1989 Signature Dilemma, sell or mod ?

[murph100]

HI guys, I'm a newbie here but long time PRS owner, I figured this might be best place to get some feedback from like minded folk. SO I have my beautiful 1989 CU24 Signature No. 436, made to order back then, still original as ordered, Whale Blue tiger top with gold hardware, wide thin neck, Chainsaw bridge PU, Deep Dish neck PU, with sweet switch. Pretty much mint condition on the front, a lil' bit of buckle rash on the back, but not through the finish. Gold hardware is pitting on the bridge and tuners, and worn off most of the term arm.

It plays like a dream, and acoustically is so slear and resonant,, and sustains forever HOWEVER it always had this trademark infamous PRS 'honk', which now I really can't live with anymore, and the Chainsaw PU aint that versatile either, but KILLER lead sound overdriven. The rotary switch is just plain annoying, and the sweet switch is basically engaged all the time as the treble is waaaay too much without it.

I obviously have this guitar a long time, but if I was honest I would say I'm more attached to my 1986 Charvel Model 6, which is beat to hell but plays and sounds amazing ! I also got an Epiphone Les Paul '60s Tribute Plus last year, just to see where things were at these days at that price range ... it blew me away ! What a blast, I've hardly played anything else since, just pure fun ... for absolute peanuts !! Back in 1989 you would have gotten a plank for that money !!!! This really got me to thinking about my '89 Signature, which I really like, but hardly play anymore.

So I'm faced with either :

Modding it and giving it a facelift with new replacement nickel hardware, putting in new PUs ( maybe Suhr Thornbuckers or Di Marzio Transitions ), replacing the Sweet Switch with a 3 way toggle, and the Rotary with a push/pull tone pot, prob totalling $800 +

OR

Don't mess with it and sell it and just get a regular PRS/Suhr/Whatever that sounds the way I want it to ?

Sorry for the long post, but maybe a few of you will understand where I'm coming from, would appreciate any feedback you guys might have on this.


Cheers,

M

 

[]-[@n$0Ma☩!©]

Yeah, that's a tough one. What good is it if it doesn't get played?

The purist in me says sell it and put that money into a nice new PRS that fits your needs. Then put the leftover cash toward something else.

 

[JMintzer]

What Hans said...

Someone will love that guitar as is...

 

[Furtive]

Another vote for keeping the `89 stock. They haven't made 1989 PRS for quite a few years.

 

[László]

You could always try a set of different pickups in it and then see how that works before doing anything else. It's a reversible mod, no damage to the guitar. Because the switch and other mods won't change the tone, but the pickups will.

So if you change the pickups, and still don't like the tone, you know not to invest more money. But if you find the guitar's tone more to your liking, you can then do the other mods with greater confidence.

 

[Huggy Love]

Hmm....... ....."plays like a dream" "acoustically is so clear & resonant" "sustains forever".......... ...sounds like the perfect axe to me.

Hardware & PUs are the easiest mod and easiest to reverse, sweet switches I don't know much about, but I miss my old rotary knob CU22. I'd keep it, swap out the PUs, go chrome hdwr, and done....but that's just me.
Good luck with your decision.

 

[Rider1260]

I think a picture or 2 would be in order here !!!!
I like the rotary on my CU24 but know many who don't PRS makes a drop in wiring harness with the toggle and a push pull tone and a set of 59/09s would be sweet.
I would leave the hardware alone I think

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Mod it. Just make sure it's completely reversible and you keep the parts, that's an important guitar.

 

[toothace]

Hmm....... ....."plays like a dream" "acoustically is so clear & resonant" "sustains forever".......... ...sounds like the perfect axe to me.

You could always try a set of different pickups in it and then see how that works before doing anything else. It's a reversible mod, no damage to the guitar. Because the switch and other mods won't change the tone, but the pickups will.

So if you change the pickups, and still don't like the tone, you know not to invest more money. But if you find the guitar's tone more to your liking, you can then do the other mods with greater confidence.

what they said

 

[6pack Jon]

I would change out the pickups first. See if that gets you in the direction you want to go. Replacing the rotary and the sweet switch would require enlarging the holes. Which probably bring resale down. If you want to change the bridge you might want to go with John Mann's Prs bridge. His company produced the bridges for Prs back then.

 

[Kazz]

+1 vote for selling or reversible mods.

Paul thinks that he's making better guitars today than he was then, but it's a piece of history that you've preserved for a long time and I know that someday someone will appreciate that. In fact a lot of people would right now!

If you find that you like one of the newer models better, it might be good to keep an eye out for one of them and buy/sell or even trade for one that fits your taste better? A lot of great models have been made since 1989, and not just what they're making right now.

 

[]-[@n$0Ma☩!©]

If you change the pickups, I'll buy the ones you yank. PM me if you wanna go that route.

 

[CatStrangler]

Hmm....... ....."plays like a dream" "acoustically is so clear & resonant" "sustains forever".......... ...sounds like the perfect axe to me.

+1

and the "honk" is part of the appeal to me.

 

[murph100]

Wow ! You guys are great ! I've definitely asked in the right place, so thanks for all the replies. A lot good advice guys, yes, I think I'll go the quick PU swap route first and see if that works.