Any Friends of the SE 277 ?

[CrimesAgainstMusic]

I'm not sure why, but as a '60's - thru maybe early '80's Rockguy ... I never wanted to listen to "metal" or any crazystuf like that ... But after "discovering" a new dude that I guess plays in that genre (it was a Brand F Demo for a new Siggy guitar for Tom Morello ) ...

I had never heard of the dude. Funny though, he comes from a Chicagoland suburb, just north of where I'm living now. Voice sounds like Barack Obama (Both have Kenyan Dads ) But anyway ... When he's not making weird guitar noises , or playing cable ... He does some kinda cool riffs with groups I'd never listen to like Rage Against The Machine , and Audioslave ??? (never , never , never)

But I started look for TAB on the riffs I was digging. OK "Drop D" tuning ? No problem. But one riff I really like ... is in Drop B ????? WTF !!! How does one even get to Drop B ???

Maybe with much modifying and messing with stuff that is irreversible like widening nut slots, truss rod adjustments endless intonation issues , and floppy suspension bridge cable sized strings ...

I thought ... Heck Just Transpose into higher keys and forgit about it ...

But then I started thinking , "What comes natively tuned this crazy low " ... A Baritone !

So as an GuitarJunky Impulse thing , between the next major project (2d Hollowbody vs 2d McCarty 594) ... I'm looking at Baritones, and I have not seen a post on baritones here , so I though I'd ask ...

 

[CrimesAgainstMusic]

No Love for the SE 277 here ?

I can't find one in inventory locally, and it looks like PRS has pared back production (I like the older colors, and they even had a semi-hollow)

But on the Brand F side of the road, folks are crazy about their not really Fenders by some accounts (not mine) ,Squire Jazzmaster Baritones ,and the crazily named "Paranormal Cabronita Squire Baritone (that looks like a Tele Mutant)

These $459 dollar instruments, are being offered by some folk on Reverb for as much as $1500 ...

The market for the Tele will get right as units are beginning to show up in the marketplace

But I'd sure like to fondle one, to see what it was like ...and I'm sure the SE277 (although a "lowly" SE)

Is one of the nicer ones (despite it's 85/15S pickups ...

 

[MarcWink]

I can pretty easily tune a guitar to drop B without having to make any major modifications. I do this on my 25.5" scale Ibanez RG. I use 11 - 52 Ernie Ball Slinkies and a little bit of adjustment to the truss rod and tremolo springs. I haven't needed to modify tuner posts or nuts. I've also got a PRS CE 22 tuned to C# standard with the same setup and that's with the standard 25" PRS scale length. The strings have enough tension in them, it's just a matter of getting the truss rod adjusted accordingly.

 

[Bowtiefanatc]

The SE277 is a nice bari. I played the Semi Hollow Soapbar for a little bit to see if I could wrap my head around those lower tunings.

I could definitely see myself owning one at some point. It’s just not super high on my wishlist at the moment.

 

[MarcWink]

An SE 277 would be perfect if you could find one. I know that they're pretty scarce in my neck of the woods.

 

[John Beef]

I've had one for a while now. It's pretty great!

 

[KentuckyBoiledChiccan]

I can pretty easily tune a guitar to drop B without having to make any major modifications. I do this on my 25.5" scale Ibanez RG. I use 11 - 52 Ernie Ball Slinkies and a little bit of adjustment to the truss rod and tremolo springs. I haven't needed to modify tuner posts or nuts. I've also got a PRS CE 22 tuned to C# standard with the same setup and that's with the standard 25" PRS scale length. The strings have enough tension in them, it's just a matter of getting the truss rod adjusted accordingly.

I tune 11-50 to Eb, I would defo need baritone for drop B...

 

[John Beef]

I don't know if you have any F*nder or related products, but they do offer a 27" scale conversion neck you could bolt up to a body if all you wanna do is screw around and see if you're interested. It would be like half the price of a new SE. But you know, once you decide to get the SE after all, you'll wish you'd just bought it in the first place. I actually have a 2013-ish USA Custom Guitars 28.8" scale 24 fret conversion neck I'm not using at the moment.

 

[Tucson Thump]

The only SE I have is a 277 soapbar semihollow because the middle of my vocal range is B flat. For the money they fill the bill.

 

[CrimesAgainstMusic]

In Baritones, there seems to be a lot of interest in "budget" models by Fender "counterfeit" Squire (The Jazzmaster Baritone , and Tele Baritone ... Gretsch makes a moderate priced unit ... and the 277 seems almost the "high-priced spread" in the group.

There is a group, from Liverpool England, Home of the Beatles who does this unlistenable crazydeathmetal stuff , using budget Baritones (first the Jazzmaster, then the Gretsch) ...

But I saw a video of them with something called "Sub-Zero" (No not the Super Cool /Expensive 'Fridges) but what looked like a rip-off of the Jazzmaster Baritone

The discontinued Squire Jazzmaster Bari goes for DOUBLE/TRIPLE its former list price on Reverb, so that may explain the "Sub-Zero" rip off ...

But the interesting thing about this "Sub-Zero" brand , is that it is probably made alongside "Harley--Benton " (who rips off everybody, and the PRS CU24) as both "brands" are made for large European music houses ... In Vietnam !!!

'Nam ... the future home of the SE line ...

 

[Dusty Chalk]

I am a fan, yes. Only recently finally found a 277 of the soapbar variety, though.

 

[CrimesAgainstMusic]

I am a fan, yes. Only recently finally found a 277 of the soapbar variety, though.

Hold on to that ...I'm betting the soapbars smoke the 85/15's ... And if they don't , SD makes really cool replacements....

The Bari market seems to be run by young crazykids playing terminal DeathMetal on 30" scale lengths. One of the most sought Baris (Brand F's Jazzmaster Bari ) is sporting SD soapbars ...

And its "little brother" Tele, also highly sought, and coming back into the market, sports soapbars ...

 

[CrimesAgainstMusic]

The only SE I have is a 277 soapbar semihollow because the middle of my vocal range is B flat. For the money they fill the bill.

So I just watched a YouTube video where a guy " Chords of Orion" ... had a SE semi-hollow, soapbar ...

That is Phucking awesome !!!

Makes me wonder why PRS paired back the product offering ... and it appears to be head and shoulders above the current (stll largely unavailable) SE 277 (equipped with 85/15S

If the semi-hollow soapbar were available, I'd have to cop. Since it is not ... I went another way ...

Should it come back ? I'll be on it . That semi hollow , probably only makes musical tones and does ambient stuff, and probably is not to good on chainsaw/flamethrower deathmetal ... which seems to be driving the bus in the Baritone market ...

Hence its demise ?

Check it out ...

 

[CrimesAgainstMusic]

As proof of the crazyness in the Baritone market ... My good "friends" on evil-Bay want me to contribute on the insane profiteering resulting from

1.Brand F's discoing this model (gotta guess sales numbers did not support it)

2.An insane bunch of guys from John, Paul, Ringo & George's home town that use this while committing whatever it is they do (maybe a Flint, MI water situation affected the kids that grew up to do this ?)

3.You Tubers (Trogli and other saying good things)

This thing had a MAP of $459 ...and now "commands" this : https://www.ebay.com/itm/324729376863?campaign-id=90001&run-date=20210827080500&templateId=32cab51d-9e3c-4742-a941-1a07b221e3f9&templateVersion=207&co=14502&placement-type=mfe.piyi1v2P&user-id=45179809145&instance=1630076700&site-id=0&trackingCode=TE79001_T_AGM_CT1&placement-type-name=mfe.piyi1v2P&mfe-Id=101311&mkevt=1&mkpid=2&emsid=0&mkcid=8&bu=45179809145&osub=6803d8a8c18601b5c7db7ccc4a004a25%7ETE79001_T_AGM_CT1&segname=TE79001_T_AGM_CT1&crd=20210827080500&ch=osgood&sojTags=osub=osub,segname%

As poetic justice, the Gear4music guys offer the SubZero Rogue 6 Baritone beast a direct rip off for $400...(which I might look at one day) ...

 

[SinSir]

I've loved me some squiers but there's no way I'd ever consider that price and anyone that does might as well stay living in their parents basement cause the neighborhood kids are still waiting to beat em up! Lol

I'll add along the same lines the squier vintage modified jaguar short scale bass has been one of the coolest bases I've owned, admittedly not many. I still wouldn't pay crackhead pricing for it.

 

[CrimesAgainstMusic]

I've loved me some squiers but there's no way I'd ever consider that price and anyone that does might as well stay living in their parents basement cause the neighborhood kids are still waiting to beat em up! Lol

I'll add along the same lines the squier vintage modified jaguar short scale bass has been one of the coolest bases I've owned, admittedly not many. I still wouldn't pay crackhead pricing for it.

True Dat !

That Jazzmaster thing borders on lunacy ...But as Mr. Barnum would say ....

I entered the Baritone market as a sideshow ... But now I'm thinking that wrestling with this beast (29.75 scale length) will make my previously "hostile" Strats seem reasonable, and my 24" Jags like 6 string Uke's !

As a result of my Market Research, I fear I have found another PRS product to harass the PRS Product Development Team about ...

And that is to re-launch the SE 277 Semi Hollow with the Soapbars ... Those are beautiful guitars. They are enough to make me not want the current (but still can't find) solid/ 85/15S version.

PRS should bring it out... Pay some stoner kids to make some crackhead/chainsaw/deathmetal crap on YouTube .... With the prerequisite high gain causing feedback through the chambered semi-hollow body that the current Baritones won't do ! Whoa ! Its Unique when played at 129 dB SPL ...

That would support enough non-musical sales to make the product viable, so old 'Boomer farts like me can play some hard core real Rock, Blues, and explore this Ambient Music thing I stumbled across researching Baritones . Check the Chords of Orion guy above for proof of concept .....

Sounds like a plan ...

 

[SinSir]

And that is to re-launch the SE 277 Semi Hollow with the Soapbars ...

I've never owned or really even considered a baritone but that one would peak my interest..

 

[CrimesAgainstMusic]

Well in the time I posted that ... I found this ... EVIDENCE !!!

They did it before !

The only mistake they made, was Brian spent too muck time playing MUSIC on the thing !

Brian, please get some of your students who follow "Loathe" ...A Deathmetal/ChainSaw/ HeadBanger group..
.
From the same town as John, Paul, Ringo & George ???

These Loathe guys played the Jazzmaster ... Which is why it is as crazy as it is now. They also play the "Fender Specialty Brand" Gretsch G5260 ... I call her ... the LongGurl l

See Brian spent only the last few seconds playing the crazy crap that would SELL this thing ! (to the crazies)

Maybe PRS should only show this YouTube to is customers over 40 ...And have Brian's students do the "Loathe" thing

The Evidence !

 

[CrimesAgainstMusic]

Or Brian ... Play like This guy ...

 

[CrimesAgainstMusic]

I'm sorry Fellow Forumites ...

But Market Research is part of what I do for a living so ...

Heads Up PRS Marketing Team !

To SELL the re-introduced PRS SE 277 Semi-Hollow Soapbar ... You have to have guys that play this dreck to snag the Metahhead Market ...[

The fact that music (and actually very beautiful music ) can be made with it ... should be a well guarded secret ...

This SubZero Rouge 6, was the brainchild of a team who must have seen how the discontinued Fender Jazzmaster Baritone (above) blew up when Loathe some " noises were made with it ...

This thing ... is made in 'Nam ... so Higginbotham and Co may want to spend some time there training and upgrading their QC and manufacturing processes. The "quest " for LCC never ends ... SE's home in 5 years (or less)