I've had a busy week trading. I traded my '94 toploader Tele for a mint PRS SE singlecut in antique white. I bought the Tele for $75 and had another $80 in parts/pickups into it. So all in I had about $155 into the Tele, and I did a refinish project on it in copper metallic.

I'm loving the PRS and I see they're going for about $600 new. The one I bought might as well be new as it is perfect. I swapped the bridge for an adjustable Wilkinson black unit and the tuners for black locking tuners. I just got done stringing and setting it up. The black hardware is definitely an improvement; the stock tuners looked very cheap and did not hold tune as well as the locking replacements. I have pics below of the Tele and the PRS.




Here is a stock pic of the PRS SE:


and here is mine with the mods:

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Nice Kong, the PRS looks a nice clean no fuss string it up and play guitar, curious about the adjusting bridge tailpiece, can't really make it out is just height or some hidden intonation screws

The B and G can be slid forward or back together. There are also set screws at the posts to adjust the high E side or the low E side. And as usual the posts can be raised and lowered into the anchors for adjusting action.

Here is a better pic.


I was able to get it intonated quite well with this bridge. You're right about the guitar, very simple and straightforward. The pickups sound great, but it seems the neck is much louder than the bridge. I'm going to raise the bridge p/u closer to the strings to try and balance them out. Other than that I'm real happy with the trade and the new parts.

Every review I have seen for these guitars seem to be raves. I have not seen many negative comments. Most reviewers also state that this guitar is a great bang for the buck proposition. I've had great luck with MIM Fender and Epiphones and this PRS SE is right up there with them as far as quality.

The only cons for me: I think for $600 price tag they could improve the tuners. They look cheap and do not stand up to bending strings very well. The MIM Strat and Epiphone Standards are around the same price point and both have much better stock tuners. The only other negative for me is that they don't ship with a truss rod wrench and it is not a common size nut.

Other than that I think it is very solid and fit/finish are great. The original wraparound bridge was fine, I changed it mostly for aesthetic reasons. The faux natural maple binding is a nice touch and looks beautiful. The gig bags that these guitars come with is also very high quality. The scale length is 25 right between a Gibson / Epiphone and Fender.

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Kong I think if you traded anything that has been refinished, you did well.

Congrats Kong!

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.