DavidRome
New Member
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2017
- Messages
- 68
Okay, I guess it's time for that very delayed report. Health wise I've had several hospital visits since early March when I had a stent placed. Outside of chronic chest pain that have yet to be explained my heart is in good health. Pain could be from left bundle branch block which is not serious in my case. I appreciate the concern from some of you on here. Now to the guitar.
Bear in mind these are just my thoughts and opinions which are not infallible. Lol
Here's what I did. I sold my 25th Anniv. HBi after playing some HBii's with 58/15's and ended up buying one in Black Gold. So here is my current collection:
Not the best photo but Left to Right:
2012 (Bought Used) Faded Blue Burst P22 with HFS/VB, Pattern Regular Neck
2016 (New) Black Gold HBii 58/15's and Piezo, Pattern Neck
2016 (New) Violet Purple Burst CU24 Artist 58/15's and Rosewood Pattern Thin
Necks:
Interestingly enough, I ended up with all three neck cuts. While I like all three of the cuts, I am blown away by the feel of the unfinished Rosewood. I would get all my PRS guitars with Rosewood necks if I could. Remember when shopping that the Rosewood neck is approximately a $600 option. I have seen incredible deals on some used guitars with Rosewood neck where it didn't even look like they were factoring the rosewood neck into the price. Reverb dot com tends to have great deals on used PRS's. Anyway, As I move between the guitars I can tell the slight differences but they are so close that I'm comfortable on any of them. The Pattern Thin is the most noticeably different in the feel department but it is also unfinished which also affects that. I think speed players would appreciate the Pattern Thin.
Pickups HBii:
So I took a day and drove 3 hours to get to a dealer that had a large selection of HBii's with many different options and colors. I took along my other guitars for comparison and used an AB switch pedal to quickly change and compare guitar tones. I mostly used clean tones or semi-clean tones as too much distortion can mask pickup differences, IMHO. I was able to compare the HBi with Archtop pickups and the Semi-Hollow Custom 24 with the HBii's so I could hear the differences and also checked the P22 w/ HFS/VB occasionally. I quickly discovered that I did not like the 57/08's in the HBii. They didn't have the fullness and the high-end I was looking for, IMHO. I also didn't like the 58/15 LT's however I did not raise the amp volume for comparison and probably should have as they are lower output. They seemed a little thinner to me and more vintage sounding. I'm sure some players would like that but I didn't. If you adjust your amp for what they give you I have heard them sound great but if you want to switch guitars without making major amp adjustments I think the regular 58/15's have the advantage. I also think the lower output increases their noise level a bit. I should also say that I happen to like the HFS/VB on solid body PRS's. I know some people trash them but they are still one of my favorites especially in the P22 where you can use the piezo if you want to get them brighter. With that said, I wouldn't want them in my HBii. Although I would not want the same pickups in all my guitars either. The 58/15's are excellent in the HBii and bring great versatility if you aren't afraid to experiment with your knobs. They are bright enough that you have lots of room on the tone and volume for reducing that brightness if you want the warm jazz tones. In general, the 58/15's seem to cut some of the lower mid warm/girth which works well for the hollowbody. Cutting the highs with the tone knob or the volume can bring back some of that sound if you want it. Also, while playing other guitars I tried some that had other woods like Korina neck and body between tops or maple necks. For some reason those didn't appeal to me as much as I thought they would. However, they looked great and were only slightly different in tone. I wouldn't let it stop me from buying them if I liked their look and didn't mind paying the higher price for them. Overall summary, I think these pickups are a good match for this guitar and would highly recommend them.
Pickups Custom 24 Semi-Hollow:
I had some ups and downs with the 58/15's in this guitar. I even considered putting 59/09's in it because I like the sound of those. Putting new strings on the guitar helped me like the 58/15's more but the ones I took off weren't that old according to the dealer. This makes me think that this guitar or rather these pickups might be more sensitive to string age than some of my others. What I noticed about the pickup in this guitar is that I sometimes miss the girth and low mids I have on my other guitars. (Not that it is totally lacking in that area or couldn't be compensated by the amp settings.) On the other hand, that characteristic really brings out the strat side of this guitar. Remember, strats are routed out under the pickups and the semi-hollow nature of this guitar seems to bring to life that routed out strat tone better than most PRS's which have pickups mounted on solid wood. I think any strat lover would like this guitar and pickup combo. However, I'm not a big strat guy. Lol I'm more of a Gibson tone and PRS tone style guy. Even the humbuckers have a strat-like brightness but you can roll that off with some tone/volume adjustments. The semi-hollow build of this guitar definitely can be heard through the pickups but I can't say that it sounds like any other particular semi-hollow guitars. You might think differently if you payed it. With adjustments it can approach the 335 sound but is not a dead ringer for it. sometimes it reminds of a Rick. I think it better approaches the strat tones and even the humbucker-in-the-bridge strats. This guitar would cover a lot of ground for people doing covers for classic rock and modern country. However, real heavy gain sounds would not be my choice for this guitar but it can do them. I prefer my P22 with HFS/VB for those tones. Overall, this guitar with the 58/15's is an excellent playing and sounding guitar with a lot of versatility.
Wrap on the Violet Purple Burst semi-hollow:
I love the look and feel of this guitar and appreciate the tones and versatility it has but I am thinking about selling it. (Don't laugh at my fickleness, lol) MAP price on it was $5,270. I've had it about 4 months playing it in my studio and would consider selling it around $3,600. I am waiting for a Semi-Hollow 408 w/Rosewood neck and same color to come in from the factory. As I think it will be more what I want. I will be putting this up on several sites very soon unless I change my mind, Lol. (Ebay, Reverb and Craigslist - Reverb is the best)
I hope this commentary is helpful to others
Bear in mind these are just my thoughts and opinions which are not infallible. Lol
Here's what I did. I sold my 25th Anniv. HBi after playing some HBii's with 58/15's and ended up buying one in Black Gold. So here is my current collection:
Not the best photo but Left to Right:
2012 (Bought Used) Faded Blue Burst P22 with HFS/VB, Pattern Regular Neck
2016 (New) Black Gold HBii 58/15's and Piezo, Pattern Neck
2016 (New) Violet Purple Burst CU24 Artist 58/15's and Rosewood Pattern Thin
Necks:
Interestingly enough, I ended up with all three neck cuts. While I like all three of the cuts, I am blown away by the feel of the unfinished Rosewood. I would get all my PRS guitars with Rosewood necks if I could. Remember when shopping that the Rosewood neck is approximately a $600 option. I have seen incredible deals on some used guitars with Rosewood neck where it didn't even look like they were factoring the rosewood neck into the price. Reverb dot com tends to have great deals on used PRS's. Anyway, As I move between the guitars I can tell the slight differences but they are so close that I'm comfortable on any of them. The Pattern Thin is the most noticeably different in the feel department but it is also unfinished which also affects that. I think speed players would appreciate the Pattern Thin.
Pickups HBii:
So I took a day and drove 3 hours to get to a dealer that had a large selection of HBii's with many different options and colors. I took along my other guitars for comparison and used an AB switch pedal to quickly change and compare guitar tones. I mostly used clean tones or semi-clean tones as too much distortion can mask pickup differences, IMHO. I was able to compare the HBi with Archtop pickups and the Semi-Hollow Custom 24 with the HBii's so I could hear the differences and also checked the P22 w/ HFS/VB occasionally. I quickly discovered that I did not like the 57/08's in the HBii. They didn't have the fullness and the high-end I was looking for, IMHO. I also didn't like the 58/15 LT's however I did not raise the amp volume for comparison and probably should have as they are lower output. They seemed a little thinner to me and more vintage sounding. I'm sure some players would like that but I didn't. If you adjust your amp for what they give you I have heard them sound great but if you want to switch guitars without making major amp adjustments I think the regular 58/15's have the advantage. I also think the lower output increases their noise level a bit. I should also say that I happen to like the HFS/VB on solid body PRS's. I know some people trash them but they are still one of my favorites especially in the P22 where you can use the piezo if you want to get them brighter. With that said, I wouldn't want them in my HBii. Although I would not want the same pickups in all my guitars either. The 58/15's are excellent in the HBii and bring great versatility if you aren't afraid to experiment with your knobs. They are bright enough that you have lots of room on the tone and volume for reducing that brightness if you want the warm jazz tones. In general, the 58/15's seem to cut some of the lower mid warm/girth which works well for the hollowbody. Cutting the highs with the tone knob or the volume can bring back some of that sound if you want it. Also, while playing other guitars I tried some that had other woods like Korina neck and body between tops or maple necks. For some reason those didn't appeal to me as much as I thought they would. However, they looked great and were only slightly different in tone. I wouldn't let it stop me from buying them if I liked their look and didn't mind paying the higher price for them. Overall summary, I think these pickups are a good match for this guitar and would highly recommend them.
Pickups Custom 24 Semi-Hollow:
I had some ups and downs with the 58/15's in this guitar. I even considered putting 59/09's in it because I like the sound of those. Putting new strings on the guitar helped me like the 58/15's more but the ones I took off weren't that old according to the dealer. This makes me think that this guitar or rather these pickups might be more sensitive to string age than some of my others. What I noticed about the pickup in this guitar is that I sometimes miss the girth and low mids I have on my other guitars. (Not that it is totally lacking in that area or couldn't be compensated by the amp settings.) On the other hand, that characteristic really brings out the strat side of this guitar. Remember, strats are routed out under the pickups and the semi-hollow nature of this guitar seems to bring to life that routed out strat tone better than most PRS's which have pickups mounted on solid wood. I think any strat lover would like this guitar and pickup combo. However, I'm not a big strat guy. Lol I'm more of a Gibson tone and PRS tone style guy. Even the humbuckers have a strat-like brightness but you can roll that off with some tone/volume adjustments. The semi-hollow build of this guitar definitely can be heard through the pickups but I can't say that it sounds like any other particular semi-hollow guitars. You might think differently if you payed it. With adjustments it can approach the 335 sound but is not a dead ringer for it. sometimes it reminds of a Rick. I think it better approaches the strat tones and even the humbucker-in-the-bridge strats. This guitar would cover a lot of ground for people doing covers for classic rock and modern country. However, real heavy gain sounds would not be my choice for this guitar but it can do them. I prefer my P22 with HFS/VB for those tones. Overall, this guitar with the 58/15's is an excellent playing and sounding guitar with a lot of versatility.
Wrap on the Violet Purple Burst semi-hollow:
I love the look and feel of this guitar and appreciate the tones and versatility it has but I am thinking about selling it. (Don't laugh at my fickleness, lol) MAP price on it was $5,270. I've had it about 4 months playing it in my studio and would consider selling it around $3,600. I am waiting for a Semi-Hollow 408 w/Rosewood neck and same color to come in from the factory. As I think it will be more what I want. I will be putting this up on several sites very soon unless I change my mind, Lol. (Ebay, Reverb and Craigslist - Reverb is the best)
I hope this commentary is helpful to others
