New Guitar Day for me!!! (two weeks ago actually, but then I was on holiday so I wasn't able to play it)
Paul's Guitar Blue Fade Quilt. And it is ecstasy for me.
I was in doubt between PG and P22 because of the piezo as I like to play acoustic, but when I compared a 408 with a P22 at a local store I preferred 408 sound. Just a sensation as with wrong amp, noise in the background, not much time,... it was difficult to really understand. General disappointment: finding a good choice of PRSi in the north of Italy seems difficult/impossible, so I had to buy it online (which I hate because I lost part of the fun).
My main guitar before was a LP Std 2008 and I still love it. Following impressions of the PG are then mostly a comparison to the LP and they are probably biased by the fact that I am still more used to the LP. This is not intended anyway as a real comparison. I know price tags are different and so on. I just needed to use the LP as a starting point to be able to explain.
Anyway, this is what I feel (and hear).
1. Unplugged, I do not hear the volume difference that I was expecting compared the LP. On the other side, the tone is completely different. PG is much brighter but I would say very well balanced. Very joyful
2. The overall feel is fantastic. I like the shape of the frets much more than on the LP (they are probably standard but I haven't played that many guitars in my life to have enough knowledge). The shape of the neck is very good but it seems that in some situations the asymmetrical neck of LP is more comfortable to me. This is just a sensation I've had in a couple of moments
3. Plugged in, I don't know how to say it ... the sound seems always "right". It's like I have more control over the intensity and the "intention" of each note. I don't know if the pickups are more reactive to something or the overall wonderful feeling lets me concentrate more on how I play or whatever else, but I feel myself more in control of what is happening and the sound reflects better what I have in mind.
4. Humbucker: brighter than LP, they obviously become more similar to each other when I roll off the tone knob. At first they sounded completely different, then I recorded them side by side on my loop and I realized the difference is subtler. If I have to chose, right now I still prefer LP roundness, but it's good to have both.
5. Single coil: first of all, at least at "home" volumes, you tend to forget that usually single coils make hum. Anyway, I absolutely love the single coil sound of this guitar. Right now, the most interesting sound for me is both pickups, both single coils (maybe because it's the more different from LP). It has that very clear single coil soul but with all the roundness and wonderful complexity of all the sounds that come out from this guitar.
6. Humbuckers vs Single Coils (Versatility): this was the point that scared me more before buying, when watching to youtube reviews and reading some (not all) comments. Well:
Best thing: both pickups, both single coils. I would never stop.
Worst thing: "both pickups, both single coils" is so good that I tend not to use the other tones, at least for now, probably also because of the non-extremely different sounds they provide.
Questions for you:
1. Do these single coils work in a similar way as to other brands noiseless single coils?
2. This particular guitar was listed by the seller as "Limited Edition" because of the color (I haven't found any other quilt blue fade on the Internet). Seller told me (after the sell was done, so no reason to lie) that these are "one-off" pieces that PRS does here and there. Is there any rule for this? Do PRS formally produce such "limited editions" for some periods or is it just random? Are there such things as "standard" colors or just more common and less common ones? Would anyone be able to roughly estimate how many of these quilt blue fade PG could actually exist or be produced per year (10, 100, 1000, 5000), just to have an idea of how they work at PRS?
Thanks
Paul's Guitar Blue Fade Quilt. And it is ecstasy for me.
I was in doubt between PG and P22 because of the piezo as I like to play acoustic, but when I compared a 408 with a P22 at a local store I preferred 408 sound. Just a sensation as with wrong amp, noise in the background, not much time,... it was difficult to really understand. General disappointment: finding a good choice of PRSi in the north of Italy seems difficult/impossible, so I had to buy it online (which I hate because I lost part of the fun).
My main guitar before was a LP Std 2008 and I still love it. Following impressions of the PG are then mostly a comparison to the LP and they are probably biased by the fact that I am still more used to the LP. This is not intended anyway as a real comparison. I know price tags are different and so on. I just needed to use the LP as a starting point to be able to explain.
Anyway, this is what I feel (and hear).
1. Unplugged, I do not hear the volume difference that I was expecting compared the LP. On the other side, the tone is completely different. PG is much brighter but I would say very well balanced. Very joyful
2. The overall feel is fantastic. I like the shape of the frets much more than on the LP (they are probably standard but I haven't played that many guitars in my life to have enough knowledge). The shape of the neck is very good but it seems that in some situations the asymmetrical neck of LP is more comfortable to me. This is just a sensation I've had in a couple of moments
3. Plugged in, I don't know how to say it ... the sound seems always "right". It's like I have more control over the intensity and the "intention" of each note. I don't know if the pickups are more reactive to something or the overall wonderful feeling lets me concentrate more on how I play or whatever else, but I feel myself more in control of what is happening and the sound reflects better what I have in mind.
4. Humbucker: brighter than LP, they obviously become more similar to each other when I roll off the tone knob. At first they sounded completely different, then I recorded them side by side on my loop and I realized the difference is subtler. If I have to chose, right now I still prefer LP roundness, but it's good to have both.
5. Single coil: first of all, at least at "home" volumes, you tend to forget that usually single coils make hum. Anyway, I absolutely love the single coil sound of this guitar. Right now, the most interesting sound for me is both pickups, both single coils (maybe because it's the more different from LP). It has that very clear single coil soul but with all the roundness and wonderful complexity of all the sounds that come out from this guitar.
6. Humbuckers vs Single Coils (Versatility): this was the point that scared me more before buying, when watching to youtube reviews and reading some (not all) comments. Well:
- (premise): once a guitar can produce ONE exceptionally good sound, for me it's done its job
- it is untrue that it is difficult to hear the difference between HB and SC. Simply, single coils are not Fender ones (btw: this is a very personal thing, but every time I have tried a Fender Strat or Tele, which I do not own, I was never able to bond with it as quickly as I did with these 408 single coils)
- there is no predominance of HB or SC. It does not let you think "oh, this is born for HB but it has coil split". It's 50-50.
- I have tried coil split on a 2014 LP Std (quite quickly, I must admit) and those sounded a bit pointless to me instead. I thought they seem like they have been done knowing that 95% of the time that guitar will be played in HB anyway.
- so I would say this guitar is extremely versatile within a non-extreme range of sounds. With other guitars you may have more extreme differences between sounds without the flexibilty to smoothly blend from one to the other like you do with a PG. This is a plus for me. For Stratty sound, I can have Strats.
Best thing: both pickups, both single coils. I would never stop.
Worst thing: "both pickups, both single coils" is so good that I tend not to use the other tones, at least for now, probably also because of the non-extremely different sounds they provide.
Questions for you:
1. Do these single coils work in a similar way as to other brands noiseless single coils?
2. This particular guitar was listed by the seller as "Limited Edition" because of the color (I haven't found any other quilt blue fade on the Internet). Seller told me (after the sell was done, so no reason to lie) that these are "one-off" pieces that PRS does here and there. Is there any rule for this? Do PRS formally produce such "limited editions" for some periods or is it just random? Are there such things as "standard" colors or just more common and less common ones? Would anyone be able to roughly estimate how many of these quilt blue fade PG could actually exist or be produced per year (10, 100, 1000, 5000), just to have an idea of how they work at PRS?
Thanks
