Cheapie PRS is here

Hard2Hear

Hard2Hear

New member
And it's called the SANTANA SE.

Made in Korea, with cheapo stuff. I was at Guitar Center last night, and played one for a bit. I'll give a brief review.

It was like a mid-level Epi LP. Not the LP standard, maybe the special. The pickups are fairly ok...NOTHING like PRS pickups. OK for Korean guitars, I guess. It was light, I guess they're using basswood or something, with a veneer top to look like a flametop (green). It is flat, though. Not the arched top like on a PRS (Or an Epi LP).

Overall, it's an ok cheapie. But it's NOT cheap. $569.00 at Guitar Center Cincinnati. You can buy a used American Std Strat for less than that.

Use discretion, your mileage may vary.....etc.

H2H
 
hi HTH
what about their signature flying bird inlay?Is that where they put the money?Sounds otherwise very unimpressive for the bucks.

Tom
 
Its funny, there a lot of quality you can find for under 1g, but it aint prs. And at that price range from gibson and fender is questionable quality control(thats an understatement). Carvin, Hamer, Godin, Brian Moore, G and L, Yamaha, Fernandes and a few others make guitars for guitarists, not wealthy people who wished they played guitar so they pay way to much for a novel ornament.

Even the once almighty prs is not churning out the same quality they once upon a time did. Still, I love their guitars, my custom(93) has been a great companion. I bought it used of course. At the time I got it I had a les paul studio wich I bought for around $550, of course new their more like $1,100. All I can say is the prs makes the less paul look like a shoddy piece of shit on a stick. Of course it costed twice as much too.

Okay Im getting off topic here, but my point is you shouldnt pay more for less.I would never say Prs, Gibson, or Fender doesnt put out quality, just that with the g and the f theyre not immune to putting out crap and charging too much for it. Now, is prs going this way to? Couldnt you get one of their ce bolt on's used for around the same price as their 3rd world wonder? I think that would be better, as would a hamer.

Okay, to get on point and in all fairness les pauls and prs customs new cost more than 2 times more. Lets compare this thing to an epiphone, How does it compare to that? How does it compare to a $600 strat? Last time I checked the studio les paul, gibson bottom of the line before the epiphone gutter costs almost twice as much. An american strat may be a better choice, but be careful you dont get a dud... And the Santana SE is not the same as a strat..maybe their bolt ons are...
 
Carvin sh'marvin

Hey I have played the Santana thing and it blew nuts!
It was like playing a piece of cardboard!
NO! I have cardboard that sounds better!
But I have at disagree about the Carvins, They are pretty sweet!
I almost bought one, but the store that had it was way over priced. I could have got one for less brand new......
-Recola -Recola -Recola
 
yeah, I don't like the santans either, but every carvin I have EVER played, and believe me I have played alot of them, has felt like a 2x4. Oh and the quality controll was pathedic.
 
Carter Simcoe said:
yeah, I don't like the santans either, but every carvin I have EVER played, and believe me I have played alot of them, has felt like a 2x4. Oh and the quality controll was pathedic.
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Hard to argue with personal experience, but everyone who's played mine absolutely loves it. The 2 x 4 description is odd because they have thin necks and low action, and the QC issue is kind of a weird thing to raise because the customer has a 10 day no questions asked return period plus the warranty, so if someone got a guitar that had a problem there's no reason for them to have it very long.
 
Hard2Hear said:
And it's called the SANTANA SE.

Made in Korea, with cheapo stuff. I was at Guitar Center last night, and played one for a bit. I'll give a brief review.

It was like a mid-level Epi LP. Not the LP standard, maybe the special. The pickups are fairly ok...NOTHING like PRS pickups. OK for Korean guitars, I guess. It was light, I guess they're using basswood or something, with a veneer top to look like a flametop (green). It is flat, though. Not the arched top like on a PRS (Or an Epi LP).

Overall, it's an ok cheapie. But it's NOT cheap. $569.00 at Guitar Center Cincinnati. You can buy a used American Std Strat for less than that.

Use discretion, your mileage may vary.....etc.

H2H
Click to expand...

Those have been out for a while, man.
 
Thats surprising that the Santanna SE wasn't to your liking, and especially surprising that you noted a lack of quality. Although I've never played a Santanna SE I have played almost all the other SE models from PRS: standard, singlecut, soapbar, all of which I found to be very high quality at that price range. To put it lightly they kicked the shit out of every single Epiphone in the store, even more expensive ones so badly that it made me want to burn all lesser guitars and sacrifice a virgin to the greatness of the PRS SE... In MY opinion of course.

There have been a couple of them that I have played that were not so impressive, so just like any guitar its dependant on the piece of wood. However more than half of the ones I have played were amazing, even compared to guitars from companies like Epiphone and Ibanez with larger price tags. The feel, finish and most importantly sound (unplugged of course, I'd replace pickups in any guitar, no matter how expensive it is) of these guitars is unbeatable at that price range.

To form an opinion upon playing ONE guitar is simply foolish. How many Gibson Les Pauls are there out there that suck worse than a cheap Epiphone? Plenty, but that doesn't mean there aren't just as many out there that are among the best guitars in the world. It is also entirely possible that I got lucky in playing the bunch that I played and that they were well above the normal quality of that instrument line. Either way if I had the money to buy one of the better ones I played a PRS SE would be the first guitar I'd go pick up.
 
apl said:
Pffffffffft.

Carlos ain't had a decent guitar since he got rid of his SG2000.
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Yeah, but he's good enough that he don't need a decent guitar. He'd sound good with cephus's T60.
 
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