For me at least, these are big reasons why PRS imports slay epi and all the others.
1-Actual maple cap for tone. The others use veneer atop carved mahogany. SE uses veneer for only looks, as theres a real maple cap underneath for tonal reasons.
2-One piece neck. All the rest that have the gibson style tilt back head avoid using a larger costlier block of wood by splinting a separate piece for the headstock. For me thats huge. Hate those spliced necks
3-of those using trems, the block is steel. I have yet to see any import fender with a steel block.
There are others like the pots and switches that are a cut above and tuners that are very high ratio making tuning even easier and better than i've ever had with anything including sperzels and other aftermarket supposedly high quality stuff. Not to mention fret work that rivals or betters a lot of USA stuff including pretty much every LP i looked at when i happened upon the santana that changed me. But those 3 things listed above to me are what really define the difference between an import thats in the same league as the big boys and those that only look like they are because they cannot be upgraded like tuners and such. Well, maybe somehow the block could but i assume it's proprietary to the PRS trem plate so probably not. Luckily we don't need to.
Maybe some of the SE's don't share all these qualities, but i think they do. Certainly most do. I feel PRS SE's easily represent the #1 best bang for the buck available today. :top:
1-Actual maple cap for tone. The others use veneer atop carved mahogany. SE uses veneer for only looks, as theres a real maple cap underneath for tonal reasons.
2-One piece neck. All the rest that have the gibson style tilt back head avoid using a larger costlier block of wood by splinting a separate piece for the headstock. For me thats huge. Hate those spliced necks
3-of those using trems, the block is steel. I have yet to see any import fender with a steel block.
There are others like the pots and switches that are a cut above and tuners that are very high ratio making tuning even easier and better than i've ever had with anything including sperzels and other aftermarket supposedly high quality stuff. Not to mention fret work that rivals or betters a lot of USA stuff including pretty much every LP i looked at when i happened upon the santana that changed me. But those 3 things listed above to me are what really define the difference between an import thats in the same league as the big boys and those that only look like they are because they cannot be upgraded like tuners and such. Well, maybe somehow the block could but i assume it's proprietary to the PRS trem plate so probably not. Luckily we don't need to.
Maybe some of the SE's don't share all these qualities, but i think they do. Certainly most do. I feel PRS SE's easily represent the #1 best bang for the buck available today. :top: