Paul Reed Smith

[NFU]

I am seriously debating on selling my PRS Custom 24 artist series at the moment. Not because there is anything wrong with it...but because i found the vintage guitar of my dreams recently, and ill need the cash to make up for the difference. So if anyone is interested, let me know. Its the black burst...similar to lindgren's actually...but again, with the artist package (paua abalone inlays, rosewood headstock, gold hardware, etc)...and is a fuller and richer flametop than his or just about any other ive seen to date.

 

[Forest-of-October]

Well. Considering at the moment I've only got a couple hundred dollars (which is totally unreasonable for such a great guitar) I dont think I could accept, but I'de be more then willing to fight ya for it

If you don't mind me asking, how much did you spend on it? And what is this new one you're looking at?

 

[Brackofthemountain]

PRS is the next guitar I'm buying...

 

[Heckelgruber]

I've never played a PRS (except one of the SE series on a really bad amp at a show). The finest guitar I've ever played is an Organic "classic" at the London Guitar Show (www.organicguitars.co.uk). It's a one-man company that makes about 50 instruments a year by hand but by God this guitar was awesome - incredibly versatile, massively dynamic, great tone, loads of sustain and the most playable and graceful neck on any guitar I've played. They cost around GBP £1500, so not quite the price of a PRS but more than most Gibsons. Check out the site - the guitars look great as well (and no, I don't work for them ).

For my part I have a Les Paul Studio (very good value guitar for about £600) and an ESP KH-2 which I got on eBay for about the same amount. One of the finest cheap guitars I've ever played is a Fender Lite Ash Telecaster, which sounds a lot more expensive than it is.

If I can ever afford an Organic Classic I will check out the PRS range as well, but I'm starting to think that those big brands make you pay quite a lot just to have the name on the headstock.

 

[affinityband]

PRS is the next guitar I'm buying...

Same here i feel nothing else is worth buying until i get one

 

[profskett]

I don't know. I feel that if you want to invest in a PRS, you invest in it because it's the best... you don't want some low-end model which gets overshadowed by japanese import guitars (low-end Jacksons/ESP etc.)

You'd be surprised actually, I have a Tremonti SE and I love it. I think it sounds and plays really well.

 

[Sanzen]

You'd be surprised actually, I have a Tremonti SE and I love it. I think it sounds and plays really well.

ALTER FUCKING BRIDGE WOOOOOOO

 

[Forest-of-October]

I don't mind Tremonti as a musician, but I'm not very huge on Alter Bridge or Creed. Anyways, since the guitar topic was already brought up, rather then starting a new thread I just came here to ask a simple question. Latley, I've been playing the same shit on my guitar over and over, I cant think of anything I want to learn, so I tried making things up, but it all comes out the same. I just wanted to know what you guys do when your feeling uninspired.

 

[Sanzen]

I don't mind Tremonti as a musician, but I'm not very huge on Alter Bridge or Creed. Anyways, since the guitar topic was already brought up, rather then starting a new thread I just came here to ask a simple question. Latley, I've been playing the same shit on my guitar over and over, I cant think of anything I want to learn, so I tried making things up, but it all comes out the same. I just wanted to know what you guys do when your feeling uninspired.

What usually works for me is buying some new guitar gear, then I'm super pumped. but aside from that, try finding some new music that has some cool guitar work, or going to see a band that interests you musically. hopefully you can draw some inspiration from them and come up with your own stuff. Also, alternate tunings are a lot of fun - if you're normally a E-standard guy, try some drop-D or DADGAD stuff. Anything to change it up and get your mind out of that creative rut that everyone falls into (yeah, even Mike i bet).

 

[Heckelgruber]

This is gonna sound strange and I'm not a hot shit guitarist (just shit) but I find getting a Metronome (or drum machine) out helps. The reason for that is that when I'm learning stuff I keep going back to a favourite riff or just a bit that I can play rather than learning something from beginning to end the way it's played on a record. Somehow getting the rhythm in the background improves my practise loads; I enjoy it more and really feel like I learned something. As to making stuff up, I generally share your despair and have no useful advice...

 

[Autumnal]

You could also try to write something that sounds like somebody else and just kind of jam out, don't think about it, just be like, ok, Opeth uses lots of full barres and sliding octaves and... and then just kind of fuck around with that idea and see what comes out. Your imprint will probably be all over it cause what naturally comes out is from you, while at the same time it won't sound stale because you are incorporating diff. elements.

 

[Heckelgruber]

That's true I guess. You hear people talking about "The Slayer Scale" and stuff like that. After playing a band's songs you sort of get a feel for scales and riffs etc, but I still feel like the creative equivalent of constipation. I am loving Powertab though, which I discovered on this forum on the "Opeth Tabs" thread.

 

[Kenneth R.]

One thing to remember: If you buy an "investment" guitar for a small fortune, you'll be too scared to even touch it for fear of breaking it. remember that dents and scratches WILL happen. personally all i care about is the tone, so a middle-range or lower-high range guitar suits me just fine. i'll do whatever modifications i want to it, and then it's golden. i won't pay more than $1000 for them, and i haven't.

 

[HoWheels]

I hate to rain on everyone's fire ... but a few observations and opinions

First of all, no PRS guitars are hand-made except for the "Private Stock" guitars (which generally have a price tag of over $10,000). This is of course, only the case for PRS guitars made after 1995.

Another funny thing happened in 1995. They started producing guitars with a monstrously horrible heel on them. check it out:

The guitar on the left is a 'modern' PRS. The one on the right is a Pre-95 PRS.

Some other general complaints about PRS guitars ...
Getting ahold of 'the one' that you actually want is no easy task. Sure you can go to Guitar Center and see a few hanging on the wall, but it's impossible to tell what you are going to get. The features they come with are not consistant. There's always the subjectivity of what exactly a "10" top is. Just because GC wants a premium for the "10 top" is it really a 10? Or a 9? Or an 8?

And what's up with the premiums on the Artist series? Artist is supposed to have a "superior" top to the 10 top? Isn't "10" supposed to be the highest on a scale of 1-10? LOL
Honestly I think the Artist series is a horrible value. In fact, I honestly don't feel that the Custom's have a great value at ~$2,200.
I think the SE's have a great value, but of course you don't get a beautiful carved top with them, or figured maple.

With that said, I believe PRS is a great guitar. Although I think that 99% of the appeal of them comes from the sparkle of seeing big names (a hem .... OPETH) weilding them.

As a matter of taste, I think the flying birds on the fingerboard is TACKY!

If you want a decent alternative to PRS, check out the Carvin California Top's. Many have done head-to-head shootouts of them versus PRS, and the general consensus is that it is difficult to justify the $1500+ price difference.

Check them out here:
http://www.carvin.com/products/guitars.php?CID=GTR

Galleries:
http://www.carvin.com/products/gallery.php?ItemNumber=CT6M
http://www.carvinmuseum.com/playersgallery/carvedtop.html

Plus you can order a Carvin to any exact spec that you want, down to the fingerboard radius. Plus they have a 10-day deciding period where you can have your axe returned and completely rebuilt to your spec if you want!

My 2 cents ...

-a

PS, I have seen great values in PRS on the used market ... with "10 tops" going in the $1500's ... Still would be a difficult choice between one of those, and a brand new Carvin to my exact spec

 

[Zlatan_Ibrahimovic]

They are a beautiful instrument and extremely well made. I just can't justify the cost unless I decide to make music my career.

I played ibanez's for a long time back in the late '80s early '90s but after a while I just got sick of them and their shoddy manufacturing.

I've been playing a black Fender American Strat for the past 3 years now and I doubt I'll ever switch up again unless I fall into a huge windfall of cash =D

Strats are so damn versatile. They sound great with so many different styles and for a weekend warrior like me who likes to "dabble" with all sorts of music it fits like a glove. From Slayer to Al Dimeola, to Fates Warning to Opeth.... I love my strat =D

 

[Sanzen]

I've been playing a black Fender American Strat for the past 3 years now and I doubt I'll ever switch up again unless I fall into a huge windfall of cash =D

Strats are so damn versatile. They sound great with so many different styles and for a weekend warrior like me who likes to "dabble" with all sorts of music it fits like a glove. From Slayer to Al Dimeola, to Fates Warning to Opeth.... I love my strat =D

please tell me you have a humbucker in the bridge....

 

[Zlatan_Ibrahimovic]

I replaced the Bridge pickup with a Seymore Duncan Hot Rails stacked Humbucker to keep the streamlined strat look.

I get a killer crunch for rythem with it, but I do all my soloing and melodic passages with the single coil neck pickup with the tone knob all the way down and the gain all the way up. It sounds like a slice of heaven........

 

[Sanzen]

I replaced the Bridge pickup with a Seymore Duncan Hot Rails stacked Humbucker to keep the streamlined strat look.

I get a killer crunch for rythem with it, but I do all my soloing and melodic passages with the single coil neck pickup with the tone knob all the way down and the gain all the way up. It sounds like a slice of heaven........

Ah ok. A friend of mine had a mid-70s strat (the ones with the fat headstock) with an ash body that he had dropped a Hot Rails into. damn that thing sounded fucking incredible man - heavy as all hell, but sounded great.

 

[Zlatan_Ibrahimovic]

i love the fat headstock on the '70s strats. The Ynweigh scalloped model has one too. I just don't like the thick necks of the '70s models compared to the slightly thinner faster necks of the later strats.

 

[Sanzen]

i love the fat headstock on the '70s strats. The Ynweigh scalloped model has one too. I just don't like the thick necks of the '70s models compared to the slightly thinner faster necks of the later strats.

Playability-wise, I'd agree with you...but I think for really fat and warm rhythm tones, the thick neck definitely adds a lot. Plus that ash body...