Hey all,
I'm Steve. I recently purchased a 2017 S2 standard 24. I have been playing both professionally, and recreationally for over 30 years. I am a bit of a tonehound, and by that I mean I've spent a lot of time and money tryin' to get the sound in my head out into the room. I have both expensive and not so expensive guitars, amps, pedals, and processors. I'm here to tell you with humility about my PRS S2, not to bash.
The S2 is a guitar, that immediately felt good to me. I struggle with tendonitis, which sadly ended my ability to meet road commitments. This guitar plays, for me, in a way that allows me more time "on the neck" than anything else I have. Here is my dilemma.
I have been unable to balance this guitars tone. I will attempt to qualify this. To my ears, there is little articulation on the wound strings in certain neck positions. A root 6 power chord results in a hazy kind of harmonic (struggling to describe sound here) there is no "grind" clean or dirty, it almost mimics an out of tune type thing. Even when I am strict about technique. Conversely the un-wound strings, have a sterile type brightness that I find less than desirable.
I have, set neck relief, adjusted stock p/u height, adjusted the poles, changed string guage, tuned down 1/2 step, spun more dials on amps, pedals, and processors to list. I slammed in a set of known good pups from a guitar I liked the sound of. The bridge p/u now sounds more shrill, and the neck is slightly improved. I did the swap to see what would change tonally, not as a "fix per se. So a further swap may help?
If ya read all that thank you. I realize all guitars have there own voice. I may well have covered all the bases, and if this guitar wasn't so easy on my worn out wrist I'd just move on. So, that said, I welcome thoughtful suggestions.
Thanks,
-Steve
I'm Steve. I recently purchased a 2017 S2 standard 24. I have been playing both professionally, and recreationally for over 30 years. I am a bit of a tonehound, and by that I mean I've spent a lot of time and money tryin' to get the sound in my head out into the room. I have both expensive and not so expensive guitars, amps, pedals, and processors. I'm here to tell you with humility about my PRS S2, not to bash.
The S2 is a guitar, that immediately felt good to me. I struggle with tendonitis, which sadly ended my ability to meet road commitments. This guitar plays, for me, in a way that allows me more time "on the neck" than anything else I have. Here is my dilemma.
I have been unable to balance this guitars tone. I will attempt to qualify this. To my ears, there is little articulation on the wound strings in certain neck positions. A root 6 power chord results in a hazy kind of harmonic (struggling to describe sound here) there is no "grind" clean or dirty, it almost mimics an out of tune type thing. Even when I am strict about technique. Conversely the un-wound strings, have a sterile type brightness that I find less than desirable.
I have, set neck relief, adjusted stock p/u height, adjusted the poles, changed string guage, tuned down 1/2 step, spun more dials on amps, pedals, and processors to list. I slammed in a set of known good pups from a guitar I liked the sound of. The bridge p/u now sounds more shrill, and the neck is slightly improved. I did the swap to see what would change tonally, not as a "fix per se. So a further swap may help?
If ya read all that thank you. I realize all guitars have there own voice. I may well have covered all the bases, and if this guitar wasn't so easy on my worn out wrist I'd just move on. So, that said, I welcome thoughtful suggestions.
Thanks,
-Steve
