PRS SE Soapbar II Maple £575
PRS adds a maple top and soapbar pickups to its lower-end SE range - the affordable line has just gotten pretty
The MusicRadar Team, Tue 23 Oct, 12:09 pm BST
At the end of 2004 the Soapbar II was quietly launched: an all mahogany double-cut with P-90s that was - and still is - the closest guitar PRS builds to Gibson's classic post-'58 Les Paul Special.
The Korean-made SE Soapbar II Maple simply adds a maple veneer to the top, and instead of just the opaque black and antique white, vintage cherry and tobacco sunburst translucent finishes we now have tri-colour sunburst (as featured here) and black and blue matteo - a slightly less vibrant version of the USA blue matteo finish with darker black 'bursted edges.
The darker edge-bursting is important. With a standard translucent, like vintage cherry, you'd see the join line between the maple veneer and the mahogany, which bearing in mind the generous vintage-style radius of the edge could look rather untidy. With these new sunburst finishes, however, you can't see any joins and our sample's attractively finished top, which drops over the forearm contour, makes you think there a lot more figured maple than there actually is.
The build quality is exceptionally high for the money, and the plating on the Stop-Tail (there's no vibrato option) looks amazingly close to the USA-made part.
In use
The Soapbar has sparkle and vibe. It has plenty of power, and the soapbar single-coils really suit the guitar. Its weight seems to create some good resonance. There's bite from the bridge pickup but depth and power too, and the neck pickup is really sweet, defined and typically single-coil - just with more fatness and power. The twin mix is great for older blues styles, or with a little volume reduction it does a passable funky Fender-like mix; thankfully it's hum-cancelling, too.
It's dead simple to use, but that's the appeal of this guitar's inspiration: the Les Paul Special. Okay, it never had a maple top but you know where we're coming from: light weight, a great neck and impressively rock 'n' roll sounding. It's not overblown but nicely raw and jangly, and with enough poke to have you wailing away up the dusty end.
If we had to be critical, we'd say that the frets are slightly on the low side and playability is a little less fluid than it could be.
Verdict
The SE Soapbar II Maple has it nailed. It's attractive and looks far more expensive than it is, the dual soapbar P-90 single-coils have bags of character, and the build quality is exceptional.
MusicRadar rating:
User comments (1)
-
Could you please explain what you mean when you say playability is a little less fluid than it could be? What size are the frets? Would this something I should be aware of when trying to size up other guitars?
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MusicRadar rating
Pros
Resonant, lively tone. High build quality. Looks very high-end.
Cons
Not everyone will enjoy the soapbars - shame on you!
The bottom line
The SE Soapbar II Maple has it nailed. It's attractive and looks far more expensive than it is, the dual soapbar P-90 single-coils have bags of character, and the build quality is exceptional.
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User rating
Specification Show
SE Soapbar II Maple
- Price:
- £575
- Available Controls:
- 3-way Pickup Selector, Master Volume, Tone, Two soapbar single-coils
- Available Finish:
- Tri-colour sunburst/ black and blue matteo
- Body Style:
- Double-cut
- Bolt-on Neck:
- false
- Bridge:
- PRS Stop-Tail bridge
- Case Included:
- true
- Description:
- The SE Soapbar II Maple is similar to our SE Custom with a mahogany body, flat maple top and curly maple veneer but has the added comfort of an arm carve and features two soapbar singlecoil pickups.
- Fingerboard Material:
- Rosewood
- Guitar Body Material:
- Indonesian Mahogany
- Hardware:
- Nickel-plated PRS designed Stop-Tail
- Inlays:
- Moon
- Left Handed Model Available:
- false
- Neck Material:
- Indonesian Mahogany
- No of Strings:
- 6
- No. of Frets:
- 22
- Nut Material:
- Graphite
- Pickguard:
- false
- Pickup Configuration:
- 2 x Single-Coil
- Pickup Type:
- Soapbar treble and bass pickups
- Scale Length (Inches):
- 25
- String Spacing:
- 52.5
- Top Finish:
- Flame Maple Veneer
- Tuners:
- Chrome-plated enclosed tuners
- Weight (kg):
- 3.2
- Weight (lb):
- 7
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johnnyboy9
31 weeks ago.
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