PRS SE Paul’s Guitar!

No wonder @sergiodeblanc almost got away with stealing Pauls car a couple of years ago.

FOUR of us...how did this happen? I would like to offer my services as head of PRS Security. I can start immediately...no, I've absolutely no background in security, but I have sunglasses :cool:and a black suit. Oh! I was escorted out BY security one time okay...several times.. That should count for something...right?

Hey! What are the chances that I could get my employee guitar a little early...say like as soon as I get there? o_O;)

P.S. If anyone has some clean pee...holla at ya boy...:p
 
Last edited:
That aqua looks really green in the latest NAMM video by Thomann. Wish they would have spent more time with it.
 
This guitar is looking sweet!

How to get white pickup rings? Seeing as the consensus is that the pickups are not the same size as the Core Paul's Guitar.
 
This guitar is looking sweet!

How to get white pickup rings? Seeing as the consensus is that the pickups are not the same size as the Core Paul's Guitar.
Know anyone with a 3d printer? Spray Paint? Or wait indefinitely for them to show up on the parts page.

I'm guessing something might show up on eBay in a year or so. I prefer the darker rings on the Red Guitar, but white would be ok on the blue.
 
Man I’m really drooling over the new carve. One step closer to a redesigned SE Santana with a new carve.
 
Will the Paul’s Guitar become THE PRS? I certainly hope so. How poetic that would be.
 
I love the look of these. Hopefully the few quality control issues mentioned on a few threads on here will be the exception. I also like that there is the opportunity to mod a few parts on other SE hard tail guitars with some nice brass studs and upgraded pickup rings. The rings in particular look a bit more classy than the generic plastic ones SE's usually come with.

I'm extremely tempted to get one but I think I'll hold off and get my first Core model in the next 18 months. I have two SE's already. The tricky bit will be having the willpower and keeping the resolve to not buy another. In the NAMM videos they look like much more expensive guitars.
 
I'm extremely tempted to get one but I think I'll hold off and get my first Core model in the next 18 months. I have two SE's already. The tricky bit will be having the willpower and keeping the resolve to not buy another.

Well then you've come to the right place man...we never let each other buy gear while they wait on more gear...I mean we're not savages.o_O;)
 
Make that four of us now... At least there is safety in numbers (so I am told) and if we do get into trouble, there must be a lot of Doctors and Lawyers in here we can get help from... :p;):D

5. At least haha. Although I did get to own a 594 for a bit. It was epic. But sadly now gone. :-/

Anyway back to the SE Paul’s guitar. I believe I will own one. I want to play one first. But as long as I like it, I’m pretty sure a single coil and freeway switch may get added. I’ve been jonesing for a 509, but have never seen one close to my current budget. It may be sacrilege to mod one that much, but someone has to do it, right??
 
5. At least haha. Although I did get to own a 594 for a bit. It was epic. But sadly now gone. :-/

Anyway back to the SE Paul’s guitar. I believe I will own one. I want to play one first. But as long as I like it, I’m pretty sure a single coil and freeway switch may get added. I’ve been jonesing for a 509, but have never seen one close to my current budget. It may be sacrilege to mod one that much, but someone has to do it, right??

Crikey, any more and they will have to let us out of the basement. Can't keep us all locked in here to keep the reputation intact... :D:D:D

The 594 is such a great instrument! The only way I would get rid of mine would be to get another 594 - an 'upgrade' on mine (a solid Rosewood neck version for example).

I think the Pauls Guitar and 509 are very different beasts. The 509, with its 'middle' SC and longer 25.25 scale length makes it more of a 'super-strat' type of guitar - very versatile of course. You can't however get the two 'humbuckers' tone that is synonymous with dual humbucker guitars like the Pauls. The Pauls Guitar is more like a hard-tail Custom 22 in that respect and has the same switching options as the Custom 24-08. The Pick-ups are different of course but the principal is still the same. Unlike the 24-08, the Single Coil sounds of the TCI pick-ups are much more like a SC guitar rather than a split humbucker and the hard tail is different to a trem bridge on the Custom 22 for example.

The 509 is tonally different from Pauls guitar and only has 1 more option in essence - Pauls, the 594 and Cu24-08 all have 8 tonal options from the 3way and switches or push/pull options. The 509, with its middle PU only offers 1 more option but is more strat like with its 5 way blade - not necessarily in tone, more in operation if that makes sense. You don't get the 'wider' split between PU's that you get from a dual humbucker because of the middle coil. You are only getting the distance between Neck or Bridge to the Middle coil (its the gap between Middle and Neck or Middle and Bridge) where as with the dual Humbuckers, you are getting a wider gap between Neck and Bridge because there isn't a middle Pick up. I know some people prefer a bigger gap between PU's which does have an effect on tone - look at the difference between a Custom 22 and Custom 24 and how that effects the middle position.

Talking of the 'gap' between the PU's, does that affect the Core Pauls compared to the SE Pauls? The slimmer PU's of the core must be slightly further apart than the SE version. I know that the two will be a bit different anyway so probably difficult to actually test.

Point is, if you are jonesing for a 509, the Pauls Guitar is a different instrument and as such, you may want both. The other aspect that a 509 offers but the Pauls guitar doesn't is a tremolo bridge. If you also want/need a whammy bar, then you could justify owning both as they are two very different guitars and would offer you a lot of variation in tonal qualities.
 
In a perfect world I’d have a 594, 509, Paul’s guitar, silver sky, and a Santana. Plus all the rest haha. They all cover different territory.

I briefly had a 513 and loved the amount of versatility it had. But it had some “flaws” in my mind. The 509 really fixes most of those. A 594 really is a different beast. And I’ll have another someday. This one with a rosewood neck.

So I’m not really thinking of this as a 594 replacement or anything. I just loved the options the 513 gave me live. It really could deliver anything I really wanted in one guitar. And the main thing that’s missing in most guitars is a middle single coil. I may be weird, but I like that sound. A lot. I really don’t care for positions 2 and 4 on a strat. In all reality I use 5 positions. And 4 would mostly cover my needs live.

Neck humbucker (this is the optional one)

Neck single coil

Middle single coil

Neck and bridge

Bridge humbucker

Having a bridge single coil mode wouldn’t hurt, but isn’t terribly important. Also having bridge neck both parallel and series is cool. But not a requirement. And this is for live use. Just trying to cram as many options as possible into one guitar. Anyway I think I could get most of that out of a Paul’s guitar with adding a single coil. And I’m probably crazy. And it may never happen. There’s just a strong possibility. But if something changes and I can get a 509 instead. I’ll would do that. Just thinking about possible options. :) plus I like to mod stuff. Even if it’s more permanent than most mods.
 
In a perfect world I’d have a 594, 509, Paul’s guitar, silver sky, and a Santana. Plus all the rest haha. They all cover different territory.

I briefly had a 513 and loved the amount of versatility it had. But it had some “flaws” in my mind. The 509 really fixes most of those. A 594 really is a different beast. And I’ll have another someday. This one with a rosewood neck.

So I’m not really thinking of this as a 594 replacement or anything. I just loved the options the 513 gave me live. It really could deliver anything I really wanted in one guitar. And the main thing that’s missing in most guitars is a middle single coil. I may be weird, but I like that sound. A lot. I really don’t care for positions 2 and 4 on a strat. In all reality I use 5 positions. And 4 would mostly cover my needs live.

Neck humbucker (this is the optional one)

Neck single coil

Middle single coil

Neck and bridge

Bridge humbucker

Having a bridge single coil mode wouldn’t hurt, but isn’t terribly important. Also having bridge neck both parallel and series is cool. But not a requirement. And this is for live use. Just trying to cram as many options as possible into one guitar. Anyway I think I could get most of that out of a Paul’s guitar with adding a single coil. And I’m probably crazy. And it may never happen. There’s just a strong possibility. But if something changes and I can get a 509 instead. I’ll would do that. Just thinking about possible options. :) plus I like to mod stuff. Even if it’s more permanent than most mods.

Pauls Guitar is more like a 594 than a 509. Both Pauls and the 594 offer the individual split/tap option but Pauls is probably a better SC sound than the 594 and its easier to switch between SC and Humbucker with the toggle switch than a push/pull tone pot. Of your 5 positional options, both a Pauls and 509 would miss one - and not the optional one. Obviously the Pauls misses the Middle Single Coil and the 509 misses the Neck & Bridge - although you could potentially swap out a tone pot for a push/pull tone pot to switch between the middle single coil and both humbuckers. Its something I am seriously considering as I would prefer the two humbuckers as the primary option in position 3 (like the PRS Special semi-hollow they made recently with the NF in the middle) and pull up the tone pot to get just the middle single coil. Its a LOT easier than routing in a middle Pick-up

Of course you will miss out on the TCI pickups and the 25" scale length if you were to go that route. You also have to spend a LOT more to get the 509 and the parts to wire in that option than a SE Pauls Guitar.
 
I do actually prefer the 25” (and shorter) scales. And while the neck joint on the 513 didn’t necessarily bother me physically, astheticaly I prefer the standard neck joint. Plus the hard tail bridge is my preference. All things that the Paul’s guitar have.

And as far as switching, check out the free way switch. It’s a 6 position toggle, that drops in a les Paul, so I think it should work in a prs. It does allow for the “middle only” and “neck + bridge” options. Along with the “2” and “4” strat style positions. That along with the mini toggle for humbucker and single coil, should give me anything I could think of. Aside from p90’s. But I have a mccarty soapbar for that haha.
 
And to clarify in the switch, it’s basically a 3 position switch with a “left” and “right” row. One side would be standard 3-way. The other will add the middle pickup in up or down, and be the middle pickup alone in the middle position. So I would mostly use one side and the middle of the other. A lot of work for one extra sound, but I’m handy with tools. So parts will be the only expense.
 
And to clarify in the switch, it’s basically a 3 position switch with a “left” and “right” row. One side would be standard 3-way. The other will add the middle pickup in up or down, and be the middle pickup alone in the middle position. So I would mostly use one side and the middle of the other. A lot of work for one extra sound, but I’m handy with tools. So parts will be the only expense.

It won't work in the Blade position as I have on my 509 and Cu24. It also offers NO advantage on the 594 or Pauls Guitar for that matter as these both have 8 positions as standard. The only guitar I have that 'may' benefit would be my HBii as that has a 3way like a Les Paul so I could use it to split the coils and have a extra 'middle' option - most likely both split humbuckers. I know they do a 5way with the left/right row too which perhaps could work to add the two humbuckers in my 509 - the rest though would make the individual switches redundant. I am not looking to make any 'body' alterations on my guitars - no drilling or routing.

I still think the easiest option would be to replace my tone pot with a pish/pull one and use that to switch between the two options in the middle position - either the middle single on its own or the two Humbuckers.

If you prefer the shorter scales, then obviously the 594, Santana, 245, custom 22/24 or Pauls Guitar are all shorter Scale length - the Semi-hollow Special (if you can find one) is also a great option. The 509 is very much like the 513 in shape inc heel joint I believe
 
Back
Top