NGD: PRS Silver Sky SE - Mixed Feelings

[Artie]

Nice review, and thanks for turning me on to "Sob Rock." I'm not a huge John Mayer fan, but I don't dislike him. Some nice tunes on that album.

I fell in love with the Silver Sky series when I first saw them, but admittedly, primarily for the available colors. Love that Tungsten and Midnight Rose.
However, for the price, I'd be just as happy with a good Squier.

 

[contiContiCONTI]

I would like to try the USA model as well to be honest. Mostly because of the pickups, which were modelled after a 63 strat. They are apparently lower output and resemble the Fender tone much more closely than the SE.

One huge advantage of the SE though - standard sized single coils fit in the cavity. For me that's essential. We all have our favourite pickups, particularly strat players. The strat was originally made to be dissassembled and reassembled super easily to make it cheap to manufacture and to fix. So making the pickups basically irreplaceable in the USA model kind of goes against the whole ideology of the strat. One of the best parts about the strat is how easy it is to make it your own.

 

[jeremy]

i agree part of the allure of the strat for some people is how easily modded it is. i didnt know the usa silversky used weird sized pups, that is kinda lame

 

[Rex_Rocker]

I'm sure the USA pickups are nice, but I doubt it's something so special you can't get something comparable from Duncan, DiMarzio, Fender, etc. for cheaper.

PRS pickups in general are cool, but I think the reason they're expensive is because they use some exclusive cosmetic appointments (like the square bobbins on the humbuckers), and because they're made in small numbers rather than because they're actually higher quality or just overall "better" than the usual suspects.

 

[jeremy]

ive not been a fan of prs pups as a whole, they arent bad, but there is always something i like better.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

I've wanted to try the Tremonti Treble for a while, but $200 for a pickup from an artist I don't like feels steep.

 

[donaldr]

The radius of MII is 8.5" while it's 7.25" for the MIA model.

 

[contiContiCONTI]

ive not been a fan of prs pups as a whole, they arent bad, but there is always something i like better.

I have only tried the SE silversky and a custom 24 years ago. I think that with pickups, PRS shoots for versatility and ground covered. The result of that (in any aspect of music) is a decent product that lacks character. That's exactly how i would describe the SE SS pickups and the custom 24 that i tried. YEah they sound good, but they dont make me go 'WOW', they also dont have an original recogniseable sound like Fender pickups, PAFs or Gretchs have.

 

[contiContiCONTI]

The radius of MII is 8.5" while it's 7.25" for the MIA model.

Yeah. This is a preference difference. Doesnt necessarily make one better than the other. They're close enough to not make a black/white difference in playability though.

 

[donaldr]

Yeah. This is a preference difference. Doesnt necessarily make one better than the other. They're close enough to not make a black/white difference in playability though.

I don't know but that's a difference of 0.75" applied to a 1.625" surface while some folks cannot tolerate that same 0.75" difference between a 25" scale length.

 

[contiContiCONTI]

I don't know but that's a difference of 0.75" applied to a 1.625" surface while some folks cannot tolerate that same 0.75" difference between a 25" scale length.

fretboqard radius is measured in degrees and determines the roundness of the fretboard, not in inches. It's a measurement that doesn't have anything to do with the width or height of the fretboard, or with the scale length of the guitar.

That being said, I guess you are right in that it depends on the player. Some players may be more picky with fretboard radius, others with scale length.

Me personally, I'm more easy-going with fretboard radius and havent had troubles playing on anything super round or super flat, but I really do feel the difference in scale length when i switch to an LP for example.

 

[Seashore]

fretboqard radius is measured in degrees and determines the roundness of the fretboard, not in inches. It's a measurement that doesn't have anything to do with the width or height of the fretboard, or with the scale length of the guitar.

That being said, I guess you are right in that it depends on the player. Some players may be more picky with fretboard radius, others with scale length.

Me personally, I'm more easy-going with fretboard radius and havent had troubles playing on anything super round or super flat, but I really do feel the difference in scale length when i switch to an LP for example.

This isn't right. Fretboard radius is indeed measured in inches - if you extend the curvature of the fretboard into an imaginary circle, it's the length of the radius of that circle. So a 12" radius is an arc taken from a circle that's 24 inches wide. The longer the radius, the bigger the circle, the flatter the arc.

 

[contiContiCONTI]

This isn't right. Fretboard radius is indeed measured in inches - if you extend the curvature of the fretboard into an imaginary circle, it's the length of the radius of that circle. So a 12" radius is an arc taken from a circle that's 24 inches wide. The longer the radius, the bigger the circle, the flatter the arc.

you’re right, i’m stupid. I had an absolute brain fart, wasn’t thinking straight hahaha

 

[jeremy]

This isn't right. Fretboard radius is indeed measured in inches - if you extend the curvature of the fretboard into an imaginary circle, it's the length of the radius of that circle. So a 12" radius is an arc taken from a circle that's 24 inches wide. The longer the radius, the bigger the circle, the flatter the arc.

this is correct, though ive seen metric measurements used as well

 

[Artie]

Fretboard radius is indeed measured in inches - if you extend the curvature of the fretboard into an imaginary circle, it's the length of the radius of that circle. So a 12" radius is an arc taken from a circle that's 24 inches wide. The longer the radius, the bigger the circle, the flatter the arc.

Thanks for clarifying that. It's what I thought, but I wasn't absolutely certain. Your diagram illustrates it perfectly. (Saved for reference.)

 

[Seashore]

Thanks for clarifying that. It's what I thought, but I wasn't absolutely certain. Your diagram illustrates it perfectly. (Saved for reference.)

Cheers man. I believe the image came from Stew Mac.

 

[Hank-]

I have an old SE that was made in korea, havent compared it side by side with the current Indonesia make. The old oem pickups in the these made by G&B I think weren't entirely hopeless but the bridge pickup sound was overly bright

The Pauls guitar SE variant does interest me but its quite pricy. I've seen the Silver Sky SE in stores, didnt jump out except for the headstock difference, haven't played or heard one played in person rhough

 

[Rex_Rocker]

The old oem pickups in the these made by G&B I think weren't entirely hopeless but the bridge pickup sound was overly bright

They're still made by G&B. I haven't really thoroughly played a Silver Sky SE to really know how the pickups are, but the G&B pickups they put on PRS SE's I've played are alright, there's much worse, but there's also much better if you start looking at Seymour Duncan or DiMarzio. But I don't know how much that's G&B's fault, or how much I don't really care for the PRS design the pickups are based on.