A True, 100% Classic: The Custom 24

László

László

Master Of The Universe (Emeritus)
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My first PRS was a Custom back in 1991. I bought a second one after that. I'd been a Gibson player for many years, and the PRS was simply a revelation. Eventually, when PRS introduced 22-fret models, the Custom became the Custom 24.

When the Artist II came out in '92 oe '93, I traded my Cherry Sunburst Custom in on one. I fell in love with the Wide-Fat neck, and the 22 frets felt and sounded great, so I had the guitar for quite a while. I stuck with the 22 fret PRSes until getting in on the 30th Anniversary CU24 PS run in 2015, a guitar that harks back to the original Customs.

Even then, however, I related more to my CU24 as a 'rock' guitar. I don't know why, actually. The guitars all do rock, blues, jazzy stuff, etc., equally well. I think it was simply me being guilty of typecasting.

Yesterday I was playing the CU24 through the HXDA, and once again appreciating the tone, feel, and wonderful neck on Paul's original design. The Regular neck mine came with is a joy to work with. The strings are a little closer to each other, and I can get through them a little faster when picking than I can with a wider fretboard. The shape is perfect for my hand.

And the guitar sounds absolutely wonderful. Truly. It's off-the-chart great. The mids are beautifully focused, yet the tone is balanced. It's not shrieky, ice-picky, or any overly treble adjective, and yet it CUTS. It sounds great by itself, and it sounds great in a dense mix. Sure, you can put a humbucker on a Strat and it'll sound like a humbucker, but not like this (I've had several Strats with ‘buckers). I can get so many tones from this thing using just the volume, switching and tone controls.

The 85/15 pickups have the ability to push an amp into beautiful overdrive, yet they're not too piercing. They just sound great. Balanced. Sweet. Yet I can also play the guitar into a squeaky-clean amp, and it's still right there where I need a guitar to be.

Anyway, I was having a ball with the guitar yesterday, and found myself thinking that one CU24 is a guitar arsenal, in and of itself.

I've got a handful of other PRSes. They're all special. But if I had to pick a desert island guitar, I'd have a very hard time not choosing this one!

I know, you’ve seen it already and it’s boring. But its a wonderful sonic example of one of the greatpest, most classic electric guitars of all time, and it’s not a bad looking guitar

81aB0Cr.jpg


So let's have a discussion about the CU24. What are your thoughts?
 
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Like many my first entry into the world of PRS was a Custom 24. It had the highly acclaimed 57/08’s. It’s long gone. My memories of that guitar are fond. My recollections are that it was an excellent guitar in all respects. I seem to recall that frets 23 and 24 remained virgin territory during my tenure.
 
I have a CU 24 at each price level, and they’re all excellent guitars. My soapie would have to go to a desert island with me. After that, it would be one of the 24’s. The first PRS guitar solo that I heard that spun my head around was a player named Mike Dowdle. His tone was everything Les described. Unfortunately, I was an archtop guy with no money and couldn’t afford one. And the variations are superb. The 24/08 wiring makes it a gig monster. The 85/15’s are magnificent, as are all the other pickups. And it does everything and sounds like itself every time. It’s the best gateway drug to the PRS addiction.
 
tiboy said:
I seem to recall that frets 23 and 24 remained virgin territory during my tenure.
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Oh, I never get up that high on the neck. BUT --

The hand position on the PRS 24 fret neck works really well for everything below the 12th fret, too. The whole guitar fits like a glove. Neck, body, controls, tone. I feel 100% comfortable playing it. So having a few extra frets doesn't bother me.

I know they're there, but I can admire them from a distance. :)
 
dmatthews said:
I know I should be shot, drawn, and quartered, but I prefer 22 fret.
And... as embarrassing as it is to say, I haven't tried a CU 24 :oops:
Click to expand...
All of my other electric guiters are 22 frets. But the CU24 is a special thing. Might be worth playing one just for the heck of it!

I should mention that when I bought my first Custom, I didn't count the frets, and didn't even realize it was a 24 fret guitar! For which I have no excuse, of course, except that I was so excited about it when I tried it, it was like "Take my money this very second."

I think it was the fastest guitar transaction I made up to that point in my life. Gimme! Boom! Done! Took me a few days to get around to fret counting. :oops:
 
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The best PRS made of all time, so says me. Early original CU24 featured no plastic aside from the back covers, knobs, pickup rings blah blah but hey natural binding no plastic on the neck ( let’s take wood out an add that tone monster plastic to this)! The rotory switch worked fine the pickups sounded great. I’m happy with the changes they have made over time but that original CU24 put them on the map.
 
Birdsofprey said:
The best PRS made of all time, so says me. Early original CU24 featured no plastic aside from the back covers, knobs, pickup rings blah blah but hey natural binding no plastic on the neck ( let’s take wood out an add that tone monster plastic to this)! The rotory switch worked fine the pickups sounded great. I’m happy with the changes they have made over time but that original CU24 put them on the map.
Click to expand...
I don't mind plastic on guitars. Bindings are fine with me, including bindings on the body and neck. I mean, it's fine not to have it, and depending on the instrument, it's fine to have it.

If the guitar sounds good and plays well, everything else falls into place, at least for me. But we're all different!
 
Shreve said:
First PRS I ever bought after lusting after one for many years. Cherry sunburst 10 top at Chuck Levin’s in 2000. Sounded great. Why ‘o why did I sell it??

Slight redemption. I used the funds for a McCarty Soapbar. Still wish I had kept it, though.
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I ask myself why o why I sold so many great PRSes.

I recently saw a killer DGT WL at my favorite shop, and all I could think at first was, "Gee, what can I sell so I can get this thing immediately, if not sooner?"

Fortunately, I managed to control myself, because I was reading a book on Stoic philosophy, and had just finished the part where they talk about how we tend to not appreciate what we have, even if it's new, and want the next shiny object right away.

I thought about that for a few minutes and then went and played my guitars. Enjoyed them so much I forgot about buying yet another two-humbucker solid body PRS.

But my goodness, I came damn close to another serious regret!
 
LSchefman said:
My first PRS was a Custom back in 1991. I bought a second one after that. I'd been a Gibson player for many years, and the PRS was simply a revelation. Eventually, when PRS introduced 22-fret models, the Custom became the Custom 24.

When the Artist II came out in '92 oe '93, I traded my Cherry Sunburst Custom in on one. I fell in love with the Wide-Fat neck, and the 22 frets felt and sounded great, so I had the guitar for quite a while. I stuck with the 22 fret PRSes until getting in on the 30th Anniversary CU24 PS run in 2015, a guitar that harks back to the original Customs.

Even then, however, I related more to my CU24 as a 'rock' guitar. I don't know why, actually. The guitars all do rock, blues, jazzy stuff, etc., equally well. I think it was simply me being guilty of typecasting.

Yesterday I was playing the CU24 through the HXDA, and once again appreciating the tone, feel, and wonderful neck on Paul's original design. The Regular neck mine came with is a joy to work with. The strings are a little closer to each other, and I can get through them a little faster when picking than I can with a wider fretboard. The shape is perfect for my hand.

And the guitar sounds absolutely wonderful. Truly. It's off-the-chart great. The mids are beautifully focused, yet the tone is balanced. It's not shrieky, ice-picky, or any overly treble adjective, and yet it CUTS. It sounds great by itself, and it sounds great in a dense mix. Sure, you can put a humbucker on a Strat and it'll sound like a humbucker, but not like this (I've had several Strats with ‘buckers). I can get so many tones from this thing using just the volume, switching and tone controls.

The 85/15 pickups have the ability to push an amp into beautiful overdrive, yet they're not too piercing. They just sound great. Balanced. Sweet. Yet I can also play the guitar into a squeaky-clean amp, and it's still right there where I need a guitar to be.

Anyway, I was having a ball with the guitar yesterday, and found myself thinking that one CU24 is a guitar arsenal, in and of itself.

I've got a handful of other PRSes. They're all special. But if I had to pick a desert island guitar, I'd have a very hard time not choosing this one!

I know, you’ve seen it already and it’s boring. But its a wonderful sonic example of one of the greatpest, most classic electric guitars of all time, and it’s not a bad looking guitar

81aB0Cr.jpg


So let's have a discussion about the CU24. What are your thoughts?
Click to expand...
That is an absolutely gorgeous guitar.
 
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