History of Tremonti Signature

P

PietPompies

New Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2018
Messages
5
I saw in a video interview of Tremonti that he was the reason PRS started making singlecuts and that he went through a couple of guitar shape and pickup iterations before he settled on the current shape. I'm trying to find some type of resource on the history of his guitars after he became a signature artist.

Were the original signatures only available in black with the Tremonti inlay? When did they stop making them with the inlay and why? Did the neck profiles stay the same through the years, etc.

I'm eyeing an early Tremonti signature because it's the first guitar I ever saw that made me go "Whoa! That's a sweet axe" in the My Sacrifice video. I was playing guitar for a very short time when they released that video, so it left quite the impression on me. Lol.

Are the early run Tremonti's just as good as the current ones and are they desirable? What would be a decent price for one in good condition?
 
Last edited:
gioforce76 said:
I believe the original neck profiles were wide fat then tremonti started shaving them down and then they started coming with a wide thin profile.
Click to expand...

Having messed around with the waybackmachine as garrett suggested, it does appear as if the switch happened in late 2007. Tremonti's name was moved to the headstock, they made the guitar available in different colours and finishes, changed from WF to TWT neck profile, offered it with a trem and thickened up the headstock. In 2012 the neck profile started becoming the Pattern Thin, instead of Tremonti Wide Thin. No idea if those are the same though.

Looks like his pickups were always the Tremonti Treble/Bass combo. But once again, I don't know if changed them but kept the name the same.

Interestingly, at no stage did PRS offer the combo in Tremonti's favorite guitar (the charcoal burst one with the dimebag sticker on it) where you get a Tremonti inlay but a non-opaque finish. So that particular one's specd is obviously not something you'll find on a production Tremonti.

They also did that tribal limited run where 100 were manufactured.

As far as prices go, it looks like anything below $1700 would be a good price for a good condition pre-2007 one, while $1800-2000 is sort of the norm.
 
I have a black Tremonti., the neck is prefect wide thin. mines a 2009 . I think, 1800 - 2000 is normal
mine has a nick in the bottom . so i won't tell you what i paid for it because I thought it was a scam.
it made me say whooa, I have a few PRS guitars but wit the Temonti ,you don't need any other ones.
MY opinion.
 
I just bought a 2010 and the pickups are different looking from the newer ones. Anyone have any info on this?
 
Lukester said:
I just bought a 2010 and the pickups are different looking from the newer ones. Anyone have any info on this?
Click to expand...

Assuming they're still stock pickups, my guess is that you're referring to the bobbins. The more typical shaped ones were phased out with these squarer shaped bobbins.. PRS made that stylistic/aesthetic change on their pickups a few years ago. Even when PRS reintroduced the singlecut and Tremonti after overturning Gibson's utterly moronic lawsuit, the Tremonti has used those signature pickups on the production models.
 
PietPompies said:
I saw in a video interview of Tremonti that he was the reason PRS started making singlecuts and that he went through a couple of guitar shape and pickup iterations before he settled on the current shape. I'm trying to find some type of resource on the history of his guitars after he became a signature artist.

Were the original signatures only available in black with the Tremonti inlay? When did they stop making them with the inlay and why? Did the neck profiles stay the same through the years, etc.

I'm eyeing an early Tremonti signature because it's the first guitar I ever saw that made me go "Whoa! That's a sweet axe" in the My Sacrifice video. I was playing guitar for a very short time when they released that video, so it left quite the impression on me. Lol.

Are the early run Tremonti's just as good as the current ones and are they desirable? What would be a decent price for one in good condition?
Click to expand...
Not sure what I have in the Tremonti guitar I have if someone can set me straight that be great thank you.
John said:
Assuming they're still stock pickups, my guess is that you're referring to the bobbins. The more typical shaped ones were phased out with these squarer shaped bobbins.. PRS made that stylistic/aesthetic change on their pickups a few years ago. Even when PRS reintroduced the singlecut and Tremonti after overturning Gibson's utterly moronic lawsuit, the Tremonti has used those signature pickups on the production models.
Click to expand...
I thought Dragon II pups were in the Signature guitar. That may have been the CE model.
 
I think they stopped doing the neck inlay because people were complaining that they didn't like it on several of the old forums, and perhaps Tremonti changed his mind about it as well.

All of the production years were terrific guitars. I lean toward the more recent production (starting in late 2019 or 2020 if memory serves) when PRS went to the nitro finish.

Granted, nitro is something that requires a little more care, but I think the tone on the nitro models is just a bit different from the poly ones, and I prefer it.

Despite owning Gibsons for many years with nitro finishes, I didn't believe the paint made a difference. I was a nitro denier!

But when the DGT first came out it was nitro, and it really did sound more like my vintage and recent Gibsons, even played acoustically. Then I got some PS models with nitro and became a firm believer in the stuff, to the point where I traded in a poly McCarty from ca. 2018 for a 2020 with nitro.

I'm that guy who does crazy stuff like that. Seemed like a good idea. I did prefer the later one by a little bit.

Some of the difference with recent models may be due to changes in the hardware as well. In any case, I like the new ones, and I'd recommend trying several from both eras.
 
I have a 2001. The Bass pickup is a Dragon 2000, and Treble is a Tremonti. The neck IS WideFAT for sure, and the guitar is heavy AF! But man! This Treble pickup SCREAMS! It's way hotter than any of my 2016-2022 Tremonti's.
 
dshilh01 said:
Not sure what I have in the Tremonti guitar I have if someone can set me straight that be great thank you.

I thought Dragon II pups were in the Signature guitar. That may have been the CE model.
Click to expand...
-Usually, they have a sticker on the back/baseplate of the pickup with the model name written there. The adhesive is rather flimsy IME, so it's not a guarantee that said sticker will still remain on the pickups.

-Dragon II pickups were stock in the 22 fret CE's, Custom 22's, and if memory serves also the Standard 22's back then.
 
I have one of those early rounded bobbin Tremonti Bridge pickups. I replaced the Dragon I bridge in my CE22 with the Tremonti, since I already loved it in my singlecut.
 
2015-12-17_14.52.23.jpg

I scored this one for about $500 on Reverb in late December 2015. The seller had taken out the stock SE pickups and put an SD Invader in the bridge and an Alnico Pro II in the neck and I couldn't believe how much fun it was/is to play. I'm not sure what the original year of origin is but I have noticed that the neck radius is a bit smaller than the Tremonti Custom SE and certainly way lighter. It's currently my backup guitar on the road but it will always have a special place in my heart and collection as it was my second PRS ever.
 
Deli6505 said:
2015-12-17_14.52.23.jpg

I scored this one for about $500 on Reverb in late December 2015. The seller had taken out the stock SE pickups and put an SD Invader in the bridge and an Alnico Pro II in the neck and I couldn't believe how much fun it was/is to play. I'm not sure what the original year of origin is but I have noticed that the neck radius is a bit smaller than the Tremonti Custom SE and certainly way lighter. It's currently my backup guitar on the road but it will always have a special place in my heart and collection as it was my second PRS ever.
Click to expand...
That is $weet!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

A
Tremonti SE St 2010, which pickups??? They are great.
Replies
0
Views
134
alwinvrm
A
MA Pete
MA Pete's weekly NGD - Tremonti Trem in Faded Whale Blue
2 3
Replies
41
Views
891
Tedder
Tedder
xxxadixxx
Birds of a Feather - PS Inlay?
Replies
3
Views
400
Dimebag11
D
MA Pete
NGD: Tremonti Trem in Purple Iris
2
Replies
20
Views
711
MA Pete
MA Pete
Ladkor
PRS Tremonti Thru The Years (comparison 2001, 2010, 2018 and 2022)
Replies
4
Views
526
Ladkor
Ladkor
Back
Top