John Mayer SE

Disclaimer:
This post is not meant to offend, antagonize or insult in any way, shape, manner or form.
I am genuinely trying to learn about something I do not "get" so I am asking respectfully.

That being said here goes...

I just do not understand what the big deal is with this guitar.

Seriously.

I'm not trolling the thread or anything like that.
I would really like to understand all the hoopla over this guitar.
What I see is an Indonesian copy of an American made imitation Fender Stratocaster.
I am obviously missing something and would like to understand what it is.
(Please and thank you included.)
The original SS is a killer sounding and playing S type guitar.
This SE Mayer may not :D:rolleyes::p come dang close.
I'd like to see a maple board one.
 
Yeah, the 5 way on the SE is standard fair. On the Silver Sky (American) the middle position is neck/bridge at Mayer's request and it is REALLY NICE. And I LOVES me some middle pickup only tones, especially on my NF3 (but that's not even fair). But I modded my first strat, and one of my other guitars to do neck/bridge in the middle position. It's a great tone!

Unless they changed something since the first year, the core SS is middle pickup in the middle position. I tested mine tonight before I replied just to make sure.
 
Disclaimer:
This post is not meant to offend, antagonize or insult in any way, shape, manner or form.
I am genuinely trying to learn about something I do not "get" so I am asking respectfully.

That being said here goes...

I just do not understand what the big deal is with this guitar.

Seriously.

I'm not trolling the thread or anything like that.
I would really like to understand all the hoopla over this guitar.
What I see is an Indonesian copy of an American made imitation Fender Stratocaster.
I am obviously missing something and would like to understand what it is.
(Please and thank you included.)

You obviously have not been to the KoolAid bucket ... ;)
 
I said to myself when I first saw this was happening that if PRS could bring this in under $1k to compete with the Player Strat, they'd clean up.

At $849 this is perfectly positioned. Only reason I'm not thinking of getting one (currently) is the lack of a maple board. (I scratched that itch about a year ago when I caught a deal on a nice Polar White Player Strat from Cream City Music.)
 
Anyone notice that Mayer didn't have a trem bar in the guitar, and didn't talk at all about tuning stability. As much as I want to pull the trigger on one today, we're all aware of (or have experienced) the tuning stability issues with trem-equipped SE guitars, so am going to wait until the jury's out on this one. And in the other video with the 6 players, no one touched the trem. Heck, even Bryan was afraid to touch the trem in his video. :rolleyes:

Interesting observation, as I have had tuning issues on most of my SE’s. Drives me nuts, deez nutz! Once I got a CE with lockers, no longer an issue. Really want to try this new one for sure but, am also very concerned about tuning stability!
 
Interesting observation, as I have had tuning issues on most of my SE’s. Drives me nuts, deez nutz! Once I got a CE with lockers, no longer an issue. Really want to try this new one for sure but, am also very concerned about tuning stability!

the vast majority of Tuning Issues are to do with the 'nut' - especially if you 'know' how to properly wrap a string around a tuner post. Assuming you 'know' how to do that, the only advantage of 'locking' tuners is to make string changes quicker and easier. The reason you get 'tuning' instability is that the 'friction' between the nut and string is greater than the tension meaning it stops the string from returning to pitch. That could be because the nut slots aren't cut right or the material itself has more 'friction'. Even with 'straight' string pull, the angle of the slot on the 'back' edge of the nut down to the tuners can increase/decrease the 'friction', the width of the slot and string gauge affects the 'friction' etc and its that 'friction' that is the 'cause' of tuning instability. The Les Paul is an 'example' of this as the angle from nut to tuner, will create 'friction' that unless the nut is cut well, will lead to tuning instability.

Its often a LOT cheaper to replace the nut or at least check the slots or buy some 'nut lube' than buy a set of locking tuners.

I admit I much prefer Locking tuners myself but only because I dislike changing strings with all that wrapping and unwrapping around the posts - it really makes a difference to the ease and time taken. Therefore by choice, I'd go for locking tuners, but in terms of tuning stability, they only improve it if you don't know how to wrap a string round the post correctly and therefore can 'slip' or 'move'.

IMG_6531.jpg

If your string looks like this around the post, you are asking for tuning issues...

Also Phil McKnight does test the Tuning Stability with the Trem doing dive bombs here - Skip to 13:30 to see the tuning stability test.
 
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the vast majority of Tuning Issues are to do with the 'nut' - especially if you 'know' how to properly wrap a string around a tuner post. Assuming you 'know' how to do that, the only advantage of 'locking' tuners is to make string changes quicker and easier. The reason you get 'tuning' instability is that the 'friction' between the nut and string is greater than the tension meaning it stops the string from returning to pitch. That could be because the nut slots aren't cut right or the material itself has more 'friction'. Even with 'straight' string pull, the angle of the slot on the 'back' edge of the nut down to the tuners can increase/decrease the 'friction', the width of the slot and string gauge affects the 'friction' etc and its that 'friction' that is the 'cause' of tuning instability. The Les Paul is an 'example' of this as the angle from nut to tuner, will create 'friction' that unless the nut is cut well, will lead to tuning instability.

Its often a LOT cheaper to replace the nut or at least check the slots or buy some 'nut lube' than buy a set of locking tuners.

I admit I much prefer Locking tuners myself but only because I dislike changing strings with all that wrapping and unwrapping around the posts - it really makes a difference to the ease and time taken. Therefore by choice, I'd go for locking tuners, but in terms of tuning stability, they only improve it if you don't know how to wrap a string round the post correctly and therefore can 'slip' or 'move'.

IMG_6531.jpg

If your string looks like this around the post, you are asking for tuning issues...

Also Phil McKnight does test the Tuning Stability with the Trem doing dive bombs here - Skip to 13:30 to see the tuning stability test.
YES! A thousand times yes!
 
Disclaimer:
This post is not meant to offend, antagonize or insult in any way, shape, manner or form.
I am genuinely trying to learn about something I do not "get" so I am asking respectfully.

That being said here goes...

I just do not understand what the big deal is with this guitar.

Seriously.

I'm not trolling the thread or anything like that.
I would really like to understand all the hoopla over this guitar.
What I see is an Indonesian copy of an American made imitation Fender Stratocaster.
I am obviously missing something and would like to understand what it is.
(Please and thank you included.)

I’m not a strat guy at all so I don’t have a horse in this race, but from what I’ve gathered the SS SE should be better quality than the comparable fender at the same price point.

The last thing I would think the guitar world would need is another mid priced strat, but a lot of people seen to be excited for it so it looks like PRS knows what they are doing!

As for me, I’m still silently waiting it out for them to release a core 7 string custom 24….please….
 
the vast majority of Tuning Issues are to do with the 'nut' - especially if you 'know' how to properly wrap a string around a tuner post. Assuming you 'know' how to do that, the only advantage of 'locking' tuners is to make string changes quicker and easier. The reason you get 'tuning' instability is that the 'friction' between the nut and string is greater than the tension meaning it stops the string from returning to pitch. That could be because the nut slots aren't cut right or the material itself has more 'friction'. Even with 'straight' string pull, the angle of the slot on the 'back' edge of the nut down to the tuners can increase/decrease the 'friction', the width of the slot and string gauge affects the 'friction' etc and its that 'friction' that is the 'cause' of tuning instability. The Les Paul is an 'example' of this as the angle from nut to tuner, will create 'friction' that unless the nut is cut well, will lead to tuning instability.

Its often a LOT cheaper to replace the nut or at least check the slots or buy some 'nut lube' than buy a set of locking tuners.

I admit I much prefer Locking tuners myself but only because I dislike changing strings with all that wrapping and unwrapping around the posts - it really makes a difference to the ease and time taken. Therefore by choice, I'd go for locking tuners, but in terms of tuning stability, they only improve it if you don't know how to wrap a string round the post correctly and therefore can 'slip' or 'move'.

IMG_6531.jpg

If your string looks like this around the post, you are asking for tuning issues...

Also Phil McKnight does test the Tuning Stability with the Trem doing dive bombs here - Skip to 13:30 to see the tuning stability test.
Yes, very well 'aware' of the factors that impact tuning stability. This is not my first rodeo - been buying and playing guitars for almost 40 years. This has been hashed out a thousand times here. It’s just that there is a disproportionately high number of SE owners whose experiences with their guitars has been negatively impacted by this problem. We all know the “first impressions…” thing, and it couldn’t be more relevant here.

That being said, my SE Silver Sky is ordered and on the UPS truck. And I’ll address the tuning issues, should they (hopefully not) exist.
 
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Both of mine (19 and 21) operate this way as well.
Yes, I believe that is standard (and Phil McKnight actually mentioned that in his video, that they both have the same pickup switching.)

I think that bridge-neck position was one of the many special mods that @DreamTheaterRules got on his SS ;)
 
Disclaimer:
This post is not meant to offend, antagonize or insult in any way, shape, manner or form.
I am genuinely trying to learn about something I do not "get" so I am asking respectfully.

That being said here goes...

I just do not understand what the big deal is with this guitar.

Seriously.

I'm not trolling the thread or anything like that.
I would really like to understand all the hoopla over this guitar.
What I see is an Indonesian copy of an American made imitation Fender Stratocaster.
I am obviously missing something and would like to understand what it is.
(Please and thank you included.)
Take this for what it’s worth to you personally. Post divorce, I flipped a lot of guitars to make money to buy better guitars. Very quickly, I discovered that every one makes some great guitars. How many dogs do you have to play to find one? My first PRS (Se Singlecut- 2 P90’s) seriously outplayed my top of the line LP, the only good guitar I had salvaged. That started me on only flipping PRS guitars, and keeping the ones that sounded great to my ears. I probably sold 50-70 through the years. The worst I flipped were very, very good. Unfortunately, I now have too many desert island guitars, so a few great ones have to go. I’m not a Strat guy, but I’ve seen and played a lot of them through the last 50 years. There were a lot of turkeys. I see the SE SS as another PRS that simply is better than the competition. The pickups sound great on every single demo, and curiosity compelled me to watch a **** ton of them. They are familiar, but consistently rounder and less ice picky than many of the strats I’ve played. If I were a Strat guy, I’d be juiced by the tone and jump on it like a dog in heat. I don’t buy to look at, I buy for sound.
 
Got this one inbound, should be here by end of week. So many of these promotional photos & videos seem to have completely different color shades…specifically with Stone Blue & Dragon Fruit. Either way, really digging this color. Stay tuned for more in-hand photos and a clip or two!
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Yeah man!! Congrats!!

I pre-ordered a Moon White, the ones I've seen on-line range from a light cream to a butter yellow. I'm hoping it's closer to the old school "Butter Cream" in person. I'm sure they'll all look good in person.

I'm glad you brought this up. I was starting to think it was these vintage eyeballs of mineo_O
 
My observations so far

- rosewood. I get why guys want maple fingerboards and I bet they will eventually be available. I see rosewood as welcoming feature. Most entry level guitars have pao ferro boards. Rosewood is a nice touch, makes SSSE I notch more "exclusive"
- I like the neck tint, darker maple looks just more pleasing to me, more than pale wood. I wish they could add the tint to the plastics too, egg shell, mint, that would be nice.
- fingerboard radius choice is odd. I understand they wanted to go between vintage and more modern curve but stating that setup is so important and a lot of care went there making literally impossible to do a proper by the ruler home setup is a bit contradiction to this. I do my setup with radius gauge in hand, strings follow the fingerboard radius and correct me if I'm wrong - I never seen 8.5" radius gauge anywhere. I bet this quickly be rectified by guys such as Stewmac, though

SS is still not for me, I will go for Fiore but I'm very happy for PRS as they killed with this guitar and seeing them selling hot. It will make this amazing brand even bigger and stronger with push to make even better instruments in future.

I can only congratulate Paul, John, anyone else involved in making this guitar and its future owners
 
Disclaimer:
This post is not meant to offend, antagonize or insult in any way, shape, manner or form.
I am genuinely trying to learn about something I do not "get" so I am asking respectfully.

That being said here goes...

I just do not understand what the big deal is with this guitar.

Seriously.

I'm not trolling the thread or anything like that.
I would really like to understand all the hoopla over this guitar.
What I see is an Indonesian copy of an American made imitation Fender Stratocaster.
I am obviously missing something and would like to understand what it is.
(Please and thank you included.)

Going back to the core Silver Sky, the first component was that John Mayer was attached to it. The second was because of the Strat similarities. The third was the specs, especially the fretboard radius. And it generated all the heat based purely on speculation because this was all before anyone commenting on it had ever seen one in the flesh. I only went to check it out because, as I told my dealer, "I have to see what all the fuss is about". I don't think of myself as a single-coil guy, and I felt like my 513 got close enough to the stereotypical Strat sounds that I had my bases covered. And I was wrong - the Silver Sky blew me away. And everything that everyone "knew" before they'd ever laid eyes on it turned out to be wrong. It didn't fret out. It wasn't just a generic Strat copy. Sure, there are allowances for personal preferences, but all the self-proclaimed experts missed the boat.

That led to the clamor for an SE version, almost from the get-go. And that's been what, 3 or 4 years now? So, the hoopla for this version is that you've got several years of pent-up demand and a company that is responding to that demand, as opposed to just plowing ahead on their own path and saying, "Yeah, we know you say you want this, but look over here at what we made instead." I've watched Mary Spender's video, and it's an excellent comparison. I can hear differences between the two, and which is 'better' is pretty much purely down to personal preference. But the big takeaway, IMO, was "here's a new guitar that gives you 80-90% of what the core model has for under 40% of the price".
 
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