prs guitars. where to start ?

Smittefar said:
That brings me to another point about PRS guitars. I love both my PRSes to death, but I have never modified any of my other guitars, they were as I wanted them right out of the box. I replaced both pickups in the Singlecut Satin, one pickup, the tuners and the saddles on the Custom 22 soapbar, so it has been harder to make them play like I want - but the reward has been great.
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Hi Smittefar,

I recently grabbed a second hand Custom 22 Soapbar as well. Mine is a limited run from 2010, which has a mahogany body and neck. I am very happy with the guitar built, comfort and sustain, put the pickups I am not so sure about. I would like to get more strat-like tone in positions 2 and 4 and have been toying with the thought of changing the middle pickup to a strat single coil mounted in a P90 case. Just curious what was the nature of your pickup change?
 
As others have said Custom 24 or 22 should be the starting point, but find a shop with a nice selection and try as many models as you can i have yet to play a 513, would like to try one at some point.
 
Custom 24 or 22 is the classic.
Depending on your budget, go with Custom 22/24 SE for lower budget, or Custom 22/24 for higher budget.
IMO, skip the S2, they're garbage. It saddens me to say this, but it's the first time PRS misses the mark.

My Santana SE plays better than any S2 I tried when I was in the market to ugprade. Went for a Custom 24 instead, paid double but worth it.
 
I currently own 3 PRSi, a Custom 22, a 408 and a Signature Limited. I'm selling the 408 if you're interested. The Custom 22 is a very nice comfortable and overall great sounding guitar. Everything that's good about PRS with no strange pickup configuration that you can't change so for me it was a very safe entry into the PRS journey. I have also replaced the pickups with Bareknuckle VHII's and also replaced the rotate pickup switch with a Freeway Ultra Switch (http://www.freewayswitch.com) that gives me 6 different configurations in what looks like a 3 way switch.

Since this PRS quailty, feel and playability was better than my previous Les Pauls, Suhr Strats, ... it got me to look at other PRSi and the 408 really caught my fancy so when one showed up used here in Australia I jumped at it. I found it slightly more comfortable than the Custom 22, and although it's the first guitar I haven't changed pickups in, I found them great and this became my main gigging guitar. It's awesome, very flexible and great sounding however you set any switch. This got me looking at the Signature Limited model, a short 400 run of guitars PRS did as a prequel to the 408, the 408 really is the production model of the Signature Limit, so it has the 408 pickups and better wood in both the body and the neck so resonance and overall sound is better than any other guitar I have. As you would expect from a (expensive) Signature Limited PRS. This is why I'm selling the 408. On the PRS forum you'll find quite a lot of posts from people that have both a 408 and a Signature Limited but I don't want to keep two so similar instruments. I'd rather look at maybe a SC245 next, and my wife just told me that she really likes the look of the Santana model so maybe that's next on the card. It's really hard to stop at just one PRS!

As for recommendation I would probably recommend doing the same as me. Begin with a used Custom 22 or 24. I've never owned a 24 fret guitar but my understanding is that from a pickup configuration point of view is that 22 frets is usually preferable since it will give a wider distance from the pickups so you get more of a difference between the pickups. But as Mikko pointed out the Custom 24 is the best selling PRS so what do I know. I don't think you can go wrong with either, and you can switch pickups if you want. Then when you're sold on PRS you'll be back asking what your next one should be and then I'd say get something more out there like the 408, 513, Paul's guitar, a NF3 or the Studio, and then obviously you'll need a Single Cut, and then a....

Good luck!
 
Never really got that excited about PRS (probably better to say I never 'allowed' myself to be excited by them due to I never could afford one when I was younger) but the 513 tickles me fancy now
 
maxdown said:
Never really got that excited about PRS (probably better to say I never 'allowed' myself to be excited by them due to I never could afford one when I was younger) but the 513 tickles me fancy now
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haha i was in the same situation for years :) i totally understand
 
If you haven't tried a 513, it might be a little different than it appears. That is essentially 5 single coil pickups you see, they select and combine to make different sounds or use different taps to get what they do. With the top switch all the way forward, all single coil using the neck, middle, and bridge pickup. The bottom switch then works like a Strat. The Top middle position is what they call "clean humbucking" which is a PAF sort of lower gain, the front and back pair of pickups combining to make humbuckers. This is where my guitar spends most of its time. The guitar then acts as an H-S-H type guitar, based on the bottom switch. Top switch to the rear is "heavy humbucking" which is more Super Distortion-ish. Hotter, darker. High output H-S-H.

Versatile piece of guitar making, and the scale being between a Strat and Les Paul it sounds near both but not really like either at the same time. Best guitar design in many moons, in my opinion.
 
Rick said:
Versatile piece of guitar making, and the scale being between a Strat and Les Paul it sounds near both but not really like either at the same time. Best guitar design in many moons, in my opinion.
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I'm definitely interested in looking at a 513 in the future as well. It's weird though that it has a slightly longer scale length where the standard PRS is 25" and the 513 has 25.25". Still in between a Strat and a Les Paul but almost like a Strat. It's really half way between a Strat and a normal PRS.
 
Zwiebelchen said:
PRS has excellent quality control, even for their budget SE line.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with buying a PRS SE if you are tight on budget. You can't get more guitar for the money.
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That's me. Budget is tight, but LOVE my 3 SEs. I've got an SE Custom 24 (with a Floyd), an older SE Custom 22 (with a PRS trem), and an SE 245. All three are daily drivers at gigs. I've upgraded the pups in the Custom 24 and 22 (DiMarzio Gravity Storms and Seymour Duncan Hot Rodded Humbuckers, respectively), but the overall quality of the guitars is stellar. The Custom 22 was an Ebay find for $400. The Custom 24 was new on sale for about $600 and the 245 was about $475. Comparing the SE prices to the other PRS models, it's sort of like I got three for the price of one. Also, at those prices, I'm not going to have a heart attack if I accidentally bump one of them into a mic stand while on stage.
 
JJunkie said:
Hi Smittefar,

I recently grabbed a second hand Custom 22 Soapbar as well. Mine is a limited run from 2010, which has a mahogany body and neck. I am very happy with the guitar built, comfort and sustain, put the pickups I am not so sure about. I would like to get more strat-like tone in positions 2 and 4 and have been toying with the thought of changing the middle pickup to a strat single coil mounted in a P90 case. Just curious what was the nature of your pickup change?
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I just think the stock PUps are a bit boring/neutral, I miss the P90 honk. I got a Seymour Duncan Antiquity in the neck position now, but I don't think I am where I want to be. Next try will be lollars or maybe even Gibsons
 
My 513 is my #1 as well... 2009 mahogany top version. I love how the guitar plays, how versatile it is - I think of it as a super-strat but has it's own character, and different from the other PRS's because of the pickup config as well... a bit different than a 'regular' humbucker. I spend most of my time on the 'clean humbucking' as well.

I also have a Standard SE and a 25th Anniversary SE24 (which I just took to practice tonight and might be in the running for a new #1). You really can't go wrong w/ an SE either if your budget doesn't allow for a new Custom. Look on the used sites though... there are lots of PRS for sale. I got both the 513 and the SE24 for great prices.
 
Zwiebelchen said:
PRS has excellent quality control, even for their budget SE line.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with buying a PRS SE if you are tight on budget. You can't get more guitar for the money.
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He's right. For the money, the SE's can't be beat. No way.
I have a P22, and S2 CU24, and two SE's. One of the SE's is an early model, the other is a Zach Meyers.

The workmanship on the Meyers is WAY above the workmanship on two four year old *GIBSON* LP's I own. No, I do not kid.
I only wish the SE's used solid tops instead of veneer.
 
mogvinda said:
Sounds to me like you just fancy spending some money on a new guitar. Go to a store with an open mind, you're more likely to be satisfied with your purchase.
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haha maybe you are right :) i just recently noticed i kinda like the sound of prs guitars thats why i started to gather information
 
Rick said:
If you haven't tried a 513, it might be a little different than it appears. That is essentially 5 single coil pickups you see, they select and combine to make different sounds or use different taps to get what they do. With the top switch all the way forward, all single coil using the neck, middle, and bridge pickup. The bottom switch then works like a Strat. The Top middle position is what they call "clean humbucking" which is a PAF sort of lower gain, the front and back pair of pickups combining to make humbuckers. This is where my guitar spends most of its time. The guitar then acts as an H-S-H type guitar, based on the bottom switch. Top switch to the rear is "heavy humbucking" which is more Super Distortion-ish. Hotter, darker. High output H-S-H.

Versatile piece of guitar making, and the scale being between a Strat and Les Paul it sounds near both but not really like either at the same time. Best guitar design in many moons, in my opinion.
Click to expand...

I also have a 513 but its my first and only "real" guitar, so by default I love it. Just curious as to why it seems that the 513 is not as popular as some of the other PRS guitars. I rarely see it being used by any of the pros and it usually doesn't get much mention in "my favorite guitar" type discussions. This thread is a bit of an exception. Any thoughts on why the 513 doesn't seem to get much love in public? It seemed to win lots of "best of" awards when it first came out.
 
I have a single cut SE with trem. It's one of my favorite guitars to play. It feels good, sounds good, and is just plain fun.

I wish they made a CE 24 version with trem & wide thin neck, as I would add a 2nd PRS to the herd.
 
quark said:
I also have a 513 but its my first and only "real" guitar, so by default I love it. Just curious as to why it seems that the 513 is not as popular as some of the other PRS guitars. I rarely see it being used by any of the pros and it usually doesn't get much mention in "my favorite guitar" type discussions. This thread is a bit of an exception. Any thoughts on why the 513 doesn't seem to get much love in public? It seemed to win lots of "best of" awards when it first came out.
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It's different. It doesn't work like other guitars, and I think most folks gravitate towards what they know. Almost like the Axe Fx, it's new ground for people to try and that new ground is pretty expensive so many wonder if it is worth it. And like the Axe Fx, I am glad I did try it because it is much more than it appears at a cursory glance.
 
Nice thread. Can you guys breakdown the different PRS neck profiles and what other guitars they may be similar too? I'm interested in finding what neck profile might similar to a MM Axis.
 
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