Got the PRS!
To be perfectly honest, knowing how much I had been anticipating owning a PRS, I was quite sure that there would be no way that I wouldn't be disappointed on at least some level, just by how much I had built them up in my mind (Though I've never believed that there is such a thing as a "best" guitar or guitar company, since it's all a matter of personal taste). But I have to say, after sitting down and playing it for a few hours, I have been blown away and haven't been let down in the least. It has so far lived up to all expectations, and in some ways surpassed them.
Right from the beginning, the guitar was extremely resonant when unplugged. And doing an old Chappers test, placing my fingertip at any point on the whole guitar, hitting the strings meant feeling the vibrations throughout. Plugged in, it sounds massive. Distorted, it is crisp and clear with great note definition. In the bridge it roars and the neck is extremely warm and rounded, very vintage sounding. With the 5-way switch, the split-humbucker single coil options inbetween provide a new palette of tonal flavors that are something really exciting to have access to without switching guitars at all. Definitely not the same as a strat (but not better or worse), but very different from normal humbucking mode and still awesome sounding in their own right.
I do miss having 2 extra frets and a trem, but not nearly as much as I thought I would. The neck is a Wide Fat, which is much thicker than what I'm used to, but it's also very comfortable, so it will probbaly just take a little bit of time for my hands to adjust before I don't even think about it anymore.
In the future, I will probably also invest in a Custom 24 so that I do have the option of playing a very similar guitar but with slight variations, such as those 2+ frets, trem, and Wide Thin neck profile for when I want them. I think that the two guitars would suit eachother quite nicely.
The specs, for anyone interested, are:
Scale: 25"
Neck: Mahogany
Body: Mahogany, Flame Maple 10-top
Fretboard: Rosewood
Inlays: Shadow birds
Frets: 22
Bridge: Stop tail
Pickups: HFS, VB (like a Custom 24, rather than Dragon II's)
Finish: Fire Red