A tale of two p90 guitars

[blind radish]

OK .... Picture first ....

So ... I got a sick deal on each of these guitars .... just days apart. I got the PRS SE 245 Soapbar first, then, got an out-of-the-blue email from my sweetwater rep.

I said give me $XXX.00 off the 50s tribute and I'll do the deal. He said OK. Bang.

 

Day and night -- the PRS was hands-down the better guitar. I love Gibsons and feel that if you get a good one, it's a keeper for life.  I have two -- a 70s special and a 60s ES 335 ... so I know of what I speak.

I loved the look of the Tribute .... and even though I am not a big fan of the faded finish (I have bought and sold a 70s tribute LP, a  60s Tribute SG and two of the original faded SGs with the crescent moon inlays) but I figured with a street price of $1,000, Gibson has to step up a bit on the faded finish.

Not so ... everything about the Gibson ... from the way it sounds, to the way it feels did not reach the level of a guitar worth $1,000.

So after 3 days of A/B both guitars ... I found a local guy and traded the LP for a Gibson Midtown Standard p90. And while this is a much different guitar, from a sound and manufacturing standpoint, it was like day and night.

Now YMMV and I hope it does if you choose this model .... but for me it was a real disappointment.

As far as the PRS SE Soapbar ... it is a gorgeous instrument. Sounds great, with a very balanced tone from each of the three PU combinations. It is a tag shy of a Gibson p90 in the growl department, but to a very subtle level.  Without having both guitars to A/B I don't think I would have said that.

So there it is  ... a tale of two guitars.

[chimi]

 

I remember two years ago being really into both the Gibson tribute guitars and the PRS SE line (IIRC it was the first year PRS put birds on the lower line which to me was very appealing).

Went to a local store and A/B ed both guitars. The PRS was a good chunk of cash less and in my opinion won out in every important category.

 

I didn't even realize they put out a P90 version this year. May have to look into that...

[guitarcapo]

I read this weird thread where a guy posted about this great deal he got on some guitars. He didn't mention the price. Even substituted the price with a bunch of X's but says it was a good deal. Ain't that a hoot?

[blind radish]

Maybe this guy did not want to reveal how much of a deal it was in case his rep might not want that advertised to the world.