PRS SE Hollowbody II

[BJG145]

I'm really liking the look of these.
Anbody want to talk me out of that, or should I keep daydreaming...?



(Never played a PRS.)

[Wonks]

It's a PRS. Don't do it. You'll only encourage them.

I always find them sterile and I really can't get on with their 'wide fat' neck - just doesn't work for me. Buy something with a bit of soul, even if it's not quite as cosmetically perfect.

[John Egan]

It's a PRS. Don't do it. You'll only encourage them.

I always find them sterile and I really can't get on with their 'wide fat' neck - just doesn't work for me. Buy something with a bit of soul, even if it's not quite as cosmetically perfect.

I've tried a lot of PRS guitars in shops,and I have found most of them to be unexciting, despite their first class build quality. However, about 18 months ago I bought a second hand USA S2 Vela, which has a single coil pickup in the neck and a coil-tapped Starla humbucker in the bridge. This one has a real vibe.Loads of character and stripped down looks - quite Tele-like in its way. I've also found that the PRS SE77 Baritones sound excellent.
Regards, John

[ManFromGlass]

After a few quick tests I find the necks work well for me. It’s easier for me not to mute open strings when I want them to be part of a chord. I haven’t test driven one for sound yet.
Do fingers get chunkier as we age?

Baritone? That sounds intriguing!

[Drew Stephenson]

I have one of the first style semi hollows and really like it. I believe Music Wolf has one of these new ones and rates it very highly.
For what it's worth, I've never really got the idea of a guitar being 'sterile' or 'clinical'. But that might just be because i'm not a good enough player to appreciate it.

[John Egan]

I have one of the first style semi hollows and really like it. I believe Music Wolf has one of these new ones and rates it very highly.
For what it's worth, I've never really got the idea of a guitar being 'sterile' or 'clinical'. But that might just be because i'm not a good enough player to appreciate it.

I've never claimed to be a good player and I'm worse now than I used to be, but for me a guitar needs to impress me after no more than 5 minutes playing and preferably in the fist few notes/chords.
I only got that from three PRS guitars : my S2 Vela; an SE277 Baritone; and an S! Starla with a Bigsby.
Regards, John

[Sam Spoons]

I was about to type "don't, they're yuppy guitars" but then thought, if it lights your candle then buy it...... Life's too short and it's not a marriage, if you don't get on you can just sell it again*

* I fancied one for years, then bought a very nice Pac Rim rip off but that was enough for me to realise a PRS wasn't for me. I still don't know why but it just failed to capture my heart**

** Sorry for the 'pretentious git' moment.....

[Music Wolf]

I have one of the first style semi hollows and really like it. I believe Music Wolf has one of these new ones and rates it very highly.

I do indeed. In fact I had one of the very first SE Custom Semi Hollows to hit these shores (in blue), foolishly sold it then bought a second hand one (in natural, like Drew's I think).

I played this at one gig and liked it so much that I went out and bought the S2 version (the S2 has a trem)

My son now has the SE.

Very happy with the S2 but it is a Semi. It is essentially a solid body which has been carved out. The Hollow, which BJG145 needs to go out and buy today, is a genuine hollow (laminated construction. I believe that the wood is from the wood panelling salvaged from Harley St Doctor's consulting rooms ). I think that it has a block below the bridge but I can't be sure as the pages of the review in this month's Guitarist mag appear to have become stuck together.

[Wonks]

Can I just mention that the Hollowbody II is made in China, so will be full of Coronavirus.

[Music Wolf]

Thus giving you 14 days of isolation where you can bond with the instrument.

[Wonks]

So, it's to die for?

[Drew Stephenson]

[Dynamic Mike]

It's a PRS. Don't do it. You'll only encourage them.

I always find them sterile and I really can't get on with their 'wide fat' neck - just doesn't work for me. Buy something with a bit of soul, even if it's not quite as cosmetically perfect.

That's exactly how I feel about PRS, nicely put together just not very engaging. If you want character and attention to detail check out Duesenberg.

[SecretSam]

I've got a PRS Zach Myers, made in Korea. One chamber, not two.

It has the smoothness of any set neck guitar with humbuckers. If you are looking for something twangy or single coil (or that buzzes when you switch the lights on) it's the wrong instrument.

However, to my ears and hands, it does a far better job than comparably priced instruments of similar style from Ibanez, Epiphone, Tokai. A proper es355 is better, but costs three times as much, so it should be.

You can find out whether the neck profile works for you in five minutes in a shop. I think it's perfect.

The only quirk is that they come with 9 gauge strings as standard, which is a bit thin for my taste. The nut will accept 10s and 11s. 11s seem to kill the tone on mine for some reason.

[CS70]

Absolutely go for it. Life's too short. My 2006 SC and 2007 Custom 24 have been touring machines in their time - simply never a problem, barely needed a tuner. To this day, I can take 'em out of the case after months of not touching it and they usually are in perfect tuning and the setup is totally unchanged. Try that with the Fenders!

SEs didn't exist back then but nowadays I would bring one around in a heartbeat. From the ones I've tried in shops, the build quality and precision are astonishing and the price for what you get, even more.

As for any guitar, you need to like the neck and weight distribution, so try it. But the scale is just so and as of sound and feel, let me put it like this.. if you can't make it sing, it's not the guitar.

As for looks.. does it look porn-grade good? Yes it does. People who don't like that should go play bass.

[Music Wolf]

This morning I've taken the action down on my S2 so that it plays more in line with my Core and my SE Chris Robertson - and it's shifted it up a gear.

[Dr Huge Longjohns]

I've never really got the idea of a guitar being 'sterile' or 'clinical'. But that might just be because i'm not a good enough player to appreciate it.

No, it's because the idea is total bollocks and you're quite right to reject it. It's all to do with how a guitar looks. People think that if it doesn't look like it was made in the 50s it's somehow lacking in, ahem, vibe. It's a marketing trick which amateur players and children repeat all day long on YouTube. It's the guitar version of 'vintage warmth'.

[Dynamic Mike]

I've never really got the idea of a guitar being 'sterile' or 'clinical'. But that might just be because i'm not a good enough player to appreciate it.

No, it's because the idea is total bollocks and you're quite right to reject it. It's all to do with how a guitar looks. People think that if it doesn't look like it was made in the 50s it's somehow lacking in, ahem, vibe. It's a marketing trick which amateur players and children repeat all day long on YouTube. It's the guitar version of 'vintage warmth'.

So you're saying every guitar feels the same to play? I don't think cost or kudos comes into it, I agree with that sentiment though.

[Sam Spoons]

Guitars all feel different to play but yes, much of our perception is down to looks. I freely admit I like the way my guitars look and would not have bought them if didn't look good to me. There is something in the name too but it's not cut and dried, I like my Gibson LP and my Brian Eastwood custom built acoustic because they feel 'special' for one reason or another but I also like my Squire bitsa Strat and my Mountain D45. Whatever it is I have a 'connection'* with all my guitars and that is important to me. But, that connection is equally as dependent on sound and feel and if a guitar doesn't play well or sound good I won't make that 'connection' and either won't buy or will, sooner or later, sell the guitar in question.

* Sorry, another 'pretentious git' moment

[Wonks]

I've never really got the idea of a guitar being 'sterile' or 'clinical'. But that might just be because i'm not a good enough player to appreciate it.

No, it's because the idea is total bollocks and you're quite right to reject it. It's all to do with how a guitar looks. People think that if it doesn't look like it was made in the 50s it's somehow lacking in, ahem, vibe. It's a marketing trick which amateur players and children repeat all day long on YouTube. It's the guitar version of 'vintage warmth'.

I very much disagree. It's got nothing to do with looks for me (and a PRS could easily be a 50's guitar). And I'm certainly not influenced by YouTube videos (well ones that don't contain hard provable facts). It's all about how a guitar sounds and responds to me. OK, if I don't like the looks then I probably wouldn't get one, but that wouldn't stop me acknowledging the guitar as a good one. Arkieboy's old Les Paul Signature is a lovely playing and sounding guitar, but it really is fugly to me!

I must admit to not having tried that many PRSs (as very few have the wide thin neck that I can get on with), but whenever I do, There's never been a 'wow' factor in how it performs. Maybe swapping out the pups would do it, but on some models, like the 408 I fettled, you can't easily do that without major changes.

PRSs really are marmite guitars.

[ManFromGlass]

until that one day when one calls your name and then it will be your marmite guitar

[Wonks]

I did try a Mira (when they first came out) and quite liked it. But I thought the quality of the plastics and selector switch was poor. It was very SG like, but at the time you could get a better quality proper SG for under 2/3 the price of the PRS.

[arkieboy]

I’m another ‘unconvinced by PRS’ guitarist here.

I’m not someone who thinks guitars should be built like they were from the 50s, or they should be conventionally pretty, I used to own two Roland G707s after all ...

The problem with PRS is that the guitars I’ve played - about half a dozen, and I really would like to give these hollow guitars a go - don’t restrict or constrain my playing in any way, or lead my playing down any particular avenues. They’re just blank canvases. Very competent, very well made, passive pieces of luxury furniture.

My Les Paul, my Strat, my Brian Moore, those G707 connected to a GR700, my LP Signature all suggest sounds and styles. If I need inspiration I just noodle on a different guitar and I’ll be playing things slightly differently or choosing different amps, pedals, settings. For me guitar has to fight you or cajole you - or both - in some way, or it just doesn’t feel like a guitar.

Several of my heroes love PRS - it’s not as if I have any reason to dislike them. They just don’t have mojo.

[thefruitfarmer]

Now I have had the guitar for a few weeks I do get the comments about the sterility and lack of mojo....

My other guitar is a baja tele with a four way switch and it gives what I think of as a country lead, rockabilly rhythm, jazz rhythm and humbucker sounds...

The PRS Hollowbody 2 is easier to play (although the tele is overdue a professional set up) and I would say made with greater precision. When you pick it up you don't want to put it down again, all the notes are even, the pickups are responsive and the three position switch gives a mellow sound, a rhythm sound and a brighter sound. The different pick up postions really need you to adjust tone knob each time to find the real sweet spot. Good for recording but not so good for live.

It is almost like the pre set sound from synths in the 90's that sounded great in isolation in the shop but needed tweaking to fit in a mix, or a bit like a Strymon El Cap sounds to me in that it seems to be the tape echo after mastering and then heard from a vinyl disc rather than the exciting raw sound of the tape echo box. Boss RE-20 can get the almost going out of control thing vibe, which is something I find the El Cap lacks.

These PRS guitars are built to be sold I suppose.....

I do agree that my Hollowbody Two is a blank canvas and that the guitar does not lead you in any particular direction. That said I need to try it with some different drive pedals and see which ones it likes, that will be interesting, with the responsive pick ups and ease of playing. It does have a good solid bass response too, which could need taming in a mix or indeed live.

I hope it does n't turn out like my Q-Tron Plus which sounds great for a while and then the ear feels the need to tweak something to make it sound better every couple of minutes.

I am thinking of it as versatile rather than bland but it is a guitar, to my mind, that you have to take control of and know where you are going with it. I am looking forward to recording it along with the tele...

It does look really good though, which adds to any mojo..

[Wonks]

A change of at least one pickup in the future might improve the tonal palette on offer. It is an SE, so if it was too good, there wouldn't be much point in anyone buying the full-fat version. But I'm glad you're finding it good to play otherwise.