I’ve never been able to bond with any PRS I’ve played. I think some of them look beautiful, but there’s just something about them that I just can’t mesh with.
I feel the same way. I think PRS makes beautiful guitars. The 509 is AWESOME to me in concept and I tell myself I want to own one, but then I think about the fact that every time I have ever picked up a PRS, whether its an SE or an actual Custom Core model (I prefer the 22s because the neck pickups aren't as warm on the 24s), the first thing I end up thinking is "man, this is a beautiful guitar, but it feels nothing like I thought it would". I will play it for a while thinking it may grow on me, but it doesn't.
A Gibson Les Paul is just home for me. I spent a LOT of time in years past buying guitars and modding them in an attempt too create a guitar that would provide me with LesPaul-ish and Stratocaster-ish tones (or at least close enough to be acceptable) in one guitar, mainly because I was about as anti-Fender as I could get, but I couldn't deny that I loved positions 2, 4, and 5 on a good Strat. I have long since given up on that and bought a nice old Fender Stratocaster that I fixed up just right, and am no longer anti-Fender. There is a reason both these guitars are still being made after all this time, and people are still buying both of them, and that is because they both do their own thing, and they do them in ways that no other guitars ever can or will. I still am a Les Paul guy above all else, and that will never change, but I have come to know and love Stratocasters (and Teles too) as well, and the one I own is perfect as Strats go imho. I have a #1 which is a Les Paul Standard, and my #2 is my Strat, and these are two guitars that will never ever be sold or traded for other gear. They are not the most expensive models produced, nor are they rare, for the most part they are run of the mill guitars, but they are both quality guitars and I have them both set up with pickups and electronics that provide me with a means to get just about any sound out of my head, and I can set them both up myself to where they play beautifully and I am just familiar with them like I will never be with any other 2 guitars.
