A visually beautiful instrument, constructed from premium woods, with a high build and sound quality. It's a fine looking instrument that plays wonderfully with or without a slide. This stripped- down solidbody had little of PRS's cosmetic style and was swiftly upgraded in 2002. It’s got a pretty full bass tone with a great rolloff for the mids and highs. There were numerous other differences too, such as the headstock shape, inlays, switching and controls, which all predated Smith's eventual and now-classic Custom, which came to market in 1985. Outwardly, it would appear that it's just the body outline; the Santana's shape is more bulbous in the lower bouts, the upper horn stubbier, less graceful than the classic lines of the Custom. 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This guitar’s neck is the most unique feature. Like the Custom 24, we get 'old-school' birds cleanly inlaid on the very dark rosewood fingerboard and the nicely fitted frets that are slightly lower in height than on the USA models. Now, players can help preserve this innovation in the rock tradition with the PRS SE Santana. The tremolo bar makes this guitar much more playable. Build. This is done largely for looks, since it’s a replica of what Carlo Santana played, but also adds some playability and a little bit of comfort. It has a warm tone that can play those stylish solos perfectly. Classic rock tones. Original PRS-inspired recipe. Like the SE Paul’s Guitar, the Santana is made in Indonesia at a PRS-exclusive facility in partnership with Cor-Tek – and, once again, we’re highly impressed. A fitting accolade to 10 years of PRS SE guitars. Today, they bring the ingenuity behind Santana’s guitar preferences to the mass market with the PRS SE Santana. PRS had humble beginnings in the late 80s, with Paul Smith himself hand making each guitar. It’s a mid-tier instrument that can work for the gigging professional or for the avid amateur.eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'guitaraffinity_com-medrectangle-4','ezslot_2',105,'0','0'])); Guitar construction is one of the most important parts of an instrument’s quality, playability, and tone. It’ll fill small venues or your living room with singing overtones and excellent, punchy attacks. The scale length is a nice addition. But if you love that part of the guitar and aren’t thrilled with the tone, you can find similar neck profiles. Beyond the USA-made models, it was Santana's name that was used to launch the SE (Student Edition) Korean-made PRS line in 2001. PRS uses premium materials and design choices to make this guitar sound and feel like a professional instrument. Like any guitar made for signature soloists like Santana or Eddie Van Halen, the PRS SE Santana shines when you’re playing up front. No, it's not the 'real thing' but for many musicians it'll do just fine: a great working guitar, ergonomic, versatile, perfectly weighted and easily upgradeable. Overall finishing is very smart, but the fretwork, from standard SE gauge (around 2.7mm wide and 1.14mm high), is superb, along with well-rounded fingerboard edges. Fortunately, you can find an instrument that suits your needs, getting you the tone and playability that you’re looking for. The PRS SE Santana is another axe that’s made in Korea, Korea has been known to create great guitars and they are well built. The Santana has a slight neck pull strapped on, but it is far from unbalanced and feels a little compact. The necks of modern guitars tend to be thinner, while the necks of vintage guitars tend to be a little thicker. Please refresh the page and try again. The reduced tension on the strings makes bends much less demanding on your fingers, letting you add even more flare to your guitar solos. The SE Santana breaks all of these boundarieswith it’s Wide Fat profile, offering an incredibly large neck. That helps give the guitar a full, smooth sound that pairs perfectly with Santana’s style. The PRS SE Santana has a superb tone that fits into any rock, blues, or jazz player’s collection. But if you add a light crunch to it, or even a hefty overdrive, you’ll get an amazing, rich sound. This guitar has a short scale length, coming in at 24.5” to give you reduced tension. It has a shorter scale length, at 24.5”, and has 22 frets. The best SE yet? "We are referring to them as '245' pickups because we plan to use them on different models. Its basic construction is identical, however, with a very tidily jointed three-piece mahogany back (32.5mm thick) topped with a slab of maple and faced with a thin flamed maple veneer to emulate the much more expensive all-solid slabs of figured 'curly' maple that are PRS's visual hallmark. There are plenty of zinging highs that make for some bell-like clean rhythm tones with both pickups on and the volume control reduced, but plenty of smooth darker depth especially with a little tone control reduction. If you’re looking for a mid-range upgrade, or if you’re a huge fan of Santana, then this guitar is absolutely for you. Overall, it's slightly thinner (46mm) than the US models; so it feels quite compact and is perfectly weighted at 3.6kg (8lbs). The standatrd of finish is as impeccable as ever. The PRS SE Santana come with PRS’ own patented double locking tremolo bar. 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