soooo i test drove a few PRSi yesterday at GC.....

[rumblebox]

they didn't have the exact guitars i wanted to try out (hardtail C22 and McCarty)

BUT i played a 408, paul's guitar, P22, studio, and a couple of SC's, knowing most of them are above my budget.... despite the fact that they all had dead strings and horrible setups(not a surprise with guitar center), they were all very hard to put down.

the 408 pickup setup is awesome for retaining output when split, but the strings were too dead for me to really get a good feel for the 408 or paul's guitar. so my favorite one was the hardtail P22 with uncovered 57/08's. i know it's pretty much a CU22+piezo, right? well that pretty much affirms the fact that i want one of those or a mccarty.

regarding necks, i thought i wouldnt like the wide fat profile, because my les paul has a fat baseball bat neck that i dont find particularly comfortable.... as it turns out, my 71 les paul's neck is even fatter than the R9 i tried out... so, in reality, the PRS wide-fat neck is not that fat afterall IMO. to me it still feels relatively thin. so i enjoyed all the PRS necks i played and dont really care which one i get.

I also didnt realize all the PRS tremolos already have brass blocks in them. i did a brass block upgrade on my floyd and made a huge difference. so i actually liked the tone i got from the tremolo studio i played. i still dont like the headache of tuning trem guitars though, so i'm sticking with a hardtail.

 

[vchizzle]

Actually, the P22 has McCarty thickness body. P22 has the Pattern regular neck, a McCarty will have a pattern neck or wide fat, depending on how old it is. So the P22 is REALLY close to being a McCarty for all intents and purposes.

 

[rumblebox]

it was a 2012.

 

[CantankerousCarl]

i still dont like the headache of tuning trem guitars though, so i'm sticking with a hardtail.

You will be surprised just how stable the PRS trems are in general - so don't count a trem out based upon past experience with other trems - especially if you like the sound of a particular trem-equipped one.

You can always go the block or tremol-no route. I tend to like the sound of PRS trem-equipped guitars better, but I don't even put the trem arms in. I haven't felt the need to block one yet due to tuning issues.

If you're talking about intonation being a pain to adjust, then I guess that's a different story, but day-to-day stability is not an issue. Just food for thought...

 

[Bill Downing]

You will be surprised just how stable the PRS trems are in general - so don't count a trem out based upon past experience with other trems - especially if you like the sound of a particular trem-equipped one.

You can always go the block or tremol-no route. I tend to like the sound of PRS trem-equipped guitars better, but I don't even put the trem arms in. I haven't felt the need to block one yet due to tuning issues.

If you're talking about intonation being a pain to adjust, then I guess that's a different story, but day-to-day stability is not an issue. Just food for thought...

I completely agree with this. In fact, I bought a charcoal burst signature limited stoptail and then learned how stable PRS trems are, so I was returning it to buy the same color with trem. Long story short, I lost my job and had to just return it. However, in march I got a killer deal on a like new 408 standard trem natural with pattern thin IRW neck. As if that wasn't enough, in late August I got the same type of deal on a like new charcoal burst signature limited trem! God's so good to me. :redface:

 

[Sage]

Actually, the P22 has McCarty thickness body.

Wait, really? I guess that makes sense since you have to squeeze in the piezo electronics, but I didn't know this. Is the same true for the P24?

 

[rumblebox]

stability and intonation were fine. that wouldnt be an issue anyway, because i know how to make even regular strats stay in tune even with floyd-like tremolo abuse.

i'm talking about how any floating(proper) tremolo setup takes longer to tune because of shared tension between all the strings. plus, i already have a floyd guitar for that. i actually did prefer the tone of the hardtail P22 to the trem studio even though they pretty much run the same bridge pickup. it seemed to have a bit more snap to the pick attacks... more than you would expect just from being uncovered vs covered.

 

[John Beef]

You can always go the block or tremol-no route. I tend to like the sound of PRS trem-equipped guitars better

I have been wondering if I just prefer the sound of the trem. I have one in my #1 but don't use it, and have a tremol-no installed which fixes its position. It's the only PRS I've owned with a trem and the end-all keeper of the bunch. I have owned 5 PRSi with stoptails that I ended up selling and have two right now, only one of which is a real keeper (the Mira). I don't know whether I like the sound of the trem better (as David Grissom said he does) or if I got lucky with that 1st one.

 

[rumblebox]

when i actually go to purchase a guitar, i'll take my JSX so i can REALLY know which one i like the best. running into an AC30 and a dark terror, i could only get a round-about idea of which one i like the best since i didnt have any of my own guitars to compare into the amp.

 

[dsenoj]

it was a 2012.

If you tried a 2012 P22, it has uncovered 53/10 pickups instead of 57/08s. The 53/10 pickups are great but they're no longer available. They can't get the wire to make them anymore.

 

[clcwarlock]

Wait, really? I guess that makes sense since you have to squeeze in the piezo electronics, but I didn't know this. Is the same true for the P24?

P24 does have the McCarty thickness, It is one of the things I love about the P24, My #1.

 

[gush]

Can somebody explain how the tremol- no works? I would love to lock trem for drop d tunings but i still want it to float during normal tunings

 

[Sage]

Can somebody explain how the tremol- no works? I would love to lock trem for drop d tunings but i still want it to float during normal tunings

The tremol-no uses a shaft that runs from the claw to a clamp on the trem block. It's like a piston, an outer tube slides along the inner shaft. It has thumb screws to lock down the outer tube so that it doesn't slide, and that holds the trem in a floating position.

There's also a second section of outer tube that can be locked down, and it prevents the main tube from moving beyond whatever point you choose. This means you can push down on the whammy bar but you can't pull up. If you want to be able to tune down to drop-d, you might find this useful.

 

[jfb]

Nothing like getting out there and test driving a few BA guitars.