shimmilou
Established in 1963
- Joined
- Mar 15, 2018
- Messages
- 2,659
So, while waiting (jonesing) for my Mira and SE Paul's, I saw this used SE Std 22 (MII) at Daves, for a reasonable price and I thought, what the heck, I'll take a chance. If nothing else, it looks very good (to me), and I can always mod it if needed.
Overall it is in great shape, very little signs of being used, no discernible fret wear, no swirl marks, but has a couple of very small dings. It is very light weight, just like the first SE Soapbar II (MIK) that I also bought used, and the whole guitar is very similar to the Soapbar, bridge, controls, layout, body and weight, and I got birds on this one, while the Soapbar has moons. Although very light weight, it is not neck heavy, even with the wide/fat neck, and balances well when sitting.
The fit and finish are good, nut is good, maybe cut a little deep. The bridge is fine, no buzzing or sitar sounds, and intonation is great. The tuners are smooth and hold tune very well. Neck is straight, with just the right amount of bow for decent low action with no fretting out.
The pots and switch function properly, smooth and no noise when turning the pots. The pickups actually sound decent after I tweaked the heights and poles a little bit, but I'm already thinking of a set of Kent Armstrong '57s..... maybe. The neck pup especially seems surprisingly nice for clean and low gain sounds. The middle position is chirpy with a bit of character. The bridge is just a little thin sounding, but is definitely usable for now. I want to change the pots to concentric, only so I can have 2 volumes and 2 tones without drilling any holes. I also want to change the switch to a better one, as the stock switch is a little delicate feeling, kind of touchy.
There are only a few slight criticisms that I have. The fret edges aren't quite as smooth as on my more expensive PRS models, but still good (much better than comparably priced other brands). There is a small gap between the body route and the cavity cover on one end. The truss rod cover is a tad too long, so it's raised just a bit at the bottom (can only be seen from the side). None of these things affect the play-ability or sound.
All things considered, I am very satisfied with it, and for the price, I think it is a fine guitar. Of course I didn't have unreasonable expectations for it, considering that it retails new for about $500, and I bought used for much less.
Overall it is in great shape, very little signs of being used, no discernible fret wear, no swirl marks, but has a couple of very small dings. It is very light weight, just like the first SE Soapbar II (MIK) that I also bought used, and the whole guitar is very similar to the Soapbar, bridge, controls, layout, body and weight, and I got birds on this one, while the Soapbar has moons. Although very light weight, it is not neck heavy, even with the wide/fat neck, and balances well when sitting.
The fit and finish are good, nut is good, maybe cut a little deep. The bridge is fine, no buzzing or sitar sounds, and intonation is great. The tuners are smooth and hold tune very well. Neck is straight, with just the right amount of bow for decent low action with no fretting out.
The pots and switch function properly, smooth and no noise when turning the pots. The pickups actually sound decent after I tweaked the heights and poles a little bit, but I'm already thinking of a set of Kent Armstrong '57s..... maybe. The neck pup especially seems surprisingly nice for clean and low gain sounds. The middle position is chirpy with a bit of character. The bridge is just a little thin sounding, but is definitely usable for now. I want to change the pots to concentric, only so I can have 2 volumes and 2 tones without drilling any holes. I also want to change the switch to a better one, as the stock switch is a little delicate feeling, kind of touchy.
There are only a few slight criticisms that I have. The fret edges aren't quite as smooth as on my more expensive PRS models, but still good (much better than comparably priced other brands). There is a small gap between the body route and the cavity cover on one end. The truss rod cover is a tad too long, so it's raised just a bit at the bottom (can only be seen from the side). None of these things affect the play-ability or sound.
All things considered, I am very satisfied with it, and for the price, I think it is a fine guitar. Of course I didn't have unreasonable expectations for it, considering that it retails new for about $500, and I bought used for much less.
