NGD: PRS Bernie SE.

TA22GT

I've always liked the spec of these guitars and decided to scratch the itch!

I can see why a lot of people like them as this feel exceptionally good in the hands. It's a new guitar but it immediately feels and plays great.

I think every review I have read has commented about the hardware and electrics being a prime reason to upgrade and I can agree with that too. That said, it plays in tune exceptionally well and sounds really great! The core of the guitar is certainly worth any upgrades.
 
The neck pickup sounds really good and the mix is exceptional for that hollow cluck but the bridge maybe be a candidate for upgrading. I was away from home so had it shipped to where I was staying and it's only now that I have set it up to suit me.
 
I changed the strings to Pyramid Pure nickel roundwounds and the bridge pickup has lot that spikeyness so I will give it a chance.

A new guitar always takes me on a journey and I still love the adventure of tweaking and zoning in on what I want to hear and feel. It's fun!

EDIT: the nut was cut perfectly well but PRS guitars don't come with nut slots. They come with nut Trenches so I just had to file it down to look normal. 

guitars4you

hard to buy a better LP flavoured guitar for that price - no moans from me on such a guitar - enjoy it for many years

Nunogilberto

Nice looking bit of kit...

CasperCaster

They are very, very nice guitars, and would be my choice at their price point. And with a pickup swap they can be exceptional - enjoy!

guitars4you

CasperCaster said:

They are very, very nice guitars, and would be my choice at their price point. And with a pickup swap they can be exceptional - enjoy!

you're just addicted to a soldering iron and a tool box

stonevibe

The PRS SE range has some very well thought out 'giggable' guitars in the range and this is definitely one of the better ones, along with the Tremonti signatures.

Looks great fella, nice top as well!

TA22GT

guitars4you said:

hard to buy a better LP flavoured guitar for that price - no moans from me on such a guitar - enjoy it for many years

Thank you!
I know it's early days but I really like it and the feel is something special for a new guitar. 

TA22GT

Thanks for the kind comments guys! Been playing it for 2 hours now and just about got the pickup heights dialled in. 

It really does have a "feel" to it.

CasperCaster

guitars4you said:

CasperCaster said:

They are very, very nice guitars, and would be my choice at their price point. And with a pickup swap they can be exceptional - enjoy!

you're just addicted to a soldering iron and a tool box

I don't have time for my own projects - @CountryDave keeps me too busy wiring his projects!

CountryDave

It's a stunningly good guitar. Top notch QC and plays real nice. 
Got this in a trade with a mate who had upgraded to a set of SD Whole Lotta Humbuckers with a coil tap. 
Not really a humbucker player but this sounds huge. 

thegummy

TA22GT said:

I've always liked the spec of these guitars and decided to scratch the itch!

I can see why a lot of people like them as this feel exceptionally good in the hands. It's a new guitar but it immediately feels and plays great.

I think every review I have read has commented about the hardware and electrics being a prime reason to upgrade and I can agree with that too. That said, it plays in tune exceptionally well and sounds really great! The core of the guitar is certainly worth any upgrades.
 
The neck pickup sounds really good and the mix is exceptional for that hollow cluck but the bridge maybe be a candidate for upgrading. I was away from home so had it shipped to where I was staying and it's only now that I have set it up to suit me.
 
I changed the strings to Pyramid Pure nickel roundwounds and the bridge pickup has lot that spikeyness so I will give it a chance.

A new guitar always takes me on a journey and I still love the adventure of tweaking and zoning in on what I want to hear and feel. It's fun!

EDIT: the nut was cut perfectly well but PRS guitars don't come with nut slots. They come with nut Trenches so I just had to file it down to look normal. 

lol @ the "trenches"

Congrats on the guitar, that is a beauty!

How is the intonation on those non-adjustable bridges? Do you have to use the same gauge string that came stock in order for it to intonate?

TA22GT

thegummy said:

TA22GT said:

I've always liked the spec of these guitars and decided to scratch the itch!

I can see why a lot of people like them as this feel exceptionally good in the hands. It's a new guitar but it immediately feels and plays great.

I think every review I have read has commented about the hardware and electrics being a prime reason to upgrade and I can agree with that too. That said, it plays in tune exceptionally well and sounds really great! The core of the guitar is certainly worth any upgrades.
 
The neck pickup sounds really good and the mix is exceptional for that hollow cluck but the bridge maybe be a candidate for upgrading. I was away from home so had it shipped to where I was staying and it's only now that I have set it up to suit me.
 
I changed the strings to Pyramid Pure nickel roundwounds and the bridge pickup has lot that spikeyness so I will give it a chance.

A new guitar always takes me on a journey and I still love the adventure of tweaking and zoning in on what I want to hear and feel. It's fun!

EDIT: the nut was cut perfectly well but PRS guitars don't come with nut slots. They come with nut Trenches so I just had to file it down to look normal. 

lol @ the "trenches"

Congrats on the guitar, that is a beauty!

How is the intonation on those non-adjustable bridges? Do you have to use the same gauge string that came stock in order for it to intonate?

Hi Gummy,
the guitar was shipped to an address I was staying at and so I didn't have any tech tools with me but I did check the intonation with the Daddario strings it came with. It was very close but the low E was flat at the octave.
When I got back home I set it up with 10-46 Pyramids and the intonation is almost spot on perfect without any adjustment. The G string is very, very slightly sharp but not audibly so. Quite impressed!

thegummy

TA22GT said:

thegummy said:

TA22GT said:

I've always liked the spec of these guitars and decided to scratch the itch!

I can see why a lot of people like them as this feel exceptionally good in the hands. It's a new guitar but it immediately feels and plays great.

I think every review I have read has commented about the hardware and electrics being a prime reason to upgrade and I can agree with that too. That said, it plays in tune exceptionally well and sounds really great! The core of the guitar is certainly worth any upgrades.
 
The neck pickup sounds really good and the mix is exceptional for that hollow cluck but the bridge maybe be a candidate for upgrading. I was away from home so had it shipped to where I was staying and it's only now that I have set it up to suit me.
 
I changed the strings to Pyramid Pure nickel roundwounds and the bridge pickup has lot that spikeyness so I will give it a chance.

A new guitar always takes me on a journey and I still love the adventure of tweaking and zoning in on what I want to hear and feel. It's fun!

EDIT: the nut was cut perfectly well but PRS guitars don't come with nut slots. They come with nut Trenches so I just had to file it down to look normal. 

lol @ the "trenches"

Congrats on the guitar, that is a beauty!

How is the intonation on those non-adjustable bridges? Do you have to use the same gauge string that came stock in order for it to intonate?

Hi Gummy,
the guitar was shipped to an address I was staying at and so I didn't have any tech tools with me but I did check the intonation with the Daddario strings it came with. It was very close but the low E was flat at the octave.
When I got back home I set it up with 10-46 Pyramids and the intonation is almost spot on perfect without any adjustment. The G string is very, very slightly sharp but not audibly so. Quite impressed!

I looked it up - that model actually comes with 10s stock so that makes sense that it intonated with those.

Most of the SE models come with 9s though and I use 10s so that's what's put me off the ones with that fixed bridge. It couldn't be possible to have it intonate with more than one gauge of strings could it?

TA22GT

@Gummy ;  I've read somewhere that those bridges will intonate with gauges 9 to 11.
The two allen screws do give you some leaway.

Incidentally, I have a Junior with a plain wrap around tailpiece that is the most in tune guitar I own! 

thegummy

TA22GT said:

@Gummy ;  I've read somewhere that those bridges will intonate with gauges 9 to 11.
The two allen screws do give you some leaway.

Incidentally, I have a Junior with a plain wrap around tailpiece that is the most in tune guitar I own! 

Actually that's something that didn't even cross my mind - when adjusting the action at the bridge I have to re-intonate so that would be how to make the slight adjustment necessary for intonating different string gauges - seems so simple now!

TA22GT

I've been playing this guitar almost exclusively and I'm loving it.
  
The quality I like best about it is that when I pick it up I don't ever think "cheaper guitar" because it feels like a really great instrument. It is flawlessly built and yet it's not sterile and has great mojo.  Are all the recent Bernie's like this??

I am keeping the pickups. I play on the bridge 90% of the time and have found a sweet spot with my amp. It's 11.3k output which is way more than I would normally use but by lowering it to 4-mm bass side and 3-mm treble side it has given the guitar its own voice. I see no point in fitting PAF type pickups to make it sound like the PAF guitars I already have!

I have some Kluson machine-heads coming from North West guitars and I think that will be as far as I go because I'm enjoying it for what it is.

guitars4you

TA22GT said:

  
The quality I like best about it is that when I pick it up I don't ever think "cheaper guitar" because it feels like a really great instrument. It is flawlessly built and yet it's not sterile and has great mojo.  Are all the recent Bernie's like this??

generally very consistent as far as PRS are concerned - variations are generally marginal

Guitar_Slinger

Nice, I played one of those a few years ago at The Guitar Show - Marshall had it on their stand as a demonstrator and Bernie did a demo with it on the Saturday. I was tempted by the black one @guitars4you had at this year's show.

thegummy

Just ordered one of these fairly impulsively - still in the "did I really just do that?" period!

Very excited about getting this. Thanks to @CountryDave for giving me an idea/preview what mine might look like once I get the Bare Knuckle Mules in it.

@TA22GT - how you feeling it a week on?

TA22GT

I'm still blown away with mine. Very rarely pick up anything else these days! I hope yours works out for you.

thegummy

TA22GT said:

I'm still blown away with mine. Very rarely pick up anything else these days! I hope yours works out for you.

Cheers bro, getting excited about it. It's being delivered on Monday!