MichaelW
Well-known member
Well I fell pretty hard this year with the Black Friday sales.
I wound up buying 3 guitars and 3 sets of pickups. (not counting any of the ones I've already posted about).
Before anyone accuses me of being as affluent as @fig (
) I will say up front that all 3 guitars are sub-$1k guitar (or at least that's what I paid for them)
Some ridiculous deals that I just could not resist.
ALSO this there are a few guitar that are going on the block so it's going to wind up being a zero sum equation at least if not coming out ahead a bit.
I had only planned on buying one new guitar this year for Christmas, but that's not the way it wound up. (Guitar#2 actually showed up today and after a quick inspection it's back in it's gig bag and will be going under the tree, that will be another NGD post in a few weeks)
So this is #1. Totally unplanned and totally an impulse buy.
I have not played a PRS SE guitar in probably over a decade. The last one I owned was when they were still being made in Korea and not since Cortek took over making them. I do recall the first few batches after the shift having some issues with quality so I just was never interested. Well, apparently, whatever initial production issues there may or may not have been, they've been resolved in spades. (More on that later).
The guitar is a PRS SE 245 Standard. This guitar has been totally not on my radar, never had any interest since I already own a Core 594 Mcarty.
I got it off Reverb from the famous "Dave's Guitar Shop" in LaCross, WI. I'd always associated Dave's with uber high end stuff and have spent many hours browsing their site drooling over some of the custom PRS, Gibsons and Fender Custom Shop guitars. I don't think I ever even looked at any of their more pedestrian fare.
This was listed as "used" in "Very Good" condition. That's an understatement. It's essentially brand new, the plastic was still on the cavity covers. Not a mark on it.
Must have been a customer return. No evidence of any play wear at all so it wasn't a demo. I mean it's brand new.
At $425.00 it sounded kinda nuts so I went for it, thinking that I could always return it or flip it and break even at the very least.
So it showed up a couple of days ago. I am absolutely STUNNED at how good this thing is. It was set up perfectly out of the box, there was a little card addressed to me personally from the Tech that set it up that described what strings, blah blah. All this on a $425 guitar, you'd think I'd bought a Gibson Custom Shop or something.
Very impressed with Dave's Guitar Shop.
I'm befuddled and mind boggled at how PRS can be selling these for even the full price they're asking ($679 I think).
Fretwork is immaculate, the Indian rosewood for the fingerboard is gorgeous. The frets on this one was ready to play out of the box, every bit as good as any of my USA made S2 or Core guitars. After a high polish of the frets with my Dremel and some rouge, honestly, I could not tell I was not playing a Core or an S2. It's that good.
You'd have to look pretty hard to see that it's an SE. Like inspect the bird inlays under magnification, you can see it's not as gnats ass perfect as a Core.
Some very slight spots where the binding is not 100% perfect, (the stain is off like 1mm, really anal stuff like that. Even the finish, while polyurethane, is thin and not glopped on like my Korean made SE Tremonti single cut that I owned back in the mid-2000's was. I am beyond impressed with the fit, finish and playability of this guitar. I know I keep saying this with every New Cheap Guitar Day post I make hahaha. But it's really amazing what one can get these days for very little money.
From what I can see it looks like a 3pc mahogany body, probably some Asian species, but the grain is very pretty and the stain very well done as is the Mcarty burst.
The neck is a Wide Fat carve, so it's ever so slightly different from the asymmetric carve on my Core 594, but it's definitely one of my favorite PRS neck carves.
The Pattern Standard and Wide Fat and Pattern Vintage (on the 594's) all suit me really well where the "Wide Thin" carves I care less for.
The 245 "S" pickups are vintage output PAF style and sound very nice, although a bit dark for my personal tastes (more on that later).
In fact, really the only negatives I can find to say about the guitar is Paul's insistence on the non-traditional control knob layout. HE thinks it's more intuitive the way the 4 knobs controls are laid out, but I find them to be a bit catty-wampus, and it's going to take a little getting used to for me. I really wish he would have done it the way he did the 594 layouts as on the Core and S2 models.
The 24.5" scale length is also a bit odd, not sure how he wound up there, but I guess he tweaked it a bit on the 24.594 models. From a playing perspective I can't tell the difference between the 24.594 vs the 24.5 vs 24.75 of a Standard Gibson Short scale. It all works for me as I routinely move between 25.5 to 25 on my other PRS's to my 24.75 short scale guitars.
MODS:
Well you know me, I can't leave things alone, so some immediate mods I made are documented below.
This is a shot of it just out of the gig bag.....I really like the new SE headstock aesthetic compared to the older style that were gawdawful fugly (to me) and shouted loudly "I'm a CHEAP GUITAR!!"
The stocking wiring is quite tidy, and they used full sized Alpha pot and even AUDIO TAPER! So good on PRS for that.
First thing I did was "fluff" the frets with a Dremel as mentioned above to a high shine and redid the set up for heavier strings.
The stock strings are 9-42's. I guess because they're targeting beginners? I dunno, but they're way too light for me.
I've been experimenting a bit with these GHS Big Core strings on my short scale guitars. They're 1/2 gauge heavier on the unwound strings and go up to a 48 on the low E. I love the way they feel but not 100% on how they sound. Might be a bit too warm. But I'm still messing with them. Also I had just oiled the fingerboard in this pic and was letting it dry a little bit.
Part of my Black Friday haul was some new pickups that I actually got for guitar #3 (which hasn't arrived yet). But I decided to put them in this one.
I've heard and read a lot about Porter pickups but have never tried them. They were on BF sale on Reverb so I grabbed a set of the PAF's as well as a set of his Filtetrons (they haven't arrived yet either but they're probably going under the tree too, so it will be a future NPD post)
These PAF's are the "plus" version, so slightly overwound. They read 8.43k neck and 9.22k bridge. A bit hotter than what I usually like in a PAF but they sound really good in this guitar. Having said that, these pickups may still wind up going in the guitar they were originally intended for and I may wind up getting some low wind PAF's for this guitar, I think they would sound better since it's a darker guitar to begin with.
The pickup cavities on this 245 are nice and neatly routed.
Electrical components aside from the Alpha pots were standard SE fare. Meaning, functional but not optimal. In fact one of the tone knobs is already a little bit scratchy and the 3 way toggle is extremely stiff and intermittently doesn't switch completely to the neck pickup. So I ordered a Switchcraft toggle that should be here next week sometime and I'll swap that out.
In the meantime, I put in a set of CTS pots. You may (or may not) recall I got a set of Mojotone "Vintage Taper" pots for my LP Junior project that I wound up not using. So I was keen on trying them out, I installed them on the volume positions on this guitar and the tone controls are standard TAOT CTS 500k pots.
I also replaced the input jack with a Switchcraft. After my bum Puretone that I got for my Strat and some offline discussion with @Chuck D. Bones about input jacks I'm going back to the tried and true SwitchCraft jacks. Here you can clearly see why, there's no comparison between the Switchcraft and whatever cheap jack they used that looks like it's destined for failure. (But who knows, maybe it would have been fine). But since I was re-wiring it anyway, it got replaced.
Pot holes had to be reamed out to accept the US size CTS pots.
Ok, here's another niggle, I have no idea what they used for cavity shielding paint but it's.....uhm......high in carbon? I was very tempted to wipe out the cavity with some lacquer thinner and repaint it with the MG Chemical paint I've been using, but I decided to forge ahead (after washing my hands a few times...)
I did 50's wiring, used a .015 Russian PIO cap for the neck and and a .033 for the bridge. This combination seems to work the best for me in dual pickup 4 knob type configurations. Usually on these guitars (My 594, LP Special, Eastman TM185) I pretty much live in the middle position and dial in a blend of the bridge and neck pickups. More bridge for certain sounds, more neck for other sounds. The 50's wiring lends itself well to this. I'm also really liking the "vintage" taper log pots.
I will definitely be using them again for volume controls.
I definitely like the aesthetic with the covered pickups better than the stock Zebra. These are "raw nickel" covers and should age nicely.
Oh and I ordered some PRS lampshade knobs. I actually like them quite a bit, functionally they have some "grip". But they're not here yet.
And the only thing I had in my parts box that fit the CTS pots was some gold speed knobs. So that's what's on there now. (Actually doesn't look bad....)
Continued in next post.....
I wound up buying 3 guitars and 3 sets of pickups. (not counting any of the ones I've already posted about).
Before anyone accuses me of being as affluent as @fig (
) I will say up front that all 3 guitars are sub-$1k guitar (or at least that's what I paid for them)Some ridiculous deals that I just could not resist.
ALSO this there are a few guitar that are going on the block so it's going to wind up being a zero sum equation at least if not coming out ahead a bit.
I had only planned on buying one new guitar this year for Christmas, but that's not the way it wound up. (Guitar#2 actually showed up today and after a quick inspection it's back in it's gig bag and will be going under the tree, that will be another NGD post in a few weeks)
So this is #1. Totally unplanned and totally an impulse buy.
I have not played a PRS SE guitar in probably over a decade. The last one I owned was when they were still being made in Korea and not since Cortek took over making them. I do recall the first few batches after the shift having some issues with quality so I just was never interested. Well, apparently, whatever initial production issues there may or may not have been, they've been resolved in spades. (More on that later).
The guitar is a PRS SE 245 Standard. This guitar has been totally not on my radar, never had any interest since I already own a Core 594 Mcarty.
I got it off Reverb from the famous "Dave's Guitar Shop" in LaCross, WI. I'd always associated Dave's with uber high end stuff and have spent many hours browsing their site drooling over some of the custom PRS, Gibsons and Fender Custom Shop guitars. I don't think I ever even looked at any of their more pedestrian fare.
This was listed as "used" in "Very Good" condition. That's an understatement. It's essentially brand new, the plastic was still on the cavity covers. Not a mark on it.
Must have been a customer return. No evidence of any play wear at all so it wasn't a demo. I mean it's brand new.
At $425.00 it sounded kinda nuts so I went for it, thinking that I could always return it or flip it and break even at the very least.
So it showed up a couple of days ago. I am absolutely STUNNED at how good this thing is. It was set up perfectly out of the box, there was a little card addressed to me personally from the Tech that set it up that described what strings, blah blah. All this on a $425 guitar, you'd think I'd bought a Gibson Custom Shop or something.
Very impressed with Dave's Guitar Shop.
I'm befuddled and mind boggled at how PRS can be selling these for even the full price they're asking ($679 I think).
Fretwork is immaculate, the Indian rosewood for the fingerboard is gorgeous. The frets on this one was ready to play out of the box, every bit as good as any of my USA made S2 or Core guitars. After a high polish of the frets with my Dremel and some rouge, honestly, I could not tell I was not playing a Core or an S2. It's that good.
You'd have to look pretty hard to see that it's an SE. Like inspect the bird inlays under magnification, you can see it's not as gnats ass perfect as a Core.
Some very slight spots where the binding is not 100% perfect, (the stain is off like 1mm, really anal stuff like that. Even the finish, while polyurethane, is thin and not glopped on like my Korean made SE Tremonti single cut that I owned back in the mid-2000's was. I am beyond impressed with the fit, finish and playability of this guitar. I know I keep saying this with every New Cheap Guitar Day post I make hahaha. But it's really amazing what one can get these days for very little money.
From what I can see it looks like a 3pc mahogany body, probably some Asian species, but the grain is very pretty and the stain very well done as is the Mcarty burst.
The neck is a Wide Fat carve, so it's ever so slightly different from the asymmetric carve on my Core 594, but it's definitely one of my favorite PRS neck carves.
The Pattern Standard and Wide Fat and Pattern Vintage (on the 594's) all suit me really well where the "Wide Thin" carves I care less for.
The 245 "S" pickups are vintage output PAF style and sound very nice, although a bit dark for my personal tastes (more on that later).
In fact, really the only negatives I can find to say about the guitar is Paul's insistence on the non-traditional control knob layout. HE thinks it's more intuitive the way the 4 knobs controls are laid out, but I find them to be a bit catty-wampus, and it's going to take a little getting used to for me. I really wish he would have done it the way he did the 594 layouts as on the Core and S2 models.
The 24.5" scale length is also a bit odd, not sure how he wound up there, but I guess he tweaked it a bit on the 24.594 models. From a playing perspective I can't tell the difference between the 24.594 vs the 24.5 vs 24.75 of a Standard Gibson Short scale. It all works for me as I routinely move between 25.5 to 25 on my other PRS's to my 24.75 short scale guitars.
MODS:
Well you know me, I can't leave things alone, so some immediate mods I made are documented below.
This is a shot of it just out of the gig bag.....I really like the new SE headstock aesthetic compared to the older style that were gawdawful fugly (to me) and shouted loudly "I'm a CHEAP GUITAR!!"
The stocking wiring is quite tidy, and they used full sized Alpha pot and even AUDIO TAPER! So good on PRS for that.
First thing I did was "fluff" the frets with a Dremel as mentioned above to a high shine and redid the set up for heavier strings.
The stock strings are 9-42's. I guess because they're targeting beginners? I dunno, but they're way too light for me.
I've been experimenting a bit with these GHS Big Core strings on my short scale guitars. They're 1/2 gauge heavier on the unwound strings and go up to a 48 on the low E. I love the way they feel but not 100% on how they sound. Might be a bit too warm. But I'm still messing with them. Also I had just oiled the fingerboard in this pic and was letting it dry a little bit.
Part of my Black Friday haul was some new pickups that I actually got for guitar #3 (which hasn't arrived yet). But I decided to put them in this one.
I've heard and read a lot about Porter pickups but have never tried them. They were on BF sale on Reverb so I grabbed a set of the PAF's as well as a set of his Filtetrons (they haven't arrived yet either but they're probably going under the tree too, so it will be a future NPD post)
These PAF's are the "plus" version, so slightly overwound. They read 8.43k neck and 9.22k bridge. A bit hotter than what I usually like in a PAF but they sound really good in this guitar. Having said that, these pickups may still wind up going in the guitar they were originally intended for and I may wind up getting some low wind PAF's for this guitar, I think they would sound better since it's a darker guitar to begin with.
The pickup cavities on this 245 are nice and neatly routed.
Electrical components aside from the Alpha pots were standard SE fare. Meaning, functional but not optimal. In fact one of the tone knobs is already a little bit scratchy and the 3 way toggle is extremely stiff and intermittently doesn't switch completely to the neck pickup. So I ordered a Switchcraft toggle that should be here next week sometime and I'll swap that out.
In the meantime, I put in a set of CTS pots. You may (or may not) recall I got a set of Mojotone "Vintage Taper" pots for my LP Junior project that I wound up not using. So I was keen on trying them out, I installed them on the volume positions on this guitar and the tone controls are standard TAOT CTS 500k pots.
I also replaced the input jack with a Switchcraft. After my bum Puretone that I got for my Strat and some offline discussion with @Chuck D. Bones about input jacks I'm going back to the tried and true SwitchCraft jacks. Here you can clearly see why, there's no comparison between the Switchcraft and whatever cheap jack they used that looks like it's destined for failure. (But who knows, maybe it would have been fine). But since I was re-wiring it anyway, it got replaced.
Pot holes had to be reamed out to accept the US size CTS pots.
Ok, here's another niggle, I have no idea what they used for cavity shielding paint but it's.....uhm......high in carbon? I was very tempted to wipe out the cavity with some lacquer thinner and repaint it with the MG Chemical paint I've been using, but I decided to forge ahead (after washing my hands a few times...)
I did 50's wiring, used a .015 Russian PIO cap for the neck and and a .033 for the bridge. This combination seems to work the best for me in dual pickup 4 knob type configurations. Usually on these guitars (My 594, LP Special, Eastman TM185) I pretty much live in the middle position and dial in a blend of the bridge and neck pickups. More bridge for certain sounds, more neck for other sounds. The 50's wiring lends itself well to this. I'm also really liking the "vintage" taper log pots.
I will definitely be using them again for volume controls.
I definitely like the aesthetic with the covered pickups better than the stock Zebra. These are "raw nickel" covers and should age nicely.
Oh and I ordered some PRS lampshade knobs. I actually like them quite a bit, functionally they have some "grip". But they're not here yet.
And the only thing I had in my parts box that fit the CTS pots was some gold speed knobs. So that's what's on there now. (Actually doesn't look bad....)
Continued in next post.....
