Floyd_Argus
Student of the game
I recently acquired my first set-neck solid body double-cut PRS (ref. my NGD post here: https://forums.prsguitars.com/threa...on-limited-edition-at-that.60605/#post-926804).
The other PRS guitars I have are either bolt-on necks (three SE series CE24s - one w no top (Satin Std), maple top, and a Sandblasted Swamp Ash top), and one set-neck BUT semi-hollow body (SE Series Custom 22). The semi-hollow nature of the last one has a tonal influence all of its own outside the bolt-on vs set-neck consideration
All are double cut body styles and all have trem units for bridges vs fixed bridges.
I have unexpectedly discovered a noticeable tonal difference, at least under heavy gain. The set neck guitar seems to have a fuller tone, particularly on the Low E string when doing chugging, i.e. palm muted metal riffs like the last two riffs in Metallica's "Seek & Destroy". I love it. I don't know that I would describe this difference as the typical "bolt-ons have more snap in their tone", as that the set-neck sounds fuller, with less mids in a good way, at least for metal tones.
I've spent time EQing the distortion patches I used for my bolt-on guitars to get closer to this awesome full tone of the set-neck guitar, and while I have gotten improved tone by doing that, the bolt-on guitars' tones are still missing that special something compared to the set-neck guitar.
What i haven't gotten to yet, is dialing in the set-neck guitar's clean tones. So I don't know yet if this "fullness" that is pro for high gain tones, will be a con in how well the clean tones sound in the set-neck compared to the bolt-on guitars. Clean tone wise, I tend to prefer running the neck pickup in partial coil-split mode va full series mode, as well as each of the two humbuckers combined in partial coilsplit mode as Both Inner Coils. I typically add a 1k resistor to the Neck pickup and 2k resistor to the Bridge pickup for those partial coilsplit tones. I noticed that the stock coilsplit wiring on this Year 2017 set-neck does not have any resistors, so I have to take their absence in consideration when doing my assessment of the tonal comparisons. I most likely will add those resistors sooner than later to this set-neck guitar. I will soon get to doing that comparison and report back here.
The other PRS guitars I have are either bolt-on necks (three SE series CE24s - one w no top (Satin Std), maple top, and a Sandblasted Swamp Ash top), and one set-neck BUT semi-hollow body (SE Series Custom 22). The semi-hollow nature of the last one has a tonal influence all of its own outside the bolt-on vs set-neck consideration
All are double cut body styles and all have trem units for bridges vs fixed bridges.
I have unexpectedly discovered a noticeable tonal difference, at least under heavy gain. The set neck guitar seems to have a fuller tone, particularly on the Low E string when doing chugging, i.e. palm muted metal riffs like the last two riffs in Metallica's "Seek & Destroy". I love it. I don't know that I would describe this difference as the typical "bolt-ons have more snap in their tone", as that the set-neck sounds fuller, with less mids in a good way, at least for metal tones.
I've spent time EQing the distortion patches I used for my bolt-on guitars to get closer to this awesome full tone of the set-neck guitar, and while I have gotten improved tone by doing that, the bolt-on guitars' tones are still missing that special something compared to the set-neck guitar.
What i haven't gotten to yet, is dialing in the set-neck guitar's clean tones. So I don't know yet if this "fullness" that is pro for high gain tones, will be a con in how well the clean tones sound in the set-neck compared to the bolt-on guitars. Clean tone wise, I tend to prefer running the neck pickup in partial coil-split mode va full series mode, as well as each of the two humbuckers combined in partial coilsplit mode as Both Inner Coils. I typically add a 1k resistor to the Neck pickup and 2k resistor to the Bridge pickup for those partial coilsplit tones. I noticed that the stock coilsplit wiring on this Year 2017 set-neck does not have any resistors, so I have to take their absence in consideration when doing my assessment of the tonal comparisons. I most likely will add those resistors sooner than later to this set-neck guitar. I will soon get to doing that comparison and report back here.
Last edited:
