So… I Have an SE Hollowbody II in my cart, along with a set of locking tuners. Reasons:
1) It’s light
2) fixed bridge
3) I think it will be nice(er) to play acoustically
4) It’s a pretty killer price
Questions:
1) Should I just hold out for a used core, though at $3k or more, it’s at least twice what I want to spend.
2) I really kinda wanted a 24.5 ish scale, but the half inch shouldn’t bother my left hand much. My Santana vs my S2 studio I notice 24 frets and half a baseball bat neck more.
3) will I regret not getting piezo pickups? Price difference is at least 40%.
4) 58/15 “S” pickups?
Any other comments? It’s pretty likely I won’t do anything, but you never know.
I've owned my SE Hollowbody II Piezo for just shy a year now. My experience in regard to your questions:
1) I mean if you're always going to be itching for a core the way I used to stare at my Yamaha Pacifica wishing it were a Fender, than this Hollowbody probably won't scratch that itch. However, I'm not sure I could ever rationalize spending $5,600-7,000 on any guitar. I love my hobby, but after a certain price point, I'm not sure why I'm spending so much.
2) I have seven electrics and while I wouldn't say I struggle when switching between my 25" and 24.75," my fingers prefer 25.5." I feel more inspired when playing the longer scale length. HOWEVER, 25" is close enough to 25.5" to bridge the gap for me. I am just as happy playing my SE as I do my Strat. What will be more noticeable, in my opinion, is the "wide," aspect of the wide-fat neck, which is noticeably wider than my other guitars (Epiphone Les Pauls and Strats). The "fat," feels less chunky than my Epiphone Traditional Pro, which is a baseball bat, and probably on par with my Epiphone Les Paul Florentine, which has a "Slim Tapered D" neck. It's less round than a Strat's C shape.
3) I adore my piezo pickup, but unless you've got an acoustic amp or a an acoustic sim, you're not going to get great sounds out of it. The piezo is set too hot for an electric amp (though the pickup has a volume knob, and you can also pull out the motherboard and adjust the master piezo volume, as well). I think it's fun. I like the acoustic pluck that lives on top of my clean electric tone, and while I don't use it much, I like the option of being able to play the magnetic pickups through one amp and piezo through another. I could live without the Piezo, but I'm not sure I'd have purchased this without it. It's one of the features that make the guitar special and different when compared to my others. Is it worth 40% more of the price? If you're purchasing this guitar just because you want something feather light, no. The standard HB will give you what you're looking for. The piezo is probably worth an extra $200 or so. It's a cool feature, but if you're not looking for a piezo guitar, you don't need a piezo guitar. However, that extra 40% also gives you abalone inlays and curled maple binding, which I adore looking at.
4) I like the pickups a lot, though sometimes I feel they have a very harsh treble spike (just an observation from my own ears, I've never run through audio equipment like an oscilloscope or anything). The pickups are lower output and less mid-range than my Epiphone Probuckers and sound similar to my Squier Classic Vibe Starcaster, which almost sounds like it's voiced to bridge the gap between single coils and humbuckers. The 58/15 S are very responsive and maybe a little thinner than your standard PAF. They take to overdrive very well.
