PRS SE Santana

115
december 2016 Guitarist
review PRS SE SANTANA, SE CUSTOM 24 AND SE TREMONTI
1. Part of this refresh
includes a Paul Reed
Smith signature logo
on the headstock like
the pucker USA Core
and S2 models
2. The volume and tone
on the Santana are
closely spaced and the
pickups are selected
by a standard toggle
switch. There are no
coil-splits, though
3. Another 2017 upgrade
are the Korean-made
Santana humbuckers:
replicas of his USA
signature pickups.
Also, this new Santana
has 24, not 22, frets
– just like Santana’s
USA signature
make it into the SE line, appearing in
2009, four years after the first flat-fronted
22-fret Custom had entered the range.
Like the Santana, aside from the cosmetic
logo change, we also have a pickup
change. Instead of the quite generic
‘SE’ humbuckers, we now have Korean-
made versions of PRS’s latest date-series
humbuckers, the 85/15s. They look like
conventional uncovered ’buckers, unlike
the USA versions with their rectangular
bobbins, and despite their different specs,
they look identical to those on the Santana.
Of course, the guitar’s shape, conceived
after the Santana shape, is well known
as the PRS outline with its longer upper
horn, less pinched waist and squarer, more
Fender-like base. Where the Santana is
virtually natural all over, the Tobacco
Sunburst finish here has a well-applied dark
’burst to its top (with natural edge ‘binding’,
of course), while the back, sides, neck back
and headstock have a deep brown, slightly
translucent colour.
The L-shaped rear control cavity is just
as tidy, although along with the treble bleed
cap we also get the partial tap circuit on
the pull/push tone control. This means
that instead of switching off one coil
entirely, like a standard coil split, some of
that dumped coil – approximately 10 per
cent (neck), 16 per cent (bridge) – remains
in circuit. This adds a little thickness and
volume to the split sound and, in theory, a
little hum-cancellation, too. It’s a simple
but effective change here that’s been a
feature of the USA guitars for some years
now, and we believe it’s the first time it’s
been used on an SE.
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GIT414.rev_prs.indd 115 27/10/2016 17:42