Review: PRS SE 245

Started by lespauled, February 13, 2015, 12:36:08 PM

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lespauled

Title  :  PRS SE 245 Black / PRS SE 245 Tobacco Sunburst




Blurb:  I bought 2 of these guitars.  One was bought during some incredible price match a couple of years ago, and Musicians Friend price matched it from some other website.  I first thought it would just be a deal because of the price and I would simply use it for songs that were usually played on Les Pauls.  But that soon changed after it arrived.  It is an incredible guitar, not just for the money, but in general.  This guitar is well worth the full price, around $650. 

I bought the second one in a trade + cash deal at Guitar Center.  It has a beautiful flamed maple veneer.  These guitars are incredible.  I'd buy another if I found a reason.

If you have not checked out a PRS neck, they are simply incredible.  I watched a documentary about their necks, and it said that they spend as much as 90% of their time on the necks.  I can believe it.  The neck is superb.


Sound : The stock pickups sound very good.  I like a clear sound on the high tones.  I have played several Dimarzios (including Tone Zone, Chopper, etc.) and they always seem to be heavy bottom ended. The stock pickups are definitely more top heavy and brighter than any Dimarzio I have played.  With that said, the guitar has a distinctly darker tone due to its 24.5" scale length.  More like a Les Paul's balsy yet darker tone.  Since it's essentially a Les Paul configuration, it's understandable.

Action, Fit, & Finish :  The guitar is beautiful.  The black one has a bound body, and the Tobacco has a beautiful flamed maple veneer finish.  The body is Mahogany and the fretboard Rosewood.  It has standard 2 humbucker configuration, 2 humbucker, 2 volume, 2 tone, 3-way switch.  The neck is unbound and has bird inlays.  Like an LP, these guitars are a little on the heavier side, yet very comfortable to play.  Out of the box, the guitar setup was good, not great.  A half hour later on each guitar, and they played like butter.


Customer Support :  Haven't needed any customer support.

Liked about it :  An incredible guitar.  Very comfortable to play.  Not as heavy as a Les Paul, but not as light as an Epiphone either.  It has a nice dark tone to it.  Not overly dark, but you can hear the difference that the scale length makes.

Didn't like : My only dislike, turned out to not be an issue.  I always do my own setups, and I was leary about the PRS hard tail wraparound bridge.  I couldn't wrap my head around the concept of the whole bridge bring intonated correctly.  I've always set each saddle, but that is impossible with this tailpiece.  It's one piece, with only 2 Allen screws for intonation.  To my surprise, after setting the intonation on the high and low E strings, the entire neck was perfectly intonated.  I stand corrected.

Rating: Black 9/10 - It would have been a 10/10 until I bought the second one.  The Tobacco is beautiful, and is a 10/10.  The black one is also beautiful, but not as beautiful as the Tobacco.  They both play exactly the same.

Tek

Lespauled, thanks for the great review! I agree 100%!

I too got a really good deal on my SE 245 and also thought I may just use it once in a while, but it has become one of my favorites! It has a very rich tone and sustains forever. The only thing I did to mine was put a Graph Tech nut on it and change to .10's. Oh yeah, and put chrome pickup covers on it.
I slapped on a GK-3 and haven't put it down since...

Pictures - https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=13270.msg96968#msg96968

Chumly

May I ask what price(s) you paid as I am considering the same guitar (not that I need another guitar by any stretch but...).
I think it's much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong. - Richard P. Feynman

Tek

Quote from: Chumly on March 01, 2015, 08:34:52 PM
May I ask what price(s) you paid as I am considering the same guitar (not that I need another guitar by any stretch but...).

Sweetwater black Friday sale, $350. Should've gotten 2....

Chumly

I think it's much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong. - Richard P. Feynman

Jim Williams

#5
I have a PRS Custom 22 that I am equally pleased with. I did modifications, a Graphtech nut and put some locking tuners. Presently it has a external GK-3 but I plan to do a internal instalation and have even considered getting a RMC system.

It is not one of the newer ones so it has a flat top and dot inlays but that is not an issue for me. It plays very well and the stock pickups are nice sounding but I have thought about dropping in some Burst buckers and some coil tap switches as well.

The one thing about this guitar is the frets are not as thick as I like them but I don't think a fret job is in it's future... it's just a personal taste thing.
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