Personally, I really don’t think so. I am sure I am in the minority, but I think the pickups are the least important thing in Core PRS guitars.
That’s right, the LEAST important.
I have never shied from putting pickups into guitars that cost more than the guitar itself. (I still enjoy putting Core pickups in my SEs). And guess what I have found? That they always improve the sound quite a bit.
But even then, they do not get close to the truly great guitars (by any great builder). You can’t make an SE a Core by swapping parts. Sure, anything can be recorded to sound like anything. But when you play the damned things yourself you realize that they are worlds apart.
It’s kind of like the new Epiphones. They are very good. I enjoy them. They often have Gibson USA electronics. But are they close to Gibson Custom Shop? No.
Cores will always be safe. They are simply that great.
And SEs are very popular for good reason. They seem to just keep getting better (which is reflected in the prices). But what about the S2 line? It’s kind of weird. I suppose they are like Gibson Tribute series and Fender Performer series guitars. Some people swear by them. But I don’t really get it.
I largely agree with this. I've only owned one SE electric, an SE EG. It was a fine guitar for what it was, but I moved it along. It just felt like a somewhat generic import guitar, albeit without any quality issues.
For me, the Core line is what I want. I've got five of them, plus a Silver Sky. They feel, play, sound, and look great. I don't even consider the SEs and the S2s don't have a lot of appeal to me. If I were in a different place in life, I might see things differently.
The entire PRS guitar line presents a very modern marketing mix, right now. It's designed to have something at most every price point. It encourages consumers to move one step further up the product line than they'd intended. Be that from something outside of it (like a Squier to an SE), an SE to an S2, etc. The idea is to offer something just a bit better at each price point, but not so much better that it feeds buyers' remorse. It creates an entry that's affordable. It encourages people to stay within the PRS brand.
I'm sure with ten years of S2 sales data and twenty years of SE data, PRS is well aware of how the lines interact with each other over the long-term. I think the SE Silver Sky and US Silver Sky gave them the confidence to introduce the 594 and DGT across all three lines. I do wonder what it'll do to the S2s, and whether if the S2 line has fewer sales would allow for production capacity to shift towards the Core backlog. (Is there an S2 backlog?)
The whole thing is interesting to me. It'll be fun to see how it plays out.