Although I have yet to see an older and smaller heel, I was always under the impression that they made it that big for "strength." Irregardless of whatever their reasons are for making them that big, I know of some US made and a lot of Korean made ones (including my SE) that have uneven sustain length on a particular fret. This is what you are calling a dead spot, right? In my SE's case, tune down half a step and the dead spot moves up a fret. I guess it has something with the frequency in which the wood resonates and vibrates.
We share the same sentiments as far as the heel mod is concerned. I could live without it. Why wreck PRS's exquisite paint job (on US models at least)? PRS has one of the best paint jobs IMO and they know it. I think that is actually the reason why we seldom see PRSes in natural finish.
Truly.
But it doesn't apply to all their guitars, particularly with Modern Eagles. I've got evil plans sine the ME has a rosewood neck. If it's finished or not, I'm not yet sure. But it looks unfinished or maybe have a satin finish to it. No poly or sticky gloss finish at the back. Therefore, it might be easier to have the heel modded. lol. More reasons to get a USA PRS.
O yes. I really don't like their guitars in natural finish. I love it when it's brown, gray-black, emerald green, wine red, or the ME blue.
Then again, how do we explain the neck joint of a 305 and a 513? Darn those guitars. Abominations when it come to the neck heel. If we thought that the large heel is large, if you see the neck joint of those two models, you'll sh@tbrix.
Yeah, I cannot live with anything lower than a 9.5" radius. Isn't one of the US Santana's in 12" though? I suffer your same predicament as far as replacemnt bridge parts are concerned. I've given up looking for a replacemnt ready-made trem block but am quite scared to have one fabricated because if the original block gets destroyed as they try to replicate it in steel, I'll have one unusable guitar!
You can get a replacement part direct from PRS, though. But the sad part is, it's gonna cost you and arm and leg.
Bummer those US Santanas. They look really good, I'd stare at them all day. It's got a really short scale length too. Santanas have 11.5", I think. The acoustics have the 12". But I've read that the neck of the US Santana models are friggin baseball bats!