It's Time For A PRS Thread

eclecticsynergy

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Kinda surprised that a title search didn't turn up a whole bunch of them.

I'm a big fan of the PRS neck profiles; they feel great in my hand. Their ranges of tones & other features all combine to make them some of my favorite guitars. IMO the line definitely deserves its place alongside Gibson & Fender. And, while Fender & Gibson have been known to falter sometimes in terms of quality, PRS seems to have been able to maintain consistently high build quality. Even the import SE line, while not the equal of the core models, is pretty great at the price and eminently upgradeable.

So, here's my longtime #1, Midnight Angel. The first PRS I ever bought, and still a favorite more than thirty years later. Amazingly lively - the early production guitars were still using wood that Paul had hand-selected one piece at a time using his notorious rubber hammer. The guys at the supplier reportedly though he was half crazy, but the proof of the wood is in the finished products. I've never played a guitar from those first couple of years that wasn't stellar.

Coupla years ago I wrote a post to the thread "How did you first learn about PRS" on the PRS Forum, about the day this guitar found me - link is here.

I used to feel it was corny (or at best, vain and egotistical) for players to name their guitars. But after I encountered this guitar I changed my tune. She has so much personality that it became obvious that she deserved a name. Within a year or so, all my guitars had names to suit their character. I don't feel funny about it anymore, and as I often say, it helps me differentiate between them for models that I have a number of, like Les Pauls and Strats. And PRSs.

Midnight Angel - not fancy to look at, but man, does she sing!
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coupla late 80s/early 90s action shots, back when she was still new
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Spitfire, a '97 CE22. Her real name is Ultramarine Spitfire, which reflects both her character and her color.

Not a 10-top but she has a fairly pretty maple cap nonetheless. I wasn't happy with the factory Dragon One pickups, so I had a set of 1985 reissues installed. With the rotary, these allow her to cover most of the tones from my beloved '87 so I can take the tones with me and not have to bring the favorite along when I travel. She's a little brighter/snappier given her maple neck & top, but rolling off the tone control a bit brings her right into the same familiar ballpark.


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Lilith, an '06 McCarty. Magical, seductive, and highly addictive. So she's named for a demon temptress.

Though she looks a lot like Midnight Angel at first glance, the two are very different indeed. This one is true black (the other's actually Black Pearl, with blue iridescent overtones in bright light) and the McCarty has a much more vintage feel. And tone. No trem obviously, and great mechanical coupling thanks to the the wraptail bridge. The McCarty bodies are thicker too - I'm continually surprised how an extra ⅛" of wood can make such a big difference in both tone and feel. It really brings them a giant step closer to Les Paul territory. Rich and woody.

Her humbuckers were upgraded to 57/08s by the previous owner and I can't praise these pickups highly enough. They have a certain special 3-D quality to them which I've never encountered in any others (though the 59/09s have a hint of it) plus this beautiful, smoky, vintage sepiatone voicing that makes you want to drink whiskey and play the blues all night. I sometimes say that if my Holmes PAFs are like a magnifying glass in terms of transparency & detail, these are more like rose-colored glasses: they aren't uncolored but it's a magnificent coloration that imparts something special to every note you play.

IME the 57/08s absolutely deserve their near-legendary status. And they suit this guitar's personality extraordinarily well.

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Oriole, a Twentieth Anniversary Custom 22. Select woods and the nice anniversary "swirly" birds.

I just got this one last Fall; traded an orange 30th Anniversary SE towards it. Plays really well and it's a looker, too. Has Duncan Antiquity humbuckers - I'm thinking about replacing them, not because I don't like 'em but because being able to use the pull-to-split again would make the guitar more versatile and useful. I've got a 59/09 bridge in need of a good home and it deserves a guitar this fine.

Had a hard time capturing the bookmatched flame with the cheap camera in my my crummy old cellphone. One of these days I'll get a real camera, or at least a better phone.

Nice color, though. Somehow I've wound up with four orange guitars (six if you count two Les Pauls that have pretty orange-ish faded bursts).

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and the nice anniversary fretboard inlays...
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Great idea for a PRS thread. Beautiful guitars @electicsynergy
I've been a fan since the 90's. I hadn't planned on getting one at the time, it just happened.
I was actually looking for a Les Paul Custom. But guitar stores are like candy stores to a gearhead.
A whole wall of flamed maple candy.
I came home with a Custom 22, A gorgeous amber 10 top, birds, the whole enchilada.
But after playing it for a few weeks, the wide fat neck was giving me hand issues.
I thought about shaving the neck. Then I thought of what the trussrod would look like hanging out of the back of the thinned neck.:oops:
In a moment of weakness, I listened to reason & sought out a better fitting guitar for me.
I found it in a 1998 Custom 22, this time with a wide thin neck.
I gave up the birds for moons, and I gave up the 10 top for a standard maple cap but in my opinion I was better off.
This guitar would be my number one for many years.
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But as time went on the urge to do something outrageous was too hard to resist.
So I did what I do best.
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A trio of Lollar standard wind Imperial humbuckers replaced the Dragon 2's and I was off and running.
Middle pickup is switched on & off via tone pot push pull. Neck & bridge pickups still use the 5 way rotary switch.
I love this guitar. Seeing that Paul is now making triple humbuckers part of the core line, I think he'd approve as well.
 
I do love looking at PRS' as they are some of the most beautiful guitars ever made. I've owned a few but never bonded with them, something about the 25" scale that just doesn't feel or sound right to me, and that bums me out because I grew up in Maryland and wanted one ever since I saw my first one in the late '80's.
 
This is not fair! I have no PRS's to post... :cry:.

I have always liked PRS guitars, and everything else that goes into building them. A few months ago, the local guitar shop started carrying PRS guitars. I got the opportunity to noodle on a CE 24, unplugged, for about 10 minutes. I absolutely love them now.
 
What was the reasoning for putting the middle pickup slug up? Most of the times I've seen a triple humbucker the middle is slug down like the neck one.
That sir, is the reason.
Why follow the pack when you can be a trendsetter. :dood:

I have them both ways in other guitars.
And I've seen other guitars both ways.
So really, no reason.
Where it really gets confusing is with the rail pickups.

You have start & finish on each set of coils, but no slug / screw difference.
In my opinion there, the only difference in the tone is the coil placement.
 
Beautiful guitars all! I am glad you cannot see the lustful leering, the coveting of thine neighbor's squeeze.
I'm a Dirty, dirty man!!
Cue Beny Hill.. anyway -
Damn I am always a sucker for a demon temptress, especially one with bodacious crescent moons.
Almost bought a used Soapbar II SE - 2 P90 wraparound bridge, but have never played or held any PRS lovelies.

Reminds me of something...... hmmm.
 
I've heard good things about the Alumatones, a very different design. People seem to love the Deathbuckers too, but I'm pretty sure they'd be too hot for me.
 
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