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Michael Kelly patriot vs PRS SE or ????

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upnorthbacon

Junior Member
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Looking at buying another guitar and I'm considering the Michael Kelly Patriot and the PRS SE custom.  I've heard great things about both guitars.  The Michael Kelly has grover tuners, arch top, and coil taps, where the PRS is flat top, with generic tuners, and no coil taps.  I've been listening to both on youtube but haven't handled either.  The closest guitar center is 2 hours away so I can't really sample them before buying.
 
My buddy keeps telling me to pony up and buy a faded Gibson SG, I just don't know if I want to spend any more cash right now.  I used to have an all american SG and it was a really comfortable neck though.
 
I really dig those faded SGs.  For no quantifiable reason, they seem more like an SG than anything Gibson has made in a while.

-Mark
 
I have a semi-hollow SE Custom. I LOVE it. I am picking it up from the luthier this weekend after having coil taps and a kill switch installed. I have never played a Michael Kelly, so I can't help you on that, but I would not hesitate to snag another SE for the right price.
 
I wish I could find more vids on the hollow SE's post some up if you can!  I want something for classic rock to 90's hair stuff.  I'm just looking for something different than my usual strat style with maple fretboard.  I was thinking something mahogany and different then a jackson/strat style would be fun.
 
the SE's are definitely nice. the 25" scale neck is extremely comfortable. just short enough for easy playing and fretting, but long enough to keep it from feeling too short and clumsy to me. they've got a small body, too. which is insanely comfortable. good upper fret access too, i thought. i had an old SE Soapbar II and it was a great guitar. i've never gotten to play the michael kelly's but my vote goes to the SE just based on the experience i've already had with them. pretty awesome guitars for the money!
 
Any idea how the necks would compare between the SG and the PRS?  I have confidence that the SG neck will be fretted well, and I know I'll be able to get the action down without a bunch of buzzing or fretting out.  I just want to make sure I can do the same with the PRS, I realize it's not American so I'm kind of assuming the quality control might not be as precise as an american gibson?
 
i actually already had a gibson sg special when i got the SE. i think the SE was a lot more smooth. the SG just had rough fret edges, and the pickups just didn't sound as clear as i would have liked. it could have just been a bad guitar, but the SE felt a lot more well put together. gibson's a little notorious for bad quality control on some of their lower models. i don't think it's as bad as some people claim it to be, but it's definitely got a little bit of truth to it.

anyway, the SE's are supposed to be pretty heavily checked over, and from what i could tell that seemed to be true. plus i bought mine from www.sweetwiter.com. it's kind of like a smaller and more personable musiciansfriend.com or something. anyway they set up their guitars before they send them out, so it felt great by the time i got it. could have been part of the reason my SG never felt as good. i had the SG set up professionally a few times, but it never came back feeling much different than when i sent it in.

hope that helps haha oh, and no matter what the bridge is on PRS (vintage style trem or stoptail) you should be able to get the action where you want it. mine had a stoptail (hate vintage trems) and the action was just about as low as it could be without buzzing. felt great.

the reason i got rid of the SE, in case you were wondering, was that i had the SE Soapbar II and the P90 pickups just hummed too much for me. wish i hadn't sold it now, but what can you do, right?  :dontknow:

EDIT: the website i bought mine was www. sweet wAter .com but for some reason every time i hit "post" or "save" it changes it to sweet witer .com ...very strange.
 
Well I called Sweetwater with the intention of buying an SG.  I previously purchased a Jackson from there and had some trem issues and "Stewart" one of the techs really helped me out and was a super guy.  Anyway I was talking with Stewart about ordering the SG and mentioned the PRS.  He highly recommended it and long story short after about a half hour conversation about several different guitars I went with a PRS SE semi-hollow humbucker, it will be here Thurs and I can't wait!
 
I saw an interview with Paul Reed Smith where he talked about the overseas subcontracting of the SE line.  He actually required them to put their company name on the back of the headstock, it was even a dealbreaker.  He wanted them to know that they could make a name for themselves if they did it right, and would proudly stamp their company name on it.  I may disagree with his reasoning but it seemed to have worked.  QC on the SE line appears tighter than most imports.
 
Guitar Player Magazine listed a bunch of budget solid bodies a couple of months ago.,
THe Michael Kelly and SE were both in the list and got great reviews,
other interesting guitars in the list were the Hagstrom Ultra Swede and the Godin Redline.

*oops.. I overlooked the post where you said you just ordered the PRS.. never mind  :tard:
 
Just wanted to update the PRS SE is unbelieveable!  The neck is chunky but the action is super, super, super, low without any buzzing!  I might actually raise it up a little which is crazy since I'm usually trying the opposite on my guitars.  The setup from sweet water was spot on, perfect!  The pickups are really clear and I would say medium output, but more than hot enough.  The finish was perfect, this thing is crazy for the money!  The only complaints I could find are the volume and tone knobs roll of really fast, there's not much in between.  But even so you can still roll it back a touch and it cleans right up.  The only other complaint, if you could call it that, is the finish on the neck is really glossy and feels a little slower than something oiled, or with a lighter finish.  I'm so happy I went with this guitar it's smokin!!!!
 
postpics.gif
 
Well, I waited a long time because I didn't want to steal dude's thunder, so here's some pics of mine in Natural:

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I'm really happy with it, but I can't wait to pick it up from my pal the luthier's next thursday after having a TOM bridge installed, an SD zebra jazz put in the neck, an SD zebra pearly gates in the bridge, push pull pots for phase inversion on each pickup, a tap interrupt switch and a new nut installed. Whole new guitar right there. Guess I finally gotta invest in a hard case for this thing.
 
dont buy a PRS case...I bought one for my build...they are crap. The inner lining/fleese is cheappy polyester fur and the rivett on the handel came out one night going to practice. I had to replace the rivett with a bit of coat hanger twisted around it.

Brian
 
Here's a super crappy vid that doesn't do the amp or guitar justice.  It wasn't until I loaded it up that I realized how terrible the audio was (As well as my playing).  I'll try and redo one with a decent mic at some point.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrJcwPvOWa4
 
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