NGD - "2017" SE 277 Semi-Hollow

[shinksma]

I ordered this on Tuesday a few hours after the PRS SE revamp announcement was made and the guitars were suddenly available on Sweetwater.

I got the Gray-Black, and picked the particular serial number that had the most-appealing-to-me "flame".

It is somewhat subtle on the gray-black, but looks nice.

Guitar arrived today, but I can't post any pictures of it right now because of an extended DDOS on many sites, including Photobucket (where I keep my pics).

So here is a link to a couple of the Sweetwater photos, which I will replace once I get the chance:

(EDIT: got copies uploaded to Photobucket, so links replaced but images the same. See below for photos I took.)

The sound is not as drastically different from my SE Mike Mushok Baritone, which surprised me: I would have thought the semi-hollow design and different pups (soapbars vs humbuckers) would make the sound very different. There is a difference of course, and maybe I'll suss out more of the subtleties over time.

I'm taking it to a gig tonight for the three or four songs we play that has the other guitar capoed on the fifth fret (I downtune to A Std), so I can use arpeggios and whatnot using the same chord shapes but be an octave below.

Tomorrow night I'll play the same songs using a mandolin (no capo) just for variety...

Anyway, it looks and plays very nicely, like every SE I've tried.

 

[charliefrench]

Nice, and congrats! You are the first in with a 2017 model I think. How does it compare acoustically with your other baritone?

Have a great gig.

 

[veinbuster]

I would like that big time.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Bangin'!

 

[bodia]

Sweet as sweet!

 

[goat-n-gitter]

Congratulations, I think I'll try to get one of the solid/humbucker SE277s once I recover from my 594. Much more appealing with the revised pickups for 2017.

 

[Groberts]

Beautiful instrument! That bridge looks very different from typical bridges. I need to research that.

 

[shinksma]

Nice, and congrats! You are the first in with a 2017 model I think. How does it compare acoustically with your other baritone?

Have a great gig.

I just tried that out - I didn't think to do that yesterday. Sounds much more, um, acoustic: more resonant, bit brighter. As you might expect from the semi-hollow design. The body and neck are different, which might also contribute: the Mushok is solid Hog, maple neck, ebony board; whereas the 277 SH is hog body with maple cap, maple neck with RW board.

And the gig went quite well! We had struggled last time with muddy sound, figured out too late the venue was really resonating the midrange, so I tackled the EQ via a preset in our mixing board before we got there and then just tweaked away all night when I could fine tuning. Sound was far better this time around!

Beautiful instrument! That bridge looks very different from typical bridges. I need to research that.

The 277 has (essentially, perhaps identically) the same bridge as the older MM Baritone: string through body. Really help increase sustain and resonance. The Holcomb bridge is same design (SE and Core, different parts for each category, obviously).

I need to play both back-to-back some more, but it sounded a little bit "better" for what I played last night than what I usually get out of the MM (I use it almost acoustic-sound like - a clean sound accompanying an acoustic guitar). The MM is geared towards nice tight chugga-chugga djenty stuff, the 277 SH seems to be a bit more laid back and open. I think I'll be tuning the MM in B Std for djenty stuff (mostly at home) and keeping the 277 SH in A Std for gigs and alternate stuff at home.

Here are a couple of shots taken outside yesterday when I first got it (I had played it for a bit, so some fingerprints may be obvious). Gray-black flame looks pretty nice, I must say:

 

[g.wizz]

that is a mean axe
Congrats

 

[Alan Manning]

Very Nice

 

[charliefrench]

I just tried that out - I didn't think to do that yesterday. Sounds much more, um, acoustic: more resonant, bit brighter. As you might expect from the semi-hollow design. The body and neck are different, which might also contribute: the Mushok is solid Hog, maple neck, ebony board; whereas the 277 SH is hog body with maple cap, maple neck with RW board.

And the gig went quite well! We had struggled last time with muddy sound, figured out too late the venue was really resonating the midrange, so I tackled the EQ via a preset in our mixing board before we got there and then just tweaked away all night when I could fine tuning. Sound was far better this time around!

Thank you for taking the time to make this comparison. It is never easy when it comes to putting sound into words. I was not expecting you to say brighter. I was thinking it would be more mellow somehow. I wonder if the cavity somehow amplifies the higher frequencies more than the lows to give a brighter edge.

Good to see you overcame the sound problems at the gig. You have my sympathy trying to control all of that while onstage.

- Recently I sold a semi-hollow P90 guitar (not PRS). We were never going to get along and it was a messy divorce but I feel so much better now that it has gone.

 

[shinksma]

Glad I can help describe the guitar for you. Yeah, I think the semi-hollow design contributes to hearing the full spectrum of the strings, rather than the somewhat muted tone you get from a solid body. So that makes it sound like it enhances the higher end, whereas perhaps it just isn't suppressing them as much?

 

[charliefrench]

Just isn't suppressing them as much . . . I had to think about this but yes I can go with that possibility. Impressed that you have chosen to buy another baritone actually. I can imagine some people have bought them for their novelty value and have them collecting dust. I would like to try one some day but I fear I would not like the scale length. Example, basses are too much like hard work for me and I have had several, collecting dust. When capo'd to E standard do you get a more fuller tone with the neck pickup than say à regular 25 inch or thereabouts guitar? With the neck pickup being further away from the bridge and fatter strings I am thinking this would be likely.

 

[shinksma]

Just isn't suppressing them as much . . . I had to think about this but yes I can go with that possibility. Impressed that you have chosen to buy another baritone actually. I can imagine some people have bought them for their novelty value and have them collecting dust. I would like to try one some day but I fear I would not like the scale length. Example, basses are too much like hard work for me and I have had several, collecting dust. When capo'd to E standard do you get a more fuller tone with the neck pickup than say à regular 25 inch or thereabouts guitar? With the neck pickup being further away from the bridge and fatter strings I am thinking this would be likely.

Well, I have gigged with a Baritone for a couple of years now (tertiary guitar usually, after electric and acoustic, but some gigs I primarily play mandolin, no baritone), so getting a second one was an easy reach, especially if I can keep them in different tunings for different usages.

I have never tried to capo a baritone to E-Std - I would just pick up a regular guitar. If I think of it, I'll try it out.

I don't mind the extra length of the baritone, but I also play bass occasionally, so I guess I'm just used to varying neck/scale lengths.

 

[charliefrench]

Just gone through it all from the beginning of this thread and it reads like I have bugged you terribly! Sorry for that. And thank you

 

[dogrocketp]

Your questions are all thoughtful, and well worth reading, Charlie.

 

[shinksma]

Your questions are all thoughtful, and well worth reading, Charlie.

Indeed! And they have spurred me to evaluate the guitar in ways I hadn't yet got around to.

 

[vchizzle]

That looks great in the sun!

 

[P-Vamp G.]

Very sweet...congrats!

 

[prsrocker1988]

Nice.