toneaholic
New Member
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2014
- Messages
- 4
Hi. I bought a santana SE a few weeks back and I've already done a boatload of tweaks in trying to change something about the tone i'm not real thrilled about. I love the guitar in ever other way, and i do like the tone in some respects. But it's just not what i had hoped for and i wanted to talk about it and see what others think. So i figured the best place to do so is a forum for PRS, and here i am.
So heres the issue i have with it. The low strings are much deader sounding than the plains. It's a pretty nite and day difference. The low strings have no attack to speak of, no crispness at all and are really dull sounding till you get a lot of bright gain going . Yet the plain strings are quite bright. There is also a very pronounced middiness to the tone, apparently PRS' attempt to get the signature tone of Carlos. In an attempt to try and change the tone into a more transparent open chimier thing I tried all the following things. I adjusted the bridge every way imaginable, decked, floating, various heights. Tried import spaced callaham strat saddles. Tried decked with strat mounting screws. And yes, i do understand about the notched screws and that they must be exactly the same height and adjusted only with no string/spring tension. Tried 4 different pickups, some A5, and no matter how different it always retained the "issue" i have with it. Also adjusted them ad nausium. As for wiring, i put a little bigger treble bleed in it, as 250pf, and the tone control is disconnected.
I have many years of tweaking and modding/building behind me, so i think i'm pretty good at determining whats causing a certain tone and whether it can be changed. At this point you don't even need that experience because i pretty much tried everything but changing the entire bridge. But the only ones available are brass which in my experience would do just the opposite of what i want. On the other hand, if it's NOT the bridge, then it must be in the design itself. The scale maybe? I don't know what to think at this point. I've helped it quite a bit recently by adjusting the pickup screws on the wound string for more brightness and to get more tone from one coil rather than both. That and a set of very low output PAF type pickups with A5 also helped. But still the issue remains. Better, but still enough to have me constantly consider selling it. But i really don't want to resort to that being otherwise one of my favorite guitars i've bought in a very long time.
So i expect no one will have an answer, and i didn't necassarily post here to get one. More to just see what others who own one think. Whether they also notice this "issue" and any thoughts they have as to what might be the cause. I understand that Santana's sound is what they were going for, so it mkes sense that it sounds like this. But what i don't understand is that i see nothing in the parts or design that seems like it would so radically change the tone of a otherwise classic design of set neck mahogany with maple cap and rosewood board. The trem is the big difference. But do the other PRS 24.5" scale guitars with a trem sound the same?
So heres the issue i have with it. The low strings are much deader sounding than the plains. It's a pretty nite and day difference. The low strings have no attack to speak of, no crispness at all and are really dull sounding till you get a lot of bright gain going . Yet the plain strings are quite bright. There is also a very pronounced middiness to the tone, apparently PRS' attempt to get the signature tone of Carlos. In an attempt to try and change the tone into a more transparent open chimier thing I tried all the following things. I adjusted the bridge every way imaginable, decked, floating, various heights. Tried import spaced callaham strat saddles. Tried decked with strat mounting screws. And yes, i do understand about the notched screws and that they must be exactly the same height and adjusted only with no string/spring tension. Tried 4 different pickups, some A5, and no matter how different it always retained the "issue" i have with it. Also adjusted them ad nausium. As for wiring, i put a little bigger treble bleed in it, as 250pf, and the tone control is disconnected.
I have many years of tweaking and modding/building behind me, so i think i'm pretty good at determining whats causing a certain tone and whether it can be changed. At this point you don't even need that experience because i pretty much tried everything but changing the entire bridge. But the only ones available are brass which in my experience would do just the opposite of what i want. On the other hand, if it's NOT the bridge, then it must be in the design itself. The scale maybe? I don't know what to think at this point. I've helped it quite a bit recently by adjusting the pickup screws on the wound string for more brightness and to get more tone from one coil rather than both. That and a set of very low output PAF type pickups with A5 also helped. But still the issue remains. Better, but still enough to have me constantly consider selling it. But i really don't want to resort to that being otherwise one of my favorite guitars i've bought in a very long time.
So i expect no one will have an answer, and i didn't necassarily post here to get one. More to just see what others who own one think. Whether they also notice this "issue" and any thoughts they have as to what might be the cause. I understand that Santana's sound is what they were going for, so it mkes sense that it sounds like this. But what i don't understand is that i see nothing in the parts or design that seems like it would so radically change the tone of a otherwise classic design of set neck mahogany with maple cap and rosewood board. The trem is the big difference. But do the other PRS 24.5" scale guitars with a trem sound the same?
