Trying to choose between three SE models

[Corwin1968]

I love the sound of the SE 245 "S" pickups but not the thick necks that all of the SE's with 245's have.

I was able to handle an SE Custom 22 Semi-Hollow and love the feel of the body and especially the thin neck. The light weight was nice, but not a critical factor.

I think I'm going to buy either an SE Standard 24 or an SE Custom 24 and down the line, if I don't like the pickups (The 85/15's are not my favorite based on many videos I've watched), upgrading to better ones.

I have three big questions:

1) Will the SE Standard and Custom 24 feel the same as the SE Custom 22 Semi-Hollow? I realize the difference in fret numbers might make a small impact, but I'm mainly talking body shape, thickness and neck thickness.

2) Would I be losing anything, especially tone-wise, by going with the all mahogany Standard instead of the maple topped Custom? Flamed maple is cool, but I'm fine with the looks of the Standard. I would only consider the upgrade if there would be a significant tonal difference.

3) In photos, the Custom appears to have an unpainted neck and the Standard has a painted one. Will they feel the same as far as the "slick vs sticky" aspect? Some guitars I've tried had really sticky feeling necks and some were super slick, including two I owned that were "satin". I can't stand the sticky feeling and love the "satin".

Thanks for any input and I look forward to owning my first PRS!

 

[Carlost]

These models all have the same "thin" neck carve with the same gloss finish, so they should all feel basically the same. They're also the same scale length, so the first 22 frets are spread out the same – the 24's just extend the fretboard by 2 (and place the heel further into the body).

On certain colors, PRS gives the maple neck a clear/natural finish for contrast, but it's the same texture. A few artist signature models have a satin neck finish, but you don't want a Zach Myers because the carve is fat.

All-mahogany guitars will sound different from maple-topped guitars. Usually, they'll deliver more lower-mid punch, with less presence and shimmer. Which you prefer, for the music you play, is really subjective. Ideally, try them out in (and buy from) a store that stocks both.

 

[Proteus]

Carlost is right on all counts.

I'm at the tail end of a manic rampage through the entire SE line, sampling guitars from 2010 to 2022, and the list of models I haven't had is much shorter than the list of those I have.

I don't have your sensitivity to neck dimensions: I can be happy with any of them, though the wide fat might be (just barely) my favorite. I'm also agnostic to back-of-the-neck treatment: I kinda like the looks of the satinized, but honestly don't feel a significant difference by comparison to the gloss. (But if that's an issue, it's dead easy to satinize a neck, takes about 10 minutes - maybe 3 minutes longer if you take the time to mask off at the top and the bottom to keep a crisp line that looks like the factory job.)

Like you, I'm good with the 245 pickups; I think they perfectly complement the guitars they come in, which intentionally hoe rows in the Les Paul field (most of which have the wide fat neck you don't like).

But if the purpose is to have a PRS that exudes PRSness, I find it hard to beat the 85/15s - especially when you remember there's a tone control to tame the highs when necessary, and that their gaininess can be moderated both with the volume knob and by backing off input gain on your amp or modeler. (Knobs Can Be Useful seems like a no-brainer, but coming from [nearly any other brand], I've been used to usually leaving all the knobs all the way up. PRS SEs have taught me to USE those suckers - maybe because on these guitars there's both treble and gain headroom to spare, and the controls work so well.)

While I can hear why some players find the 85/15s too hot, too bright, too clangy, too muddy (I've heard it said), for my taste they're a surprisingly effective combination of articulate and hot (qualities that don't always come together), without being as antiseptically hi-fi and hard as active pickups. I like them so well I've been buying pulls on Reverb, so I can put them in other guitars. But I did have to learn how to wrangle them, which took some quality time with the guitars. I doubt I would have figured it out in the store.

Also, if you've been trying new SEs, you've just heard PRS's own 9-42 strings (which are inherently bright) on the guitars. Going to 10s fattens things up, and using pure nickel (rather than nickel-steel) strings also warms up the pickups, pushing them slightly toward the overall spectrum of 245s.

I guess I'm saying not to write off the 85/15s before getting down in the weeds with them.
_____

Standard or Custom? Again, I like Carlost's summary:

All-mahogany guitars will sound different from maple-topped guitars. Usually, they'll deliver more lower-mid punch, with less presence and shimmer.

I've had a couple Standard 24s and compared them obsessively, back and forth, with new installations of the same strings, for hours, with several Custom 24s. I like both. In the end, at the 25" scale, I find I prefer maple-over-mahogany - and I say this as someone with a verifiable fetish for all-mahogany guitars. If I need the Custom to sound a little less bright, I can dial back that characteristic presence and shimmer with the tone knob, and though I can't bring up the lower-mid punch (without a surgical EQ and great ears), the Custom can sound enough like the Standard to make me happy. But it's harder to add the presence and shimmer to the Standard.

So my last Standard 24 is for sale (a gorgeous trans red 2021, in as-new condition, if you're shopping).

(BUT. That doesn't put me out of the all-mahogany PRS domain: I have Starla (with its own unique pickups) and a Santana Standard from several years ago that work for me - the Santana, probably thanks to the shorter 24.5" scale which is so Les Paul Special; the Starla, maybe because its pickups marry differently with the singlecut 25" scale than do the 85/15s in the doublecut Standard.)

Notwithstanding all of the above, my favorite SEs (aside from the 277 baritone and the Hollowbody Standard, which aren't contenders in your derby) are the Custom 22 Semi, Paul's Guitar (whose pickups are superb, my favorite among all the SE ups), and the Santana. (All in no particular order.) Of those, the Santana and Paul's Guitar have the wide fat.

Which leaves you with the CU22 Semi as a probable first PRS, though I think both the 22 Semi and the Standard 24 have properties which moderate the inherent brightness of the 85/15s - in one, the semi-hollow construction and shorter fret count; in the other, the all-mahogany build. Then it's a choice between 22 and 24 frets. Personally, I usually prefer 22; I rarely need the top 2 wheedly frets, but mostly because I prefer the fatter neck pickup tone of a 22. But sometimes, for some purposes, the neck and center-position tones of the 24 are uniquely just right.

I submit that the fret count ought to play a significant role in your choice (unless you only use the bridge pickup). If you've had 24-fret guitars, know what that's about and either prefer it or are agnostic, then go-man-go. If you haven't had 24-fret experience, it would be good if you could compare two guitars that are identical except for fret count - so, a Custom 24 to a Custom 22.

But in the end, if you exercise any due diligence at all to avoid a blazingly obvious mismatch (and this thread constitutes diligence), your first SE isn't going to be your last. I wouldn't have believed it a year ago, but they're all pretty durn seductive. You could end up with a whole rack full.

 

[Corwin1968]

Thanks for the in-depth responses!! Some great information here.

This post seemed to take several days to be approved and appear on the website and in the meantime, I received an SE Custom 24 in Black Gold Sunburst on Friday.

First, the guitar feels as good as the semi-hollow I tried at Guitar Center and it's the first guitar (the third electric I've owned) that excites me to play it.

I've spent some time playing with the EQ on my amp and gotten to a pretty good place with the pickups. I would prefer to have a guitar with that tone when all EQ's are at 12:00, but it's not a big deal.

I would like to find out if the fat neck would really be problematic for me, but to do that, I would need to buy a guitar. It's possible with a little time to get used to it, that it would be fine. The painted neck feels fantastic, as far as how smooth and slick the back is.

Also, you are right!! I'm already planning my next PRS! Having experienced this guitar compared to others, I'm sold on PRS quality. IF I were to get something else in the next year or so, it would be the S2 McCarty Thinline.

If I were to change to 10's, would the truss rod likely need adjustment?

Also, I've never played a guitar that responded to such a light touch with the fretting hand. Is that mostly the lighter strings or the really good set-up?

 

[Broseph]

I consider a big difference between all ‘hog and maple tops. Typically full hogs have a good mid range punch. I enjoy it. I think the thin line 594 is certainly worth a look in the future.

 

[Proteus]

If I were to change to 10's, would the truss rod likely need adjustment?

Possibly. You'd want to give it a couple days to settle in before deciding. The truss rod is one of the great features on a PRS; it generally turns easily either way, and is so effective just a slight bump makes the difference. (And it's handy that it takes just one screw to get the cover off!)

The guitars are also sensitive to climatic conditions; my guitars have been coming to southern Indiana from all over the country (well, one from Australia), and after they acclimate, I frequently need to give a little twist. Paul says the neck is supposed to be as close to dead straight as you can get. That's where I start with them, and it's right for most. As conditions change in swampy southern Indiana, little touches are occasionally needed. I think that's part of the tradeoff to have guitars that are, as you've noticed, so exquisitely sensitive to playing dynamics.

Also, I've never played a guitar that responded to such a light touch with the fretting hand. Is that mostly the lighter strings or the really good set-up?

It's both. I've had 9s, 9.5s, and 10s on the same guitar, and it's equally responsive to all three. Light-touch dynamics are about the same across all gauges, but the heavier you go, the more input it takes to get to the loud end of the dynamics.

I would like to find out if the fat neck would really be problematic for me,

I bet it wouldn't be. It's not that much fatter. And if you're used to acoustics, on only your third electric, I can't imagine you'd have trouble adjusting.

but to do that, I would need to buy a guitar.

You put "but" at the front of that phrase, like it's a problem...

 

[Carlost]

The action on current SE's from Indonesia is amazingly low. That's probably why you're finding the guitar so responsive.

I've just upped 2 SE Custom 22's from 9-gauge strings to 10's. Neither required any truss-rod adjustments. (But both required 1 full clockwise turn on each of the 2 tremolo set screws, to reset the same bridge angle.) No change in playability, and surprisingly little change in tone – but I'm just used to 10's.

PRS' "fat" (vs. "thin") neck carve might make shredding leads a little harder, but it has 2 benefits: (1) For any string gauge, more neck mass gives you more tone. (2) It makes chording less tiring, especially in long sessions. These Cu22's are my first PRSi with a thin neck carve, and I find that here, I can't quickly catch crowded chords (e.g., ø7 with 6th-string root). No problem on my "fat" necks.

BTW, I didn't like these guitars' 85/15 S neck pickup when I got my first Cu 22. The attack sounded too diffuse...but then it changed my whole ear. That soft attack fits beautifully into a mix with other instruments. So I've just swapped my SE 245's stock pickups for 85/15s, and I'm much happier. The 85/15 Treble pickup is the best bridge pickup I've heard from PRS, and adding a nickel-silver cover makes it even sweeter.