Sometimes good things come in pairs. As
if it weren’t cool enough to check out the
new Modern Eagle II, I was sent another
fantastic PRS guitar to review: the Singlecut
Hollowbody Standard. The Standard is new
for 2008, and has a mahogany top rather than
the maple top on the SC Hollowbody I.
The SCHS I reviewed looked nearly identical
to the one on PRS’s website. It came in a gorgeous
Vintage Cherry satin finish with accompanying
black and chrome accents and cream
pickup rings. The neck is the standard 25”
PRS scale length with a wide/fat neck carve
and 22 jumbo frets. Tuners are PRS’s own
14:1 low mass locking tuners and the bridge
is their fantastic adjustable stoptail, which
also included an optional LR Baggs/PRS Piezo
pickup system. The pickups are SC 245 treble
and bass humbuckers. Across the board,
everything was beautifully designed
and implemented and the guitar was
a nice departure from the normal
solidbody design that I typically play.
After reviewing the Modern Eagle II, I
was much more familiar with PRS’s high
caliber workmanship and design, and
the SCHS didn’t disappoint. The guitar
is incredibly light, yet still feels
substantial and expensive in your
hands. By the way it looked in
the case I expected a much
heavier guitar, probably
because of the mahogany
top. The neck harkens back
to the feel of the good
old days when necks were
substantial and you could
really wrap your hands
around them and squeeze
out big tone. Too many times
I’ve checked out a potentially
great guitar only to find that it had
a scrawny neck and lacked the tone we all
know and love—tone that only comes from a
neck with some heft to it. And even though
the body is very light due to its construction,
it isn’t a neck-heavy instrument at all. The balance
is spot on and you could sit or stand for
hours of playing without ever experiencing
weight fatigue.
The SCH In Action
Playing the SCHS felt both familiar and new
at once. You can easily dig into tones ranging
from Gypsy Jazz territory to old school amplified
blues to modern, lush chordal expanses
and articulate melodic runs. I particularly
liked the fact that this guitar came with the
optional LR Baggs/PRS Piezo pickup system
because it added another layer of versatility
that would be well suited for both live and
studio work. Because of the piezo pickup, you
end up with two output jacks on the guitar:
one that feeds the direct output of the piezo,
the other (called “Mix/Mag”) that lets you
blend all of the pickups out of a single jack.
This is definitely a handy feature if you prefer
a simple, single chord setup. However, since
piezo pickups tend to sound best when using
an acoustic guitar amplifier, I’d imagine those
with an ear for traditional acoustic tones
would prefer to use both outputs and make
the most out of the system by routing each
output to the appropriate amp. Using the
Mix/Mag mode you have the following controls
to work with:
Blend Control: a knob that balances the output
between magnetic and the piezo
System Selector Switch: Selects between
magnetic, piezo, or both
Guitar Tone Control: Master tone control for
magnetic pickups only
Guitar Volume Control: Master volume for
whole guitar
Pickup Selector: Switches between neck,
bridge or both magnetic pickups as in a traditional
setup.
The piezo system sounds good, yet is fairly typical of piezo pickup
sounds. As I mentioned, it’s difficult to jack straight into the board and
expect to get a shimmery and full acoustic sound, but with some
manipulating I was able to get a convincing acoustic tone that would
work in a pinch if there was no acoustic amp on hand. Mixing the signals
together opened up a larger tonal palate, and over time I found
myself blending a little piezo in to get some additional definition and
clarity when using the neck pickup.
Tones out of the magnetic pickups ranged quite widely from deep and
clear to jabby and woody. There were times when the SCHS required
more fiddling with the tone controls on my amps due to the fact that
my typical settings were not meant for this type of guitar. It was pretty
cool to stray from the regular vibe of a solidbody guitar and play a
fully hollowbody instrument, though. By nature, it’s so different that
it can’t be compared to the typical or familiar. It’s not a jazz box per
se, nor is it a semi-hollowbody or an acoustic guitar, yet it would work
well in just about any situation outside of the heaviest of styles. This is
not a guitar that loves super high gain amps, but it does have its way
with small tube combos. Playing through an early-fifties Supro Comet
(similar to Page’s amp on the first two Zeppelin records) with just an 8”
speaker and volume control, I was able to generate a really wide variety
of usable and inspiring sounds. It’s hard to put a finger on the sound
unless you hear it, but that’s what makes it a nice departure from
the familiar. I’d say it sits nicely in the somewhat mellower side of
the tonal spectrum but it still has plenty of clarity. I spent a lot of
time revisiting acoustic
songs I’d written
as well as new songs
inspired by the sound
of a wound G-string,
which the SHCS comes
setup with (11-52).
The Final Mojo
The SCHS is an adventurous
instrument created
for adventurous
guitarists looking for
new sounds. During
the time I had it
there were many new
places that I found
good use for it. From
subtle additions to
completed songs that
needed a new texture,
to entirely new music
created simply by the
inspiration of a sound
that didn’t borrow
from anything, I thoroughly
enjoyed it. This
is a special guitar that
has a voice that should
be heard; in the melting
pot of modern
music, the SCHS is a
welcome addition to
our tonal palate and
one I hope to hear a
lot more of.
Buy if...
you’re looking for a high quality and
unique sound that doesn’t come from
a solidbody or semihollowbody guitar.
Skip if...
rockin’ is your only business… and
business is good.
Rating...
