Being friends with Johns old tech Rene, he’d always tell me that even break angles above the nut affect the feel and sound. We were discussing adding a tree to my D and G strings at the time
I would believe that. The Eric Johnson strats have no string tree for tuning stability, but I'm sure it changes the tone somewhat. A slot head guitar tends to have a bit more punch due to the steeper break angle creating more tension.
Ok, so I'm not sure if a lot of people just aren't familiar with PRS guitars outside of the Silver Sky or what, but that bridge is a modified PRS stock trem bridge, saddles and all. They have used that (stock floating version of this) bridge for literal decades. John's guitar has no routing in the back save for the spot for the block and strings to go through and has a screw drilled through the top of the bridge near the (completely functional but blocked off) arm slot to make it a hard tail. My guess is they used this bridge because it had more metal for them to drill trough to insert the screw to hold it to the body. Ibanez has done similar things to their fixed edge bridges for years. Mick Thomson from Slipknot also has a version of his Jackson guitar that had a similar setup with his Floyd Rose (to make it essentially a hard tail) to this guitar. That is not a "fake trem" in any way, it is just a modified PRS tremolo bridge that they drilled holes in to make it solid to the body. I am staring at my PRS custom 24 and it is the exact same bridge, minus the newly drilled screw on the top. Hope this helps
I agree with you. I believe this is a new iteration or prototype, which is why the finish is so rough and the 'hard tail' is just a modified bridge. They're probably seeing if he likes things how it is before getting the tooling or sourcing for the final parts that may not have any routing for the bridge but look similar. who knows, we'll see
I'm a big fan of old 60s japanese guitars and lots of them had that sorta bar/ string nut past the nut to help with the break angle at the guitar's nut. mechanically that's basically what it does, kinda acts like a angled headstock without having an angled headstock as far as the string at the nut is concerned.
The string tree affects both perceived tension, as well as the break angle at the nut, which in turn affects the way the string resonates; I call it the “vowel” of the note. Break angle can change that.
The bridge looks like a stock PRS bridge. It looks the same as the Core “phase 3” I think it’s called. Probably chosen as it’s plated brass, and saves them designing a who new bridge.
he made have installed locking tuners with taller pegs and therfore needs the string tree- which IS on an angle to keep the tree the same distance from the tuning pegs.
John may like the feel of the tremolo bridge under his hand, so had it modified to a true hard tail. Makes the feel of his different guitars consistent.
Saw the show last night and was wondering what was going on with this guitar. Happy to have found this video and comments! Thanks y'all! I've never wanted a Silver Sky until I saw and heard this one. Starting to save!
The bridge is the traditional Mann Made PRS brass bridge instead of the steel plate with bent strat style saddles. I debated if the saddles look like the ones that house the Peizo element, but after zooming in, I think they're just the regular brass saddles and brass bridge with the tone block just pushed into a fitted route instead of a large chamber to allow it to pivot. It's interesting the extra screw behind the port where the trem arm would normally go to anchor the back half of the bridge. ☮❤🎶
hey justin, i am a big d&c fan and i really appreciate the gear videos you do, just wanted to point out the blaster is more really just a boost circuit and the effects can still drop off at lower volumes even if it’s switched on, the effects loop circuit is what allows no effect drop off at any volume by sending the guitar signal out to pedals, back to the guitar and then into the amp, which is easily spotted on the guitar which would have two input jacks in use which i believe was first used on wolf and i’m guessing all other models after that ✌🏻💀⚡️
I think anyone with half a brain knows what he meant. Correcting was about Jerry's gear and use of these mods not about a simple mistake he made late at night. Smh some of you guys are daft
It looked like the screws on the string tree/bar were brass which makes me wonder if the underside is brass, Paul is huge on brass EVERYWHERE there’s a string connection, so it would make sense if the bar were set to just barely compress the strings and give it another brass connection for resonance purposes
that string tree might be a "tension" thing, maybe something he's trying to see how it feels, also it might be to mute any extra unwanted frequencies from vibrating strings, kinda like how the springs behind a strat need to be muted or muffled.
The string tree: not only do they hold down the string for better contact with the nut, and better tone and sustain, but they also affect the perceived string tension. He might have it set like that to get the string-bend feel he wants... the tree affects the "slinkiness" of the string slightly.
Same reason we top wrap the tailpiece on the les Paul when we put 10s on Especially the hex core strings I switched to round core bass strings and changed gauges to 100-45 and I am a happy camper
In the 1st set of tonight's Cornell show, the string tree/guide was on there. Now at the beginning of the 2nd set, it's gone. I think the tone was better with it on. More "ringy" somehow, at least on the webcast.
The saddles he’s using are what was known as “key hole” brass saddles. Originally made by schecter in mid 70s. And a company called stars guitars made versions of them in the late 70s as well. Jerry used them on another strat he had. Rory Gallagher also used them in the 70s. It’s a vintage style brass saddle. Schecter in the 70s made better replacement parts for fender Gibson etc. Keith Richards famous 5 string tele has a schecter brass bridge on it with the same saddles. Looks like he just changed them on the prs bridge and the s using it like a stop bar. As for the finish. The production silver sky is poplar wood. Which isn’t very grainy. That’s an ash wood. Super grainy like 60s strats. Hope that helps out with some of the confusion.
You're right. That's not a Schecter or any other 3rd party made bridge though , it's a PRS Custom bridge that has been hard mounted to the body. It does, in fact, use key hole brass saddles.
Yeah man I actually really like those saddles. I have some on my 1970 strat. You can set up the action a lot higher on those than the bent fender saddles. And the screws in the back have smaller threads so you can it better intimated. I use that one for slide.
Yeah you know I sorta researched the silver sky and the se model last night. I’ve never really known much about them cause I haven’t had the chance to work on any yet. Which isn’t a bad thing. They’re seeming like great quality guitars. Honestly I’ve hardly worked on prs guitars. I think only one I’ve worked on was an older santana model. Yeah ash and alder are quite similar in grain structure. I just guessed on the ash. I did find out only se models are poplar. So yes you are right. Thanks for all the input on what I had to say on it. It’s led me to research the silver sky and prs guitars more.
I hate thick gloss finishes. I am a big fan of the stained wood look without a clear coat, just a wipe on stain that sinks into the wood a bit and lets the natural wood grain shine!
I think the sticker is the same now. On the Charcoal I suspect it’s just a clear gloss backing makes it look like a different colour on the matt/satin ish finish.
Looks like a brass nut to me too… (looks bit yellow on the picture). BTW, One thing I haven’t find anything on, is that for the late 2022 Silver Skies, they apparently changed the pick ups again. They have a small resistor and what looks like a small cap soldered parallel on the connection of the 3 pick ups 😮, probably to tame them down a bit …. Checked mine from December 2022 🥸
The finish is great. I hope its a thin nitro finish. The hard-tail gives me tele tone vibez. I love it. Do the PRS Silver Sky come with a treble bleed on the volume pot? If not, that could fix your tone loss on your Silver Sky. I have one on my strat. Works great.
You can't see it in the picture but the Blaster needs a battery so here might be more routing in he back as well. Also, on the bridge, if you look next to the saddle screw for the high E there seems to me a screw to secure it to the body. This lends more credence to the hardtail theory. Great video.
I have yet to test it myself, but a sharper string angle is usually associated with more string tension. So perhaps that's what the Floyd rose (style) string retainer is doing there.
It looks just like a blocked trem system, but designed that way from the start, with a smaller routed hole to just fit the tremblock. I’m sure John has he’s reasoning why he uses it. Maybe he gets more sustain, or a difference in tone by using a “hardwired/hardmounted” trem instead an a normal hardtail bridge. Or maybe he just likes the look and feel of it. I’m sure someone will get an answer of him sooner or later!
Might be the "tone block" thing. There's quite a bit of difference between the tone of a hardtail only using traditional ferrules and a fixed steel block.
He's using the string retainers to hold the strings against the nut because the tuners are slightly taller than usual, like Jerry's guitar. I imagine they also slightly help with resonance
Does prs have a “strat” style hard tail bridge? It looks like they took a trem bridge and routed the body so it would it would act as a hard tail. The extra screw is probably one of two or three on the back side of the fridge to hold it tight to the body. The added string restrainer bar at the head stock maybe cosmetic as a nod to Jerry’s guitar.
Fwiw, going to an alembic stratoblaster is by no means the first time mayer has "edged into" Garcia guitar technology. The super eagle he used on the first dead & co tour had an OBEL setup with a buffer like wolf 2, tiger & subsequent Garcia guitars. Arguably he's taking a step back from that using the current preamp setup.
True story -- I have a Silver Sky SE with an alembic blaster that I put on about a year ago. It is amazing -- BUT -- it doesn't fit perfectly. There is a little gap in the body of the guitar + the blaster. Maybe that's just the SE.
PRS has their own preamp that John uses in his other model PRS guitars. It wouldnt surprise me if PRS has their own strato boost that John is testing on the road. I was hoping to see John bring back out the Travis Bean, but i guess it wasnt meant to be.
There could be 2 reasons for that string retainer, 1 is for damping the resonante of the strings beyond the nut. And 2 a better contact with the nut slots
the string tree is probably just aesthetic to shout out the jerry guitar, but you knew that. however, if you're trying to start some shit, tell people that john used brass screws to bolt metal to the headstock to add weight and increase the resonance and sustain of the guitar... like those brass weights in every musicians friend magazine.
You'll also notice on JM's prototype bridge that there is a Philips screw next to the high e / trem hole that yours doesn't have lending more credit to it being a fixed bridge.
bridge is likely just a slightly new design that can/will be sold to use as both a hardtail and/or vibrato. it's actually cheaper and easier that way, rather than making 2 different molds, manufacturing processes, etc...Nothing new here, just combining well know features
the string tree is from an Ibanez that also use them, despite having a break angle in the neck. It can add/equalize string tension and help "aim" them into the tuners a bit better too. There are lots of aftermarket gizmos that do similar things for Les Pauls and other 3 string per side headstocks with break angles.
@@boshi9 All the RG "shred" models with Floyds use the same bar behind the locking nut to add more break angle and keep them a bit more low, flat, level going to the tuners. It's kinda silly b/c they have angled headstocks already, but it's not really enough, so they add the bar, which negates the headstock design. As ever, Leo was right from the start. Flat headstocks that use string trees as needed are simplest and best solution. Anything more is an unnecessary over complication. Same thing here. John wants a Strat, but he can't have one, so he just turns whatever he's playing into one, basically. The only thing that isn't a Strat/Strat-inspired is the headstock. The rest is pure Fender b/c it's a practically perfect design. There's really not much you can "fix", or improve on a Strat, just polish up a few details here and there.
@@KarlKarsnark The only purpose of the retainer bar on models with Floyd (or rather Ibanez Edge in this case) is to make sure tuning doesn't slip when you lock down the nut. It has no functional role outside of string changes. This obviously doesn't apply to Silver Sky since it doesn't have a locking nut.
@@boshi9 "... is to make sure tuning doesn't slip when you lock down the nut" LOL wut? No, it presses downwardly on the strings to create more breakangle across the nut and to lower the strings to the height of the tuners a bit more. That's why it's there despite not having the locking nut ;)
The string tree 🤔- I have an Ernie Ball Cutlass and am really tempted to install one to see what it does for a 3 sided headstock and two point trem. Edit: I know he has a six point trem, but I have tightened my two point to feel about the same as a Silver Sky.
That bar running across the top doesn’t look like it’s actually applying much pressure if any at all to add downward tension. It’s probably more cosmetic than it is practical
Dude forgot to mention there's the phase 3 trem on the guitar no silver sky trem It's probably got the phase 3 and that screw is to bolt down the bridge from moving, and it's probably hollow bodied out in the pickup cavity to keep the wood in the back, the trwm is probably installed underneath the pick gaurd
I imagine the bridge has brass saddles, a brass tone bar that the strings go through, and a brass nut. Aligator had the brass nut and saddles and also a brass chunk underneath the bridge to fill the gap where the trem would normally go
Interesting video, but could easily be edited down to ~3 mins. The bridge looks like the one I have on my PRS S2 CE24. Like you said, probably just mounted like a hard-tail.
With his sense of humor, and knowing all the gearhead eyes laser-focused on his stuff, he could be trolling us all day long (ala Eddy VH misdirection)hype with every little tweak
I agree about a string tree is not necessary on a Silver Sky.Besides my Silver Sky the only guitar I own that has straighter route right to the peg is my Music Man Cutless.
I’m lefty I played one before a few times upside down always sucks but not for nothing if I was righty without a doubt imo better then a team built custom shop but I don’t get the string tree but Mayer def has to have a answer doubt he will even say anything but who knows cool channel man! 🤘🏽👍🏽
Well I would love to get my hands on this “Jerry-fide” version but I’m pretty sure the price of the Alembic component alone would place this out of my price range.
13:00 I have a very different theory. This started out as a standard Silver Sky and John asked the guys at PRS to block/inlay the back routing only leaving access to the string through block and having it refinished afterwards. That's why there's a trem bridge on a seemingly hardtail guitar.
@@JustinJeske I saw clips of him playing on an SS yesterday, on Instagram. I flipped out pretty damn hard. Couldn't believe my eyes. Years ago, I asked him during an IG livestream whether he had ever played an SS, and he said, "No, I haven't. I'm sure it's a great guitar for John, but I don't think it's for me." It's kind of bananas
