Funny you mentioned this model. I just saw an ad today for a used one and I was thinking “What the neck is that?” Lol.
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I love pretty much everything about PRS products. Fretboards, inlays, headstocks, styling, trend towards double humbuckers, everything. They look and sound great, and are very very well made. Definitely in with the top of the mass-produced MIA guitars, and their SE line (made in Korea and Indonesia) are also really good. I’ve tried several of their guitars in stores and they were really good.
I wish they had satin necks but you can’t have it all.
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You can, it just has to be a DIY jobby.
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The problem is the necks are painted so DIY satining would look kind of bad. But yeah you could do it.
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well placed tape lines don’t end up looking too bad.
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Yeah, you can do it. It’s just not as “transparent” as with over a wood finish.
My Cort guitar (a PRS clone) is this way. I’ve actually gotten used to it. Somehow the painted neck doesn’t feel as grippy as a gloss finished wood neck.
Agreed. It looks especially nice if you can follow the curve of your neck. My Schecter neck looks like this:
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I just found a used PRS SE Kestrel, @earlfo @howard . The neck is fantastic, it was made in Korea, and I really like the tone of the instrument overall. There’s a police hold on it until next week, so I made a (refundable) deposit to give a little time to research further.
PRS is a Maryland-based company (right next door to DC). The fingerboards all have birds because Paul Reed Smith’s mom was a bird watcher. The types of birds illustrated are:
Peregrine falcon
Marsh Hawk
Ruby Throated Hummingbird
Common Tern
Coopers Hawk
Kite
Sparrow Landing
Storm Petrel
Hawk Landing
Screech Owl On A Branch (24-fret models only)
I made sure I had the option to get the deposit back if I changed my mind, but the more I read about it, the more I think this is going to be my new bass. I’ll get that Fender Jazz some day.
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I found a new old stock PRS Kestrel SE Bass guitar at a local shop. I was not looking for a PRS Bass, I was really interested in a Fender Bass, but it was my first Bass and I wanted to find one that fit me the best so I was pulling lots of them off walls and trying them out. This was a local place that specialized in PRS guitars, so they had both the Kestrel and the Kingfisher. I had already been to lots of places and played lots of different basses. Up to this point I really wanted an American made Fender P Bass. This Korean made PRS SE Kestrel made me really happy when I played it though, and because it was old stock, even though it was brand new off the wall, I got the old price. That was just the frosting though, because I had found the Bass guitar I wanted and it cost over $1000 less than that new American made P Bass I had wanted. Win-Win-Win.
If this is the one you like then that is the reason to buy it I guess is what I am saying…
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NICE!!!
I bought something on police hold, paid up front in full but they do give you all the $ back if it was stolen. So no worries
Got the bass though.
I just saw one of these the other day in a shop, they are very nice!!.
Congrats!!!
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Yes! That’s totally the right reason and it is. 
I also had that “made me really happy” feeling when I picked it up and played it. It’s weird how it happens like that. I had just tried a Sterling by Music Man (neck too chonky), a Fender Player Plus (really nice!) and a Squier Jaguar (surprised at how much I liked it!). Was about to head out when the clerk brought the PRS over from the used section. “This just seems to hit all the notes you were looking for.” Um…yeah.
Thank you! Hope it’s not stolen! 
@howard - want to know how to get a satin finish on the neck? Buy one, then have someone else play it for 8 years 
Here’s the front, just for fun. Needs a little polishing - something to look forward to. Any-kind-of-Burst is the last finish I’ve ever wanted but suddenly it doesn’t even matter.
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Hey. It’s a jazz bass.
At this point in time, anything else seems immaterial.
When I decided to rejoin the ranks of low-end addicts, my first bass was a jazz bass-derivative. also some kind of sunburst.
And @Jazzbass19 liked it.
So it’s not going anywhere. I might actually name it Joe. Time will tell.
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Awesome!
PRS makes amazing instruments. I very nearly bought a MIK SE guitar earlier this year. And especially the MIK SE’s are fantastic value - very high quality. I think you’ll be really happy.
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Did you ever get that bass, @kristine ? If so, how do you like it? Good things, not so good things about it?
(I think there are a few more SE Kestrels being played by fellow Buzzers, but yours is the latest I seem to remember…) Thx!
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This is my bass. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
My bass is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life.
Without me, my bass is useless. Without my bass, I am useless. I must slap my bass true. I must groove deeper than my enemy who is trying to outbass me. I must outbass him before he outbasses me.
My bass and I know that what counts in music is not the notes we fire, nor the noise of our bass,. We know that it is the rhythm that count. And I will groove …
My bass is human, even as I [am human], because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strength, its parts, its accessories, its pickups and its bridge. I will keep my bass clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready. We will become part of each other. We will groove …
Before God, I swear this creed. My bass and I are the defenders of disco. We are the masters of the dancefloor. We are the saviors of my life.
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