Mark Holcomb 7 SVN b-string problem / making dim weak tone

[alantig]

Alan,

Thanks again for commenting, (PRS should endorse you for defending them) so far everyone has the best intentions to help so that goes in a good way and appreciated by me. I understand you have the guitar now ? Can i ask you to record the (LOW) B-string specially in the 12-fret, unplugged, preferably in video form ? and privately send it to me, if I have proof that this model exists without this problem I won't stop until get a working Holcomb.Cheers man !

Yep, no problem. I'll send you a PM to sort it out.

 

[alantig]

Alan,

Thanks again for commenting, (PRS should endorse you for defending them) so far everyone has the best intentions to help so that goes in a good way and appreciated by me. I understand you have the guitar now ? Can i ask you to record the (LOW) B-string specially in the 12-fret, unplugged, preferably in video form ? and privately send it to me, if I have proof that this model exists without this problem I won't stop until get a working Holcomb.Cheers man !

And I don't really see it as defending them, it's more making sure that you get the right information about the product, and that you don't get driven away from what might be a great fit for you once you get a non-defective guitar. If you were complaining about something that was easily fixable or explainable and you generalized that to all PRSi, that would be different. But that's not the case - you have a guitar that has a flaw. How fixable it is, I don't know. But it sounds - to me - like your dealer is effectively saying, "Well, you gets what you gets and you live with it", and it's clearly left you with a bad impression of the product, but this is a product-agnostic problem. You're paying a good amount of money, and while it would be unrealistic to expect Private Stock quality at that price, you still expect a certain level of quality. A rough fret, a wonky knob, a small finish flaw, those are all - in my mind - somewhat acceptable at that price point. But a guitar you can't play? Sorry, no - and a dealer that tells you that you have to compromise for that kind of flaw isn't giving you the service you deserve.

 

[Aeismann]

To give an update :

Alan has the same issue that I have, something is wrong with the low B-string, still unknown if this issue can be eliminated, for me it bothered me so much that I returned the guitar (unless PRS Europe are going to fix it somehow).

PRS USA is not answering my emails.

I already started looking for other guitars. Very bad experience.

 

[CorpWojtek]

Man, I have the exact same issue with this guitar. Just bought it last week on Gear4Music, and I immediately noticed that strange sound on the low B string.
So glad I'm not the only one!

Now I wonder if I should send it back and pick another guitar ...

 

[Aeismann]

Man, I have the exact same issue with this guitar. Just bought it last week on Gear4Music, and I immediately noticed that strange sound on the low B string.
So glad I'm not the only one!

Now I wonder if I should send it back and pick another guitar ...

Sending it back is a gamble, since its clearly an issue with all Holcomb SVN guitars with no official comment on that subject (even Mark himself disappeared), anyway let us know what did you eventually do.

 

[CorpWojtek]

I was instead thinking of asking for a refund. Gear4music has a 30 Day Money Back Guarantee...

It's my first 7 strings guitar so I thought it was normal for a "fat" strings to sound weird on small frets, or that the new strings needed to age a bit... but it's pretty annoying.

 

[alantig]

Man, I have the exact same issue with this guitar. Just bought it last week on Gear4Music, and I immediately noticed that strange sound on the low B string.
So glad I'm not the only one!

Now I wonder if I should send it back and pick another guitar ...

I did make a few tweaks to the guitar that lessened the effect of it. @Aeismann said he thought mine did not have the issue to the degree his did, and after I made my adjustments, it seemed to be lessened to my ears.

What I did was raise the saddles on the low B and low E strings - 1/4 turn on the 4 Allen screws. And I dialed a little more relief into the neck - maybe around 1/4 turn (it may be a little more or less - I turned the nut the wrong way the first time ). So if it doesn't affect your return period, you might give that a shot.

I will say I went back (at @Aeismann's request) and checked my SE-7, and I think the issue was a little worse on that guitar. That may be a setup issue because the guitar has been sitting a bit and gone through some seasonal changes. So it may just be generally out of whack. I'll have to play around with it to be sure.

One thing I noticed - the string windings are not exactly efficient. Not that I'd expect them to be, but I wonder if that might have an effect. Doubtful, but it did cross my mind.

 

[CorpWojtek]

I'm uploading a video on Youtube to share my issue as well...

 

[CorpWojtek]

Here it is :

 

[Aeismann]

I was instead thinking of asking for a refund. Gear4music has a 30 Day Money Back Guarantee...

It's my first 7 strings guitar so I thought it was normal for a "fat" strings to sound weird on small frets, or that the new strings needed to age a bit... but it's pretty annoying.

Like I wrote before in this thread - I compared it to other guitar even to an 8 string and a thick string doesn't have to have this chocked sound, its not okay. if you are okay with it its your compromise to make. I'm even more annoyed by the sharp contrast of the Holcomb SVN because except from this fatal flaw its a damn good instrument, its a shame that such a thing which for sure can be adjusted one way or the other comes like that from the factory, and the fact that it passed quality control, and the fact that PRS are okay with selling such a flawed instrument at that price. dont forget that at the end if we hear it, other people hear it, then its not something that you want. next time i listen to Periphery I will have to aurally check every Holcomb B-string part

 

[Aeismann]

Here it is :

Unbelievable, you get first place with how bad it sounds... un-believable.

 

[CorpWojtek]

For 1150€ it's pretty awful...

 

[Aeismann]

For 1150€ it's pretty awful...

Even for third of that price, sorry man that's not a guitar you can work with. I still can't believe they ship the guitar like that.

 

[CorpWojtek]

If you tune the E string as a B string, it has the same weird tone. So it's definitely not the B string...

 

[shimmilou]

Even for third of that price, sorry man that's not a guitar you can work with. I still can't believe they ship the guitar like that.

I believe you’ve made your point, as trollish as it has been, so why not move on?