NGD: PRS SE Fredrik Åkesson

[Hammerheart]

Tried it, loved it, bought it.

I'll try and get a better pic later.

[TheyCallMeVolume]

Great guitar you got there. Congrats!

[witeter]

awesome-love Prs's and i love Opeth

[dvorak]

Congrats to a great guitar! That is my favorite SE right now, good choice

[Hammerheart]

Really happy with it. Pickups are ok though I know i'll wanna stick some BKPs in at some point. They can get a bit muddy although I like the 'growl' they have. Anybody have any idea how the PRS Designed SE 245 pickups are specced? If I do swap them out I wanna try and keep some of the growl! :D

[Philly Q]

Wow!  I've been really tempted by that model myself, as I mentioned in another thread.

I think your photo came out well, shows the colour really nicely.  In some pictures it looks almost black and you can barely see the maple veneer.

Where did you buy it, dare I ask?

[Hammerheart]

Andertons have them for £499 at the mo. They are at least £50 on top of that elsewhere. They have two left. The one in the store I noticed had the wrong knobs on and was missing the toggle switch tip. I go them to get me one from out back and it was great. The neck was a little factory mucky. I've had it home cleaned the frets, put fresh strings on and set the bridge properly. I bought it to be my Black Sabbath/Stoner rock practice guitar so I've tuned it to C# standard. I really love it. The ebony fretboard is not the 'glossy'(?) ebony (like on my Jackson RR24) but I'll get used to it (already have).

I'd like to suss out what BKPs give a similar tone to these. I love the growl but feel they could be better. I wonder how some covered pups might look in the guitar too :D

[Hammerheart]

I wish I could play as well as Fredrik too.
Great Rainbow tribute this... (solo at 2:15)
http://youtu.be/v-_d_fAg1m8

[Philly Q]

Yeah, a lot of the guitars in shops/online seem to have boring black speed knobs instead of the SG style knobs - cost-cutting?

I would really like to try one.  If it had the simpler two knob control layout, like the Nick Catanese SE, it would be just about perfect.

I don't know the specs of the SE pickups, but when you say "growl" I instantly think Crawlers.  I think covered pickups would look great on that guitar, by the way!

[Telerocker]

Beautiful guitar bro. Those SE's look and play great and don't break the bank.

[Twinfan]

Nice purchase!

If they're 245 style pickups, then they'll be PAF-ish.  Riff Raffs would be the closest spec, although the PRS pickups are a bit overwound.

[Hammerheart]

Riff Raffs would be the closest spec, although the PRS pickups are a bit overwound.

Strangely that was what I was thinking from hearing the descriptions of riff raffs then hearing these pups. Will check out more riff raff clips.

[dvorak]

The 245 SE pups are not bad, they have improved them over the years. They are pretty transparent and often suits the guitars very well. They sort of let the PRS sound like it should in a way and they surprised me positively.

[38thBeatle]

Looks great- congratulations.