PRS SE Santana Electric Guitar - Santana Yellow Reviews

My wife got me this guitar for our 5 year anniversary. She had narrowed it down to this and another one but ultimately picked this. It was my second PRS SE guitar and the first one (Starla) was good so I expected good things here. Well, my expectations were met and exceeded. Here's what I like.

The guitar itself is the Santana shape as found on the more expensive Core models but with a veneer maple cap and less contouring on the cap. It's still a super sharp axe though. On mine in particular, the flame of the veneer has an almost lenticular quality to it that you usually find on fully flamed caps. The Santana yellow finish hovers between yellow and a very light orange depending on the lighting. The rosewood fretboard was tooled very well and has a beautiful grain. Hardware is standard SE fair. SE tuners and the moulded tremolo. Let me say first and foremost that I absolutely loved this trem from the word go. The only thing I didn't find up to the task were the tuners. With light trem use they were ok. Heavier trem use didn't help. And the nut wasn't binding or having other issues. However the set of SE locking tuners that PRS sell are an excellent and easy drop in.

Fretwork was excellent. The neck profile is wide fat but seems a little fatter than my Starla. Not bad by any means, though. It fits well in the hand and still feels fast. The 24.5" scale really facilitates strings feeling even more slinky than the standard PRS 25" scale. I was having so much fun with the stock 9s that came with it on the plain strings that I decided to go to a 9-46 set for standard tuning and make the few adjustments needed. A slight tweak to trem springs and intonation adjustment later and it's perfect for me.

The sounds though! I expected to have to pull the pickups. I didn't. I haven't. And I won't. The Santana S pickups are excellent. Full stop. They serve up meaty rock tones and thick leads like nobodies business but with a wonderful growl in the mids and attitude that cuts.

The overall quality of the instrument is top notch. I wasn't sure how I'd like the LPJ shape in this format but it's awesome. It's super comfortable to play with proper contouring on the back where needed and the neck feels effortless to play while not being too thick. For the tones and sounds I like (harder rock, blues and some metal) it hits those in spades. I was pleasantly surprised by just how much I really, really like this guitar. And it's been almost 2 years since I got it. Still great.

First off, the fit and finish of this guitar is really nice. The flame maple top and yellow stain are a beautiful combination pairing with the natural mahogany back. The bridge and tuners are very stable and there are no issues keeping this guitar in tune. I personally love the feel of the tremolo on this guitar, especially when pre bending notes fora nice dramatic effect. The stock pickups really sound great and can cover a wide variety of tones and musical genres. I play all types of music and have no problem cutting this guitar in the mix every time. Overall this is a beautiful guitar and not just for the money. The PRS SE factory is constantly stepping up their game, combining great American designs and cutting edge manufacturing techniques to ensure a quality product gets to your gig! As always, Sweetwater customer service and gear expertise make it the only place to buy your next musical instrument.

I wasn't planning on keeping this guitar. I went to Sweetwater and played it, and I was so surprised at how good it felt. The neck reminds me of an '84 Gibson Les Paul I really enjoyed. I took it home, figuring I would probably be disappointed with the sound and would return it.
I'm so glad I was so wrong. This thing sings and is especially sweet in the mid range. So far, it fits everything I'd use a Les Paul to do and, frankly, the quality is better than most of the newer Gibsons I've seen. I did not expect a guitar in this price range to play, look, or sound as good as this does. It really get more than you expect from this one.

I love this guitar. I've had a Player Strat and Epiphone Les Paul for years. The tone on this guitar is the best quality for this price. It is awesome with pedals, an obvious workhorse for all kinds of styles. And the neck has a particular attractiveness about it. Greta playability and great maple top. I might be a PRS guy now. Where's my silver sky!?

Great guitar with some of the best sounding S pickups that I have heard. Pleasantly surprised by the clarity and rich full sound of the Santana S pickups, and the feel and finish are amazing. Very glad that I picked up one of these beauties, and always glad to get it from Sweetwater.

I own play many different guitars, many brands including several PRS Custom and SE. I purchased this mostly to satisfy my curiosity about the tone I might get from the Santana S pickups. The tone is great and does the job beautifully when I want that Santana tone but what was unexpected was the incredible sustain with this instrument. It's one of my "most affordable" guitars (the PRS Tremonti SE is the most affordable one - another favorite and surprising beast of an instrument completely unexpected from the price tag). Whatever magic is used to create this feel and ability to sustain for under $ should be used in all their instruments. Cheers PRS!

Thank you Sweetwater for opening the door to world class gear to us doing America's great work way out here in the West Pacific. Please don't ever change. Thank you Cristian Good, my man at Sweetwater.

Of the last four guitars I've purchased, this is by far the least expensive. However, it is the best playing and best sounding of the four. That includes a Les Paul Studio, a Fender Performer HSS Strat, and a Fender dual humbucker Telecaster (Warmoth, actually--and my number two guitar as far as sound). I think I may have purchased my last 25.5 scale guitar. The warmth and playability of the Santana is almost addictive. I can't begin to imagine what the $5k version must sound like in comparison! What I do know is that you could buy SIX of these for the same price. If this is your only guitar, or if you just need to add to your collection, this is a must have.

You could spend 3 times more than this guitar cost and not even come close to the value this guitar gives you. Those Santana "S" pickups are outstanding and give you a tone you won't find in any other guitar even spending way more than this guitar will cost you. The finish is absolutely beautiful and as I said the sound is amazing. I have always loves PRS guitars and though this is not the equivelent of "The Paul" guitar it gives you plenty of bang for the buck. You will not be disapointed, you will be delighted. I have been playing for 25 years and have a wide variety of guitars. From the Gibson Les Paul to the American Performer Telecaster (which, by the way, out plays it's more expensive cousin the Professional Telecaster by a mile. After getting both I couldn't get rid of the American Proffesional fast enough. There is no comparison the performer sounds so much better, I got rid of the pro tele in a week. This will not give you any tone but that PRS distinctive drive and smooth as butter playability. It is an amazing ,fun to play and sounds fantastic and I couldn't ask for anything more at this price level. A a matter of fact I have guitars that cost twice what I payed for this that don't hold a candle to it in a head to head comparison. This is a guitar you'll be very glad you got and most of all once you start playing it it is very hard to put down. I have been playing a very long time and I can't recommend this guitar highly enough. Get it, you will NOT be sorry.

I actually swapped a fender roadhouse deluxe strat for one off these Santana se 2019 models.
Had to do a full setup with 9.5 d'addario's.
I own a les paul studio goldtop that I changed the mags in the pickups that left that guitar sounding awsome and is my no1 axe...I play Allman bros etc .
But this prs .shocked me .
It's nearly 335 Hollowbody sounding when you roll the tone and volume down .
Ok diming everything... gets good rock sounds ,but when you work the tone and volume ...theres a lot of tones hidden there.
It doesn't do the les paul tone its slightly different but what it does do it excels at..
This I think will be in my collection for a very long time.

Read the other reviews. Great axe, priced a couple of hundred lower than it should have been, great floating tremolo, very comfortable to play and sounds great.

On various music sites some have complained about certain things. One stated that they couldn't get the action super low, but they forgot that the height of the tremolo itself can be lowered, so that's a non-issue. Another complained that the pots are not first rate. They feel great to me - smooth and with a good tper. If I ever need to, I can swap them out but so far there has been no need. Some have complained that the volume knob should be near the bridge as with earlier Santana models, but I'm not Dickie Betts, so I don't need to play with my little finger on the knob.

There is one video review out there in which the young non-pro complained that this guitar has only one volume and one tone and that it does not have coil taps. Well, if you want those things, don't buy a Santana SE. Buy a PRS Custom SE that has them. There are plenty of other young non-pros who feel compelled to ditch the Santana pups for something else (the Santana pups are the very heart of this guitar, so go figure), which means that there are plenty of used (new) Santana pups out there that you can drop into a Custom.

A couple of highlights for me: I really like the frets. Also, it has a great tremolo - far better than any Fender I've owned over the past 48 years. And this guitar has a really ringing tone and great sustain. Try playing this unplugged and compare it to an unplugged strat. It is loud enough unplugged to be clearly heard over a Skype session. The cast metal elements of the tremolo make this very comfortable. I gave up whammy bars years ago, using my palm instead, and this tremolo is not only more comfortable but easier to manipulate when not using the bar.

One complaint: Sweetwater blew it with their 55 point inspection. Fretting every note must be the boring part of the inspection because the tech did not notice that several notes on the B string around the 11th through 14th frets created a sympathetic buzz with one of the pickup springs. I had to stuff a piece of cotton ball in next to the spring to stop the buzzing. The tech most certainly should have caught that. (Not my first issue with SW techs. I once paid extra for them to set up a fretless bass and the tech went out of his way to remove string buzz – which is a _desired_ feature of fretless basses, not a negative). Otherwise, I'm happy with their techs.

The PRS guitar came completely ready to play, thanks to the 55 point inspection. Packaging protected the guitar perfectly and everything was undamaged. The guitar itself was absolutely beautiful. I will definitely do business with Sweetwater again.

A real hidden gem in their lineup. About two weeks before I purchased the Santana I bought a Les Paul. After playing the PRS I wanted to sell the Les Paul. The quality, sound, and action were far superior to the Gibson.

First of all I never thought I'd buy a guitar online but a friend highly recommended Sweetwater. Was looking for a PRS Santana SE which I couldn't find in my area so I gave them a shot and was very impressed with their attention to detail. I was helped by Jordan who was very knowledgeable about this particular guitar and guitars in general. After looking through the guitar gallery and picking the exact guitar I wanted I was able to pick the string gauge and brand and exactly how I like it set up as well as the tremolo. The guitar arrived ready to play which was important to me cuz I had gigs coming up and wanted to be able just get it without any hassles. The PRS Santana SE is beautiful and sounds and plays great! I've gigged and recorded with it and got the deep tones I was looking for live and in the studio. Long sustaining notes and easy to play. Sweetwater guitar techs set it up nicely, all the high notes on the 24 frets all rung evenly which I specified was important to me. The shipping was right on time and the option of having it delivered to your nearest Walgreens is really convenient as well. All in all I was very satisfied with this purchase and will be buying more equipment from Sweetwater.

If I had to pick one word to describe this guitar it would be "Phenomenal". Before I expand on the pros and cons, likes and dislikes of the guitar, let me tell you about my purchase experience. First let me say that I love Sweetwater. I purchase from them regularly. However I'm old school in the fact that I like to see, touch, and play an instrument before I purchase it, and I'm anal about flaws. So purchasing from the internet can send me into an OCD fit. I have and have had several other PRS guitars, including a CE24, a PRS DGT 10 top, and an SE245. Every one of them a stellar guitar. I've been a fan of Santana's tone forever and have always wanted to get my hands on one of his signature PRS models. Sure you can closely replicate his tone with something else, and I have a couple high end Gibsons, Gretschs, and a couple Fenders, but they only come close, they just can't nail that tone. Fortunately my Wife also loves his tone and gave me the green light to make a purchase. But I just couldn't justify spending the 4K on something from the internet, and possibly not be happy with it. I did my research on the SE version, and after being thoroughly impressed with my SE245, I decided to go with the SE Santana model. Unfortunately for me, Sweetwater had none in stock. The website said "more expected soon". But....another site had them available to ship immediately, and they had a store 30 miles away that I could return it with much less hassle if there was a problem, or I was unhappy with it. I won't mention the name but it rhymes with Guitar Center. I pulled the trigger, completed the sale, and was immediately informed via email, that my purchase was completed they put a charge "hold" on my credit card, and the guitar would ship as soon as it was in stock. Approximately 2-3 weeks???????? WHATTTT???? OK....I would have to wait. The next day I checked the status, in case there was a foul up on their website (it's happened before), no change. Out of curiosity I checked Sweetwater's site. THEY HAD 3 IN STOCK!!! I waited 2 weeks checked my status again, finally in stock. The following business day I expected an email informing me my item had shipped. NOTHING, so I looked at the status again. Now it says it is expected to be in stock in 3 weeks at the soonest and with shipping that would put it out at least a month. Looked at Sweetwater again and they still had 3 ready to go. So I called GC to cancel my order. I deal with customer service in my professional life and the customer service rep with GC was everything but pleasant to deal with. Never again!!! I pulled up the Sweetwater page, closely examined every view of all 3 models they had, zooming in on every detail, picked the one that appealed to me the most, added it to my cart and completed the transaction. Within minutes I received an email from my sales engineer, Jonathan Casarow, who has always been 5 stars to work with, that my guitar would be checked packaged and shipped immediately. I received a confirmation that my guitar was shipping 30 minutes later, and 2 days after that I had it in hand. Unbelievably high level of service, and it's never been less!!!
Finally about the guitar. I'm partial to the sound of a vintage Gibson Les Paul, through a Fender amp with 6L6 or 6V6 tubes. That booming fat, round, warm, bottom with bell like highs. The Santana SE delivers it and more. It's simple with a 3way toggle one volume and one tone control knob, but the range of tones you can pull out of it are endless. It will easily play anything from blues, classic rock, country, jazz, and even heavier metal sounds can be coaxed out of it effortlessly. The fit and finish are flawless. The fretwork amazingly good. It's light, comfortable and easy to play. It wants you to play it and you won't be able to put it down. It's been the guitar I pick up and set in my lap at the end of EVERY day since it arrived. Thank You Sweetwater. Thank you Jonathan! Hats off to you.

I bought the PRS SE Santana yellow a few years (2016) ago from Sweetwater. It is STILL one of my favorite guitars. Everytime I play it at a show, people ooh and aah. The tones are outstanding from crystal clean to the 'woman tone' in the neck position. I never get tired of playing this guitar. The ONLY knock was that they do cut the PRS SE nuts a little slim if you play 10's or above. However, a little nut lube and the problem is resolved. And buying from Derek S, my sales rep, is always a pleasure. Don't wait, pull the trigger. You won't be disappointed!

Such a grest guitar to play, fit and finish hit out of the ball park by prs. It feels so good in my hands, transitions essier probably because of the scale. I have found this scale so much easier for me to play, especially with syretched power chords and chords in general. I own 14 guitars, if I had to pick one guitar, and sell the rest, this would be the one I would keep. First time I purchased a guitar that exceeded all my expectations. PRS, totally hit this one out if the ball park.....Ohhhhh...the sound....truly a Santana sound. playing to Santana back tracks it bkends in. I've never had any guitar ever do that like this guitar. You can leave the amp set at 12 o'clock, it takes you to that Santana sound like the flip of a switch.

Sounds great.

I bought this last week when I was looking for another 24 fret PRS SE. Absolutely beautiful guitar, no issues at all with the fit or finish. Trem feels good and once you get the strings stretched out it stays in tune. My only complaint is the pickups are a bit "throaty" and warm compared to the 85/15s pickups in my 2020 SE Standard 24, which I really like a lot. They're also pretty hot - I've lowered them down significantly and will probably lower them some more next time I play. I plan on keeping them for now but IMO they're probably the weakest point on an otherwise perfect guitar. If you're looking for a PRS that leans in a Les Paul direction, this is the one you want.

The Santana PRS is my entry into the PRS line. Very impressed! The wide fat 11.5 radius neck is perfect. The most comfortable playing guitar I have next to a Strat. Only issue I had was using the Tremelo knocked it way out of std tune. I used some "Big Bends Nuts Sauce" on the nut and it smoothed out. The G string nut slot was really tight. Still breaking it in but loving how it plays!

Overjoyed to see the PRS SE "Santana" was unscathed . . .
The guitar is beautiful. Being accustomed to a Strat trim bar, that is threaded, and rides on a spring to hold a given position, I was disappointed that this one just kinda hangs limp . . . it also seemed a tad long, and required I choke up on it quite a bit to place the plectrum between the pick ups.
Small issues I'm sure that familiarity will overcome.
Set up / intonation is imminently playable right out of the crushed box.
I really like the neck on this guitar. It's wide enough, and thick enough to function well for my hands, and will shortly have a Gibson SG for sale as it's neck just does not work for me.
Requisite to change all of my amp settings to get the sound I wanted to hear from the humbuckers, but I guess that is to be expected in changing from an ES 339 to this solid body.
Gig bag is nice enough, but I think a nice guitar should have a hard case
All the little details, finish, 3 way switch, pot mounting etc seem spot on.
Satisfied that I chose this model . . . and looking forward to taking her out to play.

First,I am a mediocre guitar player,but I am very picky about guitars. I have a couple of Santane 3's, and the SE is not in the same league. Starting from the headstock, the tuners are good,the nut is excellent. The neck is not as comfortable as the Santana 3 and the strings can not be lowered as much on the SE,but stil adequate.Fretwork is good. The bridge has a couple of sharp points that cuts into the hand and the cavety for the strings is to narrow so you have to poke he strings out from the top when changing strings. Other than that the bridge is ok. Pickups are not too bad, but are more noisy than most pickups when using an overdrive pedal.Of course the finish is nowhere close to the US made Santana. So if you want a US made PRS Santana but can't afford one, the SE will be a good choice.