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PRS SE Custom 24

PostPosted: Sat Apr 14, 2018 10:50 pm
by alanbakewell
Has anyone played / purchased etc. a PRS SE Custom 24?

I've watched a video on You Tube where
the man demonstrating has avoided the
usual heavily distorted tripe that one
is usually subjected to, with the result
that one might experience the nice clean
tones that this guitar is capable of.

Any / all opinions welcome.

Cheers, Alan.

Re: PRS SE Custom 24

PostPosted: Sun Apr 15, 2018 4:41 am
by cockroach
Agreed! :)

Most electric guitars can sound good IMHO...when used with a clean amp sound. ;) :)

After over 50 years of hearing the overdriven guitar sounds, I still prefer hearing what an electric guitar actually sounds like...I liked all that wild distorted sound when I was a teenager, but after about 10 years when everybody was using those sounds, I got fed up with it..and it certainly doesn't suit all types of music, but players still keep fuzzing away regardless.. :cry:

Re: PRS SE Custom 24

PostPosted: Sun Apr 15, 2018 9:03 am
by Mike Beer
I bought one of these last year. It has a fancy swamp ash veneer on the maple top, and a maple neck with a rosewood board.
The finish is 100% and it plays beautifully. The coil splits work really well and you can get close to a good Hank sound.
I have various Strats and Gibsons and this does a good job of sounding close to both. My only problem is that being used to 21/22 fret necks, if I mess around above the 12th fret I sometimes find myself playing two frets high!
It comes with a high quality gig bag and it’s a great guitar.

Mike

Re: PRS SE Custom 24

PostPosted: Sun Apr 15, 2018 9:16 am
by alanbakewell
John / Mike. Thanks for the input. It's appreciated.

Cheers, Alan.

Re: PRS SE Custom 24

PostPosted: Sun Apr 15, 2018 9:39 am
by Uncle Fiesta
I think something happens to ones ears on approaching a certain age. I myself have gone off all those horrible distortion sounds I used to enjoy when I was younger. It's particularly irritating when watching someone on YouTube who's supposed to be demonstrating a guitar or its pickups, but all you can hear is the amplifier or loads of effects. Totally unhelpful.

I do have a PRS SE Custom 24 and absolutely love it. Indeed if I had to sell all my guitars and just keep one, this would be the one. In terms of scale length, fingerboard radius and construction it fits neatly between a Les Paul and a Strat, indeed I would describe it as a Gibson and Fender rolled into one. Mine is fitted with the trem which is as smooth as silk in operation; adjustment of the arm is via an allen key at the back so that's good, no need to stick a little spring in the hole or wrap the arm with plumbers tape to stop it getting floppy (oohh, Matron!).

Also, the coil split when you pull up the tone control is the best I've heard on any guitar.

And she looks real purdy too ...

SE24-small.jpg


If I could change just one thing about it, I'd have covered pickups instead of scruffy ones.

Re: PRS SE Custom 24

PostPosted: Sun Apr 15, 2018 12:23 pm
by dave robinson
I have had a PRS Custom 24 SE for the last five years in the lovely quilted blue finish and it's a great guitar, more for clean than heavy I would say. The coil taps are great and I do play Shads stuff on it a lot at home in my practice sessions.
Yes indeed, this is a guitar I'd recommend. :)

Re: PRS SE Custom 24

PostPosted: Sun Apr 15, 2018 7:10 pm
by alanbakewell
Thanks guys, the future's looking rosy.

Another advantage, they have a good choice of left handers.

Cheers, Alan.

Re: PRS SE Custom 24

PostPosted: Mon Apr 16, 2018 1:11 pm
by Tigerdaisy
I have a SG type guitar with Tonerider Alnico II pickups and it sounds as good as humbuckers clean have ever sounded to me...however the sound is not a patch on the clean sound from my Telecaster or Strats I've owned in the past. It's significant that Les Paul himself used single coil pups on his own 'Les Paul' guitar. Humbuckers sound best IMO when used slightly overdriven on an expensive tube amp like Mark Knopfler does, or Pink Floyd- I hate all this mad overdriven stuff- it kills the guitar sound.

Re: PRS SE Custom 24

PostPosted: Fri Jul 20, 2018 2:37 pm
by alanbakewell
To bring this to a conclusion. I purchased the guitar, took it home and plugged it in.
The bridge pickup didn't work. The shop exchanged the guitar for me on my second visit.
Did I not try it in the shop? I hear you say. No. I picked it up, strummed it, paid for it and
went home.
I did exactly the same with my Custom Shop Stratocaster in 2004 and never looked back.

I diverse. I tried the replacement in an amplifier. It worked.

At home, I played several tunes. Bear in mind I'm not looking for a Stratocaster sound, if I
were I'd have bought... yes, you've guessed it.

The sound from the pickups was very good and I could see why folks enthuse over it.
The feel of the guitar, ( For ME...O.K. FOR ME ), was wrong. I couldn't put my finger on it,
however I could not love this guitar at all. So I took it back.

The people in the shop were first class about it and gave me my money back.

A little while back I tried a Fender Professional Stratocaster. White, Maple neck.
Absolutely superb guitar and I love it. I play this guitar most days and am delighted
with the feel and sound of it. It was fairly well set up "out of the box". However,
as has been advised by many on this site, the guitar will always play / feel better
after a good set up. So, it had a good setup.
I suppose after all this, the only guitar that I really like is the Fender Stratocaster.
Having said that, don't ever let anybody tell you what you should or should not play.
Only you can sort that one for yourself.
Thanks again for all contributions. They are most welcome.

One last thing. The set up was done by a good friend of mine who is a member of this site.
If he wants me to name him I'll gladly do so. I am grateful to him for making a first class job.
In the meantime.
Cheers, Alan.

Re: PRS SE Custom 24

PostPosted: Fri Jul 20, 2018 3:10 pm
by cockroach
Alan

I understand exactly what you mean..

Even if I really wanted ,say, a Gibson SG, the overall 'feel' of the guitar just wouldn't suit me and I wouldn't feel comfortable playing it.

However, with a Strat type guitar, or almost any Fender solidbody, they just feel 'right' to me..I've been spoiled by Leo I think! :)

Thinking about it, maybe it has something to do with the differing body and neck designs, and how the necks are fitted to the body, and how odd it feels to me for virtually the whole of the fingerboard and neck being located right on the edge of the body..

Then there's pickups...however much I try to appreciate them, I can't really get on with humbucking pickups...I prefer virtually any kind of single coils.

I also prefer single sided headstocks too.. :D