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Post subject: Re: John Mayer's PRS Silver Stratocloudster....Any thoughts?
Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 6:50 am
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Without Chromeface's valuable input this group would be marooned somewhere out in left field instead of at home plate. He's our "Forever [Clapton Trivia]Man" Here's a tad more on the topic:

https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/ ... -mid-boost

Doc :wink:

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Post subject: Re: John Mayer's PRS Silver Stratocloudster....Any thoughts?
Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 7:02 am
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BMW-KTM wrote:
JM has always been just a little bit ..... "troubled".
He has a unique way of seeing things which some call genius and others call insanity.
Truth be told, monster skills and the money that go with them are probably what keep him out of the psych wards.
Looking for a Strat from a set-neck double bucker company just seems like a natural extension of his condition to me.
That said, Paul is no slouch as a guitar builder.
He will have created an amazing instrument.


I've no doubts whatsoever about the quality of the build. I like the functional idea of the carve out on the lower bout. I don't like the look of the guitar with that headstock. The body is in forward motion and the headstock is a brick wall. Leo had it right, and every builder who followed, modified it with the same concept, and it works. Miami Mike sent me a photo of a Smith Custom body in tortoise shell book matched tiger stripe top with a maple Fender neck photoshopped to it. Guitar looked awesome.

[Stepping off from your observations regarding Mayer, maybe he needed to massage his wonker with another signature model and give Fender the big finger at the same time.]

If you listen closely to the interview with Rene Martinez making the rounds, I get the feeling he's just 'yessing' the interviewer. I don't think he is really impressed with that instrument. Mayer could have started out with a Smith Custom body, swapped in the jack modification, the trem modification, the pickups, the neck carve, kept the company headstock, selected some really cool Ten top woods and finishes, [not paint] and wound up with a really well turned SSS Smith Custom either bolt-in or set neck. Instead, they've got, IMHO, MEH!?!?!

YMMV

As to the double-bucker Strat, the link I posted pretty much covers Fender's history with that going back 20+ years or more to an FSR guitar I remember distinctly but seems to be lost to history. Even executives at Sam Ash have no memory or record of it. Not surprised. Fender, themselves, are notorious for losing the pages in their books. :roll:

Doc :wink:

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Post subject: Re: John Mayer's PRS Silver Stratocloudster....Any thoughts?
Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 8:01 am
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For those who are interested for John Mayer and his relationship with PRS, here's his latest signature axe, a Super Eagle with an HSH configuration, 5-way switching with coil tap/split capabilities and active electronics made by JCF Audio. This Private Stock guitar features a hand-signed sticker in the f-hole designed by Mayer’s friend David Smith (who also designed the cover art for Mayer’s 2012 Born and Raised album). It was superseded by the Super Eagle II in 2017, sporting a 1-piece Private Stock curly maple back, African blackwood fingerboard and headstock veneer, paua birds, green ripple abalone 12th fret violin bird and Private Stock Eagle inlays. Available in Hemp Green finish.

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John Mayer is the third artist joining the PRS roster after Carlos Santana and Buddy Guy.


Last edited by chromeface on Thu Mar 08, 2018 8:12 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Post subject: Re: John Mayer's PRS Silver Stratocloudster....Any thoughts?
Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 8:11 am
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Actually it looks to me to be HHH.

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Post subject: Re: John Mayer's PRS Silver Stratocloudster....Any thoughts?
Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 8:18 am
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BMW-KTM wrote:
Actually it looks to me to be HHH.


It's indeed an HHH guitar, except the body is routed for HSH as the middle humbucker is single-coil sized.

Here's the Silver Sky ZZDoc was talking about:

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Post subject: Re: John Mayer's PRS Silver Stratocloudster....Any thoughts?
Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 8:38 am
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Quote:
You forgot the Sambora Strats (1st and 2nd Generation) with the stars. Both guitars featured the Elite circuitry and a mode switch in the form of a push button


Cool,I didn't know that!I love midboost circuitry.My fav is actually the EMG SPC.


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Post subject: Re: John Mayer's PRS Silver Stratocloudster....Any thoughts?
Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 10:35 am
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Swede71 wrote:
love midboost circuitry.My fav is actually the EMG SPC.


especially with humbuckers?

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Post subject: Re: John Mayer's PRS Silver Stratocloudster....Any thoughts?
Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 11:12 am
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I'm not crazy about the curve inside the upper horn.
It looks like there's a straight-ish section and then a sudden 90.
Maybe there's a functional reason for that but it looks out of place.

The bevelling on the lower cutout is not very aesthetically pleasing to my eye and seems to be the opposite of what I would consider to be needed for a functional easing of the access to upper sections.
The lower part of the horn gets the most bevelling and I don't see how that helps.
The inside corner is almost untouched and that seems to me to be the place where bevelling would most be helpful.

I have no issues with the headstock.
Fender chose to to only trademark their headstock instead of including other parts of the guitar so we know that has to be different.
The strings run a straight line over the nut to the tuners like a Fender and that's what's important.

In my opinion PRS has some of the best tuning machines ever made.
They use good pots, too.
Better than typical CTS, in my opinion.
They have a very smooth and consistent feel and I suspect they employ a proprietary taper curve that makes them (sonically) very linear from end to end which makes them insanely easy to adjust to the perfect amount.

I'm betting that with the right pickups this guitar could be a serious threat, perhaps equal to a Suhr.
Paul did prove to be a giant slayer in the world of acoustic guitars.

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Post subject: Re: John Mayer's PRS Silver Stratocloudster....Any thoughts?
Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 12:46 pm
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chromeface wrote:
For those who are interested for John Mayer and his relationship with PRS, here's his latest signature axe, a Super Eagle with an HSH configuration, 5-way switching with coil tap/split capabilities and active electronics made by JCF Audio. This Private Stock guitar features a hand-signed sticker in the f-hole designed by Mayer’s friend David Smith (who also designed the cover art for Mayer’s 2012 Born and Raised album). It was superseded by the Super Eagle II in 2017, sporting a 1-piece Private Stock curly maple back, African blackwood fingerboard and headstock veneer, paua birds, green ripple abalone 12th fret violin bird and Private Stock Eagle inlays. Available in Hemp Green finish.

Image

John Mayer is the third artist joining the PRS roster after Carlos Santana and Buddy Guy.



Ah, yes. The Private Stock collection. This is an awesome guitar design yet definitely not for the proletarians in the Mayer/Smith. It brings back memories of the Mayer/Fender project. With all of that, you wonder at the need to create a moniker Frankenstrat. If it was his intention to bring it down to the trenches, he could have easily incorporated the tweeks I enumerated earlier and built them into a Korea product which his fan base could afford. Such was the rationale for Buddy Guy when he insisted that the Polka Dot Strat be built in Mexico. With that in mind, what Buddy Guy needed with a Smith association after all these years is totally beyond my ken. YMMV.

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Last edited by ZZDoc on Thu Mar 08, 2018 12:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: John Mayer's PRS Silver Stratocloudster....Any thoughts?
Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 12:50 pm
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chromeface wrote:
BMW-KTM wrote:
Actually it looks to me to be HHH.


It's indeed an HHH guitar, except the body is routed for HSH as the middle humbucker is single-coil sized.

Here's the Silver Sky ZZDoc was talking about:

Image



I opted for Stratocloudster as a nod to the confusion.... :?

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Post subject: Re: John Mayer's PRS Silver Stratocloudster....Any thoughts?
Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 12:56 pm
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chromeface wrote:
Swede71 wrote:
love midboost circuitry.My fav is actually the EMG SPC.


especially with humbuckers?

Image


A smooth, flowing design that Rudy Pensa and JohnSuhr were able to accomplish 'strat-like' for Knopfler, that Mayer-Smith could not for themselves. Granted, the headstock says "Pensa'' in Rudy's shop, and "Suhr'' in John's but the original MK-1 was created when they worked together in NYC.

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Post subject: Re: John Mayer's PRS Silver Stratocloudster....Any thoughts?
Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 8:28 pm
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When Suhr came to Fender to work as a Senior Master Builder in 1995, he came up with a replacement for the MIJ Contemporary series called US Contemporary Showmaster Strat. After his departure two years later the Showmaster followed the curvacuous lines of Mark's original Pensa-Suhr MK1 and turned into a carved top set-neck, back-routed superstrat with hand-scraped edges and binding built by Gene Baker, founder and CEO of Baker Guitars who also crafted Robben Ford's personal axes. Certain Showmasters employed a bolt-on construction while others sported an S1 switch for a greater variety of tones.

It's important to note that JS Technologies cut the first 100 Showmaster bodies for Fender. Production shifted overseas before the line being discontinued in 2009.


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Post subject: Re: John Mayer's PRS Silver Stratocloudster....Any thoughts?
Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2018 12:26 am
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I dig off the wall funky guitars, but my past experience pushes me into the continuity zone, knowing even funky guitars can handle that.

The Super Eagle II has funky mini switches that I think are an overkill. A couple may be more acceptable visually, and less is sometimes more. IMHO. They serve a purpose, but rather than looking like a Saturday garage project, I’d rather see a better solution, and the knobs look like they should be on a Jackson or other shredder. I think the headstock works well with this axe, but I’m divided whether I like the brown cut on the lower horn (perhaps one of the body colours would have done it). What do I know? It’s just that I owned a nice deal on great playing blacktop titanium grey Strat 6 years ago thinking I would like it, but the grey and the rosewood didn’t work for me. I’ve had grey cars and none had brown interiors. I’ve never been a fan of mixing pup cover colours unless it’s with a chrome or gold plated one. To me it looks like it was an oversight or too cheap to correct it. But, this axe gets a pass from me with these little annoyances.

Speaking of grey with rosewood
the Silver Sky seems to work fine with a brighter pickguard and a lighter grey than the titanium version. Yup! Some grey suits come with oxblood shoes. :wink: Coming from a maple neck owner, the headstock doesn’t get a pass anymore than tan laces on those oxblood shoes. :lol:
These are all subjective opinions and I respect others’ choices knowing that judging by similar sales and designs there is a popularity for these and other designs. The negative comments only show they are not my cup of tea.

Chromeface’s Suhr made all my check marks, so it gets a pass.

In the end it’s the playability and tone that would have me grab one of these or similar. The mid boost would be welcomed. Okay! You got me. It’s gotta look good and, judging by the copies, that’s where Leo’s original Stratocaster and it’s close relatives shine IMHO. YMMV.

FSB

Great thread, Doc.

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Post subject: Re: John Mayer's PRS Silver Stratocloudster....Any thoughts?
Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2018 4:03 am
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The mini-toggles are used for series/parallel/out-of-phase sounds. Coupled with the active treble/bass boost circuitry and the 5-way pickup selector this configuration works similarly like the James Demeter-designed "Lead/Rhythm" electronics (aka "full option") commonly found on the Studio Elite and other Tyler models.

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Post subject: Re: John Mayer's PRS Silver Stratocloudster....Any thoughts?
Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2018 5:41 am
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chromeface wrote:
Production shifted overseas before the line being discontinued in 2009.


That was a well crafted instrument. The Talon went the same way. The Fender marque could never capture the imagination of the heavy metal headbangers so they gave that job to Charvel.

As to 'FSB's comment on The Super Eagle II, I just reviewed a Youtube video on that build. A special purpose build for Mayer's tour with the Grateful Dead Tribute Band. He wanted a mixture of tones which would enable him to capture Garcias. They only build 100. Apparently the entire lot was sold in less than one hour. I assign those Valhalla built FSR's to a different category:....'NBFP" 'Not built for proletarians'

Doc :wink:

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