PRS SE Soapbar II with three P90s.

[Zeke L.]

Hi everyone,

I am the proud owner of a 2004 PRS SE Soapbar II with three P90s. It appears all original, but I haven't found another like it.

The switch was changed to a FREEWAY six-way, so there are a lot of usable tones available.

Any other SEs like this out there?

Zeke L.

 

[aphantomvaper]

That is cool cool oh my! Enjoy!

 

[bodia]

Dig it!

 

[Zeke L.]

Dig it!

Hey my sig is a kind of an obscure Spinal Tap quote. Nigel was responding to a question about if he could work in a haberdashery.

 

[bodia]

Hey my sig is a kind of an obscure Spinal Tap quote. Nigel was responding to a question about if he could work in a haberdashery.

Approve!

 

[Bill SAS 513]

Love Spinal Tap...I don't think there were stock SE Triple soapies out there...???!!!

 

[garrett]

The third pickup would be an aftermarket mod, but that doesn't make it any less cool. And it's very cool.

 

[Zeke L.]

Thanks for the reply Bill and garret. I have not been able to find a picture of another. The middle pickup is definitely the same as the other two. They look like G and B’s as they have that thin clear plastic on the top and are identical to pictures in their online pickup catalog. Here’s another picture. Maybe I will pull the pickups and have a closer look but I set her up over two days and she is playing so perfectly now that I don’t want to mess with it!

 

[garrett]

Thanks for the reply Bill and garret. I have not been able to find a picture of another. The middle pickup is definitely the same as the other two. They look like G and B’s as they have that thin clear plastic on the top and are identical to pictures in their online pickup catalog. Here’s another picture. Maybe I will pull the pickups and have a closer look but I set her up over two days and she is playing so perfectly now that I don’t want to mess with it!

Yeah, no reason to mess with it. The G&B P-90s they used in the SE guitars are great pickups. I would bet someone bought one second-hand and had the body routed. It looks super clean and I bet it's a seriously fun guitar.

 

[Zeke L.]

She's great. The FREEWAY switch provides for six pickup combinations with a familiar toggle controlling everything. The neck measures 8.7k, the middle and bridge both measure 8.9k. Really sweet, round tones at around 7 on the volume knob, all hell breaks loose when the volume is dimed.

 

[Bill SAS 513]

Looks like a killer axe...I love P-90's!!!!!

 

[Zeke L.]

Looks like a killer axe...I love P-90's!!!!!

Me too! I find they are sensitive to pick-up and pole-piece height and find myself spending extra time dialing them in. The "edginess" of the tone lets them sit really well in a live mix IMO. I play through a recent Vox AC30S1 (single Top Boost channel with one 12") dialed in clean with a few pedals and they are a wonderful combination. "Dirt" chain is a low gain OD into a compressor. Somewhat noisier than a humbucker for sure but not distractingly so. I like bright guitars as I find I can always roll off treble if necessary but you can't add it if it's not there. Hey, I even put chromes on a Tele!

 

[Alnus Rubra]

Hey my sig is a kind of an obscure Spinal Tap quote. Nigel was responding to a question about if he could work in a haberdashery.

Approve!

Love Spinal Tap...I don't think there were stock SE Triple soapies out there...???!!!

“….just listen for a minute! Just Listen! The sustain….”

 

[Bill SAS 513]

“….just listen for a minute! Just Listen! The sustain….”

"...But just listen...Don't look at it".

 

[dogrocketp]

Love those triple soapies! I saw that one on the bay, and almost bid on it. If it had a trem, it would have been done. You got a really neat guitar under any measure! I use a 2 channel amp, and these will give you dirt that will hurt!

 

[Zeke L.]

I guess you do! Love your blue Custom!!!

 

[Zeke L.]

Curiosity got the better of me! I did my errands for the afternoon so I loosened the strings and had a look:

Anyone been inside their SE who can comment?

 

[Alnus Rubra]

Curiosity got the better of me! I did my errands for the afternoon so I loosened the strings and had a look:

Anyone been inside their SE who can comment?

I suppose in the interest of science, you should probably loosen the other bars of soap and make sure they all have a similar dish!

 

[ViperDoc]

The middle P90 is absolutely a mod, and is absolutely badass.

 

[Zeke L.]

I suppose in the interest of science, you should probably loosen the other bars of soap and make sure they all have a similar dish!

I know there are folks here who swap pickups in their P90 SEs and hope a few will chime regarding what they see inside and maybe share a pic. It's factory quality work for sure. I'll dig around the interwebs and see what pics are floating out there regarding the insides of P90 equipped SEs.