Prs special semi-hollow limited (core super eagle?)

BeerBatteredPhish said:
Really ? I've watched hours and hours of Dead & Company live videos and Mayer seems to LIVE in the 2nd position (which is my favorite tone - bridge & middle pup).
That middle pickup alone is always honky to my ears.
Click to expand...

Well when Garcia isn’t in modal jamming mode and just playing riffs of songs, his tone was always very honky and punchy. He lived in that middle pickup, and was very good at altering his pick attack to get the tone he wanted out of that pickup. I think most of “Europe 72” is just a Strat on the middle pickup. I personally wouldn’t go their for my tone, but that was his deal..
 
Skeeter said:
Well when Garcia isn’t in modal jamming mode and just playing riffs of songs, his tone was always very honky and punchy. He lived in that middle pickup, and was very good at altering his pick attack to get the tone he wanted out of that pickup. I think most of “Europe 72” is just a Strat on the middle pickup. I personally wouldn’t go their for my tone, but that was his deal..
Click to expand...
Truth is, I'm not a fan of Garcia's tone. I didn't listen to the Dead until Mayer joined Dead & Company.
 
LSchefman said:
Well, there are some significant differences, actually.

The PS20 Ltd is, of course, a solid body, and the pickups are Paul’s 408s with the NF middle. There aren’t individual coil splits; the tapped combinations are in positions 2 and 4 on the blade switch.

This new one’s pickups are humbuckers with switches splitting the coils. So it’s a little bit different.

Also, PS20 has a 24.594 scale length; the mahogany’s thicker in back, the maple’s thinner on top, the trem has locking saddles. And Madagascar RW on the fretboard, which if course, isn’t a big deal, but I mention it.

Anyway, it sounds quite different from this new model.
Click to expand...

Thanks Les for qualifying the differences, there is a PS 20th lurking around in Oz intermittently.
 
LSchefman said:
I wasn’t a fan of Garcia’s tone, either, but damn, the man could play and put on a show! I saw the Dead back in the...uh...wait, am I THAT old?

I mean, way back!
Click to expand...

Nice! I’m like a casual Dead fan, if there is such a thing. In the realm of jam bands, I go with the band from my youth, Phish.

But, back to what Les said. I think Garcia is kinda underrated by the guitar community as a whole, maybe because of all the BS surrounding the Dead and the stigma around jam bands? His bluegrass roots gave him some serious chops and when combined with rock and a love for Coltrane, he was pretty impressive whether you like his kinda odd trebly tone or not.

I don’t know, maybe I’m offbase about people’s perception. But at one point I got curious about his gear and MAN is that a rabbit whole to fall into. His guitars were crazy tricked out - he had an effects loop IN his guitar so he could adjust the effects mix live or just simply turn it off from switches and tone pots. Onboard pre-amp, MIDI, etc.. Like Jerry or not, reading about his various custom guitars should really interesting to any gearhead. Way beyond the beaten path of most 70s era rigs we read about all the time.

Just from that deep dive I did of curiosity years prior - it was clear when PRS launched the SE, that it was designed to emulate Jerry, and not a true Mayer sig model. I never would have thought they’d increase in value and become sought after. It’s like the MEI, all over - kicking myself for not grabbing a few. :mad:
 
LSchefman said:
I wasn’t a fan of Garcia’s tone, either, but damn, the man could play and put on a show! I saw the Dead back in the...uh...wait, am I THAT old?

I mean, way back!
Click to expand...

I know Garcia isn't for everyone, but the clip shows off what I love most about him.

I've heard dozens of different version of this song, and the guitar solo is never the same. But he always plays around with variations on the melody of the song. Solo begins at 5:55. Garcia's known for a piercing clean tone, but he did overdriven tones often and with great impact. If you listen with good speakers, you can hear the audience yelling at full throttle as the solo reaches a climax; the band and audience became a single unit. We saw Mayer with Dead & Company last year, and he pulled off the same thing on the solo for Sugaree (midway point is around 1:00:00)


It doesn't come across in this YouTube clip, but I was there, and I can tell you that for the last 32 bars of this solo everyone in the audience was just SCREAMING at the top of their lungs and Mayer has his head back, yelling something up to sky (to Jerry?) because the moment was just so perfect. Whether this is YOUR music, or you gravitate to very different bands and styles, those moments are what we all live for.
 
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LSchefman said:
I wasn’t a fan of Garcia’s tone, either, but damn, the man could play and put on a show! I saw the Dead back in the...uh...wait, am I THAT old?

I mean, way back!
Click to expand...
My jam band buddies took me to two Rat Dog concerts ten years ago and I could NOT get into the music. Luckily, they were the opening act for Allman Bros and Gov't Mule so I had Warren and Derek to look forward to. My concert going era started in the late 70s, (I'm 54 now) but I only knew of the Grateful Dead in name. I was more into Santana, the prog-rock bands and the Police in the 80s. Come 90s it was DMB, Phish, Sting and some country (with the wife - she LOVES Garth).

I listen to a lot of older 70s era Grateful Dead now, listening for that Jerry "magic" in those solos, those beautiful melodies he weaved into his playing. I enjoy hearing what Jerry did, then listening to how Mayer is interpreting that.
 
P90s said:
I know Garcia isn't for everyone, but the clip shows off what I love most about him.

I've heard dozens of different version of this song, and the guitar solo is never the same. But he always plays around with variations on the melody of the song. Solo begins at 5:55. Garcia's known for a piercing clean tone, but he did overdriven tones often and with great impact. If you listen with good speakers, you can hear the audience yelling at full throttle as the solo reaches a climax; the band and audience became a single unit. We saw Mayer with Dead & Company last year, and he pulled off the same thing on the solo for Sugaree (midway point is around 1:00:00)


It doesn't come across in this YouTube clip, but I was there, and I can tell you that for the last 32 bars of this solo everyone in the audience was just SCREAMING at the top of their lungs and Mayer has his head back, yelling something up to sky (to Jerry?) because the moment was just so perfect. Whether this is YOUR music, or you gravitate to very different bands and styles, those moments are what we all live for.
Click to expand...

I love Mayer's solos in Sugaree, Althea and Jack Straw (when Bobby let's him cut loose) - they just lift and build. I know EXACTLY what you mean sir
 
So I played my Special Semi-Hollow Limited Edition last night. (That name seems so...generic. I want to call it a Semi-Hollow-Special-22-12 or something, since I think, if I did the math right, there are 12 possible pickup configurations? Yeah, that name might confuse folk thinking it has 12 strings.)

I was (am) still exhausted from the drive all day Sunday into Monday morning, and then working all day, and then playing housecleaner, pool-boy, and co-chef for dinner, so my impressions were very primitive and visceral.

This thing rocks!

I played into my Sweet 16 (using native dirt and with pedals) and into my HXDA (native dirt with a bit of reverb, sometimes).

I love all the different tones I can get with the various pickup selections. With both mini-toggles selecting the coil-tap, it sounds a whole lot more like a Strat than I would have expected - that was a pleasant surprise. Set up pedals for Breathe (Pink Floyd) and found it to be a darned good emulation!

The semi-hollow build makes it a slightly lighter guitar, which was a nice treat too.

The Pattern (updated Wide Fat) neck felt very comfortable - but I will admit I am relatively neck agnostic with the various PRS neck profiles. The added meat to the neck undoubtedly give a bit more meat to the tone.

I might (might!) get a chance to play with it again tonight. And maybe the sun will be out and I can take some better photos!
 
shinksma said:
So I played my Special Semi-Hollow Limited Edition last night. (That name seems so...generic. I want to call it a Semi-Hollow-Special-22-12 or something, since I think, if I did the math right, there are 12 possible pickup configurations? Yeah, that name might confuse folk thinking it has 12 strings.)

I was (am) still exhausted from the drive all day Sunday into Monday morning, and then working all day, and then playing housecleaner, pool-boy, and co-chef for dinner, so my impressions were very primitive and visceral.

This thing rocks!

I played into my Sweet 16 (using native dirt and with pedals) and into my HXDA (native dirt with a bit of reverb, sometimes).

I love all the different tones I can get with the various pickup selections. With both mini-toggles selecting the coil-tap, it sounds a whole lot more like a Strat than I would have expected - that was a pleasant surprise. Set up pedals for Breathe (Pink Floyd) and found it to be a darned good emulation!

The semi-hollow build makes it a slightly lighter guitar, which was a nice treat too.

The Pattern (updated Wide Fat) neck felt very comfortable - but I will admit I am relatively neck agnostic with the various PRS neck profiles. The added meat to the neck undoubtedly give a bit more meat to the tone.

I might (might!) get a chance to play with it again tonight. And maybe the sun will be out and I can take some better photos!
Click to expand...

Fantastic!
 
shinksma said:
So I played my Special Semi-Hollow Limited Edition last night. (That name seems so...generic. I want to call it a Semi-Hollow-Special-22-12 or something, since I think, if I did the math right, there are 12 possible pickup configurations? Yeah, that name might confuse folk thinking it has 12 strings.)

I was (am) still exhausted from the drive all day Sunday into Monday morning, and then working all day, and then playing housecleaner, pool-boy, and co-chef for dinner, so my impressions were very primitive and visceral.

This thing rocks!

I played into my Sweet 16 (using native dirt and with pedals) and into my HXDA (native dirt with a bit of reverb, sometimes).

I love all the different tones I can get with the various pickup selections. With both mini-toggles selecting the coil-tap, it sounds a whole lot more like a Strat than I would have expected - that was a pleasant surprise. Set up pedals for Breathe (Pink Floyd) and found it to be a darned good emulation!

The semi-hollow build makes it a slightly lighter guitar, which was a nice treat too.

The Pattern (updated Wide Fat) neck felt very comfortable - but I will admit I am relatively neck agnostic with the various PRS neck profiles. The added meat to the neck undoubtedly give a bit more meat to the tone.

I might (might!) get a chance to play with it again tonight. And maybe the sun will be out and I can take some better photos!
Click to expand...

Is the measurement of the body the same as a traditional Custom 22, or is it thicker to accommodate the semi-hollow?
 
shinksma said:
So I played my Special Semi-Hollow Limited Edition last night. (That name seems so...generic. I want to call it a Semi-Hollow-Special-22-12 or something, since I think, if I did the math right, there are 12 possible pickup configurations? Yeah, that name might confuse folk thinking it has 12 strings.)

I was (am) still exhausted from the drive all day Sunday into Monday morning, and then working all day, and then playing housecleaner, pool-boy, and co-chef for dinner, so my impressions were very primitive and visceral.

This thing rocks!

I played into my Sweet 16 (using native dirt and with pedals) and into my HXDA (native dirt with a bit of reverb, sometimes).

I love all the different tones I can get with the various pickup selections. With both mini-toggles selecting the coil-tap, it sounds a whole lot more like a Strat than I would have expected - that was a pleasant surprise. Set up pedals for Breathe (Pink Floyd) and found it to be a darned good emulation!

The semi-hollow build makes it a slightly lighter guitar, which was a nice treat too.

The Pattern (updated Wide Fat) neck felt very comfortable - but I will admit I am relatively neck agnostic with the various PRS neck profiles. The added meat to the neck undoubtedly give a bit more meat to the tone.

I might (might!) get a chance to play with it again tonight. And maybe the sun will be out and I can take some better photos!
Click to expand...
An awesome reward after breaking some sweat, Congrats once more
 
Skeeter said:
Nice! I’m like a casual Dead fan, if there is such a thing. In the realm of jam bands, I go with the band from my youth, Phish.

But, back to what Les said. I think Garcia is kinda underrated by the guitar community as a whole, maybe because of all the BS surrounding the Dead and the stigma around jam bands? His bluegrass roots gave him some serious chops and when combined with rock and a love for Coltrane, he was pretty impressive whether you like his kinda odd trebly tone or not.

I don’t know, maybe I’m offbase about people’s perception. But at one point I got curious about his gear and MAN is that a rabbit whole to fall into. His guitars were crazy tricked out - he had an effects loop IN his guitar so he could adjust the effects mix live or just simply turn it off from switches and tone pots. Onboard pre-amp, MIDI, etc.. Like Jerry or not, reading about his various custom guitars should really interesting to any gearhead. Way beyond the beaten path of most 70s era rigs we read about all the time.

Just from that deep dive I did of curiosity years prior - it was clear when PRS launched the SE, that it was designed to emulate Jerry, and not a true Mayer sig model. I never would have thought they’d increase in value and become sought after. It’s like the MEI, all over - kicking myself for not grabbing a few. :mad:
Click to expand...
Here’s the thing(s) about Garcia
The guy knew how to develop the melody of a tune when soloing and he also really knew how to solo over the changes. So many other rock guitarists or similar eras either couldn’t or just didn’t. In that sense, he approached playing more like a jazz guitarist.
His music may certainly not appeal to all, but any musician who doesn’t have respect for the man’s playing, just isn’t listening, or is letting preconceived notions do the listening. Personally, I think he was a brilliant musician
 
BWV548 said:
Here’s the thing(s) about Garcia
The guy knew how to develop the melody of a tune when soloing and he also really knew how to solo over the changes. So many other rock guitarists or similar eras either couldn’t or just didn’t. In that sense, he approached playing more like a jazz guitarist.
His music may certainly not appeal to all, but any musician who doesn’t have respect for the man’s playing, just isn’t listening, or is letting preconceived notions do the listening. Personally, I think he was a brilliant musician
Click to expand...

THIS. He idolized Coltrane and used that “Giant Steps”- like approach to soloing over changes. In some Dead eras, when Jerry is on fire, if you close your eyes (so to speak) he almost sounds like John Scofield or John McLaughin - just flying through melodies and arpeggios, connecting them chromaticly, etc...
 
LSchefman said:
Why? Their playing has influenced any number.

https://www.fretboardjournal.com/features/chasin-trane-guitarists-remember-john-coltrane/
Click to expand...

Cool article - thanks Les. I am a fan of a number of those guitar players.

Not sure why I got “buzzed” - I know that jazz is a dirty word in some circles. But I thought musicians, like those here, generally respect it, even if it isn’t your thing.

When I really got into to jazz a couple decades ago (man I feel old), took lessons, and studied it - It TOTALLY changed the way I approached my guitar playing - from soloing, chord voicings and composition.

And I’ve used that knowledge primarily to help style-ize my playing in rock bands. Or, as an example, to make stuff by Satriani or Vai more understandable - why their melodies work against certain harmonic structures and so on.

So I always encourage people to study jazz to help further their guitar playing, even if they have no intention of going out to play jazz. I don’t mean to sound pretentious or anything, just relating part of my never-ending journey of learning guitar.

ANYWAYS, congrats to those getting these SH Specials - they seem incredibly versatile and look amazing!!
 
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