school me on PRS please

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mchn13

mchn13

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i have an old japanese jackson sls soloist and it plays like a million bucks. recently played a custom 22 stoptail at a friends house, and it killed. had a thin wide neck i think, and aftermarket pups, but was just killer.
i have never owned one, so what should i be looking for? im guessing the thinnest neck i can get from them, since i love charvels and jacksons; but s2's, ce's, standards, ?? etc... do you guys like the stoptails or the trems? which models have the best features?
im getting to that age where i need a prs i think..... lol.
 
i really like the DW models, but a maple fretboard with a painted neck just looks hideous...
 
Any and all. Just because it’s more expensive doesn’t mean it’s better. Just because it looks good doesn’t mean it plays well. I went to a PRS dealer in about 2005 ish. Played every one they had. Mid road was nicest to me on playability. That’s what I got. I hate the color BUT I don’t care. You have to play about a dozen. You will know. If it doesn’t strike you then go away and go another day- you don’t have to buy anything. It’s like a tee shirt that fits well. Or a great IPA. Or piece of pizza. You just know when it’s the shit. Don’t get fooled by price … color…. Or glam. Look at SVR guitars. They look like shit BUT ….
That might not help much but I spent years buying shit that looks good; Get it in the bedroom and dammit. Wait. That’s a different story.
Seriously. Ask your friend if he will sell it. Or let you play with his (guitar). You will see why it’s nice to you
 
Your best bet for now is to go here https://forums.prsguitars.com/ and just start reading and searching.
My first PRS was a 94 CE24 that I bought new. Coming from Jackson’s, BC Rich’s, etc. I figured that guitar would be my best bet. It had a wide thin neck and a trem. After I bought me second, I found out a Custom 22 with a stoptail and a wide fat neck worked better for me.
Try as many as you can.
 
DISTORT6 said:
Your best bet for now is to go here https://forums.prsguitars.com/ and just start reading and searching.
My first PRS was a 94 CE24 that I bought new. Coming from Jackson’s, BC Rich’s, etc. I figured that guitar would be my best bet. It had a wide thin neck and a trem. After I bought me second, I found out a Custom 22 with a stoptail and a wide fat neck worked better for me.
Try as many as you can.
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my soloist has a tuneomatic, and i just love the simplicity of this guitar, thinking i would like the hardtail. thanks for the advice. ill check out the forum. i already asked my bud and no dice on buying his hahahahah.
 
alund said:
Any and all. Just because it’s more expensive doesn’t mean it’s better. Just because it looks good doesn’t mean it plays well. I went to a PRS dealer in about 2005 ish. Played every one they had. Mid road was nicest to me on playability. That’s what I got. I hate the color BUT I don’t care. You have to play about a dozen. You will know. If it doesn’t strike you then go away and go another day- you don’t have to buy anything. It’s like a tee shirt that fits well. Or a great IPA. Or piece of pizza. You just know when it’s the shit. Don’t get fooled by price … color…. Or glam. Look at SVR guitars. They look like shit BUT ….
That might not help much but I spent years buying shit that looks good; Get it in the bedroom and dammit. Wait. That’s a different story.
Seriously. Ask your friend if he will sell it. Or let you play with his (guitar). You will see why it’s nice to you
Click to expand...
already asked lol. no way i was getting his. i guess ill take my time. i don't want to dump a few grand on a dud for sure.
 
The thing that bugs me the most about PRS guitars is their fretboard radius. Too vintage-y coming from Ibanez. I'm kinda surprised that didn't rub you the wrong way coming from Jackson.

I can get by on a Gibson/ESP 12" fine, but that PRS 10" radius is super annoying to me.

The Wide Thin neck profile is great. And when they pair it with a 14" or flatter radius (like the Paul Allender, Dusty Waring, Torero, or Holcomb), it's great. If not, it just feels awkward to me. Like I'm playing a clunky Fender fretboard slapped on a an actually enojable neck profile.
 
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I have only owned one and I went all in on money. Sc artist with solid rosewood neck. Played itself and sounded great. I currently have a Japanese jackson dk2 that plays like butter and sounds killer after swapping pups. Just pick one out that you like. Even their imports are pretty dang nice too.
 
Try out a 594. You might surprise yourself on how nice they play (even with fatter necks).
 
I'll bite. I have a PRS S2 Custom that I bought last year. The green colored one. It's a good guitar but I feel like it needs a pickup change. I haven't changed the pickups yet because it is still sitting at my buddy's house. BTW he loves it! My opinion which is worth a 1/2 cent nowadays is to think about it. I like the guitar and I'm sure once I put a JB/59 in it will rip! For some reason I'm so used to a 25.5-inch scale that I definitely noticed a difference and it felt different. I know it's only a half inch but that's what she said LOL.
 
I love their guitars. I sold a fuckton of them when I worked for GC. Quality is amazing and I've never found a dud.
 
I went through a number of them (8) before landing on the McCarty's, they were fatter sounding and once I put a Tremonti in the bridge position, I was sold. The wide/thin neck carve is fantastic, but its weird because its not wide or thin.. The neck pickups are great and split well for cleans if you need it. The Dave Grissom is my favorite PRS with a tremolo, its got medium jumbo frets so it plays a bit easier for leads and the DGT pickups are actually really good for any style of music, even heavier stuff, but there are some better choices for strictly heavy stuff.
If I had to start over a McCarty 594 would likely be the one Id go to, even if I had to change the bridge pickup in it. They play as good as anything you've ever played, stay in tune and sound great. Really solid guitars..
 
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Great guitars. The build quality is amazing. I own a handful of Gibson custom shops (and have owned many more), and the PRS build quality is far and away better. I've owned several core models and 3 private stock. Don't let price or tier affect what you buy. Even though the build quality was killer on the PS, I only have 1 PRS left and its a custom 24 core. I thought it sounded and played the best despite having PS guitars which sold for 10k+. The older ones are heavily revered for things that may or may not matter to you. I agree the fretboard radius was too vintagy which is why many of them left. I like a fairly extreme radius (16"), and had issues with some of those guitars because of it.
 
I'm personally undecided between picking up an SG Tribute or an S2 Standard 24 Satin. I like those cheapie light satin finishes and how they make guitars sound and feel. What's holding me back on the PRS is the neck profile, TBH. Not so much the neck profile itself, but the fretboard radius. I REALLY wished they'd modernize that.
 
Once you get your hands on a core there’s no going back. These are my 5 PRSs :)
 

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Rex Rocker said:
The thing that bugs me the most about PRS guitars is their fretboard radius. Too vintage-y coming from Ibanez. I'm kinda surprised that didn't rub you the wrong way coming from Jackson.

I can get by on a Gibson/ESP 12" fine, but that PRS 10" radius is super annoying to me.

The Wide Thin neck profile is great. And when they pair it with a 14" or flatter radius (like the Paul Allender, Dusty Waring, Torero, or Holcomb), it's great. If not, it just feels awkward to me. Like I'm playing a clunky Fender fretboard slapped on a an actually enojable neck profile.
Click to expand...
I am too honestly, and my jackson is set up super easy to play; but i swear this thing felt like it had grease on it.
 
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