New Guitar Day

[Kap'n]

Broght my Supro Corsica to the local store to go on consignment, and ended up walking out the door with one of these.

Not my pic, but you get the idea.



PRS SE Singlecut Korina. The local guy cut me a nice end of year deal on it. He had a bunch of other SE instruments I was checking out, as well as a Starla, but this thing just put the others to shame. Big, bold sound. A real featherweight, too. My scale says just a hair over six and a half pounds.

I'm pretty impressed by the work on this. Even on this student model, the fretwork is great. The nut is cut very nicely. In fact, when I put my regular 10's on it to replace the 9s that were on it, I had to 'floss' the nut on the E, A, and D strings with the end of the string to get them to sit right. Neck is stable - just had to tweak it a touch with the heavier strings.

[thegeezer]

How did you floss the nut?

[thegeezer]

Oh I see!! duh, nice snag.

[Kap'n]

How did you floss the nut?

Just used the end of the string as a cable saw to ooch the width out a 0.001" or so, so it would sit at the bottom of the slot.

[Mesotech]

Nice score Kap'n! PRS seems to be doing things right these days. Perhaps they always did and I just never noticed.

[Kap'n]

Perhaps they always did and I just never noticed.

You're right. I never really noticed either. Maybe I was distracted by the folks that seemed to gravitate towards them.

This is nice, though. Maybe conjecture on my part, but the 25" scale seems to offset the whole solid mahogany/korina thing, and gives it just enough snap and definition. For a relatively budget axe, this is definitely a solid instrument - not a novelty instrument at all. It also completely goes with my visual aesthetic too - nothing flashy, just nice wood - sort of a Gibson-y take on a blonde telecaster.

[NeoFauve]

Very nice.
I played one shortly after they came out and really liked it. That one and a Tremonti in a natural mahogany finish.

PRS is so overtly known for the bird inlays and the AAAA... tops and the petro-dollar Private Stock stuff that maybe it takes a plain, cleanly executed model to show they make guitars that are just good too.

Looks like fun, Kap'n.

[Kap'n]

Love the sig!

[Mesotech]

I didn't pay much attention to the PRS line mostly because of the artists I saw using them and the "generic" tone associated with those artists. Then I got my Custom CE24 LTD Private Reserve model. It's a very fine instrument, and the 59/09 pickups in it are exceptional, a far cry from the generic sounding Dragon pickups of the stock models. The Nitro finish helped sell me on the guitar as well as the fact that Paul himself had a hand in building the limited run of 200 guitars (mine's number 79 of that run). I find it's a very versatile instrument and I have employed it on nearly every gig since acquiring it.

Your's looks classy in its simplicity, as you said , kind of a cross between a Les Paul and a Telecaster in appearance and functionality.

[DanD]

Nice score!

I've been looking at a white SE SC and the SE One for some time. Snagged a nice LP Jr off the 'bay that was local to me for a song and cured my SE One GAS, but am still enamored with the SE SC.

Now I just saw that MF has Vintage Natural SE SC for $399. The Korina and White, which I like much better, are still $590. But I think I could get used to the Vintage Natural with an extra 2 bills still in my pocket.

How do you like the stock pups and electronics? Will I need to spend my savings on upgrades or is she good to go out of the box (set up issues aside)?

[Kap'n]

Electronics are fine. Full size pots and decent switch. Pickups are OK. Nicely voiced, but not particularly exciting and they don't pick up the subtleties as nicely as a better set.

I'm ordering a pair of Zhangbuckers tomorrow, a Duane in the bridge, and probably a Pagey for the neck. If they're what I'm expecting, I might spring for some pure handwounds for the LP.

As to setup - there was virtually none to do. I tweaked the trussrod a quarter turn, brought down the bass side of the bridge, and adjusted the bass side intonation screw. Fretwork was spot on, and the nut was well cut for nine's, so I just had to widen the grooves a smidge on the wound strings for tens.

Even with pickups, I'll be well under seven bills.

[refin]

Electronics are fine. Full size pots and decent switch. Pickups are OK. Nicely voiced, but not particularly exciting and they don't pick up the subtleties as nicely as a better set.

I'm ordering a pair of Zhangbuckers tomorrow, a Duane in the bridge, and probably a Pagey for the neck. If they're what I'm expecting, I might spring for some pure handwounds for the LP.

As to setup - there was virtually none to do. I tweaked the trussrod a quarter turn, brought down the bass side of the bridge, and adjusted the bass side intonation screw. Fretwork was spot on, and the nut was well cut for nine's, so I just had to widen the grooves a smidge on the wound strings for tens.

Even with pickups, I'll be well under seven bills.

With Zhangbuckers,you won't get what you expect..............you'll get more.

[chuckocaster]

yep, zhang makes some great pups, and is a super guy to boot.