How consistent are PRS guitars?

[astrozombie]

Re: How consistent are PRS guitars?

I have an SC-58 and a McCarty. They are both fantastic guitars. The SC-58 is my main guitar and I bought it online and it plays like a dream. As some of the others have mentioned, I am thinking about swapping out the 57/08 pickups for something with a little more power, like the WLH set or a set of 59/09's.

I'm a little behind as to what PRS pickups sound what way, but the guitars I've tested have all sounded very nice.

When I think of PRS guitars I think of me owning and playing more of them =).

When I think of PRS guitars i envision all the different music I could make on a custom 24. seems a little endless... from blues to alternative rock, to metal, to straight up pop as well as my shred excursions.

In my opinion, the epitome of the "nowhere to hide" electric guitar is the Fender Esquire and/or the Gibson Les Paul Junior. (Grudging acknowledgement here to the SG Junior and Firebird I.)

PRS guitars are consistent and comfortable but this is not the point. Sure, Carlos gets superb sounds from his PRS guitars. He can - and has - extracted equally good sounds from Yamaha and Gibson guitars - not least, the all-maple Gibson L6. Carlos sounds like Carlos.

Yes, I'd call that nowhere to hide. :lmao:

In my opinion, "nowhere to hide" is a clean tube amp with a tube screamer between your guitar and the input on it.

What I meant to say is that the custom 24 I picked up excelled in all it's features, intonation, vibrato bar, etc. the pickup splitting sounded very nice also.

How about Mark Holcomb from Periphery?

Even though their music style has been criticized and I am not a "true" metal head, I really like Periphery.

When I think of PRS players I typically think of Steve from Porcupine Tree, Tim from 311, Al DiMeola, Dave Navarro, Dave Grissom, Pete from Chevelle, Mikael from Opeth - stuff like that.

What a weird mix of players right? There's a particular clip of Jane's Addiction playing "True Nature" on a tv show where Navarro has this monstrous tone with his PRS. I'f im not mistaken he was using those marshall mode four amplifiers during that time. The rhythm sounds are super chunky and the leads are very ripping.

I've purchased five PRS guitars sight-unseen (2 CEs, 2 Singlecuts, and a Cu24). Only one of them had any consistency issues and that was the '89 CE, a guitar built back when they were still figuring things out.

I've had my eye on this 90s CE for a little while. The appearance really jumped out at me, but from my understanding this aren't like the current Custom 24 model and I wouldn't know what to expect. I know the woods are different etc... but I don't know if it would have more or less the same feel.

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But then you get an endorsement like this and there is no comparison...

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Honestly, yes. Race and nationality aside (I am a latino), C. Santana kind of represents the kind of player I'd like to become. He's a guitarist that isn't afraid to indulge in the most commercially safe melodies while at the same time putting on a great live show.

Plus, that santana model is beautiful! I love it's shape and the body inlays.

 

[aleclee]

Re: How consistent are PRS guitars?

I've had my eye on this 90s CE for a little while. The appearance really jumped out at me, but from my understanding this aren't like the current Custom 24 model and I wouldn't know what to expect. I know the woods are different etc... but I don't know if it would have more or less the same feel.

My '94 CE is my favorite PRS of any I've ever played/owned. You're right that it's a little different from the Cu24 in terms of wood (alder body, maple neck), giving it a bit more Strat in its sonic character. As for feel, it's pretty similar to the newer stuff IMO but 93-96 stuff seems to be the period where they'd gotten their manufacturing to the consistency level that they'd wanted while also being able to get awesome wood in sufficient quantities.

 

[astrozombie]

Re: How consistent are PRS guitars?

My '94 CE is my favorite PRS of any I've ever played/owned. You're right that it's a little different from the Cu24 in terms of wood (alder body, maple neck), giving it a bit more Strat in its sonic character. As for feel, it's pretty similar to the newer stuff IMO but 93-96 stuff seems to be the period where they'd gotten their manufacturing to the consistency level that they'd wanted while also being able to get awesome wood in sufficient quantities.

View attachment 58776

I'm considering getting the new 3oth anniversy model. i mean hey, its only 2015 once!

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: How consistent are PRS guitars?

So, to summarise, this thread is about drooling over a guitar that MIGHT be purchased in six months' time. :scratchch

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: How consistent are PRS guitars?

So, to summarise, this thread is about drooling over a guitar that MIGHT be purchased in six months' time. :scratchch

Doenst astro already have a history of making almost ngd threads?

 

[astrozombie]

Re: How consistent are PRS guitars?

So, to summarise, this thread is about drooling over a guitar that MIGHT be purchased in six months' time. :scratchch

No.

This thread is about the PRS Custom 24 that I will be purchasing September 2015.

Everything else is just getting the neck profile right.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: How consistent are PRS guitars?

September 2015.

I stand corrected. Ten months' time.

Doesn't astro already have a history of making almost ngd threads?

I'm afraid so. Yes.

*

I realise that this must look as if I am having a dig but the truth is:
1) Glenn has professional quality amplification and pedals.
2) Glenn has sufficient chops and determination to entertain.
3) The only thing missing is an American guitar.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: How consistent are PRS guitars?

I agree Astro. What does it for me is that I don't have to "think" about the guitar if that makes sense. Everything on it and about it is so easy to play that I can focus on my playing and being creative. It's kind of hard to explain.

One of the things I love best about my PRS is that it's just so intuitive- you aren't distracted by having to think, you just play and adjustments happen so naturally they're practically unconscious. I have an '87 Standard. Finish is called Black Pearl, gloss black with a faint blue sheen when the light hits it just right. No diving birds, no flame top, just wonderfully resonant mahogany with original "T&B" pickups. It has a sweet switch for more-vintage-type tones, and PRS's amazing 5-way spanning a whole universe of HB and singlecoil sounds, one foot in each world. Also that perfect tremolo: everything from the most delicate quaver to a full-on divebomb with perfectly stable tuning, absolutely hassle-free. The thing's amazingly lively; its wood really sings, and I think the long tenon neck joint helps with that too. Any slightest tap to the back of the headstock sets the whole guitar trembling, it just wants to fly.

But what blows me away more than anything else is the way this guitar is so utterly transparent to feelings of the moment. Far more responsive than any other guitar I've ever had. Seems to draw emotion out through my fingertips and send it right down the wire to the tubes glowing in my amps. Uncanny, almost startling. After all this time I still get a silly grin sometimes. Have I mentioned I'm absolutely head over heels for this thing? I have twenty-something guitars and this is absolutely my favorite one of all. When I first got it I hardly played anything else for years.

I often say the PRS and Triaxis were both life-changing experiences for me, the two true loves of my musical life. And to this day the vital synergy between them is the mainstay of my sound and my inspiration.

 

[astrozombie]

Re: How consistent are PRS guitars?

I stand corrected. Ten months' time.I'm afraid so. Yes.*I realise that this must look as if I am having a dig but the truth is:1) Glenn has professional quality amplification and pedals.2) Glenn has sufficient chops and determination to entertain.3) The only thing missing is an American guitar.

I'm flattered. Maybe I'm jumping the gun but I'm also going to be on the hunt for a Mesa Boogie Lonestar amplifier.

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: How consistent are PRS guitars?

I'm late to the party, but I feel obligated. I bought my first PRS at the first SD UGD in '05. Royal Blue CU24. Gorgeous guitar, great playability. The treble bleed circuit I wasn't thrilled with but that was easily fixed. Mine came with the HFS/Vintage Bass and though I got where they were coming from they weren't my sound. It ends up the Vintage Bass has a voice that's hard to replicate in the SD line due to the wind and the brass baseplate, obviously the brass baseplate effects the HFS too, but I felt like the VB was a more useful pup. Mine has been through the ringer. Lots of hours, the plating is coming off of the saddles, lots of pick scratches and tons of soldering and de-soldering. I never got people's thoughts that PRSi were "wall guitars"...they are just guitars. The longer I owned the CU24 and, consequently, the more I discovered about my guitar preferences the 10" radius coupled to the scale made it awkward to play sometimes. That led to me having it re-radiused and re-fretted with 6100s earlier in the year. Pup-wise I landed on an Alt 8 and a PG(b). That said SDs have a presence that you will either love in the guitar or hate.

A few years later I got an IRW McCarty which was a MONSTER guitar. The McCarty pups were a little boxy or honky sounding, but it worked great through a tweed deluxe. I wish I could have kept it but my dream watch came available and I sold it along with my 335. I still wish I could find a Gen. 1 Faded Blue Jean Modern Eagle for a song. I played one at Atlanta GC and it was KILLER guitar.

I say all that to say, that PRS guitars and EBMM are some of the most consistent guitars I've ever ran across.

Luke

 

[aleclee]

Re: How consistent are PRS guitars?

PRS guitars and EBMM are some of the most consistent guitars I've ever ran across.

Those brands and Parker are about all I've played since 2001.

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: How consistent are PRS guitars?

Those brands and Parker are about all I've played since 2001.

I've put my hand around a Parker neck once, but never played one. I'm not the biggest fan of Sterling's....but he puts out one heck of a product. The switching system on the Reflex/25th Anniversary is so much better than Paul's (IMO). I love my Gibsons and my Fender I still have, but with their volume I don't know if the level of consistency that PRS or EBMM put out is even possible.

 

[astrozombie]

Re: How consistent are PRS guitars?

I tried out one of the very high end parkers (no idea the model) and honestly it was ridiculous. it's amazing what you end up enjoying once you stop thinking in brand names and let your hands do the talking.

 

[stevie_bees]

Re: How consistent are PRS guitars?

It only took me 23 years of RAF service to get my PRS!

 

[astrozombie]

Re: How consistent are PRS guitars?

It only took me 23 years of RAF service to get my PRS!
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It's going to take me around 6 months, which isn't bad for a $3,200 guitar I guess... I won't have a chance like this again so I plan on buying ONCE, instead of shuffling through SEs trying to find a keeper.

 

[JOLLY]

Re: How consistent are PRS guitars?

You're not going to get a PRS. This is your next guitar.

http://used.samashmusic.com/item.php?id=41084

View attachment 58970View attachment 58971

 

[Kosh Naranek]

Re: How consistent are PRS guitars?

I plugged in a PRS Single Cut with 57/08 pickups at GC earlier this year. It was the sweetest, warmest, PAF tone I'd ever heard. The Duncan '59 is a great PAF pickup, the Seth Lover is a little more PAF, and the 57/08's are the most PAF I've heard yet.
The Vintage Treble is PRS's older vintage pickup.
The HFS (originally stood for "Hot, Fat and Screams" in the late 80's when PRS pickups were offered as aftermarket pickups) is a completely different animal. I bought one in the late 80's and installed it in a Washburn A10V that had a microphonic bridge pickup. The HFS was loud, crunchy, sustainy, but not dark. It had plenty of high end sizzle, and great harmonics. I also picked up a Seymourizer II (later called the Duncan Distortion neck model IIRC) for the neck position in that guitar. The HFS and Seymourizer were a great match.

Decide whether you want great vintage tone or great high output tone and get your Custom 24 with the appropriate pickups.

And yes, PRS has cashed in on a lot of the newer heavy bands banging out power chord riffs on their guitars. The list is a mile long. But consider that Neal Schon, Steve Stevens, Carlos Santana, Al DiMiola, Alex Lifeson, Howard Leese, Nancy Wilson, Bugs Henderson, Johnny Hiland, and a host of other serious rock, fusion, blues, jazz, country, and other artists are or have been PRS players. I'm a PRS (not SE or S2, but Maryland PRS) owner and I can say that PRS's attention to detail, to the little things that make a guitar feel and sound just right, is uncanny.

 

[JeffB]

Re: How consistent are PRS guitars?

There is no doubting the consistent quality of build and materials used, whether it's the MD guitars or SE series.

The big thing is, do they deliver the sound you want. For me, having owned an original handbuilt Custom, 2ate Custom 24s, a Sc250, a McCarty 20th and a standard Starla (not S2), the answer is no. There is a fundamental clarity to Pauls guitars that drives me completely ape****. I thought I imagined it, but then I heard Alex Lifeson say the same thing, and I felt less crazy. I suspect is a combination of finish, headstock angles, neck joint and bridges. But I do not hear it in other guitars , like Gibson, Hamer, or Fender.

But if the sounds do it for you, they are tough to beat for consistent quality.

 

[astrozombie]

Re: How consistent are PRS guitars?

You're not going to get a PRS. This is your next guitar.

http://used.samashmusic.com/item.php?id=41084

View attachment 58970View attachment 58971

:lmao: beautiful

 

[astrozombie]

Re: How consistent are PRS guitars?

There is no doubting the consistent quality of build and materials used, whether it's the MD guitars or SE series.

The big thing is, do they deliver the sound you want. For me, having owned an original handbuilt Custom, 2ate Custom 24s, a Sc250, a McCarty 20th and a standard Starla (not S2), the answer is no. There is a fundamental clarity to Pauls guitars that drives me completely ape****. I thought I imagined it, but then I heard Alex Lifeson say the same thing, and I felt less crazy. I suspect is a combination of finish, headstock angles, neck joint and bridges. But I do not hear it in other guitars , like Gibson, Hamer, or Fender.

But if the sounds do it for you, they are tough to beat for consistent quality.

I just felt like the PRS I played was a great tool that covered all the tones I've used in the music I've written or recorded. As well as it being ridiculously beautiful!