[Poll] S2 Hollowbody II with 58/15 LT S Pickups?

Would you be interested in a PRS S2 Hollowbody II with 58/15 LT S pickups?

  • Yes! Take my money!

    Votes: 13 44.8%
  • Possibly.

    Votes: 13 44.8%
  • Unsure.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Not interested at all.

    Votes: 3 10.3%

  • Total voters
    29

Mr_You

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Dec 18, 2012
Messages
32
I think PRS has done a good job consolidating their lines, but are they missing an opportunity by not offering an affordable S2 Hollowbody II model? The Semi-Hollow models sound nice, but don't get near the highly resonance/woody tone of the Core Hollowbody II model.

IMHO the Holllowbody II tone is in the style of a 335, but so much better. This tone is highly sought out by many guitarist. The new Hollowbody II design improves greatly on the issues experienced with the previous design (which I once owned) and the new 58/15 LT pickups complete the package.

I think an affordable S2 Hollowbody II with "58/15 LT S" pickups would play and sound incredible and offer a product that competes with the many 335-style guitars and offer an excellent alternative to archtops.

What do you think?
 
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Some excellent Core Hollowbody II tone examples:




Hollowbody I with 57/08 neck pickup at 2 minute mark:

 
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I think it's much too time consuming to do all the required carving and gluing and still hit anything close to an S2 price point.

The new Hollowbody II design improves greatly on the issues experienced with the previous design (which I once owned) and the new 58/15 LT pickups complete the package.

Explain, please. While there have been spec updates over the years, it is still essentially the same guitar they released in 1998. I do agree on the 58/15 LT pickups. Looking forward to trying one of the 2017 models.
 
I think it's much too time consuming to do all the required carving and gluing and still hit anything close to an S2 price point.

I'm sure you're right that it wouldn't be the same price point as the rest of the S2 line, but it would still be much cheaper than a $5k Core Hollowbody II. A Hollowbody I (mahogany back) would probably be "good enough", not as sweet as a Hollowbody II (maple back), but price/costs wise this may be more realistic.

Explain, please. While there have been spec updates over the years, it is still essentially the same guitar they released in 1998. I do agree on the 58/15 LT pickups. Looking forward to trying one of the 2017 models.

The biggest improvement that I'm aware of is the new "center block" design. You can find more info in this thread with a reply from Shawn@PRS linked at the end.

Many, me included, found the pre-25th Anniversary Hollowbodies to be neck heavy. The guitar would easily fall away and down from you. At first I thought I could deal with it, but I realized I couldn't. It annoyed the crap out of me and I had to make a conscious effort to keep the neck up. It's distracting. From what I understand this has been improved with the new center block design.
 
I don't think there's ever been a hollowbody S2 or SE anything. Semi-hollow, yes; fully hollow, not so much.
 
I'm sure you're right that it wouldn't be the same price point as the rest of the S2 line, but it would still be much cheaper than a $5k Core Hollowbody II. A Hollowbody I (mahogany back) would probably be "good enough", not as sweet as a Hollowbody II (maple back), but price/costs wise this may be more realistic.



The biggest improvement that I'm aware of is the new "center block" design. You can find more info in this thread with a reply from Shawn@PRS linked at the end.

Many, me included, found the pre-25th Anniversary Hollowbodies to be neck heavy. The guitar would easily fall away and down from you. At first I thought I could deal with it, but I realized I couldn't. It annoyed the crap out of me and I had to make a conscious effort to keep the neck up. It's distracting. From what I understand this has been improved with the new center block design.

Ah yes, I'd forgotten about the center block. My '02 is a bit unbalanced towards the neck, but I haven't had trouble with dive at all. It has the original non-locking keys and I've wondered if changing to Phase II might add too much weight and make it dive.

I could see maybe a more hollowed out S2 Semi, almost like a Hollowbody I. Piezo in the sub $2k range would selll huge.
 
I could see maybe a more hollowed out S2 Semi, almost like a Hollowbody I. Piezo in the sub $2k range would selll huge.

Yeah, the more I think about it, and look at their catalog, I think they definitely have a "gap" in their offerings and a sub $2k S2 Hollowbody I Piezo with 58/15 LT "S" pickups would be perfect.

Hopefully it's in the pipeline. I really don't expect to purchase any guitar except this model. I guess I'll just have to be patient and wait and see.
 
few days ago, i tried hollowbody ii in bonnie pink played throuh archon, didnt try the piezo though, wish it had gen iii tremolo bridge instead fix bridge, LOL
 
i also tried the se zach myers, and for the price its very sweet, but the wide fat neck is too big for my hands
 
Some things are worth saving and waiting for.

It took me damn near 20 years to get my HB spruce and I gotta say, I wouldn’t, and don’t want anything else besides the real deal.
 
I've only played one HBII and when I did I had to have it, traded away a left lung to get it.
Could PRS make an S2 hollow body not sure the costs and how they might change the shape to make it different from the HBII
Kinda with Sergio on this one the real deal is worth the wait IMHO
 
I had a PRS Hollowbody I and I swapped the stock pickups for SD Jazz and JB. This guitar plugged into a Soldano Decatone Crunch + matching 4x12 with the Jazz neck pickup is one of my favorite rock tones of all time (second to SLO-100 Overdrive). The feedback was part of the fun.

But it had neck dive issues (25th Anniversary and up are improved) and I've since moved on from Wide-Fat/Pattern to DGT/Pattern Regular necks.

At this time, an S2 Hollowbody is the only guitar I would consider purchasing from PRS. It's got the sound and playability for me.
 
I would love that. I totally want a hb but it's out of my price range. I've seen some used just over $2k but it would be a hard sell to the wife. But if they had a brand new S2 HB with Piezo in the $1500-$1800 price range, I'd have to find a way for my wife to agree. I'd make it work somehow lol.
 
Some things are worth saving and waiting for.

It took me damn near 20 years to get my HB spruce and I gotta say, I wouldn’t, and don’t want anything else besides the real deal.

I agree. I actually never thought I'd be able to afford a HB, just because the prices were way out of my range. I got REALLY lucky when a used one (with an Artist package) popped up in a local shop for less than half the price of a new one....I had to jump on it. It was almost as if I didn't have a choice. It was a bucket-list guitar for a ridiculously good price.

While I can't concisely pick a favorite out of my collection, my HBII is near the top. It's one of the smoothest playing, well-resonating guitars I have ever played with incredibly stable and piano-like note resonance.

If they could get something close to it in an S2 package, I think it'd be cool and would love to see something like that, but don't know if it would peek my interest enough to make me want a less-expensive HB for gigging and whatnot.

Also, the method and time required in producing a hollowbody is a bit more labor-intensive, so I'd be curious as to where the price-point would fall. I will say, PRS knocked it out of the park with the new SE acoustics in terms of providing an incredibly good guitar and very reasonable price, so I'm sure they could find some way to do it.
 
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