Post by grayn on Oct 31, 2015 20:05:38 GMT
I have to start by thanking Andy, from Sound Affects in Ormskirk and my wife, for their patience and good humour.
I'd been hankering for a new guitar, with humbuckers, for playing the heavier end of blues. Really fancied a Les Paul but also have a preference for a tremolo on my guitars.
As you only tend to get Bigsbys on LPs, I was coming round to the idea of doing without a trem or perhaps retro-fitting a Stetsbar.
So a visit to Sound Affects came about and I arrived around 9:15 am.
Over the next 4 hours or so, I tried out a multitude of guitars, through a Roland Blues Cube, on clean and crunchy. 4 hours!! I wondered why my fingers started to feel slightly sore and by the end, my evaluation faculties were getting a little frazzled.
I tried a couple of semis. A Gibson ES339 and a Yamaha SA2200. Both fine guitars and the less expensive model, the Yammy, was far superior. Total quality, in build, woods, hardware, sound and playability. It was only the large body size that put me off.
I tried a couple of Music Mans. A Luke III and a JP6. Both wonderful guitars but neither had that "bluesy" feel. I only played them, because I love MM guitars.
A Duesenberg Starplayer found it's way into my hands. These are getting very popular with pro & celeb musicians. I didn't take to it. They've managed to make a Bigsby style trem that works brilliantly but I don't like their feel or looks. I mean, I love art deco but these just don't work visually and I don't think their quality of finish is anywhere near as high as a Music Man or PRS, which is something they are lorded for.
I also played 4 PRS models. All pre-owned.
An S2 singlecut, no frills guitar, I really liked. Very playable, chunky neck and loads of musical, body resonance. Very low cost, for a US made PRS, this was leading the pack for a while. The only gripe was fairly low output pickups.
A Swamp Ash Special, with 3 Narrowfield humbuckers. Very nice looking, with a charcoal body and all maple, neck/fretboard. The pickups had a P90ish sound, which were very strong but I was after a more HB sound and I also found the neck a little narrow.
Next came a 408 Standard Vintage Mahogany, 2014 Model. A very cool looking PRS, with a wide range of tones. Love it's looks and it sounded pretty damn good, too.
Nothing about this baby to not like. So why didn't I get it? Well, another model just pipped it to the post.
The guitar that came home with me was a 2011, PRS Custom 24, with a top 10, Matteo Mist finish. Which to non PRS officianados, is a a quilted maple, dark orange, with a light burst. That, with black pickups, with white surrounds, really works for me.
And those 59 pickups are very rich and pokey. Plenty of cut and body. The 5-way pickup selector gives some nice single-coil options, on top of the those excellent HBs
Lots of natural sustain on this beauty, which comes just as much from the quality of woods, design and finish, as from those tasty pickups. Coming in mint condition, with a nice PRS hard case. It's hard not to smile at this guitar.
I'd gone out looking for a singlecut, with a chunky Gibsonesque neck and came back with a doublecut, with a slim, fast neck. Well, that's just how it goes, some times. And to top it all, the Custom 24 has a lovely, smooth tremolo system. Big grin.
Specification:
Top Wood - 10 Top Grade, Carved Maple Top
Body Wood - Mahogany
Finish - New V12
Number of Frets - 24
Scale Length - 25"
Neck Wood - Mahogany
Fretboard Wood - Rosewood
Neck Shape - Pattern Thin
Fretboard Inlays - New Birds
Bridge - PRS Tremolo
Tuners - PRS Phase II Locking Tuners
Truss Rod Cover - "Custom"
Hardware Type - Nickel
Bridge Pickup - Uncovered 59/09 Treble
Neck Pickup - Uncovered 59/09 Bass
Pickup Switching - Volume and Tone Control with Redesigned 5 Way Blade Switch.
Position One : Bridge Humbucker
Postion Two : Bridge Humbucker with neck singlecoil, in parallel
Position Three : Bridge and Neck Humbuckers
Position Four : Neck Singlecoil with bridge singlecoil, in parallel
Position Five : Neck Humbucker
I'd been hankering for a new guitar, with humbuckers, for playing the heavier end of blues. Really fancied a Les Paul but also have a preference for a tremolo on my guitars.
As you only tend to get Bigsbys on LPs, I was coming round to the idea of doing without a trem or perhaps retro-fitting a Stetsbar.
So a visit to Sound Affects came about and I arrived around 9:15 am.
Over the next 4 hours or so, I tried out a multitude of guitars, through a Roland Blues Cube, on clean and crunchy. 4 hours!! I wondered why my fingers started to feel slightly sore and by the end, my evaluation faculties were getting a little frazzled.
I tried a couple of semis. A Gibson ES339 and a Yamaha SA2200. Both fine guitars and the less expensive model, the Yammy, was far superior. Total quality, in build, woods, hardware, sound and playability. It was only the large body size that put me off.
I tried a couple of Music Mans. A Luke III and a JP6. Both wonderful guitars but neither had that "bluesy" feel. I only played them, because I love MM guitars.
A Duesenberg Starplayer found it's way into my hands. These are getting very popular with pro & celeb musicians. I didn't take to it. They've managed to make a Bigsby style trem that works brilliantly but I don't like their feel or looks. I mean, I love art deco but these just don't work visually and I don't think their quality of finish is anywhere near as high as a Music Man or PRS, which is something they are lorded for.
I also played 4 PRS models. All pre-owned.
An S2 singlecut, no frills guitar, I really liked. Very playable, chunky neck and loads of musical, body resonance. Very low cost, for a US made PRS, this was leading the pack for a while. The only gripe was fairly low output pickups.
A Swamp Ash Special, with 3 Narrowfield humbuckers. Very nice looking, with a charcoal body and all maple, neck/fretboard. The pickups had a P90ish sound, which were very strong but I was after a more HB sound and I also found the neck a little narrow.
Next came a 408 Standard Vintage Mahogany, 2014 Model. A very cool looking PRS, with a wide range of tones. Love it's looks and it sounded pretty damn good, too.
Nothing about this baby to not like. So why didn't I get it? Well, another model just pipped it to the post.
The guitar that came home with me was a 2011, PRS Custom 24, with a top 10, Matteo Mist finish. Which to non PRS officianados, is a a quilted maple, dark orange, with a light burst. That, with black pickups, with white surrounds, really works for me.
And those 59 pickups are very rich and pokey. Plenty of cut and body. The 5-way pickup selector gives some nice single-coil options, on top of the those excellent HBs
Lots of natural sustain on this beauty, which comes just as much from the quality of woods, design and finish, as from those tasty pickups. Coming in mint condition, with a nice PRS hard case. It's hard not to smile at this guitar.
I'd gone out looking for a singlecut, with a chunky Gibsonesque neck and came back with a doublecut, with a slim, fast neck. Well, that's just how it goes, some times. And to top it all, the Custom 24 has a lovely, smooth tremolo system. Big grin.
Specification:
Top Wood - 10 Top Grade, Carved Maple Top
Body Wood - Mahogany
Finish - New V12
Number of Frets - 24
Scale Length - 25"
Neck Wood - Mahogany
Fretboard Wood - Rosewood
Neck Shape - Pattern Thin
Fretboard Inlays - New Birds
Bridge - PRS Tremolo
Tuners - PRS Phase II Locking Tuners
Truss Rod Cover - "Custom"
Hardware Type - Nickel
Bridge Pickup - Uncovered 59/09 Treble
Neck Pickup - Uncovered 59/09 Bass
Pickup Switching - Volume and Tone Control with Redesigned 5 Way Blade Switch.
Position One : Bridge Humbucker
Postion Two : Bridge Humbucker with neck singlecoil, in parallel
Position Three : Bridge and Neck Humbuckers
Position Four : Neck Singlecoil with bridge singlecoil, in parallel
Position Five : Neck Humbucker
Jo whoever he is.
