be almost as bad, but in a different way...
Well it ain't good.

It does confirm my belief in that the saying "you'll get what you pay for" is still relatively valid, though I did once buy a Yamaha Pacifica for 1/3 of the PRS
that looked and sounded great, and still does after about 10 years or so, the last years being in my daughters possession (so this is a true survivor).
That proves that it is possible to make quality stuff, even from outside the US borders at much lower prices.

What I don't like is that a $1K+ guitar from a respected place like PRS is now part of that bunch of "what you pay for" guitars having that starting price.
I was kinda hoping that my case was the exception that validated the rule that PRS produces only high quality stuff.
(big heads have come up with this thing about the need for an exception to validate something as a rule)

The sad part:
I think that too much of this kind of stuff hurts PRS much more than it hurts you or me.
PRS stated that one of the main reasons for starting to produce the SE series was to make great instruments available to a larger audience, without sacrificing the quality.
I wouldn't say that examples like this backs up that statement or does PRS' reputation any favors.
Click to expand...

So, I asked about the frets when I called PRS about the pickups. The frets are nickel-silver on the SE's as well. There was a bit of heat and humidity in my region while it was shipping (it took 5 days to reach me.) Apparently that's enough to cause corrosion. I've been playing it daily since I cleaned it up, and the frets have remained shiny. I suspect they'll get funky if I let it sit in my basement unplayed for a few days.

As far as the pickups are concerned, I'll assume that they are a characteristic of the guitar for now. I just won't be using it under high gain (I can live with that... I have 2 other guitars for that anyway!)
 
Chris Sederqvist said:
Well, I said that the rest of the guitar was in stellar condition.
Why do you want that? Are you accusing me of making this up or something? What on earth would benefit from that?
Using this forum-from-the-stonage server software it isn't that funny to post 10 images in a go.
But I have one here if it makes you feel better:

It is in fine condition now.
PRS-SE-CSTM-24-1.jpg


I see that the compression used on the forum system didn't do that picture any favors, and I also notice that "hey, that's not showing the PRS Logo, could be fake..." or if some other strange tought arrives in your head, fire it my way and I'll clear up any misunderstandings.

I don't have a habit of taking pictures of stuff I purchase unless there is a good reason to, and the complete guitar was never really an issue.
Click to expand...

Hey Chris I am a new member here, and eagerly read this post as I too have had issues with a new PRS, explained on the forum a week or two ago.

I wanted to address the picture posting thing, and I'm sure others feel the same.

We are a bunch of sick people who lust after looking at pictures of guitars all day, so a picture of your guitar was needed to quell this lust, at least for THIS guitar. A fine looking guit-box this is!

Thanks for the post and really thoughtful responses.
 
Personally, I feel like I’m hearing about too many problems with the Indonesian guitars. I’ve had two Chinese made that were/are both excellent. If either of these were made in Korea, please correct me.
 
dogrocketp said:
Personally, I feel like I’m hearing about too many problems with the Indonesian guitars. I’ve had two Chinese made that were/are both excellent. If either of these were made in Korea, please correct me.
Click to expand...
Please note the problems seem to be with the COR-TEK Indonesian SEs. The older P. T. Wildwood SEs are, in fact, wonderful guitars.

I’d rather not have people think is a “country of origin” thing, because that’s not the issue.
 
Tim S said:
Please note the problems seem to be with the COR-TEK Indonesian SEs. The older P. T. Wildwood SEs are, in fact, wonderful guitars.

I’d rather not have people think is a “country of origin” thing, because that’s not the issue.
Click to expand...

I can concur that the PT Wildwood guitars are great!
 
Long time, no ... nothing.

I said I would follow this through and write an e-mail to PRS, let off some steam, and see what came back.
Guess what?

I didn't.

I wrote the mail, but didn't push that "Send" button, because:

First of all, this matter would probably be impossible to nest up to a point where anybody could say
"they / he / she / it did it" with any degree of certainty.
Even if they could to some extent figure out where the damage was done, what good would it have done?
Yeah, maybe one less person (probably from the western world) with high hopes and full pockets would get disappointed, and that's just a maybe, because it wouldn't be 100% sure that this would in fact have been the reason for the accident in the first place.

Then, maybe someone, somewhere, probably a guy from Indonesia or some other person somewhere else in the world would get yelled at or even fired, as there aren't much slack in those parts of the world when it comes to making mistakes at work.

I don't want to be the well-fed butterfly, perfectly placed in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, that flap my wings, and risk the effect of indirectly being the reason for a person, maybe a person that barely makes enough money to feed his family, and maybe even the wrong person, to suffer such a consequence from this minor episode.

Sure, I might be overthinking, it would certainly not be the first time, but I feel better with knowing that I at least didn't cause anything like that to happen.
I've done enough damage to other people in the past, without digressing into those stories.

So I decided to let the world do its thing and the universe too. Flow. I like flow.

I'm perfectly happy with my PRS. I've used it just about every day since I fixed it up, and it plays like crazy.

I've even done some "modding". Customizing the Custom, I've changed the pickup mounts, the rings, to black (using original PRS parts of course) and at the same time I isolated (or is it insulated?) the pickup cavities, as these come undone from the factory, and I changed the knobs to transparent / black as well.

I think the result was pretty awesome, but would love some honest feedback:
customized-custom-1-0-5x.jpg


Next up is to swap the standard SE tuners with these genuine PRS locking tuners for that I've ordered:
locking-prs-se.jpg

Because, even if I don't think the standard tuners on the SE 24 Custom are bad, I prefer locking tuners.
I've not been happy with non-locking tuners on Fender, Gibson or ESP guitars either, so I guess that's just a personal preference.

Hope I didn't disappoint anybody with this anti-cliffhanger response.

May you all be well, stay calm, and stay healthy.

In the mean time:
Vivamus, moriendum est.
 
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