Paul Reed Smith DGT SE Review/Demo (PRS). It’s Great, But Issues To Sort!!! Guitar Daily Ep 207
In this video I review / demo the PRS DGT SE guitar I recently purchased. It’s really great but had some major issues when it arrived, which I discuss in detail in the video. Still, I bought the guitar anyways and wanted to share my findings with you all. Do you own one of these guitars? If so, how do you find it?
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Gear used in this video:
PRS DGT SE Guitar
Fractal Audio FM9
???? about Nick Granville:
Guitarist, Session Musician, Educator and Composer Nick Granville has worked with artists as diverse as Dave Weckl, Bob Mintzer, Dave Mathews, Chris De Burgh, Ronan Keating, Delta Goodrem, Steve Smith, Mike Stern, Joey Defrancesco, Eric Marienthal, Kurt Elling and with the band on New Zealand’s “Dancing with the Stars”. Nick leads his own groups that play regularly including at the major jazz festivals in NZ and he is a founding member of the Wellington Jazz Orchestra. He has released five CD’s as a band leader and has played on many records, film scores, TV programs and radio. He has taught and taken workshops at the New Zealand School of Music, Goodtime Music Academy, Musicworks stores, Christchurch Jazz school (CPIT), Otago University, Auckland University and at jazz festivals all around NZ. Nick has performed around the world and recorded in the best recording studios (including Capitol recording studio A in Los Angeles). He hold a masters degree with first class honours in jazz performance from the University of Auckland.
Nick Granville proudly uses and endorses Fractal Audio FM3 & FM9.
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Nick
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#guitardaily #nickgranville #prs #paulreedsmith #review
Contents
0:00 intro
0:18 Jam
0:57 Review
6:00 The Major Issues
10:45 Future Mods
11:30 Conclusions
12:20 More Tones
#Paul #Reed #Smith #DGT #ReviewDemo #PRS #Great #Issues #Sort #Guitar #Daily
Originally posted by UCNvXtemQuQCJjP4dYF8HEOw at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbKJd2Gen5g
Really interesting and helpful ! It is refreshing to get an honest review of a PRS SE guitar !
Much appreciated.
My SE DGT was not brilliant out of the box. Tuning did not hold well with trem use and the nut was cut a bit high like Nick's. The frets needed some attention and there was a very slight twist in the neck.
I had it worked through by the shop and this solved all but the twist which appears to be minor enough not to affect this guitar's playability.
I agree re the pull tone knob – too hard to lift reliably in the 'heat of battle' – so I replaced by moving to individual coil-splits using push-push volume knobs, meaning I could do what my 24-08 does. In the process I changed to amber lampshade knobs. And I went to locking tuners.
All up I was initially quite disappointed with having issues when I really wanted this guitar to meet my expectations. However, it IS a great guitar and, like Nick rather than jettison it, it has paid me back big time by delivering enjoyable playing, versatility and inspiration that has me grabbing it all the time over my US Strat and Les Paul. Highly recommend getting one, seriously.
I've been meaning to ask: what drew you to the DGT in particular, rather than one of the other SE models? It seem to be a bit less common, so I'm wondering if you sought it out specially or if it just happened to be in the shop on the day you were looking?
Wow sounds like you had a bit of trouble. Glad you got it sorted out. I agree about the slippery knobs. I changed then out first thing in mine.
Good review, thanks. I agree about the slippy push-pull knobs; I have a core model 594 and luckily I generally just leave the bridge as a single coil and keep the neck humbucker. I’m lucky enough to have 4 PRS guitars and the only one I don’t gel with is the SE hollowbody piezo. No setup issues in my experience thankfully.
Interesting. My PRS Custom 22 arrived with terrible action as well. Like 3mm at 12th fret. Unplayable for me. I had to do a full set up as well. The push-pull on the coil tap is terrible. I have replaced my knobs with the lampshade ones in an attempt to fix it, but it hasn't helped. Given up on the coil tap – it's so hard to use. A push-push would be helpful. But my nut was perfect, and after I lowered the action it was so much better. More like 1.6mm at 12th fret now. No issues with the soldering on mine – it's perfect. And yes yes yes – replace those tuners. The locking PRS tuners are fantastic!
the only issue this guitar has is that it's thousands less than the core models and just as good .
I agree. I bought a 594 and it was set up unplayable. Total setup needed. Bad nut. Bad tuners with dead spots. Once the nut was fixed, tuner replaced, high fret. Needed fret level. These don’t deserve the reputation they have.
Thanks for the honest and unbiased review.
I have been fighting with a PRS Studio for about 3 months at least. Still won’t stay in tune. On my third nut. Had to have a luthier level frets. Ended up checking bridge but it was out of level which was part of my tuning issues. Still a very unstable instrument. 7k in Aus. Sadly I had changed neck and middle pickup so I am not able to get warranty bla bla bla. Had many PRS guitars over the years they were always phenomenal. This is either a dog or I’ve overnight lost all ability to setup my instruments.
Either way shitty experience.
PRS have offer to look at it. But I fear it’ll be in Maryland. Which I’m not willing to ship to.
Hey Nick, I seriously love the overdrive sound you’re getting on this episode and ep. 203. The tone seems distinctly different, in a great way, from other videos of yours that I’ve listened to. I can only guess that it’s the new guitar. Well done on persevering with it, all that crap would have put me off.
Enjoyed this ????????
Did you order this or was in on the wall like that – with all its issues?
Ibanez speed knobs have loads of grip
Love Elixirs. Hate changing strings.
"Pretty poor as a music shop". Yeah. Kinda what I was talking about in another comment, eh?
I was in a music shop just the other day and asked to play on a pretty expensive PRS semi-hollow. The jack wouldn't plug in. The salesperson and I both tried, but obviously didn't want to brute-force it.
Why was it on the wall in the shop like that? Kinda disappointing.
I mean, even if these guitars come into the shop like that (which would be bad enough in itself) you'd think they'd take the care to check them, and fix them up if they needed it, before putting them on display.
Thank Nick. I bought the exact same model about 5 months ago in Melbourne and brought it back to Auckland. Save about $400 nzd doing that BTW. I didn't have the issues you had. But I got mine setup at Zephyr and it plays way way better than it did. It has a bigger neck than I'm used to but it feels great. My main issue is it definitely goes out of tune more than my American strat. But I'm very happy with what I got for the price. I'd love to hear if putting locking tuners on makes a difference for you on the tuning side
Hey Nick sounds great, I could see you liking a PRS Studio or special model
Years ago, I leet a girl, blonde long hair, very sportive, big blue eyes, very elegant, but she was farting all the time. This day, I understood that perfection is quite to reach…????????
Thank you for that great honest and unbiased review Nick!! I think it is only the 2nd one I have seen so far beyond all the hype…; When the SE line moved to Indonesia for production (and I get the reasons for doing so), the production quality went down significantly.. – in a way that it's now hit or miss if you buy an Indonesian SE.. (especially if you can't test it before)… – the Nut topic has been an issue on SE's all along, but the electronics issues in yours are a no go! The DGT I tested in the shop was "unplayable" and while I couldn't start any setup tweaks – everything pointed at the Neck not set in the correct angle into the body (I checked relief – was hair thin above straight so ok; Trem and Saddles were set low already – still action above 2mm at the 12th fret…), neck joint looked crappy as well… – I still think like you, it's a great instrument, or can be one.. – if you find one which had proper quality control. – Thanks and Greetings, Markus
Just seen a video with Martin Barre playing a Robben Ford PRS. Snarky Puppy seems to use PRS. Certainly out there a bit more these days.
thank you
Really enjoyed this. One quick thought – I actually like the speed knobs, but use a Push – Push pot for splits rather than Push – Pull. They are becoming more available (Hosco seem ok))
Great vid Nick. Been waiting to hear an honest review on this axe for a while. Most of the videos I see fawn over the thing, and I’ve not really ever seen what’s so special about the thing. It’s just a Custom 22 with one less knob as far as I can workout… but that’s one man’s opinion…
I always find those push/pulls annoying as hell. Could never get mine to work when I needed it. Ended up with the Ibanez AR420 you used to have. Love it… so much easier with the toggle switches.