PRS SE Soapbar II Maple

This is a beautiful, Tobacco Sunburst hi-gloss finish PRS student edition. The May 2007 Edition Guitar Player Magazine reviewed the best 35 guitars available for under $500.00. The PRS S.E. Soapbar II model received top honors, including the 'Editors Pick' and the best ratings for 'Sound', 'Vibe',  'Workmanship' and several other categories, as well as being selected as the preferred guitar by the Guitar Player Forum members brought in to review the 'roundup' of guitars. Every one of the 9 reviewers picked this guitar as their favorite guitar  under $500.00.
This guitar features:  Solid mahogany body  22 fret set mahogany wide-fat neck curve 10 radius-rosewood fretboard. Has a beautiful top w/figured maple veneer,  Moon inlays, 2 Special Design PRS Soapbar P90 pickups, 1 volume/1 tone and 3-way toggle pickup switch, 25 scale, PRS-designed stoptail bridge, and and the best gig bag imaginable.
I've played for about 30 years as an amateur: rock, Jazz, R and B, praise and worship. This guitar can do it all.

I bought this lightly used, 2007 PRS SE Soapbar II on ebay for $ 350 after seeing it reviewed in the May 2007 Guitar Player Magazine.

It has a stunning, yet subtle high-quality tobacco sunburst finish,tiger striped top, with black back and neck. One of the lightest guitars I have ever played. Super-comfortable to play. It will not weigh you down like a Les Paul, yet still retains decent sustain, not LP-esque, but better than I expected from a guitar with single coils that retailed for less than $500.00.
Fantastically warm, scooped-out neck pickup sounds great on the clean channel of my Peavey Delta Blues. The bridge pickup is snarly, surly, bites, growls, and will penetrate through your band mix. Tons of tone with these things. They have a meatier sound with more bottom end, than Strat single coils, and much higher output signal (volume and breakup), yet they retain more high end clarity than humbuckers.

If you are not familiar with single coil P-90 pickups, you will get some minor humming in the bridge and neck positions. I wish it had individual tone pots for the two pups, and one thing PRS can do better is add a higher quality volume pot. When my amp volume is 12 0'clock or higher, the guitar volume will jump from zero to too Loud for bedroom playing. Not a linear increase, but I guess for $350, I shouldn't complain, but it is something to mention.

No doubt the Koreans have done a great job in crafting this guitar, under PRS's watchful eyes. This guitar, while extremely light in weight, is built to gig. The gig bag is the best i have seen, but if youre gigging regularly, get a good hardshell case. Strap buttons and tuners are chrome, yet high quatity. I would use it on a gig w/o backup, without thinking about a backup.

I would recommend this guitar for anyone who does not want to spend a grand or more on a guitar, but wants the same quality as one at 1/3rd the price. Awesome tonal qualities, from sensuous to snarling, this baby can do most genres, and do it well.It is a real Blues, Hard Rock, Jazz, Pop slugger. Metal Heads: Stick to your Humbuckers.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

PRS is well known for their super high end guitars that tons of professionals swear by. They are made in America and cost tons of money. PRS is now trying to open up their market towards more every day players with their SE line of guitars. The PRS SE guitars are made overseas but built to the same specs as the American PRS guitars. The SE line of PRS guitars is like their Epiphone. This is the SE Soapbar model with the flamed maple top. There is a maple top but the top you can see is a veneer. This guitar has the dual cutaway prs body with the flat top. It is mahogany with a maple top. It has the traditional 25 inch PRS scale length on a 22 fret mahogany neck with a rosewood fretboard. It has PRS's wide fat neck and two PRS P90 style pickups. There is a master tone and master volume with a 3 way toggle switch that is unusually placed. The bridge is PRS's wrap around stop tail design which is pretty good.

UTILIZATION

Even though this guitar is made overseas it retains the great playability you associate with all PRS guitars. The PRS SE guitars overall are some of the best guitars being made overseas. It has PRS's traditional Wide-Fat neck which isnt as scary as it sounds. The Wide-Fat neck isnt that fat. It is not like 50s Gibson fat. It is more of a normal profile compared to the wide-thin neck they put on some guitars. The fretwork is nice and even and the factory action is very good. The wrap around bridge is a great setup and matches well with the 25 inch scale. PRS guitars always seem to have better intonation than other guitars even with their seemingly simple bridge setups. On many guitars with bridges like this the intonation is bad but PRS has figured out how to design their bridges to where the design is simple but the intonation is correct. gain with all these PRS models I hate how far away the pickup selector is. I wish they would put them closer to the rest of the controls.

SOUNDS

The P90 pickups in this guitar really give it a classic crunchy sound. I love the type of vintage tone P90s deliver. They have the twang of a single coil but with nice body so they dont sound thin and shrill. Its like the perfect middle way between a humbucker and a Fender style single coil. P90s are more versatile than people give them credit for. They can clean up and give the twang but you can also get really dirty with them and they dont sound harsh. The nice low end the pickups deliver give you a nice thick tone overall. You can really rock out on the bridge pickup. The P90 gives you great grit and bite for classic rock tones. The neck is also nice as well. It cleans up well and can get you a nice jazz tone along with the gritty P90 sound.

OVERALL OPINION

These PRS SE guitars are great and everyone can afford them. They are some of the best import guitars being produced. This guitar with its P90s is a nice alternative to the normal humbucker or single coil guitars. If you are a single coil fan or a humbucker fan and are looking for something different a P90 is a great alternative. Even though it is a single coil it still has a lot of humbucker qualities that will open up new areas for you in your tone. With the PRS SE line you no longer have to pay thousands for PRS quality you can get this guitar for the price you might pay for an Epiphone.

Well I decided to write this little opinion because I find it very strange that this great guitar is not as popular as in France ca. Indeed, throughout the English sites I have traveled this guitar is always recommended for those looking for a good guitar with P90, and I'll try to explain why. Edge of all the features:

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- Made in Korea.

- Mahogany body. (Very light!)
- Table outbreak ("veneer" of 1mm which does not affect the sound but really really well done and beautiful!)
- Mahogany.
- Set neck.
- Key rosewood (slab)
- Graphite Nut
- 22 jumbo frets
- Radius: 10 "(Gibson rounder than a little flatter than the current Fender)
- Manche rather thick with large key (PRS wide fat, very comfortable)
- Easel style stop tail (provides excellent transfer of string vibration in the body)

- 2 P90
- 3-position selector (position is central "hum canceling", so no noise in position 2)
- 2 knobs: volume and tone
I seem to have seen a treble bleed too.
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The violin is a real killer. Not the slightest defect. I've rarely seen it on guitars in this price range. The guitar is really (but really) light, it is surprising to see suspect. Some also find that it seems to hold a toy. Not really the only thing I regret is the veneer, I would have preferred a real maple table and slamming gives a brighter sound (like the PRS USA much, much more expensive), but otherwise nothing to complain ca . A second potentiometer for volume will have been handy, but there is room for and it's pretty easy to modify.
With his body and thick neck, small head and slight angle PRS, the guitar really gives an impression of strength, I will not be too afraid to drop unlike my Ibanez (sleeves ultrathin glass) or Gibson (very fragile neck at nut).

UTILIZATION

As previously stated, the guitar is very light and very comfortable as sitting or standing. We can play standing for hours without any fatigue. I really wonder if the body is not "chambered" as Gibson today ... But there is no hollow sound by tapping on it so I do not think so.

Then stick to it took me two days to get used to (I usually play on the Ibanez Wizard 90's, so altogether level thick nothing to do haha). I had some cramping at the beginning and I started to tell me that the handle was really a weak point of this guitar. Yet now that I'm used to, I play with every day without any pain, however. I realize now that this is probably one of the most comfortable handles I've seen so far. I do not really explained, is that it is the form, varnish or something else? In any case, I really love this stick!

I really was looking for a "double cut" (Stratocaster body type), which provides access to acute much better than the Les Paul body type. But a little flat anyway, the guitar may well be double cut the base of the handle to greatly thickened 19th cargo, access to acute stroke is good until the 19th, after ca is further complicated chouille without Calvary acrobatic of a Les Paul.

So to summarize: a guitar to play standing super light and very comfortable handle.

SOUNDS

In 9/10 cases for guitars in this range, it is necessary to replace the pickups and electronics because often very bad ...

But from what I've read on many forums here not really need the P90 is really good. Transcendent is not true, but really far from being rotten!
I tried to replace them with seymour duncan and I was frankly disappointed that uses seymour me for years! And this seems to be the case for many people with this guitar: they almost always end up back the original P90. One exception, in Lollar P90 or Fralin.
I will soon try the Lollar back and add a few lines to this notice.

Therefore, its level is the typical P90: excellent attack / dynamics (cleans sublime with a compressor pedal!) Means each note perfectly agreements, a big presence / lots of bass.
It is quite difficult to describe the sound of the P90, the best example for me is to listen to the 2nd solo another brick to the wall (played on a Gibson goldtop 1956) or Mississippi Queen Mountain.
In fact it is really a compromise between single coil and humbucker, and I love it!
It has dynamics, game sounds clean and precise pick it normally with the single coil, but also the presence, power and low for a humbucker.

So playing with the volume low is obtained for clean sounds beautiful arpeggios, chords or rhythmic funk. The microphone stand is really good for the country. After mounting the gain if we get a distortion very very "vintage", ideal for classic rock and hard rock. The metal we can possibly make it, but know that being P90 single-coil pickups, they produce a lot of hum, so it is not very advisable.

I really love this mic in the neck position is much more accurate distortion that can be a humbucker (rather "soft" inaccurate and draft).

This is not exactly exactly the sound I was looking for (I would have preferred a little more attack and compression), but the sound of P90's there.

OVERALL OPINION

I've had a few weeks and this is my ... 30th guitar perhaps? I do not count.
I had Gibson, Fender, Ibanez, etc.

For me and the people numerous price / quality ratio is simply outrageous! Lutherie perfect, comfortable handle, light, good microphones ...

The magazine "guitar player" made a comparison of 35 guitars under $ 500 and the PRS Soapbar won handily.

Frankly, we find it used a 290 € ~ 350 € (because it is no longer produced) and I still wonder how PRS has managed to make a guitar of this quality at this price.

I hesitated a lot with the Gibson 60's Tribute, which has the advantage of "having a real maple top. I will also buy the Gibson and PRS compare to this.

Strengths:
- Value for money (probably the best guitar input / midrange with P90)
- Lutherie perfect
- Lightweight
- Comfortable handle

Weaknesses:
- No real maple table
- The P90 could be a chouille best, but they are already very good!
- 1 single volume knob

Overall, I think this is a great guitar for beginners curious about the sound of P90, golfers and even pro players.
For 300 € is by far the best investments I have made.

Remains to compare the PRS to Gibson 60's tribute.