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Sometimes the effort to produce a less expensive or entry level, parallel product must back fire, for I have never found a core (USA-built) PRS Santana which plays, sounds and performs as well as my SE, now over 7yrs old. I bought one of the first Korean SE Santanas, and have gigged with it hard, four to ten sets on most weekends on the Nor. Cal Casino, brewery and Festival circuit, for all that time. It's never let me down, sounds great, sustains forever, looks good in itsflame maple veneer and stays in tune all night with moderate trem use. (No one can tell the maple top is dressed with a veneer instead of a solid flamed maple plank available on the Core Santana for a $2,000 upcharge) , and there is no perceptible effect on the voicing or tone) It's lighter than any LP (though the weight varies among individual guitars) I eventually purchased a second, backup SE Santana a few years ago which is a bit heavier but has the same tonal characteristics. At the time, I considered buying a $4000 core USA Santana with a very pretty deep flame crimson top, but careful play-comparison left me wondering why anyone would pay the extra $ for so similar a product, and I went for another SE as a backup. (a beautiful purple flame veneer top) Overall, the playing experience and the tonal range -- as applied in classic rock cover styles -- is more like playing a weight-relieved Les Paul than anything else. I play through Orange Rockverb combos which have a very smooth, Santana like sustain and distortion/drive sound with a tube-driven reverb even without any pedals.

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