SE Customs Now Manufactured in Indonesia?

[bigbaconclassic]

I don't know if any SE models are made in only one location. For instance if you go to sweetwarter.com and look at the screenshots for the SE Custom 24s you can see that they are made in both Korea and Indonesia.

im looking them up..thanks man

 

[bigbaconclassic]

All of them up to the intro of the Standard series a few years back, which are Indonesian. We're only seeing the mix of Korean and Indonesian in the other models starting this year.

Shouldn't really matter, though. They are all contract built to PRS spec and then setup/inspected in the Maryland factory.

My experiance isn't fair to PRS factory though, but my Indonesian Ibanez is just horrible..from pickup rings drilled off centered, plus action (the bow) has to be high due fret buzz issues...i said never a Indonesian guitar again..i knew that the prs se customs were Korean. good thing i found this forum. i was just about to order one..but I just dont feel right about dropping $1000 CDN on a axe that im skeptical of its manufacturing location...again not fair to PRS but if i was guaranteed a korean model i would pull the trigger today.

 

[Sir Stinkalot]

It will be interesting to see if there is a clear cut decision that model x will be made in Indonesia and y in Korea or if it will be a mix from both sources. I would suspect that the likes of Sweetwater would still have some older stock that was made in Korea which is why some guitars in the same range are still Korean and others Indonesian.

 

[garrett]

My experiance isn't fair to PRS factory though, but my Indonesian Ibanez is just horrible..from pickup rings drilled off centered, plus action (the bow) has to be high due fret buzz issues...i said never a Indonesian guitar again..i knew that the prs se customs were Korean. good thing i found this forum. i was just about to order one..but I just dont feel right about dropping $1000 CDN on a axe that im skeptical of its manufacturing location...again not fair to PRS but if i was guaranteed a korean model i would pull the trigger today.

The key factors to contract building are the specs and quality control provided by the client. PRS have well-specced designs and materials and, as previously mentioned, the end product gets reviewed by Quality Control in either the USA or Europe before going for sale.

Garbage in, garbage out. If you have low standards, you will receive an inferior product. PRS does not have low standards.

 

[Victek]

My experiance isn't fair to PRS factory though, but my Indonesian Ibanez is just horrible..from pickup rings drilled off centered, plus action (the bow) has to be high due fret buzz issues...i said never a Indonesian guitar again..i knew that the prs se customs were Korean. good thing i found this forum. i was just about to order one..but I just dont feel right about dropping $1000 CDN on a axe that im skeptical of its manufacturing location...again not fair to PRS but if i was guaranteed a korean model i would pull the trigger today.

With regard to SweetWater.com I believe the pictures are of the actual guitars, so if you order one where the headstock says Korea then that's what you should get.

https://www.sweetwater.com/feature/technotes/issue17-guitarviewer/index.php

 

[JJJ]

I'm interested to know why they changed the Indo guitars from PT Wildwood or what ever it was to Cortek. Because I had a Wildwood standard from the first run, and aside from the awful nut I thought it was actually a really well made guitar. Exceptionally resonant for the price and the fretwork was solid. Truss rod felt good, parts seemed okay.

Indonesia build incredible guitars when you spec them up a bit and the factory can use more expensive parts. Just look at the Ibanez premium line... my god I hate RG necks but those guitars play themselves.

 

[bigbaconclassic]

maybe ill just wait.shipping from sweetwater to canada pretty expensive ..let it play out...or save up for a american one!!!...but that would be a cold breeze through my bank account

 

[Victek]

maybe ill just wait.shipping from sweetwater to Canada pretty expensive ..let it play out.

Is there a particular SE that you're interested in?

 

[bigbaconclassic]

Is there a particular SE that you're interested in?

i was going to buy the prs se custom 24 in trampas green. Looking at the sweetwater that color seems to be made in korea..but that might be a 2017 model

 

[Peet]

i was going to buy the prs se custom 24 in trampas green. Looking at the sweetwater that color seems to be made in korea..but that might be a 2017 model

The 4 quilt tops are all Korean. The flame is a stock photo, so you won't know the origin until they have some in stock.

 

[bigbaconclassic]

The 4 quilt tops are all Korean. The flame is a stock photo, so you won't know the origin until they have some in stock.

good information, thanks

 

[Victek]

i was going to buy the prs se custom 24 in trampas green. Looking at the sweetwater that color seems to be made in korea..but that might be a 2017 model

FWIW the 2017s and 2018s have the same specs, eg 85/15 pickups, signed headstock, etc.

 

[jep1210]

I'm very confused, with the SE Custom naming convention. I just got a "COR" manufactured SE Custom 24...my first PRS...but it seemed when I went to the PRS web site to reacquaint myself on the specs, the Custom SEs looked different from mine and they didn't really feature mine on the web site. Also looking through catalogs there are SE Customs that are more expensive than mine, presumably these are the US built ones. I'm learning a bit more every day and I'm sure once I get through this thread (I'm only on page 2) I'm sure it'll be even clearer. Either way, my Indonesian made Custom SE plays great and I couldn't be happier.

 

[jdag]

I'm very confused, with the SE Custom naming convention. I just got a "COR" manufactured SE Custom 24...my first PRS...but it seemed when I went to the PRS web site to reacquaint myself on the specs, the Custom SEs looked different from mine and they didn't really feature mine on the web site. Also looking through catalogs there are SE Customs that are more expensive than mine, presumably these are the US built ones. I'm learning a bit more every day and I'm sure once I get through this thread (I'm only on page 2) I'm sure it'll be even clearer. Either way, my Indonesian made Custom SE plays great and I couldn't be happier.

Do you have a photo of yours? What looked different?

 

[jep1210]

Do you have a photo of yours? What looked different?

Primarily the color choice, the first one I got was a cherry burst which doesn't appear on the PRS web site. I returned that only because, as nice as the finish was it match all of my other gutars, 2 Ibanez and a Les Paul. people didn't even know it was a new guitar LOL. I swapped that out for an Amethyst that played just as well as the cherry burst, neither of these colors are listed on the site as options. I wondered if it was possibly because they were colors just offered for Guitar Center. Also, when trying to get information on decoding PRS serial numbers, nothing I found really matched what I had, "CTI A00364", I realize now through reading this thread this is a serial number for Indonesia built models...as I understand it.

 

[Dirty_Boogie]

I was just at Sam Ash and pulled a made in Indonesia SE C24 off the wall. I'm sad to tell you... this guitar was nowhere in the league of all the Korean SE's I've played and owned in the past. The finish was really disappointing to see. Horribly mismatched top (grain and color) but what really got me was the "blistering" at many of the fret ends that appeared through the lacquer. It's almost like there was some fret "sprout" (maybe due to environmental changes) causing the finish to lift. As I ran my thumbnail along the edge, I could see how the lacquer would start flaking quickly. Hope this was just a one-off issue.

 

[dogrocketp]

I'm very confused, with the SE Custom naming convention. I just got a "COR" manufactured SE Custom 24...my first PRS...but it seemed when I went to the PRS web site to reacquaint myself on the specs, the Custom SEs looked different from mine and they didn't really feature mine on the web site. Also looking through catalogs there are SE Customs that are more expensive than mine, presumably these are the US built ones. I'm learning a bit more every day and I'm sure once I get through this thread (I'm only on page 2) I'm sure it'll be even clearer. Either way, my Indonesian made Custom SE plays great and I couldn't be happier.

There are no US built SE's, For years Korea was the sole source for them. Then Indonesia stepped into the game. It's not unusual for a dealer to have a run of a special finish made. THey are simply not "stock" colors. Part of the fun of the PRS game is the difference in details. Rock the hell out of it.

 

[jep1210]

I was just at Sam Ash and pulled a made in Indonesia SE C24 off the wall. I'm sad to tell you... this guitar was nowhere in the league of all the Korean SE's I've played and owned in the past. The finish was really disappointing to see. Horribly mismatched top (grain and color) but what really got me was the "blistering" at many of the fret ends that appeared through the lacquer. It's almost like there was some fret "sprout" (maybe due to environmental changes) causing the finish to lift. As I ran my thumbnail along the edge, I could see how the lacquer would start flaking quickly. Hope this was just a one-off issue.

I don't have any of that with mine, the fret ends are silky smooth and the clear is fine,

There are a couple of spots here that look odd, like it wasn't sanded well enough and a little bit of glue seepage at the neck joint but I really had to search to notice it and it truly looks worse in these photos.

And here's an overall shot.

 

[Eddie kim]

maybe ill just wait.shipping from sweetwater to canada pretty expensive ..let it play out...or save up for a american one!!!...but that would be a cold breeze through my bank account

You save up a little for s2 model built in USA. When I bought my s2 cu24, the price was not a huge difference with the se models.

 

[Dirty_Boogie]

I don't have any of that with mine, the fret ends are silky smooth and the clear is fine,

There are a couple of spots here that look odd, like it wasn't sanded well enough and a little bit of glue seepage at the neck joint but I really had to search to notice it and it truly looks worse in these photos.

And here's an overall shot.

That's a beautiful guitar! Different league all together.