PRS SE standard

Ted

I was looking for something more expensive but needs must.

I wondered what people thought of this one. It £475 new from Andertons. I really should try it out before buying but it would be good to get people's opinions - it certainly looks great but obviously stupid to be sold on this alone.

I am mainly interested in home composition and recording - with the occasional (amateur) gigging. I need something versatile that can play all genres. Ideally reasonably well made although sound is more important.

darthed1981

I've tried one, they are great pretty much across the board.

You looking at the blue doublecut?

Funkfingers

Ted said:

I really should try it out before buying but it would be good to get people's opinions

My opinion is that you should go and try one out before buying.

Build quality on SE models is good but corners have been cut to keep the price manageable. You have to decide whether the neck profile suits your hand.

abw1989

I had a Tremonti SE which was fantastic, I only sold it to move up the PRS ladder to hollowbody S2. It was very comfortable and easy to play. Also very versatile in what you could get out of it.

As above, you should always try and get your hands on one before you make a choice, but if buying online, GAK have a few SE Standards at less than £400 currently....

https://www.gak.co.uk/Results?q=PRS SE Standard

Alnico

I can't comment on the standard model but my SE Santana Special is an amazing guitar.
It's was £350 a couple of Black Friday's ago and it's stunning quality. 

The nut was way too high out of the box but a good, full set up cures that. 

Pickups, electronics are great quality and the fretwork is frankly stunning.
Finish is spot on (Antique White) and hardware is really nice quality too.

darthed1981

Based on the Chapman I tried and the new SE Standard I tried the Indonesian factory that produces both is pretty excellent.

Ted

Thanks for all the opinions. I wondered if there was a significant difference between the SE standard and the SE Custom in terms of sound to justify the £250 premium

darthed1981

Ted said:

Thanks for all the opinions. I wondered if there was a significant difference between the SE standard and the SE Custom in terms of sound to justify the £250 premium

I tried both when I bought my SE Custom.  I very nearly bought the Standard but some idiot had dinked it in the shop, so I tried one of the customs,

The build is very close in quality, I didn't notice any flaws on the Standard at all, and factory setup was similar, though if anything the Custom was a bit more playable out of the box (and was even better when I got it home and cleaned and re-strung etc).  They are made by WMI in Korea (and proudly proclaim so on the back) and the quality they produce is superb.  However, as I said above, the Indonesian factory that makes the standards is clearly very good.

Sound-wise, I was plugged into a Blackstar HT5 and found the Custom to have fuller and smoother sounding pickups.  In fact I'd say the pickups on the Custom were excellent, but there was literally nothing wrong with the Standard ones either, it sounded great.

In all honesty, both are excellent guitars and assuming you like PRS styling and so on I'd try them and see which is best for you.  If blind-buying I doubt you would be disappointed with the standard, £400-£500 gets you a superb guitar these days.

The Customs also have slightly flamed tops instead of the plain standard tops.  Some people like flame, some don't.  I do, so I considered that a plus on the SE Custom, but the Standard does look spanking.

It isn't important to me, but it may be to others, but literally nobody comments on them, I've posted an NGD for my SE Custom and taken it to the Woking jam and the universal reaction is "meh".  This does't matter to me, I bought it for me not anyone else, but if you want to turn heads a PRS SE will typically not do it!

Riviera

It's worth trying the older SE models which have the 'Wide-Fat neck profile' as opposed to the newer SE's which have the 'Wide-Thin' neck profile (SE Santana models excluded). The old neck profile isn't really 'Wide-Fat' as such it's just slightly chunkier. 

I prefer the older neck profile as it's closest to the neck profile on the more premium PRS models and it makes the SE feel more like a Les Paul with a chunkier neck. 

Check out some preowned PRS SE Custom 22's on Ebay, gumtree etc if you're interested. You can pick them up from £300 second hand and you may prefer them. 

As for the current SE models I have the PRS Santana with the whammy and it's great.

I think when you buy them second hand for £300ish the PRS SE models are the best affordable guitars out there

alexmitchell17

I haven't tried the standard but the SE custom is superb, feature wise I believe they're quite similar so the standard is probably decent too. From what I've read you rarely get a bad PRS!

I was lucky to get my custom 24 when andertons were selling them off cheap earlier in the year, think I paid £549 for the 2017 model and I'm really pleased with it

Ted

Thanks again for the replies. Does anyone know if there is a significant difference in sound quality between the more expensive USA made S2 models and the East Asian SE models?

Funkfingers

Sound is difficult to describe in words. Instead, try the following analogy.

At the time of this posting, amongst other ranges, Fender offers the Standard (MIM), the American Pro and the American Special. In crude terms, the American Special is the "import" hardware of the Standard range on the woodwork of the American Pro range.

The Paul Reed Smith S2 is their equivalent of the Fender American Special. "Import" hardware and pickups on woods good enough to go into a Core model. Some production line process cost cutting is in evidence. 

darthed1981

Ted said:

Thanks again for the replies. Does anyone know if there is a significant difference in sound quality between the more expensive USA made S2 models and the East Asian SE models?

You would have to define significant, as you said yourself earlier, do the differences between the Standard and Custom justify the price difference?  Possibly, depends on what you want!

I will say though, I popped in PMT earlier and they had the Standard 24 doublecut in Blue and it looks the absolute dogs balls it's a very, very pretty guitar.

I own the SE Custom and I almost bought it because I thought it looked gorgeous.

So, first test for me is always walk along the rows of guitars and think what makes you go "wow nice" then try it!

You got a good local guitar shop that stocks PRS?

thumpingrug

Absolute seem to have a few at £399.

https://www.absolutemusic.co.uk/prs-se-standard-24-electric-guitar-2018-model-vintage-cherry.html

Have to say Im quite tempted to pop over there tomorrow and have a play.

Ted

Thanks for all the advice.  I have just bought a used PRS S2 Custom from Guitar Guitar.
link https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/px180422326431004--prs-s2-custom-24-tobacco-sunburst-pre-owned

750 was quite a lot more than i wanted to spend but it seemed to be quite a good price for a £1500 instrument, although it has got a couple of dings.
No I did not play it first as I was worried it be gone by next week, and I made the the maybe niave assumption that Guitar Guitar would not sell shoddy goods.

darthed1981

Sounds lovely congratulations

thumpingrug

Please post a detailed review once you have got your hands on it.

bazxkr

looks a real beauty & a USA jobby at that...congrats.....great pc of GAS

Don't blame you for pulling the trigger straight away, I've lost several guitars because I didn't jump straight in and snag it