Any Core Studio Owners not dig their guitar?

[buddysunshine]

Hey All

Looks like I will have to buy online without trying.

I was an original 85 custom owner. A lots changed since then. Im looking for a solid working musicians guitar that can do Les Paul and Stratty vibes.

I've narrowed my search down to a couple of available guitars.

Pre-owned Studio
Pre owned Custom 22
New S2 Custom or 594

Generally love buying used guitars. Probably leaning toward one of the core models I guess. Just seems like a good idea.

My hesitancy with the Studio is I'll be stuck with those pickups if I dont dig em. Also havnt had a three pickup guitar before that looks that tight under the picking area.

I enjoyed my 85. Sold it a while back. Im a pro, but not a collector. I must have liked the neck because I played the heck out of that guitar for 10 years. Wore it out.

The neck feel is also a concern on any of these buy before tryin opportunities.
I've always been a danger to pick up a guitar cause if it FEELS Im gonna buy it.

Thanks for any help here.

 

[Going Modal]

By "Studio" and "...I'll be stuck with those pickups if I dont dig em," do you mean the Narrowfield Studio? I do believe there have been other "Studio" PRS models throughout the years that had regular single-coil pickups in a true "HSS" setup.

I had a Studio Narrowfield myself for a very short bit, and I didn't entirely bond with those pickups (though I really wanted to love them). They really weren't that spanky single-coil sound that makes a good "stratty" vibe. IIRC, they seemed to have a lot of mid-push, but without the wide breadth of fullness that a full humbucker gives you. I mean, they sounded kinda neat, but... not what I wanted.

Honestly, the best sort of Fender-y yet Gibson-ish PRS guitar that I've ever tried (and still own) is the Swamp Ash Special. I don't know what it is, but... on the bridge HB it sounds like what a LP & a Tele dream to be; and the neck is like a great Gibson PAF sound. Neither a Fender nor a Gibson can do what the SAS does; however the SAS can evoke the best attributes of both of those.

 

[buddysunshine]

Thanks

Yes the Studio with the narrow field pu. I too, really want to like them....but,

 

[Mark Ray]

The pic of my avatar, a 2012 Experience Swamp Ash Studio, was an amazing instrument! I loved the pickups and available tones. The satin finish maple neck vibrated more than any other guitar I've ever owned. Unfortunately the carve just wasn't as large as I like, and I ended up rarely playing it. That's the only reason that I don't still own it.

 

[alphasports]

My 2012 Studio (narrowfield 57/08 and 1 reg 57/08) is the only PRS I have left out of many. Loved 'em all but this one, with these pickups, is spectacular.

 

[bodia]

There was a member here that used his Core Studio exclusively for gigging. I really liked the one I had. Sold it to fund a PS.

 

[gush]

I'm one of those guys that doesn't care for 5708 bridge pickup but love the 5708 neck pickup.

I have a covered 5310 bridge pickup in my parts drawer that is waiting to find a home in a studio.

 

[Teletex]

Have you looked at the Fiore? I had similar needs for my next guitar and the Fiore seemed to tick all the boxes. Definitely gets stratty in the neck and middle pups and the HB in the bridge gets some very good LPish tones.

 

[Patrick Montgomery]

I got one of the new 2021 models. After the honeymoon period wore off I have decided to sell it. Bridge, bridge tapped, and bridge tapped/middle were exactly what I was looking for. Everything else was not really the sound I wanted, and my MEV, SSH, and 513 do every other position better so I can’t justify keeping it. The sounds are good, but I wanted that stratty in between sound and you don’t get it with the two NFs. I would recommend the SSH if you can find one at a good price. I liked mine so much I just got a Private Stock version. It is the most versatile, best sounding, and best playing model I think PRS has, and I’ve owned almost everything they offer at some point in the last 10 years.

 

[László]

I have a 2016 PS "20th Anniversary of PS" model with a Narrowfield middle pickup, and two Paul's Guitar Narrowfiled 408 style humbuckers. Like you, I record and play professionally. I think it has the best middle pickup and combination middle/other pickup sound of any guitar I've ever owned. I like the Narrowfield neck pickup, but that's also a matter of personal taste.

As one always reads in the disclaimers, YMMV. You might dig the pickups, you might not.

I'm sure you'd agree that each of us has their own needs and expectations, all of which are going to be different, and should be different. This is why internet opinions (including mine) have to be taken in perspective and with a large grain of salt.

A set-neck, 25" scale length guitar whose pickups don't sit on a plastic pickgaurd over a hollowed-out control cavity, is inespcapably going to sound quite unlike a Strat with a 25 1/2" scale length, a bolt-on maple neck, and plastic pick guard-mounted pickups. A true Strat tone can't be accomplished any other way. However, it can certainly come closer to a Les Paul.

So a lot depends on how badly you want that Strat style tone to be a perfect rendition of Strat, and how close you need the guitar to sound like an LP on the bridge pickup.

In any case, I think it's the totality of the guitar, and not just the pickups. It will certainly sound different from a Strat. Heck, a bolt-on Telecaster sounds different from a Strat, and it isn't just the difference in pickups.

But maybe that's not such a bad thing?

I think as guitar players, sometimes we get a big idea in our heads that one guitar has to meet two different criteria. It's the same with amps: "I want a Marshall dirty channel, and a Fender clean channel."

Well, what you wind up with is neither, since the designs - tone stacks, preamps, power sections, output tubes, transformers, speakers, etc., are essentially different. Yet despite that, it can be good enough to use (and even like a lot) even if it isn't a perfect rendition of one or t'other.

As my grandmother used to say, "One behind can't ride two horses at the same time."

 

[dogrocketp]

No guitar can do everything for everybody. As long as we chase the sounds on our heads, we should find what we like. YMMV has never been more true than with guitars.

 

[Going Modal]

I have a 2016 PS "20th Anniversary of PS" model with a Narrowfield middle pickup, and two Paul's Guitar Narrowfiled 408 style humbuckers. Like you, I record and play professionally. I think it has the best middle pickup and combination middle/other pickup sound of any guitar I've ever owned. I like the Narrowfield neck pickup, but that's also a matter of personal taste.

As one always reads in the disclaimers, YMMV. You might dig the pickups, you might not.

I'm sure you'd agree that each of us has their own needs and expectations, all of which are going to be different, and should be different. This is why internet opinions (including mine) have to be taken in perspective and with a large grain of salt.

A set-neck, 25" scale length guitar whose pickups don't sit on a plastic pickgaurd over a hollowed-out control cavity, is inespcapably going to sound quite unlike a Strat with a 25 1/2" scale length, a bolt-on maple neck, and plastic pick guard-mounted pickups. A true Strat tone can't be accomplished any other way. However, it can certainly come closer to a Les Paul.

So a lot depends on how badly you want that Strat style tone to be a perfect rendition of Strat, and how close you need the guitar to sound like an LP on the bridge pickup.

In any case, I think it's the totality of the guitar, and not just the pickups. It will certainly sound different from a Strat. Heck, a bolt-on Telecaster sounds different from a Strat, and it isn't just the difference in pickups.

But maybe that's not such a bad thing?

I think as guitar players, sometimes we get a big idea in our heads that one guitar has to meet two different criteria. It's the same with amps: "I want a Marshall dirty channel, and a Fender clean channel."

Well, what you wind up with is neither, since the designs - tone stacks, preamps, power sections, output tubes, transformers, speakers, etc., are essentially different. Yet despite that, it can be good enough to use (and even like a lot) even if it isn't a perfect rendition of one or t'other.

As my grandmother used to say, "One behind can't ride two horses at the same time."

This man speaks the truth. I did not bond with my Studio Narrowfield probably because I was thinking of a tone/sound that it wasn't going to be able to do. But that's not to say that anybody more musically resourceful or imaginative than me couldn't have made some amazing music with it. They're all tools... and the ones that we dismiss for the most part are just tools that we either (a) don't need or (b) don't know how to use to the fullest extent.

 

[László]

This man speaks the truth. I did not bond with my Studio Narrowfield probably because I was thinking of a tone/sound that it wasn't going to be able to do. But that's not to say that anybody more musically resourceful or imaginative than me couldn't have made some amazing music with it. They're all tools... and the ones that we dismiss for the most part are just tools that we either (a) don't need or (b) don't know how to use to the fullest extent.

We all have different ideas in mind with this stuff. You might bond with one, or something similar down the road, as needs and desires change.

If this model had been out last year before I got my McCarty Trem, I might have gotten one. It does appeal to me for a variety of reasons - I like the narrowfield pickups. The official PRS demo video sounds darn good to me - just listened to it with headphones on, and it kinda spoke to me!

https://prsguitars.com/electrics/model/studio_2021