Re: More PRS questions...
I played one a while back that seems to have been more or less like your former one, Lew – a 1989 CE24, burst with a flame top. So, it had the BRW and original one-piece Mil Com trem. The stock pups were removed in lieu of PAF types by Mick Brierley, who's a respected winder down here - many luthiers (including our own Pete C.) use his pups.
FWIW, the CEs never officially had BRW boards. Supposedly a few got BRW boards when they ran short of IRW (at the time, everything except the CEs had BRW) but it's not a good assumption to assume that a CE has BRW just because of the year.
1. My guitar had an alder body with maple top. Some have mahogany bodies. What impact does that have on the tone of the guitar? More resonant? Less resonant? More bass, mids or treble? Less bass, mids or treble? Heavier? I've read some comments that alder makes a PRS sound more like a Fender, but no comments that mahogany makes a PRS sound more like a Gibson.
I have a '94 CE24 (alder/maple) and a '01 CE22 (mahogany/maple) and used to have an '89 CE (solid alder). I'd describe the alder ones as more "airy" while the mahogany one has more bass/low mids.
2. Some PRS junkies are really into certain years. Which years are regarded as being best and why? Mine was from the early 90's.
That's a tough one. The PRS guitars I've owned were from '89, '94, '01 (x2), '04, and '06. My fave is the '94, though the '06 (25th Anniversary Singlecut) is a mighty sweet guitar, too. If you're looking for another alder CE, you're stuck with '95 or earlier. If you prefer mahogany, you're looking at '96 or later. I don't recall what year they started offering CE22s but that sounds like a deal-maker for you because of the neck pickup location.
If I did have to choose a time frame, I'd say mid-90s, say 94-97. At that point, they were coming out of the dark ages from a manufacturing standpoint but their production volume was still low enough that they could still source premium lumber.
3. On Strats, I always prefer a vibrato. I think it sounds better than a string through. More like a Strat I guess. Eric Clapton feels the same way although we both block the vibrato on our guitars. Whether you actually use the vibrato or not, do you prefer the tone with a bridge/tailpiece or with a vibrato?
I won't comment on tone but stoptail CEs are a fair bit harder to come by. They were only offered from the mid-90s until around '01 or '02. The stoptails do intonate great with "standard" string gauges so unless you're using something ridiculously heavy or "mismatched", intonation shouldn't be an issue.
If you're looking to buy a used PRS, Vintage Rocker is probably one of your better bets. Much of the membership from Birds and Moons migrated to VR when BAM went down. Feel free to PM me if you'd like to chat about CEs. I've owned a number of 'em and have too many brain cells tied up with CE minutia.
