andy474x
Knows the Drill
Local shop got some new SS models in recently, and I used one to demo a couple pedals.
Backstory is, I purchased a ‘19
SS w/rosewood board from them over the summer. My initial impression of the SS when they first came out and I got my hands on them was that the neck finish was kind of uneven, the frets were very small and short, and for whatever reason I just wasn’t connecting with the tone. Maybe it was the amps I used that day. But I gave it another try this year and the neck finish on mine was much better, the frets, although still small, didn’t give me any problems while playing, and I liked the tone a lot playing into a ‘68 Custom Princeton. So, that was that.
So, the two guitars I saw most closely yesterday were a ‘20 with a maple board, and ‘21 with a rosewood board. I’ve heard the frets and pickups were changed in the last couple years, I played the ‘21 and could easily see and feel much wider and taller frets, and slightly brighter, glassier pickups. The maple board ‘20 had the same size frets as mine, but I didn’t plug it in to try the pickups.
Even when I bought mine, I wasn’t totally sold on the small frets, but I discovered that not only could I play on them just fine, but note to note transitions came out smoother and more fluid, almost like the smaller fret is a smaller, less discrete and less binary separation between notes. I still like the feel of big frets the most, but there’s definitely something about how the small frets make me play that I like. I think I also prefer the older pickups, just because they sound a little meatier, although I should add that both sound thicker in the midrange than most pickups/guitars of this style.
Also, the neck finish on the ‘21 was impeccable. Leaning slightly a toward a satin texture rather than straight up gloss, and extremely even. That, about the ‘21, I definitely preferred, although my ‘19 is in no way bad. With all these differences, there’s not a bad guitar to be had, just slightly different from each other
These are my Silver Sky ramblings. Just sharing in case people browsing in the future are wondering about the differences.
Backstory is, I purchased a ‘19
SS w/rosewood board from them over the summer. My initial impression of the SS when they first came out and I got my hands on them was that the neck finish was kind of uneven, the frets were very small and short, and for whatever reason I just wasn’t connecting with the tone. Maybe it was the amps I used that day. But I gave it another try this year and the neck finish on mine was much better, the frets, although still small, didn’t give me any problems while playing, and I liked the tone a lot playing into a ‘68 Custom Princeton. So, that was that.
So, the two guitars I saw most closely yesterday were a ‘20 with a maple board, and ‘21 with a rosewood board. I’ve heard the frets and pickups were changed in the last couple years, I played the ‘21 and could easily see and feel much wider and taller frets, and slightly brighter, glassier pickups. The maple board ‘20 had the same size frets as mine, but I didn’t plug it in to try the pickups.
Even when I bought mine, I wasn’t totally sold on the small frets, but I discovered that not only could I play on them just fine, but note to note transitions came out smoother and more fluid, almost like the smaller fret is a smaller, less discrete and less binary separation between notes. I still like the feel of big frets the most, but there’s definitely something about how the small frets make me play that I like. I think I also prefer the older pickups, just because they sound a little meatier, although I should add that both sound thicker in the midrange than most pickups/guitars of this style.
Also, the neck finish on the ‘21 was impeccable. Leaning slightly a toward a satin texture rather than straight up gloss, and extremely even. That, about the ‘21, I definitely preferred, although my ‘19 is in no way bad. With all these differences, there’s not a bad guitar to be had, just slightly different from each other
These are my Silver Sky ramblings. Just sharing in case people browsing in the future are wondering about the differences.
