S2 CU24 Sapphire Smokeburst....plus....

[xjbebop]

Came across this little guy at the local store. Been wanting to try out an S2 and a CU24, so I brought it home for testing...

So far I'm quite impressed with the variety of voicing/tones available, and the ergonomics / feel of the S2 work well for me.
I'll post more soon...:biggrin:

 

[Ovibos]

Maybe it's a trick of the photos, but I am seeing a ghostly longhorn skull in that finish. Very cool.

 

[garrettb]

Squabbins on an S2? Was it new or used?

Looks sweet.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Maybe it's a trick of the photos, but I am seeing a ghostly longhorn skull in that finish. Very cool.

I see it too!!!

Congrats.

 

[rugerpc]

BULL!!!

...this time a good thing!

 

[toothace]

Nice score! I see it also:rock:

 

[Egads]

Good catch on the squabbins!

 

[shinksma]

That is a nice color blue. Great looking guitar! And yes, I see the longhorn too.

 

[Falko83]

Now, it would be fun if OP was a University of Oklahoma student/graduate, and would keep seeing the longhorn on his guitar every time!

 

[DHW]

That has to be one of the whale blue's with the 57/08's that guitar center got a while back.

http://www.guitarcenter.com/PRS-S2-...ardware-Electric-Guitar-110288693-i3798209.gc

 

[garrettb]

That has to be one of the whale blue's with the 57/08's that guitar center got a while back.

http://www.guitarcenter.com/PRS-S2-...ardware-Electric-Guitar-110288693-i3798209.gc

Oh cool. That's a great deal on the upgrade to 57/08s.

 

[sleary]

SMOKIN

 

[xjbebop]

The good, the bad, and the ugly…
After more testing, I thought I’dshare –my opinions- with you…
GC “exclusive” special run.Differences are the pup’s upgraded to 57/08’s and the “sapphiresmokeburst” finish. I called PRS customer service to confirm theseare the only differences.


The Good:
I really like the color / finish. Ireally like the neck carve and the body shape. It has a thin SGfeel/vibe, but better balanced. I find it very comfortable.
The 57/08’s sound very good… notmagical, but very good. Nice voicing.
I really like the pup selectionlayout. When split, each pup favors the outer coils, giving more of aTele tone rather than strat, which I prefer. Different from the SEand core model layout. Also has resistors on the split switch likethe newer DGT wiring.


The Bad:
I had read that the finish on these wasbrittle. While I didn’t find any chips, just a short time on thestore floor and it is covered with dents and scratches. It appears tobe susceptible to damage easily.
The electronics…. The volume pot isvery scratchy but got a little better after some use. Still noisythough.
While not the sloppiest wiring / solderwork I’ve seen, it’s pretty disappointing for a “Maryland Made”guitar.
Hard to tell from the picture, but close inspection revealsless-than-tidy solder points, frayed wires, etc…

The Ugly:
Lots of fret glue left on the fretboardaround the 3rd to 9th frets.

Really?? How did this make it out ofthe factory like this? A late Friday night or early Monday morningguitar? Every SE guitar I’ve touched was cleaner than this.
I really get the impression that thisis a nicely designed and equipped budget guitar that suffers fromrushed mass production.


Conclusion:
This poor little guy is gettingreturned. Assuming this guitar is somewhat representative of theentire S2 line, I feel they are overpriced by at least two hundred. Iwould like to have one of these, but I’ll wait until I find a goodused one or a proper sale price.
I’ve had about a dozen SE models(still own most of them), and I have 2] DGT’s and 2] 513’s.

It’s my opinionthat the S2, while definitely sitting between the two, is much moreclosely related to the SE line than the core model line. They do,however, offer some unique configurations not available otherwise,which is not a bad thing. Shop wisely, my friends…

 

[shinksma]

The fret glue is rather startling. I would not expect that from any PRS, and have never seen it on any PRSi I have played or looked at. I wonder if it got re-fretted at the store - if it is as dinged up and scratched as you say, maybe it was an abused demo, and the store decided to replace some worn/damaged frets.

The rosewood of the fretboard looks nice and streaky!

Good idea to return it - or maybe ask for a deep discount on the flawed merchandise?

 

[DHW]

One of the stores up this way has about 10 s2's on the floor. Not a one has these finish issues. They get knocked around all the time and all have been there for quite some time and I wasn't able to find a mark on any of them and we played them all. I suspect the wiring harnesses are prebuilt over seas and then the pup leads are just tacked on. There would be little reason to use se pots and switches if they are doing all the solder work here.

 

[xjbebop]

I guarantee the frets haven't been replaced. It's only been on the floor for 4-6 weeks .... heck, I didn't even notice it until this weekend. It just looked like a black S2 hanging on the wall with the others. The price tag is what caught my eye and got my curiosity up. Doubt if it's been touched more that 5-10 times. We've been regular customers with this store for many years.
After some time with it though, my bottom line opinion is that these are more glorified SE's than budget core models and not worth the asking price.
But with all the new versions/models being released, they really are becoming their own line.
I agree about the prebuilt harness. Just very surprised to see something like this with PRS on it.... kind of embarrassing....

 

[Drew]

The S2 finish IS SOFT. Mine literally will get impressions in it by leaning up against something.

As for the electronics, I concur with the volume pot issue. Mine went after about 6 months of minimal use. I ended up gutting the rest and doing a re-wire with new pots. The only quality component in the cavity was the 3-way blade switch.