Thoughts on 3 PRS models

While it's not on your list, I fell in love with McCarty's because they are the best cross between a Strat and a Les Paul. Wide Fat neck that I have grown to love, the body is thicker (mahogany) than a Strat, but slimmer than a SingleCut/Les Paul. The two humbuckers are tapped and switchable by pulling the tone pot. Very good single coil tones, as well as good humbucking tones.

I should revisit the 513 - I played one ages ago at a shop and remember being somewhat disillusioned at the tones, but I can't remember why...
 
Like any guitar, the 513 can vary a lot in tone from one guitar to another. It is a great utility guitar and is one of the best options available for combining Fender and Gibson tones in one guitar IMO. I have two Brazilian rosewood 513's and one is much better at being a strat whilst the other is better at humbucking tones, but a bit dark on the single coils. I love the whole design and feel of them, although they no longer make the 513 neck carve, which is a shame. It is like an old strat neck, but shorter scale at 25.25", so halfway between PRS standard and strat scales.

I don't play either of them anymore since I got this one - PRS Guitars | Private Stock #1234 - Paul wrote what a great guitar it was on the back of the certificate for some reason, and he is not wrong! So if anyone is interested in buying a Brazilian 513, let me know.
 
I love my 408. I was a long time custom 22 player and now the custom 22 has become my backup.

The 408 pickups in humbucker mode are the best PRS pickups I've ever played. And when the coils are split rather than a thin and piercing split single coil sound you get a fatter and higher output split coil sound. It does NOT sound exactly like a strat or a tele but it is an extremely warm and musical single coil sound. It works great for gigging because you don't get the output drop that you normally would when coil splitting.
 
Yep, 408 is a really good humbucking guitar with decent single coil tones, certainly a lot better than conventional coil taps. The singles are not as good as the 513, but the humbucking tones are better. That was why I suggested that the Op needs to decide whether he is wanting a strat with humbucking options or whether he wants a dual humbucker with some single coil options. One pickup cannot be great at both - you are compromising the design one way or the other.
 
I find no compromise on my 513 as far as the pickups are concerned. There are five true single coil pickups, so you are not tapping a humbucker to get single coil sound. A humbucker is just two single coil pickups wired in series and that's exactly also what you get when you select the 3rd position on the upper blade. If there's a compromise it's because the neck and body are mahogany and therefore won't sound just like a Strat that's maple, alder, ash,or poplar.
 
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