D
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I like your new strategy much better
The Collection Part 3: SE Love time
- Thread starter Utkarsh
- Start date
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- collection prs se
Thank you Proteus. That's the kind of reply I call helpful. I don't use pedals... So it's obvious I need good tone from a guitar right off the bat. I have 7 guitar amps which I will list:
Marshall Valvestate VS 100 combo with 1x12". England
Marshall Valvestate VS 50 head. England
Marshall Class 5 head. England
Crate Club 50 tube combo with 1x12". USA
Fender Super Champ X2 tube head. Mexico
Fender Hot Rod Deluxe tube combo. USA
Melody (Teisco) 71R. Japan
The style of music I listen to is Prog, Jazz, Fusion jazz and my guitar hero's are David Gilmour and Andrew Latimer.
Thanks, Peace
Marshall Valvestate VS 100 combo with 1x12". England
Marshall Valvestate VS 50 head. England
Marshall Class 5 head. England
Crate Club 50 tube combo with 1x12". USA
Fender Super Champ X2 tube head. Mexico
Fender Hot Rod Deluxe tube combo. USA
Melody (Teisco) 71R. Japan
The style of music I listen to is Prog, Jazz, Fusion jazz and my guitar hero's are David Gilmour and Andrew Latimer.
Thanks, Peace
OK, now we're getting somewhere. I'm not piled up with Marshalls, but there's some overlap with my amp history otherwise - and I think, from decades of listening, past experience (and lots of modeling), I have some understanding of the Marshall thing.
I do love pedals, with waaaaay too many to experiment with, but I rarely run more than a couple-few at a time - and if there's any always-on, it's likely mild compression and/or a low-gain tone-conditioning preamp. But I do believe if you can't get tone with just a guitar and an amp, there's something wrong with at least one of the three components - the guitar, the amp, or the player. I've played all my SEs pedal-free, and fervently enjoyed the nuances and expressive range of the tones I find.
We have LOTS of overlap in musical background - deep reverence for David Gilmour here, and I never expected I'd see Camel referenced in this forum. For obscure and criminally underappreciated prog-pickers, howbout Gary Green?
But...I'm not ready to pompously pontificate on how to tweak your signal chain to get the best from your 24-08 until I know what guitars you've used all these years and most recently - and whether we're talking home playing, studio, jam, gig, concert, etc. Frinstance, what amp do you most often play through, in what musical setting?
I do love pedals, with waaaaay too many to experiment with, but I rarely run more than a couple-few at a time - and if there's any always-on, it's likely mild compression and/or a low-gain tone-conditioning preamp. But I do believe if you can't get tone with just a guitar and an amp, there's something wrong with at least one of the three components - the guitar, the amp, or the player. I've played all my SEs pedal-free, and fervently enjoyed the nuances and expressive range of the tones I find.
We have LOTS of overlap in musical background - deep reverence for David Gilmour here, and I never expected I'd see Camel referenced in this forum. For obscure and criminally underappreciated prog-pickers, howbout Gary Green?
But...I'm not ready to pompously pontificate on how to tweak your signal chain to get the best from your 24-08 until I know what guitars you've used all these years and most recently - and whether we're talking home playing, studio, jam, gig, concert, etc. Frinstance, what amp do you most often play through, in what musical setting?
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Paul B
Old Dog Learning
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2022
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- 24
I could have /should have gone to source first. My email to PRS customer service got a prompt, friendly, personal response:
“All SE models have been and continue to be Quality Control inspected at our factory in Stevensville, MD upon arrival in the US.”
There’s a lot to like about this company. Back to eagerly awaiting news my SE has been shipped.
Thanks Proteus. Gary Green... Hell yeah. I've been listening to Gentle Giant since my first introduction to music beyond "Rain drops keep falling on my head". I was only about 10 years old and my older bro dragged me to a concert in the Houston Astro Dome to see Jethro Tull and Gentle Giant around '70 or '71. But I like many kinds of music and groups. Gary Moore. R.I.P. 10CC...
For the sake of fairness, I'll leave out my American made guitars to describe the recent guitars I like the sound of. Lately, the two I like the most are Hagstrom Ultra Swede and a Gretsch Double Jet, can't remember the model G- something. I mostly play at home as a kinda hobbyist, but get together with fellow friend musicians to come up with tasty groves.
The amp. I use mostly at home is the Marshall VS 100 combo because it has a lot of versatility. contour, tone shift, power dimension, and clean - drive 1 and drive 2.
Peace
Good info, almost there, need more!
When playing, what's your approximate mix of time devoted to clean vs hairy clean vs crunch vs screamin' über-gain dirt?
Can you describe your home tone, what you set a guitar and amp for as your home base, your most characteristic voice? Guitar, pickup choice, etc. The tone your bandmates could hear coming out of the blue - with you nowhere near - and say "gotta be wertyou"?
Also, what's your string brand, set, and gauge?
Finally (for the moment), gotta know exactly which Gretsch "Double Jet". The term "double" in Gretshland can be ambiguous, referring to double-cutaway, a Jet with two pickups, and sometimes an imprecise synonym for "Duo" - which it shoudn't be. So - series (Professional Collection, Electromatic, Streamliner), model (by number if possible), year, and pickups. Pickups are crucially important for me to relate to a particular Gretsch.
I'm not asking idly - while I've had several Hags (still have two), and kinda know their 'buckers, I have an obscene number of modern Gretschs, and know Gretsch builds, pickups, and characteristics intimately. I can put two Jets next to each other which couldn't possibly be more different in tone and playing response.
(I'm actually only slumming in PRSland; my home base has been Gretsch for almost 20 years.)
When playing, what's your approximate mix of time devoted to clean vs hairy clean vs crunch vs screamin' über-gain dirt?
Can you describe your home tone, what you set a guitar and amp for as your home base, your most characteristic voice? Guitar, pickup choice, etc. The tone your bandmates could hear coming out of the blue - with you nowhere near - and say "gotta be wertyou"?
Also, what's your string brand, set, and gauge?
Finally (for the moment), gotta know exactly which Gretsch "Double Jet". The term "double" in Gretshland can be ambiguous, referring to double-cutaway, a Jet with two pickups, and sometimes an imprecise synonym for "Duo" - which it shoudn't be. So - series (Professional Collection, Electromatic, Streamliner), model (by number if possible), year, and pickups. Pickups are crucially important for me to relate to a particular Gretsch.
I'm not asking idly - while I've had several Hags (still have two), and kinda know their 'buckers, I have an obscene number of modern Gretschs, and know Gretsch builds, pickups, and characteristics intimately. I can put two Jets next to each other which couldn't possibly be more different in tone and playing response.
(I'm actually only slumming in PRSland; my home base has been Gretsch for almost 20 years.)
Yeah, all those settings, that's why my homeboy is the VS 100 amp.
For the hums I like that scooped out mids sound. Single coils I just bring the mid up some.
Gretsch G5232T Electromatic in Tahiti red. I did mod a little. I put a roller bridge on and a Biggsfix on the Bigsby D-50
The pickups are stock, and I love them. Asian made Filter-Trons, I believe.
D'Addario EXL- 10's on every electric guitar I own.
But really Proteus, I'm just looking for some advice on pickup replacement for the PRS. I kinda like the sound samples on
Seymour's site of the ones called Saturday Night Special.
For the hums I like that scooped out mids sound. Single coils I just bring the mid up some.
Gretsch G5232T Electromatic in Tahiti red. I did mod a little. I put a roller bridge on and a Biggsfix on the Bigsby D-50
The pickups are stock, and I love them. Asian made Filter-Trons, I believe.
D'Addario EXL- 10's on every electric guitar I own.
But really Proteus, I'm just looking for some advice on pickup replacement for the PRS. I kinda like the sound samples on
Seymour's site of the ones called Saturday Night Special.
PART ONE
OK.
By comparison to the guitars you're recently bonding with, the SE Standard 24-08 differs in having a scale length .25" longer than the Ultra Viking and .4" longer than the Duo Jet. Doesn't seem like a lot, but I consistently find it tonally significant in brightening tone (and stiffening the feel at least a bit). And it's not just a matter of brightening the high end; the focus shifts to higher frequencies throughout the spectrum. To illustrate by extremes, a 25.5" Fender with humbuckers sounds brighter and harder than a 24.75" Gibson-type with the same 'buckers - and still sounds like a Fender. The opposite is true: a Fendery single-coil on a Gibson-scale instrument sounds "darker" than on a Fender, and the Gibson still sounds Gibsonny.
The 25" scale length is simply its own animal. For years I disdained it for being neither GibsonFish nor FenderFowl, as though it didn't have its own character. Changing ears, changing taste, over-saturation with the usual scales, whatever - but now I find that middle ground attractive and tonally fascinating precisely because it does mix the two polar species. Its tone can point toward Gibson (as shorthand for 24.x" scale with 'buckers), and it can point toward Fender (shorthand for 25.5" scale w/singles) - without getting all the way toward either one. When playing 25"-scale PRSeseses, I find it most fruitful to forget about those endpoints and enjoy it for what it is.
The 24-fretness of the 24-08 pushes the neck pickup away from the warm harmonic sweet spot it usually occupies on 22-fret necks. (Like right where the 2-octave harmonic is located.) To my ear, this has as much effect on the overall tone as the scale length - but "only" if you're using the neck pickup or the middle position; it has no effect on the bridge position. (I say "only" because I use neck only or the middle position at least as often as I use just the bridge, so it's significant to me.) My personal take on 24-fret guitars has always been that they sound thin - or at least "less full" - than otherwise identical 22-fretters. I prefer 22 frets, and most of my SEs are 22s.
That said, I've come to terms with the less bottomy overall tonality of 24-fret designs, and appreciate them for their frequently more manageable behavior at higher volumes, with higher gain structures, and with more saturated tones, where they automatically roll off low end which can muddy and fart out the proceedings. They're a bit like rolling the low end off at the amp or with an EQ. And on the other hand, when I feel a 24-fretter sounds thinner than I'd prefer in a cleaner setting, it's easy to add some low end the same way. You don't get exactly the same contour you'd get from a pickup under the 2nd-octave harmonic, but you get close. Also, I just know not to pick a 24-fret guitar when I want that low end warmth. Which is why I tend to 22-fret necks.
So you have those two factors going on with your 24-08. You don't say if you have other 24-fret guitars, or have experience with the 25" scale - but the guitars you mention are both 22-fret 24.x" scale. If that's what you're liking these days, the PRS is going to be fundamentally different by design, and you shouldn't expect it to work just like them.
Other fundamental build differences: both the Jet and the Hag have maple tops and mahogany necks. (On the Swede, over a basswood body; on the Gretsch, over a "chambered" mahogany body.) Your SE has an all-mahogany body with a maple neck. In a conventional analysis, I'd expect the all-mahogany body of the SE to be a bit warmer than a maple-over-anything sandwich - and the maple neck to be a bit harder and brighter in tone than the mahogany necks. I have both a Standard 24 and Custom 24, and hear that difference myself. So does the maple neck on your 24-08 bring back the brightness the body softens? Don't know. The materials recipe could be a wash.
BUT. If the guitars which currently most tickle your ear have 22 frets and mahogany necks...maybe you didn't pick the right SE to test the PRS waters with. You might be happier with a Custom 22: still 25" scale and still maple neck, but you get 22 frets and the maple over mahogany build. I prefer the semi-hollow version, for just enough more body resonance. The C22 isn't currently in the SE line, but it was last year - and used examples abound.
Or you might prefer the Zach Myers model, which has the whole package you seem to go for: 24.x" scale, maple over mahogany body, mahogany neck - AND a semi-hollow build. (Similar to the Jet's "chambered" body.) The 245 pickups in that guitar are also more tonally balanced, less pushed toward the bright end of things than the pickups in your 24-08.
The 24.5"-scale Santana model would be another candidate. The current version is 24-fret, but it's come as a 22 in the last several years. I like both, but slightly prefer the 22.
I know you're asking what pickups you can swap in, and other guys may have responses to that. As it happens, I'm enjoying PRS pickups as something different from the general run of humbuckers; I think they're part of the recipe, and well-matched to the guitars. Doesn't mean you shouldn't change yours - and there may be a set somewhere that will turn the 24-08 into something you like a lot better. But you'll definitely be compromising the PRSness of what is a very specific PRS recipe in a guitar that might not have been the best choice for you from the start. Specifically, the pickups in the 24-08 (I think; the evidence is ambiguous), with their TCI designation, are the same as the pickups in the SE Paul's Guitar, and have the most convincing split to single coils I've heard in any modern humbucker. They're kinda special. (And if you rip yours out, I'll take them!)
For what it's worth - and it's probably been mentioned in the thread - I find that to get the humbucker tone I'm used to from a PRS, I back the tone down to somewhere between 6 and 8 on the dial. (Though I often leave it wide open, because I like that the PRS has a brighter, more articulate 'bucker tone than most comparable guitars.) And when I have the pickups split to singles, I have to back the tone down at least to 5-6, and sometimes lower than that. Otherwise, it can be Plink City, and remind me of an old piezo in an acoustic, plugged into an amp with the lows rolled off. (Unexpectedly, though, the brighter single-coil settings can sound great with dirt. Or I could just be old and deef in the high end.)
Also...before you swap out the stock pickups...if you haven't yet, experiment with pickup height. Try both directions. It makes a difference. And I'll assume you've twisted knobs on your amp to find tones you like out of the PRS. (I won't say "make the PRS sound like your other guitars"...because there ought to be a difference, right?) And to fundamentally re-voice the guitar, try pure nickel strings rather than the XLs (which are also my default string). I put pure nickels on guitars that seem overly bright and strident to my ear, and it works to round off the edges.
OK.
By comparison to the guitars you're recently bonding with, the SE Standard 24-08 differs in having a scale length .25" longer than the Ultra Viking and .4" longer than the Duo Jet. Doesn't seem like a lot, but I consistently find it tonally significant in brightening tone (and stiffening the feel at least a bit). And it's not just a matter of brightening the high end; the focus shifts to higher frequencies throughout the spectrum. To illustrate by extremes, a 25.5" Fender with humbuckers sounds brighter and harder than a 24.75" Gibson-type with the same 'buckers - and still sounds like a Fender. The opposite is true: a Fendery single-coil on a Gibson-scale instrument sounds "darker" than on a Fender, and the Gibson still sounds Gibsonny.
The 25" scale length is simply its own animal. For years I disdained it for being neither GibsonFish nor FenderFowl, as though it didn't have its own character. Changing ears, changing taste, over-saturation with the usual scales, whatever - but now I find that middle ground attractive and tonally fascinating precisely because it does mix the two polar species. Its tone can point toward Gibson (as shorthand for 24.x" scale with 'buckers), and it can point toward Fender (shorthand for 25.5" scale w/singles) - without getting all the way toward either one. When playing 25"-scale PRSeseses, I find it most fruitful to forget about those endpoints and enjoy it for what it is.
The 24-fretness of the 24-08 pushes the neck pickup away from the warm harmonic sweet spot it usually occupies on 22-fret necks. (Like right where the 2-octave harmonic is located.) To my ear, this has as much effect on the overall tone as the scale length - but "only" if you're using the neck pickup or the middle position; it has no effect on the bridge position. (I say "only" because I use neck only or the middle position at least as often as I use just the bridge, so it's significant to me.) My personal take on 24-fret guitars has always been that they sound thin - or at least "less full" - than otherwise identical 22-fretters. I prefer 22 frets, and most of my SEs are 22s.
That said, I've come to terms with the less bottomy overall tonality of 24-fret designs, and appreciate them for their frequently more manageable behavior at higher volumes, with higher gain structures, and with more saturated tones, where they automatically roll off low end which can muddy and fart out the proceedings. They're a bit like rolling the low end off at the amp or with an EQ. And on the other hand, when I feel a 24-fretter sounds thinner than I'd prefer in a cleaner setting, it's easy to add some low end the same way. You don't get exactly the same contour you'd get from a pickup under the 2nd-octave harmonic, but you get close. Also, I just know not to pick a 24-fret guitar when I want that low end warmth. Which is why I tend to 22-fret necks.
So you have those two factors going on with your 24-08. You don't say if you have other 24-fret guitars, or have experience with the 25" scale - but the guitars you mention are both 22-fret 24.x" scale. If that's what you're liking these days, the PRS is going to be fundamentally different by design, and you shouldn't expect it to work just like them.
Other fundamental build differences: both the Jet and the Hag have maple tops and mahogany necks. (On the Swede, over a basswood body; on the Gretsch, over a "chambered" mahogany body.) Your SE has an all-mahogany body with a maple neck. In a conventional analysis, I'd expect the all-mahogany body of the SE to be a bit warmer than a maple-over-anything sandwich - and the maple neck to be a bit harder and brighter in tone than the mahogany necks. I have both a Standard 24 and Custom 24, and hear that difference myself. So does the maple neck on your 24-08 bring back the brightness the body softens? Don't know. The materials recipe could be a wash.
BUT. If the guitars which currently most tickle your ear have 22 frets and mahogany necks...maybe you didn't pick the right SE to test the PRS waters with. You might be happier with a Custom 22: still 25" scale and still maple neck, but you get 22 frets and the maple over mahogany build. I prefer the semi-hollow version, for just enough more body resonance. The C22 isn't currently in the SE line, but it was last year - and used examples abound.
Or you might prefer the Zach Myers model, which has the whole package you seem to go for: 24.x" scale, maple over mahogany body, mahogany neck - AND a semi-hollow build. (Similar to the Jet's "chambered" body.) The 245 pickups in that guitar are also more tonally balanced, less pushed toward the bright end of things than the pickups in your 24-08.
The 24.5"-scale Santana model would be another candidate. The current version is 24-fret, but it's come as a 22 in the last several years. I like both, but slightly prefer the 22.
I know you're asking what pickups you can swap in, and other guys may have responses to that. As it happens, I'm enjoying PRS pickups as something different from the general run of humbuckers; I think they're part of the recipe, and well-matched to the guitars. Doesn't mean you shouldn't change yours - and there may be a set somewhere that will turn the 24-08 into something you like a lot better. But you'll definitely be compromising the PRSness of what is a very specific PRS recipe in a guitar that might not have been the best choice for you from the start. Specifically, the pickups in the 24-08 (I think; the evidence is ambiguous), with their TCI designation, are the same as the pickups in the SE Paul's Guitar, and have the most convincing split to single coils I've heard in any modern humbucker. They're kinda special. (And if you rip yours out, I'll take them!)
For what it's worth - and it's probably been mentioned in the thread - I find that to get the humbucker tone I'm used to from a PRS, I back the tone down to somewhere between 6 and 8 on the dial. (Though I often leave it wide open, because I like that the PRS has a brighter, more articulate 'bucker tone than most comparable guitars.) And when I have the pickups split to singles, I have to back the tone down at least to 5-6, and sometimes lower than that. Otherwise, it can be Plink City, and remind me of an old piezo in an acoustic, plugged into an amp with the lows rolled off. (Unexpectedly, though, the brighter single-coil settings can sound great with dirt. Or I could just be old and deef in the high end.)
Also...before you swap out the stock pickups...if you haven't yet, experiment with pickup height. Try both directions. It makes a difference. And I'll assume you've twisted knobs on your amp to find tones you like out of the PRS. (I won't say "make the PRS sound like your other guitars"...because there ought to be a difference, right?) And to fundamentally re-voice the guitar, try pure nickel strings rather than the XLs (which are also my default string). I put pure nickels on guitars that seem overly bright and strident to my ear, and it works to round off the edges.
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PART TWO
Further pickup thoughts. My Hagstroms have their HJ-50 (Alvar) and 50C (Viking Bari) humbuckers; I had the 58C in a (25.5" scale) Super Viking with which I didn't bond atall. Unfortunately, I don't know how those compare to the Custom 62s in the Ultra Swede. The sound clips at Hag's site are useless, as they're only crunchdirty, and I don't hear a meaningful difference among any of their pickups. But I really really like both my Alvar and my Viking baritone (though the single-coil split at the bridge pup in the Viking is only useful because it is a bari. At standard tuning, it's Plink City again). Do you like your Ultra's single-coil modes?
But I know the BlackTops in your Jet well (I've had them in multiple guitars), and I've just never bonded with them - at least not with the stock plated brass bridge. I do still have them in an Electromatic 5420 hollowbody (where I guess I really just don't care that much, as I have plenty other Gretsch hollows with a range of great Filter'Trons) and in the 5422 12-string - where they really work. But I've yanked them out of every Jet and other smaller, more solid-body Gretsch which has passed through. Most recently I replaced them with TV Jones Setzer sigs in a 5655-CB-JR - the semi-hollow "junior" 14" single-cut which is very similar in tonal contour to your Jet.
Why don't I like them? When I almost like them, I say they sound "throaty" - and that's generally when dirty. When I don't like them, it's because they sound honky to me. I won't say there's too much midrange, but its peak is at frequency which doesn't speak for me - and compromises the chime, sparkle, and articulation I go to Filter'Trons for.
So our ears and/or taste apparently differ.
Do I have a conclusion or advice? Maybe. Live with the 24-08 awhile. Maybe try pure nickel strings. Fiddle with amp settings and the tone knob on the guitar. Mess with the pickup heights. See if you can find anything uniquely PRS in the guitar which appeals to you on its own terms. (You haven't mentioned any other quality or build issues since your first flaming rant; if there are such concerns, we'd like to know specifically what they are.)
But if, after a decent period of familiarization, there's just no bondage - but you're interested enough to give PRS more chances - I'd suggest trying one of the other models suggested rather than swapping pickups. An all-mahogany 25"-scale 24-fret guitar with maple neck is just fundamentally different from the 24.x/22-fret maple-over-mahog, mahogany-necked guitars you're using as benchmarks. (And as a bonus, those alternative choices can be had for less than the price of your 24-08).
I got very lucky in my first exposure to the SE line with the Hollowbody Standard: I was specifically attracted by the all-mahogany, full-hollow thinline 22-fret construction, and was willing to give 25" scale another chance. Turned out the guitar was/is glorious, familiar enough to me from my other wide hollowbody experience, different enough by virtue of the scale length to have its own character. Thus 25" scale was redeemed from the purgatory of my prejudice. My second SE was/is the 277 baritone - a good bari scale length for me and 22 frets. The guitar has its own distinctive voice, so all is good. (Also, I've liked the 85-15 pickups in every guitar I've heard them in.)
All of which inspired me to taste other flavors in the SE confectionary. It turns out I like the 24-fretters better than I thought I would - but they're still not my favorites. I prefer the 22-fret builds for their difference in neck-pup tone, and two extra frets up top are irrelevant to me. And I now appreciate the 25" scale for its unique tonal character.
Still, when I pick up a 24.x" scale PRS, it feels like home - but home with improvements like superb stability, consistent response across the neck, refined and reliable hardware, comfortable play feel, and the articulate and diverse range of tones I find in the PRS pickups. I wouldn't have realized any of that without trying various models to see for myself.
_____
Also, when you get tired of the tuning instability with the Bigsby on your Jet, I can help.
Further pickup thoughts. My Hagstroms have their HJ-50 (Alvar) and 50C (Viking Bari) humbuckers; I had the 58C in a (25.5" scale) Super Viking with which I didn't bond atall. Unfortunately, I don't know how those compare to the Custom 62s in the Ultra Swede. The sound clips at Hag's site are useless, as they're only crunchdirty, and I don't hear a meaningful difference among any of their pickups. But I really really like both my Alvar and my Viking baritone (though the single-coil split at the bridge pup in the Viking is only useful because it is a bari. At standard tuning, it's Plink City again). Do you like your Ultra's single-coil modes?
But I know the BlackTops in your Jet well (I've had them in multiple guitars), and I've just never bonded with them - at least not with the stock plated brass bridge. I do still have them in an Electromatic 5420 hollowbody (where I guess I really just don't care that much, as I have plenty other Gretsch hollows with a range of great Filter'Trons) and in the 5422 12-string - where they really work. But I've yanked them out of every Jet and other smaller, more solid-body Gretsch which has passed through. Most recently I replaced them with TV Jones Setzer sigs in a 5655-CB-JR - the semi-hollow "junior" 14" single-cut which is very similar in tonal contour to your Jet.
Why don't I like them? When I almost like them, I say they sound "throaty" - and that's generally when dirty. When I don't like them, it's because they sound honky to me. I won't say there's too much midrange, but its peak is at frequency which doesn't speak for me - and compromises the chime, sparkle, and articulation I go to Filter'Trons for.
So our ears and/or taste apparently differ.
Do I have a conclusion or advice? Maybe. Live with the 24-08 awhile. Maybe try pure nickel strings. Fiddle with amp settings and the tone knob on the guitar. Mess with the pickup heights. See if you can find anything uniquely PRS in the guitar which appeals to you on its own terms. (You haven't mentioned any other quality or build issues since your first flaming rant; if there are such concerns, we'd like to know specifically what they are.)
But if, after a decent period of familiarization, there's just no bondage - but you're interested enough to give PRS more chances - I'd suggest trying one of the other models suggested rather than swapping pickups. An all-mahogany 25"-scale 24-fret guitar with maple neck is just fundamentally different from the 24.x/22-fret maple-over-mahog, mahogany-necked guitars you're using as benchmarks. (And as a bonus, those alternative choices can be had for less than the price of your 24-08).
I got very lucky in my first exposure to the SE line with the Hollowbody Standard: I was specifically attracted by the all-mahogany, full-hollow thinline 22-fret construction, and was willing to give 25" scale another chance. Turned out the guitar was/is glorious, familiar enough to me from my other wide hollowbody experience, different enough by virtue of the scale length to have its own character. Thus 25" scale was redeemed from the purgatory of my prejudice. My second SE was/is the 277 baritone - a good bari scale length for me and 22 frets. The guitar has its own distinctive voice, so all is good. (Also, I've liked the 85-15 pickups in every guitar I've heard them in.)
All of which inspired me to taste other flavors in the SE confectionary. It turns out I like the 24-fretters better than I thought I would - but they're still not my favorites. I prefer the 22-fret builds for their difference in neck-pup tone, and two extra frets up top are irrelevant to me. And I now appreciate the 25" scale for its unique tonal character.
Still, when I pick up a 24.x" scale PRS, it feels like home - but home with improvements like superb stability, consistent response across the neck, refined and reliable hardware, comfortable play feel, and the articulate and diverse range of tones I find in the PRS pickups. I wouldn't have realized any of that without trying various models to see for myself.
_____
Also, when you get tired of the tuning instability with the Bigsby on your Jet, I can help.
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Although I much appreciate all your good advice and knowledge, you're not telling me anything I didn't already know. But thank you very much for all that.
I still do not like any sound I've been able to get out of this guitar and am at the point that It has to have different pups, or it has to go. I just need to weight the likeability of the guitar to the cost of new pups.
Peace
I still do not like any sound I've been able to get out of this guitar and am at the point that It has to have different pups, or it has to go. I just need to weight the likeability of the guitar to the cost of new pups.
Peace
Acknowledged. It remains that scale length, neck pup position, and build exert their influence over how a pickup - and thus the guitar - sounds.
That said, pickup choice can sometimes trump everything else. As a starting point, go with a set of pickups you know you like in other guitars. I find online pickup demo clips only get me in the ballpark; they're better at eliminating pickups I don't like than pinpointing exactly the right choice among remaining candidates.
That said, pickup choice can sometimes trump everything else. As a starting point, go with a set of pickups you know you like in other guitars. I find online pickup demo clips only get me in the ballpark; they're better at eliminating pickups I don't like than pinpointing exactly the right choice among remaining candidates.
Also, if I personally was weighing the likeability of a PRS in general...my Standard 24 would rate lower than any of the 22-fret models. Unless you know you're good with 24-fret guitars - or are determined to have a PRS with that spec - I still think the fret count may be more significant in your appraisal of your 24-08's likeability.
What elements do you like? Neck profile, radius, action, general playability?
What elements do you like? Neck profile, radius, action, general playability?
I prefer a very thin "C"ish with a flatter radius. I also like the action low as possible with no buzz. I hate buzz, except my uncle Buzz... Fret count has never been any issue with me at all, except with acoustics in reference to what fret is at the body connection.
As it stands right now, no. It's been in the gig bag and in my closet for about 2 weeks now, and I have no desire to put it out with the others I keep out. I rotate about 6 out at a time.
I've never had an issue with 21, 22,24 frets or scale length and I'm not complaining about the intonation, just that fat neck and (I'll try to be more diplomatic with my language here) unpleasant tone.
Peace
I've never had an issue with 21, 22,24 frets or scale length and I'm not complaining about the intonation, just that fat neck and (I'll try to be more diplomatic with my language here) unpleasant tone.
Peace
OK then. You took such an immediate and visceral dislike to the poor godfersaken thing that you haven't even had it out trying to tune in sounds you might like - all of which doesn't matter anyway, because you hate the fat neck. Which (far as I know) is the thinnest PRS makes. I don't see a PRS in your future. You tried. No harm no foul.
Why waste time and money (and snort solder fumes) chasing pickups that sound good enough to keep you from grinding your teeth every time you hear a guitar you revile - all while suffering with an uncomfortable neck?
I see three options: return it, turn it, or burn it.
Why waste time and money (and snort solder fumes) chasing pickups that sound good enough to keep you from grinding your teeth every time you hear a guitar you revile - all while suffering with an uncomfortable neck?
I see three options: return it, turn it, or burn it.
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