Players with both SEs and S2s ...

[Hotspur]

How often do you play the SE?

Do you find the S2 enough better that you never pick up the SE? Or do you feel like there SE brings enough to the table that it's still the guitar you want to pick up sometimes?

Especially curious to hear from people who have similar guitars in both lines (e.g., SE 245 and S2 Singlecut, or a CU24 in both, etc).

 

[andy474x]

I have both, and like both. I always say choose first based on features like woods, scale length, bridge type, etc. Since they're both great lines, there's no reason not to get exactly what you want in a guitar.

That being said, if I were choosing between a very similar SE and S2, I would choose the S2. They're worth the extra cost.

 

[garrett]

I have owned both. Given the choice of similar models, S2 every time.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

I don't have any S2's but I have a pile of Core guitars and I still pick up my SE's.

 

[Screamingdaisy]

For me, S2 is worth the additional cost over the SE. By the time I looked at the upgrades I wanted to make to my SE it was more cost effective to sell it and get an S2.

That said, the SEs are great guitars and I wouldn't hesitate to own another.

 

[Peterrooter2k]

The S2's I've played have been quite a bit better than the SE's ive played.

 

[Tyler]

S2 is closer to USA. It shows it's a MD made PRS. However, I love my SE and they play just as good as almost any other high end guitar. Not fair because my SE is a custom and my S2 is a vela reclaimed.

 

[grausch]

I have now had the guitar for a while now and it is a great player. Compared the tone against my other PRSi, and also got the wife involved for her opinion on the different tones. I only played bits of Back in Black (dimed on the bridge HB) and then swapped out guitars.

The SC has a lot of mid-range push and it is the darkest of the guitars I compared it to. Pickups sound very modern to me with a bit of compression going on, but string separation is still pretty good - not the BKP-type of good, but pretty good none-the-less. Overall the wife preferred the tone from this guitar. Strings were stock PRS 10-46s.

The Bernie's 245 pickups sounded very similar to the #7s in this scenario, but there is a slight bit of "raspiness" to the tone. 57 Classics tend to be my idea of PAFs - these will never be confused with PAFs, but it does have an element that reminds me of the 57s. Strings were Pyramid Pure Nickel 8-38s.

The Standard 24 with its HFS is definitely the most compressed of the bunch. However, I enjoyed playing it in this application. I get really pleasing overdriven tones from the amp with this guitar. This guitar sounded 2nd best to the wife. Strings were Pyramid Pure Nickel 9-42s.

The Siggy Ltd. is the brightest guitar of the bunch. I enjoyed its tones the most of all of them - ironically I struggled most to get to grips with it. Staying on the bridge humbucker gets me really great overdriven tones. Strings are Dunlop 10-46s.

Having compared the guitars against each other, I would say that they all play great. My Bernie has an upgraded nut and tuners which help this guitar stay in tune as well as the Cores - it needs those upgrades though, but it can definitely hang with this crowd. I do feel that the wood on the Cores is better, but not better enough for me to sell the Bernie.

The Bernie is usually strung with 9-42s, but I needed to drop the gauge for playing Tuesday's Gone. There is just more resistance on the fretboard / frets and my fingernails pull loose from the nailbed if I bend a lot. With the Cores, I could string them with 9-42s and play without issue, but I have not yet felt a need to do so on the SC or Siggy. Upgrading the fretwire on a SE would be a €400-500 upgrade in my neck of the woods.

I do have some concern about how the finish will age. I would be in 7th heaven if it glosses up the same way as the Standard 24, but the finishes were applied differently.

With all of that being said, and with the current pricing of the Bernies and the S2 Satins, I have to revise my opinion on the best bang-for-your-buck guitar in the PRS range - IMO, the S2 Satins would now be crowned the new champs. In my eyes the Bernie (and most SEs) still holds a very solid 2nd place.

Quoted my thoughts from my thread here - http://forums.prsguitars.com/threads/a-christmas-surprise.28364/. The SE Bernie holds up extremely well to the S2 Singlecut Satin. While the Bernie never struggled with tuning issues, after upgrading the tuners it has become just as stable as all of my cores. I upgraded the nut almost immediately so not sure what the impact there was. These upgrades led to a price differential of about GBP 100 between the Bernie and the S2 Singlecut Satin.

For the extra GBP 100 of the Singlecut Satin, I get the better fretboard and fretwire which makes playing much better for me. The wood from the Cores should also be better quality, but I won't be sawing either of them up to have a look. I encountered issues with the tuner screws coming loose on the SE - it was an easy fix using toothpicks and woodglue, but the headstock wood did seem a little less than solid while I had the bushings out. It almost looked liked a wafer chocolate, i.e. thin layers with some open space in between. Not sure if this is what it should look like, but I suspect the S2s will have better wood.

Regarding the tuners, while researching for a solution, I found a few instances of others reporting the same problem. Either the wood was too soft and stripped to easily or the holes were drilled too large. That being said, it was a pretty easy fix and it completely resolved the problem. S2s won't have this problem due to their tuner design and their tuners are almost equivalent to Phase IIIs.

Lastly, I vastly prefer the jack assembly of the S2s over that of the SEs. Adding that to the upgrade list would reduce the price differential to GBP 50 and leave me with two small holes from the old input jack assembly.

Where things get dicey is if I would refret the Bernie - at that point it would be more expensive than the S2. Theoretically the S2 frets should also last longer before needing a refret.

If I could buy only one guitar, I would buy the S2 Singlecut. However, owning both, I can say that the Bernie still gets a lot of playtime. It has a different (not inferior) personality to the S2 and with pickup swaps I would be able to get them to sound very similar. If using the same pickups, the S2 will be slightly darker and more resonant. The Bernie will be slightly more laid back due to the lesser string tension.

 

[Boogie]

Let each guitar speak for itself, regardless of price tag. I play my SE245 daily, often passing up a DGT, CU24 or Vela. It just depends on the guitar.

 

[tonytester]

My opinion is , the PRS line should go straight from the SE ,line up to the CE group.
all the S2 remind of a piece of 2X6 with strings on it . ( like a Fender)
I play my 3 se's every day and then I look at my 3 core models, smile , then close there cases.

 

[Hotspur]

Quoted my thoughts from my thread here - http://forums.prsguitars.com/threads/a-christmas-surprise.28364/. The SE Bernie holds up extremely well to the S2 Singlecut Satin. While the Bernie never struggled with tuning issues, after upgrading the tuners it has become just as stable as all of my cores. I upgraded the nut almost immediately so not sure what the impact there was. These upgrades led to a price differential of about GBP 100 between the Bernie and the S2 Singlecut Satin.

Thanks for the detailed response!

I'm in a similar boat. The Chris Robertson really appeals to me, but I played an S2 Satin (not a single cut, otherwise I might have bought it) during the week and prefer the neck on the S2s to the neck on the SEs - particularly up near the headstock, where the SE neck is very chunky. I'm sure I'd get use to it, but I was also really impressed by the variety of tones I was able to get out of the S2.

I'm going to check out a few places today and see what happens if I connect with an S2 singlecut. (The CR would have to be bought online, so it's a bit more of a gamble).

 

[grausch]

You're welcome. I really like both and use them for different applications - there is a reason I chose the Bernie for Tuesday's Gone and there is a reason I choose the S2 Singlecut for Maiden or Priest.

Regarding the neck, I started with a SE WF and the Pattern Regular on the 20th Anni Standard a little narrower at the nut to me. However, I had been playing the Anni a lot more before I tested the S2. At that point I did not even notice the difference anymore, so you will get used to either - in my case it helped that I liked WF from the start though, i.e. I was playing my favourite profile and had no regrets about it.

Changing the pickups on the S2 to the CR-type could end up costing more than upgrading nuts & tuners on the CR (if you feel it's needed). However, you can then have a S2 with an USA 57/08 in there and a HB-sized P-90 will get you close to the CR. Just bear in mind that the CR has a maple cap and will most likely be brighter than the S2 Standard. However, with pickup height adjustments (or brighter pickups) you can get close.

It would help if you could play both before deciding, but in any event, you can get the SE to play just as well as a full-blown core with the right upgrades and proper setup.

 

[Barquentine]

I had my Bernie for two years before I got my S2 Singlecut. I was perfectly happy with the Bernie and was looking for another Singlecut so that I had two very similar guitars for gigs. I would have got another Bernie but they were out of production at the time. I got my S2 because Anderton's were selling them for nearly half price. I would find it very difficult to choose one guitar over the other. If I handed them to someone not familiar with PRS I'm not sure they would easily identify my Bernie as the cheaper guitar.

 

[andy474x]

Thanks for the detailed response!

I'm in a similar boat. The Chris Robertson really appeals to me, but I played an S2 Satin (not a single cut, otherwise I might have bought it) during the week and prefer the neck on the S2s to the neck on the SEs - particularly up near the headstock, where the SE neck is very chunky. I'm sure I'd get use to it, but I was also really impressed by the variety of tones I was able to get out of the S2.

I'm going to check out a few places today and see what happens if I connect with an S2 singlecut. (The CR would have to be bought online, so it's a bit more of a gamble).

The cool thing, if you were to get an S2 standard singlecut, is that you could have a custom pickguard made for a humbucker bridge and P90 neck, and it would look very clean and professional. And, if you were to go the satin route, you would be saving a nice chunk of cash to do so with. Of course it could be a "later on" thing too if you didn't want to mod right away. Although I will say, the S2 #7 pickup may just be my favorite neck pickup if all time, so you might be surprised and want to keep it. Very articulate midrange and doesn't sound too muddy in the lows like some neck pickups do, IMO.

I'm a big fan of the S2 neck profile too. I have an SE with the W/F, and dig it, but the S2 is just perfect and most comfortable of all. Definitely try an S2 singlecut.