SE Mods

Weird. I hit "reply with quote" but it doesn't appear to have included the quote I was replying to so...here it is from Alister:

Ha ha! ;-) No honestly it was meant to be for Xmas - I've been dropping hints for months to my wife that I would love the SE Navarro for Christmas but saw such an amazing deal on one the other day it had to be snapped up! Love the neck on the SE Navarro so comfortable and smooth. I guess as its 3 months til Xmas I may have to drop some hints about gold Phase IIs :) ah man I bet the 59/09s sound epic in your Tremonti SE - post a pic I'd love to see it! Can't wait to get my SE CU 24 back. Will be like a new guitar! Really interested to see what the middle position will sound like with the 59/09 and Dragon II combined. Has anyone tried that?

I just checked photobucket for pics of my Tremonti SE Custom and the only ones I have are "pre-pickup swap" photos. It doesn't look much different and the guitar itself is just a normal looking Tremonti SE Custom in black/gray flame. Tight flame...would be a 10 if it was a US slabtop with the same tight flame.
So...just imagine a regular looking black gray one but with a 59/09 squabbin in the neck and a Duncan CC in the bridge. but....imagine that the guy who swapped the bridge pup was colorblind or just has NO taste. The CC is a black and blue bobbin pup. One navy blue bobbin and one black. Ewwwww. No seriously...EWWWWWW
You cant see it at a distance though...nor can you tell that it has a squabbin in the neck, nor can you even see the figuring. I think I "undid" everything else I had done...well I removed the tremol-no. The nut you cant see. Oh..I still have the electrical tape covering the SE on the headstock. Did I mention I'm an IDIOT? Oh...you also can't tell that it has Shaller M6 lockers on it from looking at it either. That was an unnecessary mod that I left in place. Speeds up the changes.

ANYWAY...how are you enjoying the 59/09 in the neck? Is it a Treble (bridge) or Bass (neck) pup? Mine is the Bass.
Man...I'm not even joking around. I haven't tried a 53/10 and they get a LOT of neck pickup love but the 59/09 in the neck of the Tremonti...OH MY GOD!! Sorry Narrowfield equipped Studio. You haven't seen more than 2 hours of play since May. I feel terrible but....I sure don't SOUND terrible..NOT that you do or did. I still wanna be great friends. It isn't YOU...it's those damned 59/09s.
Buddy bought a cheap old Ibanez recently and he put P90s in it. All he keeps saying is "you GOTTA hear the Ibanez". I kept saying stuff like...whatever..it's more the AMP you're hearing. I love P90s too but...no...YOU gotta hear this PRS!!!
I swear, never have I been approached by so many guitarists saying...is that an SE??? :-O It sounds INCREDIBLE! Even better than the USA PRSs you played. Well ok...I've never before been approached by ANY guitarists asking about the SE...cause I never had one before. I mean I have just never been complimented or asked about my tone so much.

Like I said..I haven't tried a 53/10...or a 57/08 in the neck position of a guitar. Maybe they are even more awesomer(?lol) but I can't see it...HEAR it...I cant HEAR it!
Back to thee thread topic...my SE is I suppose what some might say is "heavily modified" but it isn't really and the mods that are done, didn't NEED to be done at all. Even the SE245 pickups were fantastic. The stock nut worked perfectly for .009s and the locking tuners did nothing to improve tuning with heavy trem use and big bends. The trem works as well as ANY non locker but it IS a non-locker. Not perfectly...so...I removed the tremolno and the bar and now I just play it like a Les Paul or fixed bridge SC. I would put my SE up against ANY Les Paul...or SC...or electric guitar. In fact..I had a late '80s LP Studio a couple of years ago. I buy one pretty much annually trying to bond with them but never works. I sold the LP to my drummer. It's beautiful and awesome sounding and playing. I'm gonna ask him to bring it to rehearsal tonight to have a wee battle. But...since Halloween is coming and I have some DR NEON coated strings to put on, that are going on today...they might give the LP an unfair advantage. Either way I should be back with a battle report/debriefing later tonight.
Sorry for the rant.

My SE CU24 2008 has a 59/09 neck and Dragon II bridge and the middle position (combined) sounds amazing. My fav pups so far.
 
Had the final mods done to my 2008 SE Custom 24 (whale blue) to give it the full US treatment. Really can't wait to pick it up from my tech! List of US mods:

*Phase II locking tuners
*59/09 neck pup
*Dragon II bridge pup
*US Trem Saddles - nickel & brass (smoothes out tone, increases sustain & looks much better than the cheap SE saddles)
*Black US lampshade nobs
*US toggle switch (tech had to install a collar to raise height of switch as US models have the lower carve around the switch)
*US Push/Pull tone pot to split the coils.
*Set up for .10s including filing nut

It's been expensive but worth it! I have an SE Navarro & Torerro which are both awesome but the 2008 CU24 is still my favourite.

Wish I could post some pics but need to work out this flickr thing!
 
Agreed on the pots (and jack and switch). I figured on changing them out in my SE-245 when I replaced the pickups but when I popped the hood I discovered (happily) that it came stock with excellent quality stuff and no need to change them until/unless something fails.

Definitely Gball, thankfully PRS SEs actually come with quality electronics. The only reason I changed my tone pot for a US one was so I could split the coils, & I replaced the switch with a US one because it had failed - toggle switches are so unreliable!
 
rubalup hows those dimario 36ths treating you tone wise ?

I´m enjoying them... not a huge difference with the stock ones but I can feel a vibe that wasn´t there. Really liking the neck one... I could use a higher output one in the bridge position... had a hard time balancing the two but its ok now.

In conclusion is a nice upgrade, especially with the neck position.
 
My latest SE, a vintage yellow Custom 24:

uc


Mods:
  • Nut slots and setup for 10s
  • Swapped the magnet in the stock neck Vintage Bass pickup with an Alnico 4
  • Swapped the magnet in the stock bridge HFS pickup with an Alnico 5
  • Put covers on the PUs
  • Replaced the 3-way blade switch with my now-standard 5-way super-switch setup, plus recycled the tone push/pull as a phase reversal switch
 
PRS SE Fredrik Akesson. Seymour Duncan Slash pickup set, bone nut, CTS 500k audio taper pots, orange drop .022 caps, Schaller locking tuners, Schaller strap locks. The volume and tone controls have been configured to a standard LP setup with 50's vintage wiring.

DSC01100_s_zpsb6a88b97.jpg


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PRS SE Fredrik Akesson. Seymour Duncan Slash pickup set, bone nut, CTS 500k audio taper pots, orange drop .022 caps, Schaller locking tuners, Schaller strap locks. The volume and tone controls have been configured to a standard LP setup with 50's vintage wiring.

DSC01100_s_zpsb6a88b97.jpg


DSC01082s_zpsef7494c4.jpg

So hot! Just played mine yesterday and was getting a ton of tasty tones with 57/08's. How are you liking the Slash set? I have always wanted to try the alnico pro ii's. Seriously good LP tones out of these Akesson's, shame they're discontinued!!!
 
So hot! Just played mine yesterday and was getting a ton of tasty tones with 57/08's. How are you liking the Slash set? I have always wanted to try the alnico pro ii's. Seriously good LP tones out of these Akesson's, shame they're discontinued!!!

Loving the Slash set, so much more tone and warmth than the stock pickups. The wiring change has helped greatly too, much more sound variation and the tone cleans up great with a small roll back of the volume. I hadn't realised they'd discontinued the Akesson for 2015.
 
I didn't bother with tuners, they're almost never the problem, IM Exp. I put a tusk nut on, a Duncan custom and a 59 in. Sounded really good.
 
I haven't read this whole giant thread so I apologize if this has been answered already, but I want to install nickel humbucker pickup covers on my new SE Custom 24. I've seen several pictures of others like this and it looks SWEET. I know several people on this site have done this to theirs. Therefore, I have questions. Where did you get them? (website) Were there any issue with installation I should know about? Would the ones in this link fit? --- http://www.stewmac.com/Pickups_and_...Parts/Humbucker/Humbucking_Pickup_Covers.html
 
I haven't read this whole giant thread so I apologize if this has been answered already, but I want to install nickel humbucker pickup covers on my new SE Custom 24. I've seen several pictures of others like this and it looks SWEET. I know several people on this site have done this to theirs. Therefore, I have questions. Where did you get them? (website) Were there any issue with installation I should know about? Would the ones in this link fit? --- http://www.stewmac.com/Pickups_and_...Parts/Humbucker/Humbucking_Pickup_Covers.html

http://www.mojotone.com/ is a good place to look.
Here's a video from them on how to install covers.
 
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