SE 30th Anniversary Flame Top CU24 fretboard

[Synapsys]

Hi everyone, new user from Portugal, Europe, here.

Just bought a SE 30th Anniversary Flame Top Custom 24 in Cherry Sunburst, such as this one:

According to the product page, it's supposed to have a rosewood fretboard. Yet mine is made of very dark wood, and feels quite different from my other rosewood fretboard guitars.

Could it actually be an ebony fretboard on these Flame Tops? Can anyone chime in on this?

BTW, the guitars is very well made, plays very well (25" scale really matches my hand well, although I have 24,75" and 25,5" scale guitars), and some cost-cutting option on hardware and electronics will soon enough be improved (Planet Waves Auto Trim locking tuners, GraphTech TUSQ nut, and Seymour Duncan Custom Trembucker / Pearly Gates neck pickup set).

 

[Whitecat]

IME rosewood can vary quite a bit in colour. I would imagine that if they say it's rosewood, it's rosewood. Can you post a closeup of the board?

 

[Suppalak Klabdee]

My Brushstoke24 has very dark rosewood fretboard. You could easily distinguish the rosewood when compare to ebony by the pore size. Ebony would be rather smooth with quite small, if any, visible pore, while the rosewood you could see the pore straight away.

 

[Synapsys]

Will try to post some pics in the weekend. And it's Suppalak Klabdee's description of ebony vs. rosewood that almost makes me sure it's actually an ebony fretboard in my guitar.

 

[dogrocketp]

Anything is possible, and one may have leaked through the factory.

 

[PhilMayger]

I'd been quietly wondering the same about mine - it is exactly as Synapsys described. It really does look more like ebony than rosewood. The guitar I bought is being returned (it had already been returned to PRS UK once) and I have another one arriving tomorrow, so if the new one is the same as the old one I'll take some close-up pictures of it. The returned one has no obvious pores and a very smooth feel, in complete contrast to my other rosewood-boarded axes. I wouldn't trust the website spec for this - it states that it has a mahogany body AND a mahogany top, which clearly isn't the case.

Quality issues aside, its a beauty.

 

[sleary]

That's how my cu24 looks. Looks like ebony but the pores and grain say rosewood

 

[sleary]

Here is my cu24's fretboard....Its rosewood but really dark, even more in person. I put it beside my esp ironcross that does have an ebony board. Very very close ...

 

[FingerRuns]

Synapsys, this is my first post in this forum, but having just purchased an SE Custom 24 30th Anniversary guitar, I wanted to chime in. The guitar you have pictured is a PRS Limited Edition SE Custom 24 30th Anniversary model which is a bit different than the PRS SE Custom 24 30th Anniversary model that is also currently available. There's cream colored binding on the body, neck and headstock and it has an ebony fingerboard. The PRS SE Custom 24 30th Anniversary model has natural body binding only and comes with a rosewood fingerboard. I purchased mine partly due to the fact that it has an ebony fingerboard and cream colored binding. Here's a tech specs page from Sweetwater http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SECU2430CS

 

[0defects13]

That's rosewood.

 

[andy474x]

Interesting, thanks for clarifying that FingerRuns. I wish it were an ebony board with mahogany neck, the maple necks on the SE CU24's make for a bright guitar even with a rosewood board. My Akesson with a hog neck and ebony board, on the other hand... so sexy sounding. Not sure why they insist on the maple on these, unless it's because they can't get enough stability in the neck with mahogany on the SE for some reason? Real bummer IMO. Would love to buy another SE CU24 to get an anniversary collection going (have the 25th), they play so nice, but of all my guitars it's not my favorite tonally.

 

[markintime]

Mine is not the limited edition so it has the rosewood fretboard. Nor does it have the cream colored binding. I kind of wish it did have the ebony board, but since it has an awesome quilt top, I'm not gonna complain. It's just great in any other way.

Posing with Paul's after pup ring mods, with trem arm tip added.

 

[Synapsys]

Thank, Fingerruns, never saw the Sweetwater ad, since I'm based in Europe. Awesome value for an awesome guitar. The pickups will have to be replaced, I really can't gel with the PRS SE set it comes with.

Unfortunately, my camera somehow got broken, so I can't post any pics in the near future, anda my phone's camera is a really crappy one...

 

[markie]

Sweet Guitar Dude............................ Welcome to the PRS family & the Forum!

 

[PhilMayger]

Close up of my board (SE LE CU24)

 

[sergiodeblanc]

That looks like a million bucks!!!! I love the way the burst mellows the transition from the top color into the lower cutaway so you don't really see the veneer line.

 

[LJD]

A maple neck does not make an ebony board sound brighter. Look at the PRS JA-15, or a Paul Languedoc, or every cello and violin...

 

[markintime]

That looks like a million bucks!!!! I love the way the burst mellows the transition from the top color into the lower cutaway so you don't really see the veneer line.

Thanks, Serge. You really have to be right on top of it to even see it. They did a great job! This might be a better angle, but I can't spot it either in this shot.