Ugh

Yes Warmoth. Highly flamed roasted maple with Indian rosewood board and stainless steel frets. I have Warmoth's 59 roundback profile but it's nothing like the PRS wiidethin on the SE. The standard thin with 1 11/16 nut would be closer going off listed measurements.
It’s closer to the Wide Fat carve, which is why I bought that for my Cabronita Tele build. One piece roasted maple neck/fingerboard with stainless 6100s. It’s glorious! One WT neck is enough for me, but I’ll take all the WF you got!
 
It’s closer to the Wide Fat carve, which is why I bought that for my Cabronita Tele build. One piece roasted maple neck/fingerboard with stainless 6100s. It’s glorious! One WT neck is enough for me, but I’ll take all the WF you got!

Good to know! Haha, always tricky designing things that you can't see/feel beforehand...
 
Good to know! Haha, always tricky designing things that you can't see/feel beforehand...
It also SO subjective. One man’s panacea is another man’s poo on a stick! Seriously, the big frets, in stainless, on that smooth neck is unbelievably great. Like the equation on the DGT, my Catalpa Cab is a sum-of-its-parts guitar. And to be perfectly honest, it could eventually be the best guitar I own...and I’ve got a couple really good ones.
 
Some people enjoy “fighting” the guitar, and even say it’s part of what they like about it. I don’t get that, but who am I to say it doesn’t work for them? Personally, I love the way the PRS guitars play, and the others (including a great sounding but Tele-playing Tele) rarely get off their hangers. To each their own… something for everyone!
Saw a recent interview with Joe Satriani where he said he keeps going back to some prototype of a signature model of his because it was a quickly put together thing to show what it would look like and it plays like a tank, fights him all the way and consequently it challenges him to play differently than he normally would.

I'm with you, I don't get it but his normal is "virtuoso" and mine is "trash" so we're starting from a different baseline level here.
 
I'm certainly comfortable with PRS. Here are the ones that have remained keepers for me. If I don't gig it, I don't keep it.



But the Telecaster is the best guitar design ever to me. The right ones can do jazz to funk to rock to R&B to country. I still LOVE the 3 barrel bridges, but they have to be able to intonate. I and I like the hand cut to reduce neck heel. And I love SS frets. So Fender is out. I like and use Suhr, Kirn, Protocaster and 4 of my own builds. No Fender for me anymore---I'll take an optimized T type any day over the F brand. I know what I like, and these guitars play as well as my PRS.

 
Some people enjoy “fighting” the guitar, and even say it’s part of what they like about it. I don’t get that,
100% on the same page with this. I like guitars that feel great and play easy. And now that the arthritis is taking over my left hand, I have NO tolerance for bad playing guitars. Heck, my Taylor 614 is a great playing acoustic, but I haven't played it in 2 years and probably won't play it again until I get it down to at least 11s. Can't STAND this big strings anymore, even on a guitar that plays that well.
 
Saw a recent interview with Joe Satriani where he said he keeps going back to some prototype of a signature model of his because it was a quickly put together thing to show what it would look like and it plays like a tank, fights him all the way and consequently it challenges him to play differently than he normally would.

I'm with you, I don't get it but his normal is "virtuoso" and mine is "trash" so we're starting from a different baseline level here.

This is an interesting take. What I am loving about this SE Custom is that, in a similar-but-different fashion to Joe's insight, it allows me to play exactly how I want to. After 20 years of fighting a Strat, it's pretty incredible to be on an instrument that works WITH me rather than against me.
 
This is an interesting take. What I am loving about this SE Custom is that, in a similar-but-different fashion to Joe's insight, it allows me to play exactly how I want to. After 20 years of fighting a Strat, it's pretty incredible to be on an instrument that works WITH me rather than against me.
Here's the actual comment he made, it was the third prototype, not the first, and his point is that it's hard to play so it restrains him from playing too many notes, makes him more selective. Playing too fast is not my problem but to each his own. It's working for him, he basically says it's his #1 for recording now.

Relevant comment starts at 7mins 43 seconds.

 
Here's the actual comment he made, it was the third prototype, not the first, and his point is that it's hard to play so it restrains him from playing too many notes, makes him more selective. Playing too fast is not my problem but to each his own. It's working for him, he basically says it's his #1 for recording now.

Relevant comment starts at 7mins 43 seconds.

Haha yes, playing too fast is certainly not everyone's problem :)

It's similar to the idea of singing your solos before playing them. Makes you think more melodically and less guitar-ey.
 
Some people enjoy “fighting” the guitar, and even say it’s part of what they like about it. I don’t get that, but who am I to say it doesn’t work for them? Personally, I love the way the PRS guitars play, and the others (including a great sounding but Tele-playing Tele) rarely get off their hangers. To each their own… something for everyone!
I never understood the argument about liking having to fight the guitar. To me, its working too hard to get the same thing out. When I first started, I had my Squier Strat, strung it with 13's, and tried to be SRV. I gave that up after a few years once I realized I was making things too hard on myself and really effing up my fingers. My guess would be it probably comes from having played poorly set-up instruments and just becoming used to that feel. If you don't get that fight, you never gel with the guitar.

As far as Teles go, I have a special place in my heart for them pretty much only because of Roy Buchanan. I never gelled with any I've played. I love the look of them, especially the old butterscotch color, but playing them feels so clunky and unoptimized.
 
Here's the actual comment he made, it was the third prototype, not the first, and his point is that it's hard to play so it restrains him from playing too many notes, makes him more selective. Playing too fast is not my problem but to each his own. It's working for him, he basically says it's his #1 for recording now.


Joe could stand to play a few extra notes. Honestly, as happens with ALL musicians, Joe lost has fastball a long time ago. You have to go back almost 20 years to Strange Beautiful Music for the last really good Satch record. Really great interview though.
 
I've been playing for 20 years and have always been "pretty good". But the SE Custom 24 I picked up last year has really elevated my playing. I'm flying all over the fretboard, playing stuff I've only dreamed of, and writing music like crazy because the instrument is no longer in my way.

The flip side is that I'm super annoyed by other guitars that don't have all of these features: 24 frets, amazing upper fret access, small & smooth frets, fretboard binding for no fret sprout, a neck that I can play for hours sitting/standing/thumb over/thumb on back/side thumb, give me tons of useable SC and HB sounds instantly, melts into my body, holds tune like a monster, and sounds great doing everything is so hard to justify owning/pursuing/playing.

Case in point. I've been on a Telecaster/maple fretboard kick lately. Playing them, shopping for them, researching them. I've played probably 20 and brought home two in the last 8 months because I love the mystique and the history and want to get to know one really well. But dang, they are not comfortable. Upper fret access sucks. The neck heel is clunky. The body is rigid. Playing position feels unnatural. The bridges either don't intonate well, or the saddles move all over the place, or they are so high-mass that they compromise the guitar's spanky twang. There's just so many compromises, and I've been so spoiled by my last year of playing the SE Custom 24 that I'm having a hard time viewing them as more than an academic study.

Ugh. Thanks, Paul.

Well said.
 
BINGO! I use that automotive analogy all the time to describe the Custom 24.
I've been telling people playing a PRS is like driving a silk Ferrari! Very smooth and very fast!!! Unfortunately, my "I can't drive 55" problem is the opposite of Sammy's! I just can't get up to that speed, even with my silk Ferraris!
 
I never understood the argument about liking having to fight the guitar. To me, its working too hard to get the same thing out. When I first started, I had my Squier Strat, strung it with 13's, and tried to be SRV. I gave that up after a few years once I realized I was making things too hard on myself and really effing up my fingers. My guess would be it probably comes from having played poorly set-up instruments and just becoming used to that feel. If you don't get that fight, you never gel with the guitar.

As far as Teles go, I have a special place in my heart for them pretty much only because of Roy Buchanan. I never gelled with any I've played. I love the look of them, especially the old butterscotch color, but playing them feels so clunky and unoptimized.

I kinda get the appeal of fighting a guitar - it's a style, or an approach. Like I said, I did 20 years on a Strat until last year when I started branching out into other electric guitars. The Strat and I fought all the time. Nowadays I've got these couple of Teles that respond well to getting beaten on, and it's fun... the SE Custom that I started this thread to rave about simply does not respond well to intense right hand string smacking, while the Teles seem to sound better. Ah well. Different strengths. But I agree as far as fighting the guitar not being a fun thing to do every single time I pick up a guitar.
 
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