software

Alright guys here it is, this is subject to change, and obviously I'll keep you all posted.

October 2004 PRS Custom 24 with a 10 Top and bird in flight inlays. It was bought during User Group Day from Instrumental music.

Fit and Finish---The fingerboard was/is a bit dry, and I have put on a bit of lemon oil, (explains the streaks by the frets doesn't it?) but the strings were on so it was....interesting.

Well true to their reputation the finish of this guitar is flawless. The finish looks like liquid, the color is Whale Blue. The top looks great, fairly tight flame with a bit of cross grain. I have already received lots of comments from family and friends on its looks. The neck is as smooth as a finished guitar neck can be. Pretty dark blue as well. The inlays are very well done, no gaps or anything, the abalone looks like it is one with the wood. I think this is done on machine these days, so I guess I should expect no less.

Playability---This guitar came from the factory with 9's (I know YUCK!) I had Scott Dozer (my salesman) restring it and set it up with D'Addario 10-52's. It definitely helps out my big dumb fingers but also gives it some more balls and thickness. The nut wasn't cut for strings this large so Wednesday night I got out the ole file and took out just a tad on the 3rd-6th strings. This greatly improved my tuning stability. I was having problems specifically with the low E string. It was binding in the nut frequently. My dad thought my strings were too heavy...particularly for this guitar and told me to go back to the 9's. I cringed. I still need to work on my setup a bit, but it is very close to the way I like it already.

What I do not like, however, is the neck heel. It doesn't hinder my playing too terribly but it could stand to be a quite a bit smaller. I never claimed to be a great player so I need every advantage I can get on a guitar. This issue has been discussed in many different places ad naseum, so I will move on.
The bottom cutaway scoop is a nice touch that really facilitates the reach into the upper frets. You don't run into the quot;bottom cutaway wood wallquot; like on other guitars. The top cutaway is plenty deep as well, and it has a smaller less pronounced scoop to grant mercy on us crazy thumb over, or weird thumb angle people.
I guess I should put this here, it's my guitar weight comment. This guitar weighs as much as, or possibly less than my Strat!! It's mahogany, so that makes me wonder about the mahogany nonsense we all talk about with LP's. If PRS can get such light mahogany why can't Gibson?

Hardware---My PRS is obviously the Custom 24 with the PRS tremolo and locking tuners.

I'll start off by saying I was originally looking for a Jackson, or something Jacksonesque with a Floyd. Scott told me to give it a try because it had great tuning stability especially for a guitar with no locking nut. True to his word it held up to a bit of abuse....that was with the 9's. When I got it with the 52-10's it held tune, but I had lots of problems with the low E string, I originally attributed it to being new strings then I saw my card and that it was originally strung with 9's. Shortly after the file came out. Since I have had much more stability after fairly heavy trem. use. Even D!ck will admit it stays in tune fairly well. My buddy Tommy was amazed at the stability as well. Remember this is even before I did my bit of filing. I love the trem. arm. NO WOBBLE!!! That has been my beef with my Strat's term. The wobble in the arm drives me insane!!!. It's a bit longer too I believe, making it easier to grab onto quickly.

The tuners are PRS Phase II Tuners a collaboration/brainchild of PRS and Schaller. They are locking with lock nuts on the top. I haven't changed strings so I can't report on their ease of use as of yet. I can say they came from the factory way to loose for my taste. But that's nothing a screwdriver can't fix. They feel to be around the 16 to 1 ratio. I'd have been super impressed if they were 18 to 1 like the Planet Waves. I really liked them being locking when I loosened the strings down to apply a bit of oil to the board. I didn't have to worry about then slinging out...that was ouch so nice. Took me a few minutes to even remember what was going on. I was pretty funny to watch I'm sure, looking at the tuners suspiciously wondering what was going on.

Electronics---Ok this is where I know everyone is becoming interested. The pots are, I believe, 500k's the volume pot has a very small cap on it, I couldn't see the value. I'm guessing it's some kind of treble bleed circuit. It's got a ceramic .022uF tone cap, I will probably be trying an orange drop .033 just for kicks the tone control has a very very slow sweep. So I'll be continuing to try to tweak it, STAY TUNED!

My PRS has the 5 way switch with the PC board and the ultra small eyelets. I DO understand why some guys don't like it now, some of the tones aren't as dramatic of a difference as some would like. Wiring that thing was the biggest pain. I started off by printing the thread in the vault, but I also got a SD schematic via Scott. So according to his I flip my neck pup's magnet and that does it. From there I tried to combine the two schematics I then wired it exactly backwards, that was fine because I was wanting to try it like that. The only truly WORKING positions were 1, and 5. The 2 full bucker positions. I then left and went to a bachelor party. Got back at 2 AM, and started back up, but it was much better because I had Satch and Stu Hamm on the TV to keep me company as well as Tommy.....who was most gracious in bringing that DVD. Anyways so I got everything switched and re-switched using Robert's color codes only. By 5:10 AM I had 4 working positions but position 3 was out of phase or something (it was late and I was seeing many many non-existent wires by then) so I left it and went to bed. I woke up almost exactly 6 hours later and went back to work. I used my handy-dandy polarity checker that MJ gave me and Lo and Behold....the Bridge Pup was opposite of what the PRS bridge pup was, whereas the necks were now the same. So I flipped the magnet in my bridge pup and soldered it back up and.........everything worked!

Tone---This is where the rubber meets the road obviously. With the stock PRS pups (Vintage Bass and HFS bridge) it didn't sound bad, as a matter of fact through my rig it sounded good, VERY good. Some later VH tones could be had from the bridge pup and it had a solid thick sound. The neck was fairly thick and warm. The parallel positions were thinner but not in a bad way. The series middle coils was pretty thick as well.
I switched out the pups for a Jazz neck that Scott threw in with the guitar and my Custom Shop Distortion/Custom Hybrid with a large magnet.

Position 5---Full neck---It's a 24 fret guitar therefore the neck pup is closer to the bridge, some feel that it takes the neck pup out of its quot;sweet spotquot;. This has been discussed at length. To me the slightly brighter neck pup slot is more useful and less muddy than the neck pup on 22 fret guitars. The lower strings in particular sound clearer, to my ears, in the upper register the neck pup gives up that buttery smooth sound that so many love. I can get a good rhythm tone from my neck slot now....it's an amazing thing. It's a jazz in the neck, I mean really; what else can I say???

Position 4---Inside coils parallel---This position gives a nice strata neck/middle-esque sound. It sounds very strummy and twangy. By stummy I mean yes, you can strum. It has an almost acoustic like quality. It's smooth and rich, the Jazz and Custom coils really pull off a smooth sound. Sounds exceedingly good clean and with mild overdrive. With heavy overdrive/dist. it still sounds clear and gives me a good soloing tone that is not cutting but not thick either, like I said before Stratty neck/middle-esque sound.

Position 3---Inside coils Series---This is a very unique position. It's not like two humbuckers obliviously I'd say it sounds kind of like the middle bucker on an LP or SG Custom. It's thick, and cutting, but still smooth. It sounds good for palm mute stuff as well as clean. It has an open quality that is still fairly focused. I find this position the hardest to describe b/c there really isn't anything comparable.

Position 2---Outside coils parallel---This position is very very cool, and incredibly useable. Clean it sounds like a Strat bridge with the neck on too, but still slightly brighter. Like position 4 I can use this one for full blown strumming. It has the most open sound of the selections. The Jazz and Distortion coils ran in parallel are an absolute joy clean. When you add overdrive/dist. it sings!! I like to turn down the tone a bit and get a tone very similar to my Strat's position 2 with the tone turned down. I was fooling around the other night and pulled off some convincing Great White, and Scorpions tones.

Position 1---Full Bridge---This is the one you have all been waiting to hear about. The Custom/Distortion Hybrid with a large magnet. Further bastardizing this pup is its use of the wood spacers used in the PAFs. I'll start off saying this pup is THICK!!! When you go from any other positions to the bridge pup you hear an immediate increase in output. The pup isn't dark, but it isn't bright either. I am currently running my tone knob on 6-8 for the bridge pup. Dirty, or clean...and yes I can use it clean by playing with the volume, but I didn't really make this pup to do it. But for the sake of a complete, and thorough review I'll talk a bit about the cleans. It is cleaner than a distortion, but not as clean as a custom. It sent my BF Vibrochamp into a slight clip with the volume at 10. By manipulating the volume know you can do wonders, but any pup is like that really.

The low end has a ton of growl, grit, and grind. The crunch is very present on the low E and A strings. I have seen quite a few folks say the custom has more low end grind than the distortion, so I guess I'm hearing this particular quality of the Custom. For lower mids and lows this guitar/pup delivers in spades. They have an almost primal authority. I can elicit harmonics in a stupidly easy kind of way. The upper mids and highs are very clear, almost too clean I'd say. The percussive quality of the distortion in the upper register is somewhat apparent, but the Custom coil tames it down so it is a bit more fluid sounding. When detuning the pup retains its character and articulation. I was doing some crazy Wylde style tuning and with the exception of being a pain, and the aforementioned nut issues the guitar handled it fairly well.
Overall I'd describe the pup as aggressive, but not edgy. I don't hear the ceramic magnet making the pup overly bright, or hard. Primarily aggressive.
Impressions from my friends, and bandmates. Sounds good, sounds thick, sounds clear.
Overall---I am very pleased with guitar; with the next string change I will be able to further fine tune the guitar for my purposes and I after playing for a while on it last night I think I'm going to hit the nut with the file again. The guitar sounds great tuned to Drop D, and Db, it's still aggressive and somewhat edgy.
This was the first PRS that really spoke to me so if it was taken or anything, I'd cry.....a lot, and probably take some blood oath before hitting the streets to find it.
More info to come, I'll have band practice this weekend, the other night it was just me, vocals, and drums. So I can hopefully give a bit better report next week about how it all went, and where the guitar and pup sit in the mix.
Pics
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Story about when I got the guitar
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i can fix that heel for ya nice review ... any chance for sound clips?

cheers
t4d

Very cool review...

very good review...i hope you get the nut slot to your satisfaction!

sounds like a very good guitar!?

I love the trem. arm. NO WOBBLE!!! That has been my beef with my Strat's term. The wobble in the arm drives me insane!!!. It's a bit longer too I believe, making it easier to grab onto quickly.To fix your Strat trem wobble....wrap a few winds of teflon tape around the arm's threads...problem solved.

As for the arm length...I cut about 1 1/2 inches off my C22's arm. That way I can easily keep the butt end in my hand while I play. Got the idea from watching Dave Gilmour. It changes the action so I can use a little more force and get less change in pitch.


Originally Posted by Luke DukeI guess I should put this here, it's my guitar weight comment. This guitar weighs as much as, or possibly less than my Strat!! It's mahogany, so that makes me wonder about the mahogany nonsense we all talk about with LP's. If PRS can get such light mahogany why can't Gibson?

I think there are a couple of factors at work here.
First, PRS puts a lot of effort into ensuring their wood is well dried. They have drying rooms where they keep it and don't use it 'til it tests out as dry enough.
The second factor is body thickness. I find it to be closer to a Strat than a LP. I suspect that there's a fair bit more wood volume on a LP than on a PRS Custom.
That said, I wouldn't be surprised if PRS was more diligent in their wood selection than some other manufactures who might be based in TN.


Originally Posted by alecleewouldn't be surprised if PRS was more diligent in their wood selection than some other manufactures who might be based in TN.

Yeah that's what I was thinking. I tried to take the extra weight relief into account, but I've played some heavy SG's as well.

Luke

a lt;bumpgt; for those interested.