RaySachs
New Member
OK, I have to apologize in advance for my irrational exuberance and the length of this. I've only had one guitar in my life with P-90s. It was a "non-reverse" Firebird that I bought from a poor woman who's son had recently been killed in a car wreck and she was selling his stuff. This was a mid to late '60s guitar and I bought it in about 1979 or 1980. She didn't know what she had and was only asking something like $75. I told her that was waaaay too little and she should re-advertize it for at least $300-400 but she really wanted to be rid of it (and I think the memories) so I insisted she take $150 for it. But I never really liked the guitar enough to learn to appreciate the pickups. I was a strat guy and while this could have been made to sound great, it just didn't play the way I thought a guitar should play. So I kept it a while and then sold it to a buddy of mine who liked playing it for the same thing I paid for it. Anyway that was my whole experience with soapbars until a few days ago.
My 594 was gonna be my only electric guitar. But then I came into more money than I expected selling off stuff (initially just to pay for the 594) and I really missed having a strat, so I bought a Robert Cray strat a couple of weeks ago. So far, two perfect and wonderful guitars. And then some more lenses and bicycle wheels I'd been advertising sold and I decided to scratch an itch. And I looked on the Guitar Center used page and saw two PRS Soapbar II's, one listed in excellent condition for $450 and one in "good" condition for $320. I called the store with the cheaper one and the guy pulled it off the wall and told me it looked pretty perfect to him outside of a bit of buckle rash. I figured for $320, what the hell, and I could easily drive 15-20 minutes to my local GC and return it if I didn't like it. So I ordered it.
Well, I've had it a few days, and of my three guitars it's the least of them as a player. It's fine, quite good really, just not as great as the other two. But the sound, OH MY GOD the SOUND!!! Those soapies are everything they're cracked up to be and for how I play, they may be much more than that. I was only about ten minutes in when I realized, OMG, I'm HOME! How can a pickup be at once raunchy as hell and sweet and creamy as a great hollandaise at the same time. With just a bit of OD and working the volume controls, it's the sweetest sound I've ever made with a guitar. I'm in a bit of heaven here. The bridge pup is notably lower than the neck and the one thing that's NOT in amazingly great condition with this guitar is the pickup height adjustment screws which are really badly stripped out, so I haven't worked out raising that pickup yet. But frankly, I'm waaaaaay more of a neck and middle position player than bridge and both of those positions sound so damn good! I'll probably get around to raising the bridge pickup someday, but it doesn't feel like a priority.
So I guess I'm gonna have to keep three electric guitars. The best laid plans, shot to hell. Yet again. Seems I suck at this minimalism stuff. I used to be really good at it, but evidently not so much now. Oddly, while the 594 is clearly the "best" sounding of these three guitars in lots of measurable ways, the other two have so much more personality I'm really conflicted. NOTHING plays like the 594 and its got bloom and sustain like I've never heard. But the strat and Soapie are soooo damn pleasingly funky!
In today's dollars I got this soapbar II for far less than the $150 1980 dollars I paid for that Firebird (a similar vintage one of which I recently saw advertised for about $4000 - shoulda kept it!). It's probably as good a use of $300 I've ever found. Just a sweeeeeeeet sounding axe. A gift from the gods!
Pics - not bad looking, but the least of the three in the looks department too, IMHO:
Soapbar II-2 by Ray, on Flickr
Soapbar II-3 by Ray, on Flickr
Soapbar II-5 by Ray, on Flickr
My 594 was gonna be my only electric guitar. But then I came into more money than I expected selling off stuff (initially just to pay for the 594) and I really missed having a strat, so I bought a Robert Cray strat a couple of weeks ago. So far, two perfect and wonderful guitars. And then some more lenses and bicycle wheels I'd been advertising sold and I decided to scratch an itch. And I looked on the Guitar Center used page and saw two PRS Soapbar II's, one listed in excellent condition for $450 and one in "good" condition for $320. I called the store with the cheaper one and the guy pulled it off the wall and told me it looked pretty perfect to him outside of a bit of buckle rash. I figured for $320, what the hell, and I could easily drive 15-20 minutes to my local GC and return it if I didn't like it. So I ordered it.
Well, I've had it a few days, and of my three guitars it's the least of them as a player. It's fine, quite good really, just not as great as the other two. But the sound, OH MY GOD the SOUND!!! Those soapies are everything they're cracked up to be and for how I play, they may be much more than that. I was only about ten minutes in when I realized, OMG, I'm HOME! How can a pickup be at once raunchy as hell and sweet and creamy as a great hollandaise at the same time. With just a bit of OD and working the volume controls, it's the sweetest sound I've ever made with a guitar. I'm in a bit of heaven here. The bridge pup is notably lower than the neck and the one thing that's NOT in amazingly great condition with this guitar is the pickup height adjustment screws which are really badly stripped out, so I haven't worked out raising that pickup yet. But frankly, I'm waaaaaay more of a neck and middle position player than bridge and both of those positions sound so damn good! I'll probably get around to raising the bridge pickup someday, but it doesn't feel like a priority.
So I guess I'm gonna have to keep three electric guitars. The best laid plans, shot to hell. Yet again. Seems I suck at this minimalism stuff. I used to be really good at it, but evidently not so much now. Oddly, while the 594 is clearly the "best" sounding of these three guitars in lots of measurable ways, the other two have so much more personality I'm really conflicted. NOTHING plays like the 594 and its got bloom and sustain like I've never heard. But the strat and Soapie are soooo damn pleasingly funky!
In today's dollars I got this soapbar II for far less than the $150 1980 dollars I paid for that Firebird (a similar vintage one of which I recently saw advertised for about $4000 - shoulda kept it!). It's probably as good a use of $300 I've ever found. Just a sweeeeeeeet sounding axe. A gift from the gods!
Pics - not bad looking, but the least of the three in the looks department too, IMHO:
Soapbar II-2 by Ray, on FlickrSoapbar II-3 by Ray, on FlickrSoapbar II-5 by Ray, on Flickr
...just a little...okay a lot...
