contiContiCONTI
New member
Hi all!
So on Wednesday I bought a Silver Sky SE. I wanted to share my experience so far as I think it might be insightful to strat players who are interested in the SS.
I'll start with some background. I am a Fender strat player through and through and have been for years now. 75% of the time that I pick up a guitar, I'm playing either SRV, Mayer or Hendrix. I love Strats. They make you play a certain way. They're rough, raspy, throaty. They're clean but angry at the same time. Glassy but screaming. The thing I like most about Strats is the playabaility and, again, the way they make you play (think little wing, lenny, bold as love, wind cries mary, gravity). I thoroughly believe that this style of playing was created by large part by the Fender Strat itself.
My main guitar is a heavily modded Mexican Classic Player 60s. I've had it for years and over the years I've optimised it to exactly my needs. My only issue was that when the guitar was with a tech, I didn't have a strong back-up to play in rehearsals or jams. So I decided to get on the hunt.
The Silver Sky began to pop up. Decent price, similar to a strat. People said they play the same but even sound better. I also read that the original core SS was based on a '64 strat, which caught my attention. So I found an evergreen one, secondhand for 500 euros. Not a bad deal! Took it home and here we are.
Now to my thoughts on this guitar.
The Silver Sky SE does not play like a strat and does not sound like a Strat. I suppose the core line is very different because if PRS tried to base this SE version on a Fender Strat, I personally think they failed miserably.
That's not to say it's in any way a bad guitar.. but it isnt a strat. And I'm surprised that people online say that it sounds/plays like one.
THE NOT-SO.GOOD
The Silver Sky makes you play cleaner - like a PRS. It doesnt inspire me to play SRV at all. It inspires me to play more defined single-not lines. Think Sob Rock. One very interesting thing is that, to me, the difference between my strat and the Silver Sky highly resembles the difference between Continuum-era Mayer and Sob Rock-era Mayer. I can completely understand MAyer's change in playing style, because it's exactly how I feel when I pck up the SS.
Everyone raves on about the PRS build quality. I understnad this is an SE Indonesian line.. but it doens't feel high-quality. I don't doubt that it is, but it doesn't FEEL like it. It feels a bit chinese. all 3 knobs on it are cracked. playing it acousticlly, the guitar creates this kind of vibrating reverb under the sound of the strings which I really dislike (bridge is decked with 5 springs).
Now for the sound. I really dislike the pickups. They are super high output compared to what I'm used to. I'm not sure why PRS thought it would be a good idea to put such high output pickups in a guitar that's meant to resemble a '64 strat. It's difficult to play dynamically because everything comes out high-volume, high-attack. The sound is mid-rangey and full. I also think that the pickups lack character. There is nothing about them that makes you think 'that's the Silver sky sound. They are bland, and quite tasteless. Not stratty enough to be a strat, not anything else enough to be anything else. They just are ..
Surprisingly to me, the differences in sound between my Strat and the SS when pluggged in are the same when played acoustically, meaning that it's not just the pickups, but the guitar as a whole. Acoustically, the PR sounds warmer, lacks sparkle and glassiness. It's more woody, honky. That's not a bad thing ofc - it's juist not a strat.
THE GREAT
I think this guitar is absolutely perfect for a gibson player that wants to delve into strats. In fact, I get the feeling that it was designed exactly for that. A Fender may be too stratty for a Les Paul player. The SS still holds some Gibson-style characteristics. For me personally, I definitely play it like as if it were a Gibson.
The 2 and 4 positions are magical. Better than any strat I've played. I think PRS really knocked it out of the park with this. The in-between positions are super quacky but don't lose volume. I love these positions but in a band setting I struggle to keep up in the mix. With the PRS, this isn't a problem. Switching from neck position to neck+middle has no drop in volume, only change in tone.
The pickups sound super clear. Although the sound isn't particularly for me, its no denying that they make a great job in amplifying exactly what the guitar is playing. When you play a G-chord, no frequencies are too strong or too weak. Every string can be heard equally.
The pots are very satisfying. They roll super smoothly with an even amount of friction. It sounds ridiculous to mention it but they are that good that you notice it. The volume or tone roll-off is even and there are no big drops at any point between 0 and 10. I found myself playing with the volume and tone at the 1-3 range and still getting great tone - something that is impossible on my strat.
I actually like the tuners. I like that they are big and you can get a good strong hold onto them. This is very subjective though.
The guitar is routed to fit Fender pickups (unlinke the core, i think), which is great. I think they woud be making a huge mistake if they didn't allow pickup replacement with standard size single-coils. The fact that they designed it like this makes me thiunk that some part of the team knew that people would want to change the pickups and, therefore, they knew that the stock ones aren't great.
SUMMARY
It's only been 3 days but I've had 2 rehearsals already with it. I will keep it for a couple of months and see if it grows on me a bit more. The logical thing would be to change the pickups but in thatc ase, I would just rather sell it and buy a strat. I want to like it because it would be a great second option for songs that require a bit more girth. Maybe if i play it more, the playability will easen up and it will begin to feel strattier in my hands. The PRS SS SE doesn't sound or play anything like a strat, and if you want a strat, BUY A FENDER. This guitar is best suited for humbucker players who went to experiment in strat territory.
So on Wednesday I bought a Silver Sky SE. I wanted to share my experience so far as I think it might be insightful to strat players who are interested in the SS.
I'll start with some background. I am a Fender strat player through and through and have been for years now. 75% of the time that I pick up a guitar, I'm playing either SRV, Mayer or Hendrix. I love Strats. They make you play a certain way. They're rough, raspy, throaty. They're clean but angry at the same time. Glassy but screaming. The thing I like most about Strats is the playabaility and, again, the way they make you play (think little wing, lenny, bold as love, wind cries mary, gravity). I thoroughly believe that this style of playing was created by large part by the Fender Strat itself.
My main guitar is a heavily modded Mexican Classic Player 60s. I've had it for years and over the years I've optimised it to exactly my needs. My only issue was that when the guitar was with a tech, I didn't have a strong back-up to play in rehearsals or jams. So I decided to get on the hunt.
The Silver Sky began to pop up. Decent price, similar to a strat. People said they play the same but even sound better. I also read that the original core SS was based on a '64 strat, which caught my attention. So I found an evergreen one, secondhand for 500 euros. Not a bad deal! Took it home and here we are.
Now to my thoughts on this guitar.
The Silver Sky SE does not play like a strat and does not sound like a Strat. I suppose the core line is very different because if PRS tried to base this SE version on a Fender Strat, I personally think they failed miserably.
That's not to say it's in any way a bad guitar.. but it isnt a strat. And I'm surprised that people online say that it sounds/plays like one.
THE NOT-SO.GOOD
The Silver Sky makes you play cleaner - like a PRS. It doesnt inspire me to play SRV at all. It inspires me to play more defined single-not lines. Think Sob Rock. One very interesting thing is that, to me, the difference between my strat and the Silver Sky highly resembles the difference between Continuum-era Mayer and Sob Rock-era Mayer. I can completely understand MAyer's change in playing style, because it's exactly how I feel when I pck up the SS.
Everyone raves on about the PRS build quality. I understnad this is an SE Indonesian line.. but it doens't feel high-quality. I don't doubt that it is, but it doesn't FEEL like it. It feels a bit chinese. all 3 knobs on it are cracked. playing it acousticlly, the guitar creates this kind of vibrating reverb under the sound of the strings which I really dislike (bridge is decked with 5 springs).
Now for the sound. I really dislike the pickups. They are super high output compared to what I'm used to. I'm not sure why PRS thought it would be a good idea to put such high output pickups in a guitar that's meant to resemble a '64 strat. It's difficult to play dynamically because everything comes out high-volume, high-attack. The sound is mid-rangey and full. I also think that the pickups lack character. There is nothing about them that makes you think 'that's the Silver sky sound. They are bland, and quite tasteless. Not stratty enough to be a strat, not anything else enough to be anything else. They just are ..
Surprisingly to me, the differences in sound between my Strat and the SS when pluggged in are the same when played acoustically, meaning that it's not just the pickups, but the guitar as a whole. Acoustically, the PR sounds warmer, lacks sparkle and glassiness. It's more woody, honky. That's not a bad thing ofc - it's juist not a strat.
THE GREAT
I think this guitar is absolutely perfect for a gibson player that wants to delve into strats. In fact, I get the feeling that it was designed exactly for that. A Fender may be too stratty for a Les Paul player. The SS still holds some Gibson-style characteristics. For me personally, I definitely play it like as if it were a Gibson.
The 2 and 4 positions are magical. Better than any strat I've played. I think PRS really knocked it out of the park with this. The in-between positions are super quacky but don't lose volume. I love these positions but in a band setting I struggle to keep up in the mix. With the PRS, this isn't a problem. Switching from neck position to neck+middle has no drop in volume, only change in tone.
The pickups sound super clear. Although the sound isn't particularly for me, its no denying that they make a great job in amplifying exactly what the guitar is playing. When you play a G-chord, no frequencies are too strong or too weak. Every string can be heard equally.
The pots are very satisfying. They roll super smoothly with an even amount of friction. It sounds ridiculous to mention it but they are that good that you notice it. The volume or tone roll-off is even and there are no big drops at any point between 0 and 10. I found myself playing with the volume and tone at the 1-3 range and still getting great tone - something that is impossible on my strat.
I actually like the tuners. I like that they are big and you can get a good strong hold onto them. This is very subjective though.
The guitar is routed to fit Fender pickups (unlinke the core, i think), which is great. I think they woud be making a huge mistake if they didn't allow pickup replacement with standard size single-coils. The fact that they designed it like this makes me thiunk that some part of the team knew that people would want to change the pickups and, therefore, they knew that the stock ones aren't great.
SUMMARY
It's only been 3 days but I've had 2 rehearsals already with it. I will keep it for a couple of months and see if it grows on me a bit more. The logical thing would be to change the pickups but in thatc ase, I would just rather sell it and buy a strat. I want to like it because it would be a great second option for songs that require a bit more girth. Maybe if i play it more, the playability will easen up and it will begin to feel strattier in my hands. The PRS SS SE doesn't sound or play anything like a strat, and if you want a strat, BUY A FENDER. This guitar is best suited for humbucker players who went to experiment in strat territory.
