Paul Reed Smith SE Singlecut Long-term Review
Introduction
Last year, I wanted something a little different than the Strat I was playing. I wanted a guitar with a little bit thicker sound and a little more versatility. I love my Strat, but after Gibson lost their lawsuit against PRS (which had prevented PRS from producing the Singlecut models), I anxiously awaited the re-release of the SE Singlecut series.
Ever since I first saw Paul Reed Smith guitars over 15 years ago, I’ve wanted to own one. I thought (and still think) the paint jobs and attention to detail were amazing. However, back then I was just starting out and had no need for such a high-end guitar. In fact, I still don’t really have a need for such a high-end guitar. Enter the SE series of PRS guitars. The PRS Singlecut SE guitars have a street price of around $600.
According to Paul Reed Smith, it was actually Carlos Santana’s idea to create the SE series. He thought that more players should be able to see and obtain the quality of the PRS guitars. Subsequently, PRS found a manufacturing facility in Korea and taught them how to make PRS guitars.
Guitar Specs
Body - Singlecut mahogany body with maple top & flame maple veneer (except for opaque black)
Neck - 25″ scale length mahogany 22-fret neck with rosewood fretboard and moon inlays, Neck carve - wide fat
Hardware - PRS designed stoptail, PRS designed tuners
Electronics - PRS designed treble and bass humbucking pickups, Volume and tone control with 3-way toggle pickup selector
Playability
Out of the box, this guitar played great. I haven’t had to do any setup changes in the 12 months since I’ve had the guitar. The neck feels great in my hands. It’s a little thinner than my Strat neck, and I generally prefer a slightly thicker neck, but the wide-fat PRS neck is very smooth and fast. I don’t like really low action, and this guitar’s action was set up perfectly straight from the factory. Not too high, and not too low.
The guitar is fairly light and comfortable. It feels a couple of pounds lighter than my Strat. However, I usually play sitting down, so weight isn’t really an issue.
Coming from a Strat-style guitar, it took me a few days to get used to the different position of the guitar when sitting down. The guitar sits slightly to the right of where I’m used to playing. It also took a few days to get used to the slightly shorter scale length (25″ vs. 25.5″ for the Strat). That being said, it really didn’t take long at all to get used to the guitar, and once I did I’ve really enjoyed it; it’s a fantastic playing guitar.
Sound
This guitar sounds great for a mid-range guitar. The pickups have a smooth sound, but can get nasty if you want them to. I find that it’s really easy to get a Cream-era Clapton sound out of the guitar. But, I can also turn up the gain and use the bridge pickup and get a metal sound, if and when I want to. I’ve been playing the guitar primarily through a Fender G-DEC practice amp, and the sound is fairly impressive. A lot of people on the forums recommend changing the stock pickups on the PRS SE guitars. I don’t know if I agree. The stock pickups sound great for the playing I do, although I don’t do any gigging. For most people, I think the stock pickups are fine.
Conclusion
After 12 months of ownership, I still really like my PRS Singlecut SE guitar. I have the tobacco sunburst finish model, which looks fantastic hanging on the wall. Additionally, the guitar plays and sounds great for a mid-range guitar. In fact, ever since getting the guitar last year, I’ve been playing it more than my Strat, although I go through phases where I play one guitar more than the other.
Compared directly to the Epiphone Les Pauls, the PRS Singlecut SE model is a better value, in my opinion. The quality of workmanship is fantastic for a guitar in this price range. I haven’t found anything that I’ve wanted to change or upgrade on the guitar. It’s not an American-made PRS, but it’s the next best thing and it’s less than a third of the price of an American-made PRS guitar.
If you’re looking for a dual-humbucking guitar in a classic style body, I highly recommend checking out the PRS Singlecut SE guitars. It works well for both classic and modern sounds and looks great to boot!
New EP by Back Door Slam
Back Door Slam, one of my favorite new bands, has recently released a new EP consisting of 4 new songs and a video. The songs included on the EP are:
- Back Door Slam - The song by Robert Cray from which they got their name
- Riding with the King - by John Hiatt
- Been Down So Long - by The Doors
- Red House - The Jimi Hendrix classic
- It’ll All Come Around - Video
Anyone who has seen BDS play live over the past year or so has seen them play most of these songs in concert. I’m glad to finally have some ‘official’ recordings of these songs. The EP is available on iTunes.
BDS has also recently been selected as the opening act for the upcoming Kid Rock/Lynyrd Skynyrd arena tour. Guitarist Davy Knowles was also featured in the latest issue of Guitar Player magazine. I’m glad to see them getting recognized. They are one of the best new blues/rock bands I’ve heard in a long time. Prior to the arena tour, they are passing through town again, so I’m looking forward to seeing them again.
Here’s a video of Back Door Slam playing Outside Woman Blues by Blind Joe Reynolds:
iPhone Apps For Guitarists
Julian Tan of Guitar Pug recently listed several guitar-related applications that have been created for the iPhone. Having recently purchased an iPhone, I’ve been looking for some cool apps to throw on it, and Julian’s list is a nice round-up of the ones I’ve found. Julian’s list includes:
Guitar Toolkit - This seems to be the most popular guitar-related app on the iPhone so far. It includes a tuner, a chord finder, a metronome, and tuning tones.
Band - An app by MooCowMusic, Band includes a collection of virtual instruments that you can use to create music. Instruments included are drums, piano, bass guitar, and guitar. Crowd noise is also included.
Pandora - Pandora is the iPhone version of the popular Pandora Radio streaming music service. This one looks particularly interesting to me.
Julian’s list also mentions a few other apps, so go check it out!
John 5 Vintage Guitar Tour
Guitar World has recently posted a video tour of John 5 discussing his collection of vintage guitars, mostly consisting of vintage Telecasters. Looking at vintage guitars is fascinating to me, and John 5 has a great collection, including an almost mint 1953 blond Telecaster and a mint 1954 Blackguard Esquire.
Jazzmaster Turns 50
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Fender Jazzmaster:
Fender unveiled its Jazzmaster guitar in 1958, intending to score a one-two punch with an instrument that would be the company’s top-of-the line successor to the Stratocaster guitar and appeal to serious jazz guitarists, a class of musician that had eluded Fender’s widening reach. Although it succeeded on neither count, the distinctive Jazzmaster nonetheless surprised everybody by reaching widespread success in some unexpected arenas.
To celebrate the anniversary, Fender is throwing the Jazzmaster a party on September 12, 2008, at New York’s famous Knitting Factory nightclub. The party will feature a concert with Jazzmaster guitarists Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr., Nels Cline of Wilco, and Tom Verlaine of Television.
Joe Bonamassa Aged Les Paul Goldtop
Gibson has recently released several new guitars in their Inspired By series, including the Joe Bonamassa Aged Les Paul Goldtop. The guitar includes a carved maple top, 2-piece light mahogany back, cream binding, 1-piece mahogany neck, 1959 neck profile, Bonamassa Truss rod cover, and BurstBucker 2 and BurstBucker 3 pickups. The pictures of this guitar look fantastic. I can’t wait to see one in person.
Other new guitars in Gibson’s Inspired By series include a Steve Jones Les Paul Custom, a Mick Jones Les Paul Custom, an Alex Lifeson ES-355, a Lee Ritenour ES-335, and a Johnny Winter Firebird.
* Photo credit: Gibson.com
Premier Guitar Podcasts
Another guitar-related podcast I’ve recently discovered is the Premier Guitar podcast put out by Premier Guitar magazine. The podcast features many interviews and gear reviews. Recent interviewees include Jol Dantzig, Steve Carr, and Chapman Stick inventor Emmett Chapman.
Six String Bliss
I’m always on the lookout for guitar-related podcasts and thanks to GearTrap, I’ve recently discovered Six String Bliss. I’m currently listening to episode 105, although they’ve recently released episode 112.
My initial impression is that it’s a little slow-paced, but they cover guitar news, gear reviews, and interviews and make it fairly interesting. There are over 100 episodes, so there’s plenty of content to listen to. Hosts PT and Pipes have recently interviewed Ken Haas of Reverend Guitars, John 5, U.S. Music Corp’s Jody Dankberg, and Monte Montgomery. Take a listen!
Keep An Open Mind About Music
What is your typical response when someone asks you whether you like a particular style of music that you don’t normally listen to? Most of us will say that we don’t like it and/or never listen to that style of music. I’d like to propose a different response. Instead of saying you don’t like it, ask the other person why they like it. Their response may provide some insight into the music that you hadn’t thought of before.
This is but an example of a larger issue that I’d like to address. Many musicians, even those who claim to be open minded about music, are actually fairly close minded. They only play rock music (or jazz music, or blues music, etc.), so they don’t listen to other types of music. I think there is something to be learned from all great musicians, regardless of the style of music they play. For example, I don’t listen to much country music, but I’m fortunate to live in a city with many great musicians who just happen to play country music. If I didn’t listen to any country music, I’d be missing out on some of the best musicians in the business.
The same is true of almost any style of music. Each musician phrases things differently based on the format in which they are playing. Consider an artist like John 5, who has managed to meld metal with country and somehow make it work for him. You may or may not like the resulting music, but you must admit that he is putting forth some interesting ideas and licks. He has taken many ideas traditionally used by country musicians and placed them in a metal context.
While I don’t listen to a lot of rap music, I can enjoy listening to guitarists who back up rap artists. It’s interesting to see how they hold back and complement the music rather than drive the music. This is very different from most of the music I listen to, which is primarily guitar driven.
You can pick out almost any style of music and find great musicians to learn from. I’m not suggesting that you go out of your way to listen to music you don’t like (although that’s not necessarily a bad idea), I’m just suggesting that maybe you shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss a style of music you’re not familiar with or you don’t like. Perhaps you’ll learn a lick that you hadn’t thought of or heard before. There’s a lot to learn when playing the guitar and I don’t think we should limit ourselves to one particular style of music.
Do you keep an open mind about music?
GuitarCardio
GuitarCardio.com, a site created by Brad Heintz, is a site that helps you increase your guitar stamina through a series of user-selectable exercises. Brad explains why he created the site:
Like most people who have to practice at something, I found that the practice & warm-up part of my routine got stale pretty quickly, and that I was just running through the same scales again and again, not really stretching my finger skills or my knowledge of music theory.
I’m also a software engineer. And like most software engineers, my first approach to a problem - any problem - is to try to write a solution.
Thus was born GuitarCardio.com, the practice tool that keeps my practice sessions and warm-ups fresh and challenging. I tell it what keys I want to work in, what scales I want to practice, and how hard I want the exercise to be, and I get a customized practice regimen on the spot. I’m pretty pleased with it - it’s done a tremendous job of scratching my particular itch, and I’ve put it on the web to see if it can’t maybe help someone else as well.
The GuitarCardio site provides a selection screen where you can select the key, scale-type, and difficulty level for the exercise. The resulting exercise is shown in tab with a finger diagram to help you along. Brad plans on adding things like additional scale types and modes, as well as site features like user profiles.
(via Guitar Pug)
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About
Welcome to my guitar blog! My name is Josh, and this site is my attempt to celebrate the guitar, its history, and its players. Read more...
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