SE EG Love

[CantankerousCarl]

Picked up a 2003 SE EG SSS stoptail, white on tortie last month for under $300. I absolutely LOVE this damn thing. Haven't had a strat-like guitar for a long time...I'm not a tinkerer, but my friend who is said that it's stock except for 500K pots, along with a really bad job soldering those pots in. I think it's got a bit of a grounding issue, but other than a bit of noise, LOVE it. Light, really good highs and decent sustain, nice chunky wide fat so it feels just like my other SEs.

Anyone else have one? Anyone have one with either HSS, trem or both...care to compare?

 

[Danerada]

I have one...I took out the electronics and replaced everything including the pickups. I installed Starla pickups...I LOVE that guitar!

 

[John Beef]

I have one...I took out the electronics and replaced everything including the pickups. I installed Starla pickups...I LOVE that guitar!

I would love to see it! Where's the "this thread is useless without pics" smiley GIF?

 

[Danerada]

I have one...I took out the electronics and replaced everything including the pickups. I installed Starla pickups...I LOVE that guitar!

I would love to see it! Where's the "this thread is useless without pics" smiley GIF?

It's the red one in this album....I ahve since removed the middle pickup and changed the switch and all electronics....

https://picasaweb.google.com/1047454128 ... 331/Stuff#

 

[John Beef]

Nice. Are they all routed like that under the pickguard?

I haven't had a good project in a while...

 

[Danerada]

Nice. Are they all routed like that under the pickguard?

I haven't had a good project in a while...

I'm not sure. I was surprised when I saw that it was routed that way...

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Nice. Are they all routed like that under the pickguard?

I haven't had a good project in a while...

Yes, at least that is what is says in the PRS Guitar Book.

 

[Itzed]

I have a real love for the se as as well. I have three of them, two stop tails and one trem. The trem model has an hss set with humbucker in the bridge. It's a good pound or more heavier than the stop tail model, but does have better sustain on the high notes. Watch out for the bridge studs pulling out of the body on the stop tail models, the wood is soft and that is happening to some degree on both of mine. I will probably fix the worst one before the end of the summer. I've also moved the tone pot under the pickguard on all of mine, and moved the volume pot to the place where the tone pot was, because I end up unintentionally bumping it if I don't. I found some nice nickel plated hole covers at home depot to drop in the pickguard hole. Other than a little noise, they are great guitars.

 

[CantankerousCarl]

Good to know about the stoptails - what exactly do you do to fix them? I don't see any issue on mine, but one never knows...

btw just scored ANOTHER - blue SSS trem 2003 excellent condition. Have to have my "guy that looks things over" for me look things over, but for what I paid it was a steal. Has grovers and some aftermarket knobs that don't fit right, but other than that and one ding, looks solid.

I can definitely say that my stoptail has a grounding issue now...this one sounds just fine even on the dirty channel, just a little hum as one would expect, whereas the stoptail is just plain noisy. Going to have it looked at, maybe rewired.

Now I just need a red one...oh, and a black one. Am I missing anything?

 

[Itzed]

I think the stoptails are just naturally more noisy than the trem models, both of mine are as compared to the trem model. Maybe it's the big chunk of metal in the trem that acts as a better ground. Although my SE Soapbars are very quiet, so maybe it's the pick-ups themselves. As far as the studs go, I think to fix mine, I will try what I did with an old Fender that had a two point trem with the studs coming out. I pulled the studs and simply made sure the holes were big enough to allow them to sit straight if there was no tension on them, then I reset them in the body straight with some gorilla glue. It hardens well enough so that it doesn't soak up the sound or vibration, and lasted years until I sold the guitar. The other option is to fill the holes entirely with wood filler, and re-drill them, but there's a lot more calculating and room for error in that method, and you could always do that if the glue method doesn't work first. Ed.

PS, if you really want a red one, I have one I could part with, as well as white one, and way too many other guitars.

 

[CantankerousCarl]

I might take you up on that - is the red one stoptail or trem? SSS? Would love another white stoptail too...

Really need to get my stoptail looked at...aside from the noise difference between the two, which is significant, the trem one is alot louder and just sounds better - and I haven't even changed the strings yet. You're right about the weight - you notice the extra weight of the trem immediately.