Ok, so this is basically something I want to hear people's experience of.
I went guitar shopping with a friend yesterday (he wants to start playing bass, and I am always up for guitar store browsing!) and while taking a break from the basses to think I stumbled upon one of the sandblasted swamp ash PRS SEs. A few artists I like (namely Black stone cherry and alter bridge) seem to swear by PRS. I've never played one so thought I'd give it a go. Here are my thoughts:
Good bits:
- It felt like a quality instrument. Can't really describe that feeling but I'm sure you know what I'm getting at. It felt like somebody had put time into making it good.
- The weight. Lighter than I was expecting.
- The action was low. I felt like I could play fast on this thing, and I'm a rubbish guitar player.
Not so good bits:
- Not used to the shape. Personal issue, but it just felt bulbous to me, like a friends red special. It was not that comfortable to me.
- Scale length. Again, most of what I play is 25.5", I can play 24.75" quite happily, and 24" as well. Basses are easy too. But the 25" was just weird, My fingers naturally went too far apart, and then adjusted too close together. Time could probably heal this, but at the time it just felt wrong.
- The neck in general. The wide thin shape was more pronounced than I thought. Up at the top frets it felt ridiculously thin, like playing a wide matchstick, or a TV remote. I like wide necks, but thhey need something to support them, the neck felt absolutely atrocious in my hands.
Sorry that got a bit rambly. Also, it was so rammed in that shop that I didn't plug it in, so can't say anything about the pickups, but the feel was just off so I wasn't going out of my way to try it further.
Anybody else had experience with stuff like this? I'd love to know.
I went guitar shopping with a friend yesterday (he wants to start playing bass, and I am always up for guitar store browsing!) and while taking a break from the basses to think I stumbled upon one of the sandblasted swamp ash PRS SEs. A few artists I like (namely Black stone cherry and alter bridge) seem to swear by PRS. I've never played one so thought I'd give it a go. Here are my thoughts:
Good bits:
- It felt like a quality instrument. Can't really describe that feeling but I'm sure you know what I'm getting at. It felt like somebody had put time into making it good.
- The weight. Lighter than I was expecting.
- The action was low. I felt like I could play fast on this thing, and I'm a rubbish guitar player.
Not so good bits:
- Not used to the shape. Personal issue, but it just felt bulbous to me, like a friends red special. It was not that comfortable to me.
- Scale length. Again, most of what I play is 25.5", I can play 24.75" quite happily, and 24" as well. Basses are easy too. But the 25" was just weird, My fingers naturally went too far apart, and then adjusted too close together. Time could probably heal this, but at the time it just felt wrong.
- The neck in general. The wide thin shape was more pronounced than I thought. Up at the top frets it felt ridiculously thin, like playing a wide matchstick, or a TV remote. I like wide necks, but thhey need something to support them, the neck felt absolutely atrocious in my hands.
Sorry that got a bit rambly. Also, it was so rammed in that shop that I didn't plug it in, so can't say anything about the pickups, but the feel was just off so I wasn't going out of my way to try it further.
Anybody else had experience with stuff like this? I'd love to know.
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