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Post by ChrisK on Mar 1, 2009 12:58:40 GMT -5
Man, I love March.
There is the March Madness sale at my local factory authorized music store (Pianos 'n Stuff in Blawnox, PA 412-828-1003). There is 7% state tax but no shipping 'cuz I live 5 miles away, and I can ALWAYS find a good reason to go there.
I scored a PRS Soapbar SE semi-hollow in blue stain for $399 NEW tomorrow during March Madness '09. (I already posses it, but for the non-relativistically limited, the sale begins on the morrow. For me, it's always March somewhere.)
They have the Fender Road-Worn stuff at a tad over $700. It's aboot $200 less than GC.
How about a Gibson Studio Premium Plus for $1299?
A Gibson Robot LP for $1499 and the Robot SG for $1299.
A Gibson SG-3 (three '57 pickups) for $1099.
It starts tomorrow morning at 10:00 am.
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Post by ChrisK on Mar 6, 2009 1:37:46 GMT -5
So I indeed scored a PRS Soapbar SE semi-hollow in blue stain for $399 NEW.  They threw in a green one as well.  I was on one of those GeDankengang's GeGone awry. I was looking for a semi-hollow to put a set of P-Rail pickups in to bring out the tonal possibilities; oh wait, I have an ES-137 in the basement, just use that. Nah, it's too big for my car trunk (boot) when I travel to work; it's either the ES or luggage (Mazda Protege' 5 hatchback). The ES-137's go for $2K now, I probably shouldn't operate on it. I really wish that I'd kept the used Schecter CSH-12 that I got a year ago (prior to the release of the P-Rail pickups). I also really wish that I'd bought it again 4 months ago when it came back in to the GC and was then going for $299. It had a 1 3/4" nut width. I was going to remove the 6 extra strings, tuners, and saddles, and use it as a 6 string. Oh well. So, as I kept looking at Thinline bodies for a semi-hollow build (which led to the whole unfortunate debacle that has completely turned me from Warmoth some months back) I was thinking about the PRS Soapbar SE semi-hollow as a "donor". Well, it goes for $650 at GC and aboot $579 at PnS. Dang, they then has one for $399 New. Now, aside from the fact that I don't like the sound of the pickups, it's ok. I really like the sound of it unplugged. And, in P-90 land, I have one of the Soapbar SE solids to replace the bridge pickup in with a DiMarzio DLX-Plus (hot, ceramic mag, mid-scooped) or Virtual P-90, and move the bridge pickup into a new cavity in the middle position. Or, the DLX-Plus in the bridge and the virtual P-90 in the neck. Both are dual coil humbuckers. With series/parallel switching both in intra (two DPDT push pull pots) and inter-pickup as well as phasing to taste (with 6-way rotary a'la PRS)....Yow! It could stand a dose of B-W-B pickguarding as that mahogany prairie looks a tad desolate.   Re-Dang, The semi-hollow CE will become a travel guitar. Now, if I widen the soapbar cavities about 0.1" (2.5 mm) I could fit humbuckers in there. Well, with a pickguard to cover things. Since my P-Rail design uses four push pull pots and a 5 or 6-way switch, a pickguard would allow me to move some controls a tad to fit things in. Seems like a black-white-black laminated one here as well will look great. Oh wait, I have a large sheet of that material. Sounds like a semi-hollow surgery plan (or at least a lot of trouble)... |
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Post by cynical1 on Mar 6, 2009 2:43:11 GMT -5
Very pretty guitar you have there. I've read some good things about the SE guitars. And that was a very nice price you scored that for. I saw one in the "hip and/or trendy" music store up here this week for $499.00...different color, but it came with a pound of cheese...
Why don't you break it in with some lead work on the jam?
Happy Trails
Cynical One
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Post by newey on Mar 6, 2009 6:37:58 GMT -5
Nice guitar, Chris!
Is it P90s in general you dislike, or something about the PRS P90s?
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Post by ChrisK on Mar 6, 2009 20:47:05 GMT -5
I've been proposing for some years that the PRS SE series, while decent guitars in their own right, would make excellent starting platforms for rural electrification projects.
Why, do some folks here actually play these guitars we talk about?
It's mostly the PRS P-90 in the bridge positions. I like them in the neck positions.
This is why I was going to put the DLX-Plus (actually a neck model that I have) into the bridge on the mahogany SE and move the bridge PRS P-90 into the middle.
I was going to move it into the middle for two reasons; one, the bridge pickup would become extra, two, it is RWRP with the neck, and C., I figured how to magically cut the middle cavity a'prairie with a Plexiglas Dremel cavity follower that used two 1/4 standoffs as guide pins with a 1/4" router bit.
But I then thought that the DLX might be too hot to balance with the PRS's, so I got a Virtual P-90 since it has lower output.
The DLX-Plus Neck DP-162
Magnet: Ceramic
Output: 390 mV
DC resistance: 13K8
Treble: 6.5
Middle: 5
Bass: 6
It's somewhat mid-scooped which should balance with mahogany nicely.
The Virtual P-90 DP-169
Magnet: Ceramic
Output: 280 mV
DC resistance: 9K08
Treble: 6
Middle: 5.5
Bass: 5
It should balance in the bridge position with the PRS P-90s or with the DLX-Plus in the bridge if the Virtual P-90 is in the neck.
I got slightly sidetracked in my rural electrical'P-90'fication program by the shiny blue semi-hollow, but I think that I've recovered my bearings now.
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Post by cynical1 on Mar 6, 2009 21:19:09 GMT -5
Why, do some folks here actually play these guitars we talk about? One does wonder... |
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