NGD ...Birds and a trem. Bye bye comfort zone!

Legionreturns

As an unashamedly Les Paul guy, I've only briefly dabbled in the world of PRS before, and that was a 245 soap bar, so basically a Lester. 

Fear not, I haven't splashed out silly money on a wall ornament. In fact, this is to become my main session guitar for me to use while teaching kids. 

I generally don't use amps, I tend to go straight through one of my zoom boxes into the PA, and so I wanted a more versatile guitar than the one I'm currently using. 

Enter a pristine, home use only, SE Custom 24 for the bargainous price of £275...minus another 15% because of an Ebay xmas code, and it's a total steal at £233 and a few pennies. 

Picking it up on Saturday, so these aren't my pics yet...more to follow. Nice quilt top though.

Now, wtf does one do with a trem? Every one I've had before has been garbage but I'm led to believe these are a little better...

thegummy

I'll bet you that the thing you find weirdest about it is the 24 fret neck rather than the trem.

The first few frets will seem miles away lol

Legionreturns

thegummy said:

I'll bet you that the thing you find weirdest about it is the 24 fret neck rather than the trem.

The first few frets will seem miles away lol

I play a Jag bass...I think I'll be ok! 

Funkfingers

Legionreturns said:

Now, wtf does one do with a trem? Every one I've had before has been garbage but I'm led to believe these are a little better...

Those Korean SE vibratos work reasonably well if set up correctly. Better tuners and well-shaped nut slots would improve tuning stability.

Elsewhere, professional quality control electronics parts improve matters. G&B-sourced pickups suit some models and not others.

Difficult to make any suggestions for the pickup selector switch without knowing what type comes as stock and what improvements you might wish to affect.

clarkefan

I don't know FA about PRS but that sounds like an unbelievable price, congrats!

Blaendulais

I had an SE Marsden and an SE Tremonti.  The trem on the Tremonti was superb and neither ever had tuning issues.  I reckon the tuners on these are more than OK.  

grungebob

The trem will work fine, just lube the nut or slightly widen first and it’ll be reet. 

thegummy

Funkfingers said:

Legionreturns said:

Now, wtf does one do with a trem? Every one I've had before has been garbage but I'm led to believe these are a little better...

Those Korean SE vibratos work reasonably well if set up correctly. Better tuners and well-shaped nut slots would improve tuning stability.

Elsewhere, professional quality control electronics parts improve matters. G&B-sourced pickups suit some models and not others.

Difficult to make any suggestions for the pickup selector switch without knowing what type comes as stock and what improvements you might wish to affect.

The bridge pickup on my SE custom 24 is one of my favourite pickups I've used, defo wouldn't change it for anything.

Funkfingers

thegummy said:

The bridge pickup on my SE custom 24 is one of my favourite pickups I've used, defo wouldn't change it for anything.

l feel the same way about the G&B pickups on my S2 Vela. They suit it perfectly.

Elsewhere, for my tastes, some G&B-sourced P90s and humbuckers do not suit their host guitars. I usually replace them with American pickups. 

Henrytwang

I’ve become confused by PRS SE guitars. They seem to have two different model lines these days, one line made in Korea and the other cheaper guitars made in Indonesia. I’ve owned  few Korean ones over the years and still have a Single Cut with a tremolo. All have been well made instruments but I’ve never really bonded with them, don’t really know why.

grungebob

SE standards are Indonesia the rest are Korean I think. 

Paul7926

Sounds like a great price. Well done.

Fishboy7

Nice!

thegummy

grungebob said:

SE standards are Indonesia the rest are Korean I think. 

That's it - if it's called SE Standard, it's made in Indonesia and is stripped down and cheaper compared to if it's just SE without the "Standard".

Jota

Always love how the 17th fret looks like this:

AlexO

Is this the trainee dentist model? 

thegummy

AlexO said:

Is this the trainee dentist model? 

Hygienist

Legionreturns

Picked it up tonight. Finish is much nicer in the flesh than the photos I had before. 







Saddles need dropping a tad, and I don't have a mini hex with me so that will have to wait. Action is pretty high at the upper frets. I'll get that sorted tomorrow. 

thegummy

Legionreturns said:

Picked it up tonight. Finish is much nicer in the flesh than the photos I had before. 

Saddles need dropping a tad, and I don't have a mini hex with me so that will have to wait. Action is pretty high at the upper frets. I'll get that sorted tomorrow. 

How do you like the HFS bridge pickup?

Legionreturns

thegummy said:

Legionreturns said:

Picked it up tonight. Finish is much nicer in the flesh than the photos I had before. 

Saddles need dropping a tad, and I don't have a mini hex with me so that will have to wait. Action is pretty high at the upper frets. I'll get that sorted tomorrow. 

How do you like the HFS bridge pickup?

Sounds great, although I've not played it in anger yet, as I need to get the action sorted before I can do anything interesting on it. Guy selling it either likes really high action or didn't know how to fix it. I'm talking 3mm+ above about the 9th. 

thegummy

Legionreturns said:

thegummy said:

Legionreturns said:

Picked it up tonight. Finish is much nicer in the flesh than the photos I had before. 

Saddles need dropping a tad, and I don't have a mini hex with me so that will have to wait. Action is pretty high at the upper frets. I'll get that sorted tomorrow. 

How do you like the HFS bridge pickup?

Sounds great, although I've not played it in anger yet, as I need to get the action sorted before I can do anything interesting on it. Guy selling it either likes really high action or didn't know how to fix it. I'm talking 3mm+ above about the 9th. 

I love that pickup

If you have any other Asian guitars, see if their allen key works on the saddles