I ordered an Se SAS in Charcoal from my local GC. I had it shipped so I didn't have to drive the hour away. It arrived yesterday.
First thing I noticed was....wow, this is heavy!!!!!! I mean, this has to be even heavier than my non-weight relieved LP.
I got out the scale, call Guinness, this has got to be a record, ......9lbs 9 ounces!!! Definitely heavier than my LP.
The 3-piece body looked nice and the grain matched well.
I put my hand on the neck and shock #2! Wide/Thin........uhm no! more like Wide/ Regular with wide shoulders.
And then, wtf is with the fretboard edges? A completely NON-rolled edge so sharp if maple wood could cut it would slice you.
Fret ends were ok.
So, lets plug her in.......wtf! The nut on the input jack is loose as a goose....ok tighten that up...now play it.
Out of the box completely out of tune ....a few minutes later got it tuned and stable, I hope.
The action is low. Some guys might like that, but I prefer a bit higher. No buzzing which is good.
The closest I have to compare with this would be my PRS S2 Standard 24 with the same pups.
I immediately can tell this has a more snappy tone to it than the S2.
I do some riffage and some lead licks....wait is the sustain that bad? I grab a note on the G string and count as it rings out before my Gate comes on in the Fractal AF3. About 5 seconds? try it a few more times...about 5 seconds.
So, curiously I grab the S2 standard and do the same sustain test.......about 9 seconds before the gate closes.
I have owned about 6 SE models before in the past and this one suffers that same string chirp behind the nut thing as the rest except for the one SE Custom w/floyd that did not. All of the US models (S2s) I have previously owned and my current S2 Standard 24, S2 McCarty 594 SC and DC don't do that. Must be the nut material?
Hmm?
Yes, this is going back!