New PRS SE Narrowfield

guitargeek62

Headphones said:

This seems like an awfully lot of thread for something you can't actually buy/see/try!

Might be just a bit of CGI...

Like this one?

https://reverb.com/uk/item/83020841-prs-se-nf3-maple-pearl-white

Or this one?

https://reverb.com/uk/item/82955369-prs-se-nf3-maple-gun-metal-grey

TimmyO

This reminds me that I saw/read an interview with PRS some years ago where he was talking about the importance to him of designing new types of pickups that were different from standard sized humbuckers and single coils purely to have unique products because it was good for business reasons. Nothing about a sonic aim or specific shortcomings of existing things. 

Then those slightly smaller humbuckers came out in some of their guitars. Then later these pickups. Seemed a bit cynical. 

Offset

TimmyO said:

This reminds me that I saw/read an interview with PRS some years ago where he was talking about the importance to him of designing new types of pickups that were different from standard sized humbuckers and single coils purely to have unique products because it was good for business reasons. Nothing about a sonic aim or specific shortcomings of existing things. 

Then those slightly smaller humbuckers came out in some of their guitars. Then later these pickups. Seemed a bit cynical. 

Not really.  Whatever helps sell I guess... he's in it to make money after all, and I think they sound good.

PAL

These guitars do sound like single coil pickups but we have to consider there are many single coil pickups beyond strat & tele
  single coil pickups after all we rave about early gold tops with soapbar pickups or Les Paul or SG juniors with Dog ear 
  pickups they are single coil pickups also Gretsch had single coil pickups and many other brands had single coils.
  PRS do give you the option of an "S" type pickup in the Silver Sky guitar the NF3 guitar is an alternative so we have a choice
  So why rubbish someone who is giving an alternative. The narrow field pickup I believe is two coils to eliminate hum !
  There are many pickups out there designed like this to reduce hum and they sound a little different front a true single coil.
  Think of all the great guitarists that used single coil guitars the hum never stopped them they just got on and did it with what 
  they had available at the time.
  Some people on this forum love to knock PRS guitars saying things like they are ugly or I don't like the headstock and that's 
  fine if it doesn't appeal to you just go for what works for you but don't put someone down because they are trying to do 
  something different and give us a choice. It doesn't matter what we use it's what we do with what we have !
  

guitarfishbay

Having thought about it I’m genuinely interested in this guitar, especially after learning its 25” scale.

I’ve really enjoyed experimenting with Dimarzio rails pickups in Strats as another approach to the kinda strat but hotter and noiseless sound. 

An option with a slightly shorter scale and different pickups definitely appeals - had this arrived before I’d bought the pickups I’d probably have tried this before the pickups, since I enjoy the PRS trem and 25” scale for anything not trying to sound ‘vintage accurate’.

Initial clips seem to sound decent too

TimmyO

Offset said:

TimmyO said:

This reminds me that I saw/read an interview with PRS some years ago where he was talking about the importance to him of designing new types of pickups that were different from standard sized humbuckers and single coils purely to have unique products because it was good for business reasons. Nothing about a sonic aim or specific shortcomings of existing things. 

Then those slightly smaller humbuckers came out in some of their guitars. Then later these pickups. Seemed a bit cynical. 

Not really.  Whatever helps sell I guess... he's in it to make money after all, and I think they sound good.

Aye obv I get that the whole industry is there to make a profit and it’s good that they can and do. All I mean is that I recall feeling at the time that it was a bit skeevy to one moment be ‘a unique product line will increase the valuation of the business’ and the next ‘wow you know I’ve discovered this tonal nirvana and I couldn’t not bring this to you the people I love’ - it just felt a bit on the nose. 

That’s my issue though obv.

FWIW I love my PRS and I’m definitely not on the forum knee-jerk-PRS-bashing camp. 

Offset

TimmyO said:

FWIW I love my PRS and I’m definitely not on the forum knee-jerk-PRS-bashing camp. 

If you haven't heard/seen the Trogly video, give it a go.  Even with Trogly's playing I really liked the sound they kicked out.

steveh

I have a core SS, SE SS, and Swamp Ash Studio (which has narrowfields).

To me, the narrowfields just don't sound like single coils. Rather, they sound like little humbuckers - they're far fatter and have less treble than a single coil, and sit closer to a humbucker on the tonal spectrum.

And they don't hum - I was using my SS with a very high gain amp setting yesterday and it was impossible to stop hum. Narrowfields = zilch.

After my initial disappointment with the Swamp Ash Studio (I wanted a swiss-army-knife - everthing in one guitar), I concluded that it's its own thing and that's fine. If I want single coil sounds, I use the SS. 

TTony

There’s a review of these in the latest Guitarist magazine.

Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, they give it a score of 

yup, 9/10.  

The latest Paul Weller album gets the same review score though.  

OilCityPickups

Well ... it's nice to see that PRS are giving love to humbuckers with narrower pole spacing ... much as Gibson Did in the 1960s with the Firebird and (with Epiphone) the mini humbucker, Ray Butts did with the Filtertron Hofner did with their 'staple' humbucker. It's a brilliant way to get single coil clarity and sparkle with no hum.
As for Paul Reed Smith 'talking about the importance to him of designing new types of pickups that were different from standard sized humbuckers and single coils' .... hummmm I love it when in particular US manufacturers tell us about this wonderful invention to put on each corner of your car ... that will make it go the best it ever has ... the wheel ... of course patent pending ... 

steveh said:

I have a core SS, SE SS, and Swamp Ash Studio (which has narrowfields).

To me, the narrowfields just don't sound like single coils. Rather, they sound like little humbuckers - they're far fatter and have less treble than a single coil, and sit closer to a humbucker on the tonal spectrum.

And they don't hum - I was using my SS with a very high gain amp setting yesterday and it was impossible to stop hum. Narrowfields = zilch.

After my initial disappointment with the Swamp Ash Studio (I wanted a swiss-army-knife - everthing in one guitar), I concluded that it's its own thing and that's fine. If I want single coil sounds, I use the SS. 

Of course they don't hum ... they are a mini humbucker! :-)

Philly_Q

One thing which struck me watching Trogly's video... why do even super-efficient Far Eastern manufacturers make such a dog's breakfast of shielding guitars?  You'd think there'd be some way of neatly spraying the cavities with conductive paint, but in fact the job always seems to be done by somebody's half-blind grandad with an old paintbrush.  See around 2:30 onwards:

OilCityPickups

Philly_Q said:

One thing which struck me watching Trogly's video... why do even super-efficient Far Eastern manufacturers make such a dog's breakfast of shielding guitars?  You'd think there'd be some way of neatly spraying the cavities with conductive paint, but in fact the job always seems to be done by somebody's half-blind grandad with an old paintbrush.  See around 2:30 onwards:

If you've used that paint you'll know how bloody disgusting it is ... Personally if I have humbuckers and shielded hookup wire I don't bother with cavity paint. With single coils I always copper foil line the compartments myself and so I don't care if a manufacturer leaves them bare ...  

joolsa

Although the examples on don’t sound like the Silver Sky scooped pickups they seem pretty close to hot single coils. I’d be up for giving them a go, although I think my guitar quota is full for the moment. 

Philly_Q

OilCityPickups said:

Philly_Q said:

One thing which struck me watching Trogly's video... why do even super-efficient Far Eastern manufacturers make such a dog's breakfast of shielding guitars?  You'd think there'd be some way of neatly spraying the cavities with conductive paint, but in fact the job always seems to be done by somebody's half-blind grandad with an old paintbrush.  

If you've used that paint you'll know how bloody disgusting it is ... Personally if I have humbuckers and shielded hookup wire I don't bother with cavity paint. With single coils I always copper foil line the compartments myself and so I don't care if a manufacturer leaves them bare ...  

I have used the brush-on paint, quite a few times, and I agree it's messy but I still managed to neatly line the whole cavity.  In the past you could get shielding paint in spray cans from Maplin, which I think was a bit better. 

I'm sure copper foil is best, but it also has its difficulties.  Cutting pieces to size and fitting them accurately when they're all sticky is a faff, the bits folded over the cavity edges look untidy, and I always manage to cut myself.

Either way, it seems a bit pointless shielding at all if you leave big spots with no paint.  I don't see why pro manufacturers can't figure out a way to do a better job.