SE Santana Guitars vs SE Custom 24 (for versatility)?

These are all great points! I've done the same to my 245 as Alnus. I've also upgraded to the PRS composite nut on all of my PRS SE, and brass nuts on a couple too :)

The major difference in feel will be the neck carve...Wide Fat for the Santana and 245 and Wide Thin for the SE CU24. You should try playing before buying one. They feel diff, and personally I didn't like the Wide Thin feel. I'm up to 7 PRSi since I joined here (ya darn enablers) and they are all Wide Fat necks.

Hope this helps and good luck. I may throw A 2017 SE Santana on Reverb soon and will PM you if I do. It will be a good price.

Thanks for the input. Yes, do PM me if you end up listing on Reverb. Thanks.
 
Hi OldManMark and welcome to the forum. I think I spotted you discussing your AR325 on the Ibanez Collectors World forum. If you're used to typical Ibanez Artist necks, PRS SE wide/thin will probably feel pretty comfortable for you. I have a SE Standard 24 with the 85/15s pickups, and it holds it's own pretty well sound wise vs my core Custom 24s. I was on a big Ibanez kick just before I discovered PRS, and I had a 1983 AR100 and a 1982 MC150, both with Japanese super 58 pickups, and I loved their tones, I just hated their extreme heavy weight and wasn't in love with their neck carve. I prefer PRS pattern regular carve. I think either an SE CU24, SE CU24/08, or even an SE standard 24 could be a great addition to your collection, and will cover more sonic ground that your Ibby's don't compared to a Santana, IMHO.
I still have one vintage Ibby electric in my collection, a 1981 Studio Doubleneck, and 1979 and 1982 all solid wood Ibanez Artwood acoustics.
 
Hi OldManMark and welcome to the forum. I think I spotted you discussing your AR325 on the Ibanez Collectors World forum. If you're used to typical Ibanez Artist necks, PRS SE wide/thin will probably feel pretty comfortable for you. I have a SE Standard 24 with the 85/15s pickups, and it holds it's own pretty well sound wise vs my core Custom 24s. I was on a big Ibanez kick just before I discovered PRS, and I had a 1983 AR100 and a 1982 MC150, both with Japanese super 58 pickups, and I loved their tones, I just hated their extreme heavy weight and wasn't in love with their neck carve. I prefer PRS pattern regular carve. I think either an SE CU24, SE CU24/08, or even an SE standard 24 could be a great addition to your collection, and will cover more sonic ground that your Ibby's don't compared to a Santana, IMHO.
I still have one vintage Ibby electric in my collection, a 1981 Studio Doubleneck, and 1979 and 1982 all solid wood Ibanez Artwood acoustics.

HaHa, guilty as charged :)

Thanks for the input.

Good to know the SE Custom necks are similar (enough) to the Ibanez Artist necks.

I really do like my AR325. And I really love the LOOK of the Artist AR series of guitars. I am (unfortunately) old enough to remember some of the ads from the 80's for those guitars. And who could claim that Tom Ibarra doesn't look cool (and sound great) playing his Ibanez AR2619???

But I don't really need a third electric guitar (technically fourth because I have a Squier Bullet Strat lying around here somewhere), so if one of the Ibby's has to go, it would probably be the AR325, and I would keep the AS93 (despite definitely NOT being in love with the color).

Thanks again.
 
I don’t. Doesn’t mean you won’t.


My point, I guess, even if the guitar with coil splits give you more tonal varieties you may very well find the Santana more useful.

Ahhh... thanks for the elaboration. I appreciate it.

I guess my other thought was that the Santana models would just have one trick: Helping one sound more like Santana.

Which, admittedly, is a pretty good trick for a one-trick pony.
 
Firstly, I would like to say a big Thank You to everyone who has replied.

Some general thoughts and reactions before replying specifically to everyone.

- I agree that neck shape (and other ergonomics) are important - probably more important than tone out of the box. As Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen once said, "I can make any guitar sound bad."

- I like the neck of my Ibanez AS93 (a semi-hollow body similar to a Gibson 335) a lot, which most players describe being like a Gibson neck but thinner (but not like an Ibanez strat). So the Santana necks sound like they would be a better fit

- Yes, I will definitely try before I buy. (I just feel bad going in to a guitar store and trying out guitars when I know I am either going to buy off of Reverb or locally off craigslist).

- As for versatility... I guess what I really mean is that since I have my AS93 and it is great for jazz / blues / classic rock, I am looking for a second guitar that does the things the AS93 doesn't do so well... Like it doesn't have a whammy bar, nor does it do single coil sounds at all. It would be nice to get some "out of phase" sounds to better play some funk rhythm sound (like the "chimey" rhythm guitar chords in Brick in the Wall, or Nothing But Flowers, or Graceland)




Thanks for the well wishes :) However, I need to downsize a LOT of things in my life, so I am really looking to only own three guitars total... for now, anyway. So two electrics and an acoustic. And my Boss Katana 50.



I agree about feel and since I need all the practice I can get, I definitely want a guitar that is going to make me want to practice more... or at least be less discouraging to practicing.

As for shape, my FAVORITE electric shape(from a visual standpoint) is the old Yamaha SG (Santana Guitar) or the very similar looking Ibanez AR series (like the AR300). I actually have a second Ibanez (a beautiful looking AR325 with a figured Bubinga top) and it sounds GREAT and is lighter (about 7.3 pounds compared to my as93 at 8.6 pounds), but it has a tendency to neck dive and the body seems a bit small(ish) for me (I am a big guy at 6 foot 3). When practicing sitting down I tend to hunch over more than when playing my as93.



Well... most of the single coil guitars I know of are 25.5 necks. I have a cheap Squier bullet and I don't really like the neck size so much. Maybe it is because of the 25.5" neck, or maybe it is because it is just a cheap squier bullet :)



I understand what you mean by versatility. I have come to the accepting the fact that dual humbuckers on a mahogany + maple guitar are not going to sound like a strat, even with the coil splitting. But I guess I am hoping that with coil tapping / splitting I could get something that I could get "close enough" to a single coil guitar sound (since I anticipate the only place I am going to be playing live is down at the Bingo Hall on Wednesday nights in front of a bunch of elderly people drunk on Merlot.

But it seems that you think the coil splits / tapping aren't really usable, is that right?
I literally just got home from a 3 hour blues gig. I used an S2 Custom 24 very happily, and even got a compliment on how it sounded. I used the middle position, both regular and tapped for rhythm depending on the song. I used the neck pickup with the tone slightly rolled back (and my thumb) for a Latin blues tune. The bridge pickup was used for a couple of solos, and the neck pickup alone for a slow 12/8 blues. A lot of sounds from a 2 pickup guitar. That’s what you can get from any 24 fret PRS.
 
I literally just got home from a 3 hour blues gig. I used an S2 Custom 24 very happily, and even got a compliment on how it sounded. I used the middle position, both regular and tapped for rhythm depending on the song. I used the neck pickup with the tone slightly rolled back (and my thumb) for a Latin blues tune. The bridge pickup was used for a couple of solos, and the neck pickup alone for a slow 12/8 blues. A lot of sounds from a 2 pickup guitar. That’s what you can get from any 24 fret PRS.

Good to know! Thanks so much.
 
Ahhh... thanks for the elaboration. I appreciate it.

I guess my other thought was that the Santana models would just have one trick: Helping one sound more like Santana.

Which, admittedly, is a pretty good trick for a one-trick pony.
I wouldnt say its a one trick pony. You could say with the way the pickups are designed, it was pointed in that direction, but any SE can do about anything you throw at it. I think of them as jacks of all trades. You can swap components out to hone them in on something more specific. Theres really nothing they cant do good.

Btw, while I love the 24-08 mini switch circuit for coil splits, Ive never liked push-pull pots. I just find em clunky to use on the fly. I did end up bypassing the mini switches on my 35th as the used Abraxas set I bought were 2 conductor schemes, but no regrets. You can get alot out of a guitar just by the way you pick.
 
I own an Ibanez AR325 and a Tremonti SE Custom with the wide thin neck. The SE neck is a bit thinner than the Ibanez. I believe the Ibanez AR is a tad bit thinner than the Ibanez AS 93 as well, but not by much. I like both the Ibanez and my SE , but prefer my SE wide thin neck. Also own an AR 300 in a gold top, so the AR325 is up for sale to help with the purchase of another PRS I have on order. And I am eyeing more PRS guitars with the wide thin neck profile.

Played an SE245 the other day, and although I did not mind the thicker neck profile, I still prefer the wide thin.
 
Here’s a Paul’s Guitar. There’s another YT video that shows off the single coil sounds even better, when I find it I’ll upload it -


Here’s the one I was looking for. This guy gets some really nice S/C sounds.


Thanks for the link to the pauls guitar video. It sounds great, but i've been thinking for about the last two weeks that:

1) I really need to practice more before buying another guitar, and...

2) I think I do want a more "vintage strat" tone to go along with my Ibanez humbucker / split coil guitars.

The Paul's Guitar in single coil sounds nice, but I think I want that position 4 strat sound (front and middle pickups).

And I kind of think I want a whammy bar... although none of my guitars have one now, and I will probably regret it.

Unless you are set with the very lovely wood finishes, have a listen to the Starla.
I'm biased, because I bought one, but for the same reason you are after one.

Thanks for the input. The Starla does sound real nice. Does seems to sound different than the SE Customs and the SE Santana Guitars. Something to keep in mind. Thanks again.

I own an Ibanez AR325 and a Tremonti SE Custom with the wide thin neck. The SE neck is a bit thinner than the Ibanez. I believe the Ibanez AR is a tad bit thinner than the Ibanez AS 93 as well, but not by much. I like both the Ibanez and my SE , but prefer my SE wide thin neck. Also own an AR 300 in a gold top, so the AR325 is up for sale to help with the purchase of another PRS I have on order. And I am eyeing more PRS guitars with the wide thin neck profile.

Played an SE245 the other day, and although I did not mind the thicker neck profile, I still prefer the wide thin.

Thanks for the note and for the comparisons. They are very helpful. Really appreciate it.
 
I had a Ibanez semi-hollow it was a wonderful guitar. The neck shap was almost identical to the wide/fat on my SE hollowbody II. That said I like the wide thin better. But I’ve gotten used to the wide/fat.
 
I had a Ibanez semi-hollow it was a wonderful guitar. The neck shap was almost identical to the wide/fat on my SE hollowbody II. That said I like the wide thin better. But I’ve gotten used to the wide/fat.

Thanks for the note and for the comparison. Much appreciated.
 
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