I was down visiting one my 6 sisters-in-law after dropping another off at the Detroit airport Thursday. I drove back home on Saturday, a 4-hour drive but decided to take a small detour to visit the Guitar Center store in Saginaw, a 2.5-hour drive from my house in northern Michigan. I had no intentions of purchasing a guitar, I just wanted to check out some acoustics and see what I might like now that I know a little more about playing. I thought I would at least be able to tell whether one sounded better than another which was impossible for me a mere 4 months ago, the last time I tried.
I was zeroing in on a blue Breedlove but wasnât necessarily loving it, Iâve been learning on an electric, the Squier Bullet by Fender, and acoustics still seem rather alien to me. So, I wandered back out into the main store and perused the electrics in my price range, just to see mind you, not to buy. I finally got to pick up a semi hollow body, having admired them online and discovered that, dang, those are heavy, heavier than I would like. Then walking over to the used section there was this cherry red PRS SE Soapbar II, made in Korea that looked rather nice and when I asked to plug it in and try a few chords on it sounded even nicer. WAY nicer than my poor Squier.
I immediately searched the internet for a little info on Soapbars, wasnât much actually. But I really, really liked it. So, called my finance minister (who was under the floor installing ductwork at home, ouch, (sorry dear, here I am playing around in a guitar store while youâre trying to get us central heat). Told him the price, got the okay, with the caveat that it meant no more guitars for a while. I got clarification that it only meant the rest of this year. I can live with that.
So here she is, the store called it âcustomâ. From photos of others on the internet, all I can figure is that the pickguard makes it custom. The pickguard is a little scratched up and there are minor surface scratches in the finish down near the volume knob which are really only visible in certain light. And after I got it home and tuned it to standard tuning (I think it had that double D thing going) I discovered the low E and A strings buzz pretty badly. But even with that it still sounds better than my Squier.
Given itâs a 2.5 hour drive away from where you bought it, let the guitar acclimatize before you do a setup on it. New guitars often ship with waaaay high action (at least thatâs what Iâve noticed), seeing as itâs used someone has put it super low it seems. Either a truss rod or bridge tweak should sort it out - Iâd go with bridge first if the bridge allows you to adjust the strings individually.
Congratulations Rebecca! I like the body shape, it looks comfortable. And it seems to be light weight. My favourites also are guitars that are not so heavy. I hope you have fun with it for a long time
Welcome to the Community PRS Owners Club, Rebecca.
I think the PRS SE range are among the best value for money guitars to consider. Mine was a noticeable improvement on my Epiphone LP, which played well and sounded great but was heavy. PRS played as well, sounded better, and as a semi-hollow is way lighter. I expect you will find yours to be a significant upgrade on the Squier Bullet.
Ha, ha, thatâs how it startsâŚjust lookingâŚthe puppy effectâŚ
Nice looking guitar and as itâs a PRS it wonât disappoint you. Have a lot of fun!
Happy NGD Rebecca.
PRS SE for the 2nd hand bang-for-buck and big quality win.
Soapbar is the PRS equivalent to a Gibson pickup called a P90.
They are single coil - you may get a little single coil hum at high gain - but they rock and are super versatile.
You have a single-piece wraparound bridge which when the guitar is set up to its best / to your liking should be a winner too.
Well, this is used and as other than the buzzing the strings are so easy to play compared to my Squier it may have had a setup sometime in its past. I will be tweaking it in the near future when I get the chance. Itâs a hardtail, so Iâm not sure how much I can do with the bridge.
I can live with that.
. Thatâs a ver sweet looking instrument Rebecca, congratulations.
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Even better that sound is also amazing. Wish you loads of fun and joyful moments with your cherry red PRS. 
