ebagjones
New member
Silver Sky, Suhr Classic Pro, American Deluxe Strat, Nash S-57, thoughts & comparison
Hello,
My first electric was a Fender Strat over 20 years ago and ever since then they’ve been my go to instrument. Over the last 6 months I’ve decided to break away from the “Leo” brands and try some boutique alternatives. As there may be others interested I thought I would give some (un) scientific comparison and thoughts. I have (had) a PRS Silver Sky, a Nash S-57 and a Suhr Classic Pro. I also have an older (2012) American Deluxe Strat to compare it to. All were tested with stock pickups on a Victory V40 Deluxe and a Mesa Boogie Triple Crown 50.
Nash S-57 Retail $1965
Sounds - The Nash came loaded with the Lollar Dirty Blonde set. I found the neck and middle pickup to be exceptionally clear yet with some heft. Moreso than any other classic set I’ve played they did a great job of capturing the classic early 60’s thick bell like tones while sounding positively fat when overdriven. The bridge to me was surprisingly dark and almost sounded more like a PAF than an overwound single and I was less impressed with this.
Feel - First off, as a former Luke owner, I love the raw unfinished feel of the neck. Outside of that though I was a little surprised at the feel of it. I would describe it as the least slinky and the one I had to fight the most. Still though a very playable instrument and I did like the easy string bends on the rather large frets and the narrow (1.625) nut width would be instantly familiar to anyone used to playing vintage Fenders or modern Ernie Balls.
Overall I feel the Nash would be a great fit for anyone looking for the sound and feel of a vintage Fender in a new instrument with the expectation that you may also be dealing with some of the shortcomings of vintage gear.
Suhr Classic Pro Retail $2199
Sounds - Came loaded with the Suhr V60LP set. Between all the refinements Suhr has made to this design, combined with the sweeter rounder and darker single coils truly sound like a modern evolution of the S Style guitar. I found the neck and middle pickups very pleasant and smooth but probably the furthest from a “vintage” sound of the 4. The bridge however I loved. I like to flip to the bridge for high gain sounds much like my early influence David Gilmour, and the V60LP bridge pickup was great for this. I actually felt it tried to do the same thing as the Lollar Special S Bridge pickup but better. Less of the unpleasant and steely frequencies that I hear in humbuckers and a very single coil-y sound with a really smooth singing top end.
Feel - Where I mentioned earlier that the Suhr sounded like a modern evolution of the S guitar, the feel of it absolutely matched up with this. The neck was extremely comfortable and fast and the fretwork and setup was absolutely flawless out of the box. It managed to feel smooth and extremely easy to play while at the same time not feeling as slinky as a strat. All of the tweaks, from the trem to the treble horn cutaway to the stainless frets contributed to the feeling of a better more refined instrument but also took away from its essential strattiness.
Overall the Suhr is a feat of engineering and fantastic modern evolution of the Strat. The fit finish and feel lived up to all the hype that Suhr gets. I would strongly recommend to anyone other than someone who needs a true vintage sound as it will be the hardest to dial in of the 4.
PRS Silver Sky Retail $2299
Sounds - I would put the tone of the pickups between the Lollar Dirty Blondes and the Suhr V60LP’s. They definitely started with a mid 60’s Strat tone, but it has a slightly compressed feel that gives it a little more modern flexibility. I saw a video where Paul Reed Smith mentioned that John Mayer needed a set where all three pickups had the same wind and it does have the least ice picky, most useful bridge pickup I’ve seen in the sub 7k wind range, but I can’t help but to think if by winding the neck and middle a little differently they couldn’t have opened up their tone more. At the end of the day this is being nit picky as it is a great set of pickups.
Feel - Wow. The hype around this neck is absolutely spot on. Let me preface this by saying my favorite necks have always been V-Shaped, thin, flat radius and tall frets. The Silver Sky’s neck is C, large, vintage radius and has small frets and is the best neck I’ve ever played by a wide margin. It is also the lightest of the 4 which is also impressive considering the Nash is ash versus the rest being alder. The vintage locking tuners are great and I’m loving the 3x3 configuration. The trem only goes down but is very smooth. The fit and finish are as flawless as you’d expect from a PRS but if I had to be nit picky a few of the design choices, such as the control knobs, tuner heads and gig bag feel oddly cheap for such an expensive instrument.
Overall the PRS is similar to the Suhr in that both are attempt to “correct” a beloved 65 year old design, but I feel the PRS does a better job at straddling the line between vintage and modern and capturing some of the magic of a vintage instrument while keeping an eye to the future.
It is my favorite of the three “new” designs with the caveat that if I didn’t have a Silver Sky most of its praise would be heaped on the Classic Pro.
Great - so how does this compare to an original?
In the PRS promotional materials John Mayer mentioned that out of 100 strats you may have 2 or 3 with that magic. Well my 2012 Deluxe is one of those lucky production instruments with the right or wrong combination of parts to make a killer Strat. It doesn’t look like much, it’s got a sloppy neck pocket and still has the dreaded N3 pickups, but it sounds and feels like all those adjectives that come to our heads when we think about a great Strat. To me that makes this a great benchmark instrument. Compared to the others it has the special slinky feel I associate with great strats, probably with the Silver Sky coming closest and the Nash furthest away. As far as tones go only the neck and middle positions on the Nash beat it for that chimey but bright and focused classic Strat tone. All three beat it in build quality the finish on the Nash was my least favorite, as the matte seemed very unnatural and the relic’ed guitar with a brand spanking new looking pickguard and pickups was just an odd look.
For my needs, I’d rate it Silver Sky, Classic Pro, American Deluxe then Nash S-57. All our amazing guitars and I could easily see any of them making a consumer happy though.
Hello,
My first electric was a Fender Strat over 20 years ago and ever since then they’ve been my go to instrument. Over the last 6 months I’ve decided to break away from the “Leo” brands and try some boutique alternatives. As there may be others interested I thought I would give some (un) scientific comparison and thoughts. I have (had) a PRS Silver Sky, a Nash S-57 and a Suhr Classic Pro. I also have an older (2012) American Deluxe Strat to compare it to. All were tested with stock pickups on a Victory V40 Deluxe and a Mesa Boogie Triple Crown 50.
Nash S-57 Retail $1965
Sounds - The Nash came loaded with the Lollar Dirty Blonde set. I found the neck and middle pickup to be exceptionally clear yet with some heft. Moreso than any other classic set I’ve played they did a great job of capturing the classic early 60’s thick bell like tones while sounding positively fat when overdriven. The bridge to me was surprisingly dark and almost sounded more like a PAF than an overwound single and I was less impressed with this.
Feel - First off, as a former Luke owner, I love the raw unfinished feel of the neck. Outside of that though I was a little surprised at the feel of it. I would describe it as the least slinky and the one I had to fight the most. Still though a very playable instrument and I did like the easy string bends on the rather large frets and the narrow (1.625) nut width would be instantly familiar to anyone used to playing vintage Fenders or modern Ernie Balls.
Overall I feel the Nash would be a great fit for anyone looking for the sound and feel of a vintage Fender in a new instrument with the expectation that you may also be dealing with some of the shortcomings of vintage gear.
Suhr Classic Pro Retail $2199
Sounds - Came loaded with the Suhr V60LP set. Between all the refinements Suhr has made to this design, combined with the sweeter rounder and darker single coils truly sound like a modern evolution of the S Style guitar. I found the neck and middle pickups very pleasant and smooth but probably the furthest from a “vintage” sound of the 4. The bridge however I loved. I like to flip to the bridge for high gain sounds much like my early influence David Gilmour, and the V60LP bridge pickup was great for this. I actually felt it tried to do the same thing as the Lollar Special S Bridge pickup but better. Less of the unpleasant and steely frequencies that I hear in humbuckers and a very single coil-y sound with a really smooth singing top end.
Feel - Where I mentioned earlier that the Suhr sounded like a modern evolution of the S guitar, the feel of it absolutely matched up with this. The neck was extremely comfortable and fast and the fretwork and setup was absolutely flawless out of the box. It managed to feel smooth and extremely easy to play while at the same time not feeling as slinky as a strat. All of the tweaks, from the trem to the treble horn cutaway to the stainless frets contributed to the feeling of a better more refined instrument but also took away from its essential strattiness.
Overall the Suhr is a feat of engineering and fantastic modern evolution of the Strat. The fit finish and feel lived up to all the hype that Suhr gets. I would strongly recommend to anyone other than someone who needs a true vintage sound as it will be the hardest to dial in of the 4.
PRS Silver Sky Retail $2299
Sounds - I would put the tone of the pickups between the Lollar Dirty Blondes and the Suhr V60LP’s. They definitely started with a mid 60’s Strat tone, but it has a slightly compressed feel that gives it a little more modern flexibility. I saw a video where Paul Reed Smith mentioned that John Mayer needed a set where all three pickups had the same wind and it does have the least ice picky, most useful bridge pickup I’ve seen in the sub 7k wind range, but I can’t help but to think if by winding the neck and middle a little differently they couldn’t have opened up their tone more. At the end of the day this is being nit picky as it is a great set of pickups.
Feel - Wow. The hype around this neck is absolutely spot on. Let me preface this by saying my favorite necks have always been V-Shaped, thin, flat radius and tall frets. The Silver Sky’s neck is C, large, vintage radius and has small frets and is the best neck I’ve ever played by a wide margin. It is also the lightest of the 4 which is also impressive considering the Nash is ash versus the rest being alder. The vintage locking tuners are great and I’m loving the 3x3 configuration. The trem only goes down but is very smooth. The fit and finish are as flawless as you’d expect from a PRS but if I had to be nit picky a few of the design choices, such as the control knobs, tuner heads and gig bag feel oddly cheap for such an expensive instrument.
Overall the PRS is similar to the Suhr in that both are attempt to “correct” a beloved 65 year old design, but I feel the PRS does a better job at straddling the line between vintage and modern and capturing some of the magic of a vintage instrument while keeping an eye to the future.
It is my favorite of the three “new” designs with the caveat that if I didn’t have a Silver Sky most of its praise would be heaped on the Classic Pro.
Great - so how does this compare to an original?
In the PRS promotional materials John Mayer mentioned that out of 100 strats you may have 2 or 3 with that magic. Well my 2012 Deluxe is one of those lucky production instruments with the right or wrong combination of parts to make a killer Strat. It doesn’t look like much, it’s got a sloppy neck pocket and still has the dreaded N3 pickups, but it sounds and feels like all those adjectives that come to our heads when we think about a great Strat. To me that makes this a great benchmark instrument. Compared to the others it has the special slinky feel I associate with great strats, probably with the Silver Sky coming closest and the Nash furthest away. As far as tones go only the neck and middle positions on the Nash beat it for that chimey but bright and focused classic Strat tone. All three beat it in build quality the finish on the Nash was my least favorite, as the matte seemed very unnatural and the relic’ed guitar with a brand spanking new looking pickguard and pickups was just an odd look.
For my needs, I’d rate it Silver Sky, Classic Pro, American Deluxe then Nash S-57. All our amazing guitars and I could easily see any of them making a consumer happy though.
