Al Di Meola

JSanta585

JSanta585

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I am a huge Al Di Meola fan, admittedly, but I don't know a whole lot about one of his particular limited run guitars. Does anyone have any info on the Japan only guitar he had/has? The one with what appears to be a black/gray top and white back?

If I ever have fun money rolling in, I'd love to have one of the Prism guitars. I had a chance to buy one a few years ago but didn't have the money.
 
Al has been a key PRS endorsee for a long time. However, I think some friction got started because for his recent album (Elysium), he went back to playing his old Les Pauls as it was a return to his "Elegant Gypsy" days. Some of his recent YouTube videos do show him playing a custom ebony PRS Singlecut with a trem, though.
 
Deli6505 said:
Al has been a key PRS endorsee for a long time. However, I think some friction got started because for his recent album (Elysium), he went back to playing his old Les Pauls as it was a return to his "Elegant Gypsy" days. Some of his recent YouTube videos do show him playing a custom ebony PRS Singlecut with a trem, though.
Click to expand...

I even watched a video where Al mentioned that Paul said he needs to be playing a PRS and built him something to play.

I'm more curious about the limited Japan model if anyone has any information.
 
So I am curious about the Al D Prism guitar: is it basically a CU24 with Cocobolo fretboard and a really nice stain job? I've always been interested in getting one, but never could quite suss out what physically differentiated it from a CU24.
 
shinksma said:
So I am curious about the Al D Prism guitar: is it basically a CU24 with Cocobolo fretboard and a really nice stain job? I've always been interested in getting one, but never could quite suss out what physically differentiated it from a CU24.
Click to expand...

From Premier Guitar:

The 25" scale guitar is notable in that it is the first PRS guitar to sport so many colors. Its stained curly maple "9 top" features a bold, prism-like display of colors that, in true PRS style, still allows the beauty of the wood to stand out. The guitar has a Peruvian mahogany back and 10" radius neck with a 22 fret Mexican rosewood fingerboard. The neck features a custom Al Di Meola neck carve which is on the thinner side front-to-back, but is a bit wide across the fretboard. Other appointments include grommet-style locking tuners, abalone bird inlays, a tremolo bridge and 1957/2008 pickups. The pickups, which PRS afficionados are referring to as 5708''s, are made with wire produced by the same machine that made wire for the much sought-after PAF pickups; it was recently acquired by PRS.

I have only spent a limited time with the Prism model, and the neck was probably my favorite out of any PRS. I wish I had the cash at the time to buy it.
 
Thanks JSanta585.

But since they describe a bunch of "features" that are standard issue on a CU22 of that era (I said CU24 above, my bad), it is hard to discern the actual uniqueness of the model. The locking tuners, bird inlays, pups, etc.

The neck carve sounds similar to a Wide-Thin carve, for example, but is noted as different in the official specs.

The Peruvian hog back I suppose is a feature, vs the "normal" mahogany used at the time. Where does the "normal" mahogany that PRS uses come from? (I suspect the answer is "a variety of sources".)
 
The only thing that I really remember is that the neck felt more like a Pattern Regular (I could be wrong of course), and the instrument was lighter weight as far as I remember. It's too bad the specs are no longer on the website. There's a couple of them up for sale around the various parts of the internet. I'd love to own one, but I value my marriage more, at least for the time being :)
 
shinksma said:
The Peruvian hog back I suppose is a feature, vs the "normal" mahogany used at the time. Where does the "normal" mahogany that PRS uses come from? (I suspect the answer is "a variety of sources".)
Click to expand...

Happy to be corrected if I'm wrong but I'm 99% sure that the Core/S2 mahogany is entirely Khaya (aka African mahogany) these days and has been for some time.
 
Shawn@PRS said:
It was pretty much a Custom 22 with 10 Top, Pattern Regular neck, 57/08 pickups and cocobolo fretboard.
Click to expand...
OK, thanks Shawn!

I do like the stain job, though. Maybe one day when I have some spare cash and my Amp GAS has diminished.
 
Shawn@PRS said:
I'm not sure why the call that a Dimeola model. It's closer to a McCarty or Custom 22.
Click to expand...

Seems like a fair point. It might have been because that was the guitar he was playing on his Return to Electric concert recording. I appreciate you filling me in. I must admit I think it's a shame to cover up the back of that guitar with paint :)
 
Shawn@PRS said:
I'm not sure why the call that a Dimeola model. It's closer to a McCarty or Custom 22.
Click to expand...
My guess is that it is the exact guitar or similar to the one he played back then - the guitar listed is a 2006 model (allegedly) and the Al D Prism model was released in 2009.
 
I like it better than the prism model (looks wise), the faded top is sweet.
I've seen it listed as "Al DiMeola Mccarty model" on various sites.
 
blogger-image--1260396270.jpg
 
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