ATTN HISTORIANS: I NEED SOME HELP IDENTIFYING A PRS THAT I ONCE HAD

[László]

Who knows? Perhaps it was the added weight from the multiple layers of epoxy clear coat they used - God knows that stuff isn't light.

They used polyurethane clear coat, I believe; poly is different stuff from epoxy finishes. You wouldn't use epoxy on a guitar, it's meant for heavy industrial items and car underbody parts.

 

[Troubadour]

You should be able to buy what you are looking for:

http://www.prsaccessories.com/collections/pickups

Excellent! Thanks for the heads-up and the link, Altoidman. I guess I misunderstood someone earlier - I thought they were no longer available, but that's great news.

 

[Troubadour]

You can buy the HFS/vintage bass combo and PRS is offering them again in current production runs.

And thanks to you too, Bob. Glad to hear that they're still available. In contrast to my earlier thoughts, it sounds like there is indeed plenty of hope for me in the future.

 

[Troubadour]

They used polyurethane clear coat, I believe; poly is different stuff from epoxy finishes. You wouldn't use epoxy on a guitar, it's meant for heavy industrial items and car underbody parts.

Right you are, LS! A slip of the tongue. They're both polymers, and both resins, as is polyester resin which has become far more common for guitars in recent years than polyurethane (ala John Suhr and others), but polyurethane is not an "epoxy" resin.

 

[Troubadour]

Troubadour - just to share with you my comparable tale . . .

Carl,

Thanks for taking the time to share your tale with me and the others, and you're right, it truly is a similar set of circumstances to mine, but I'm glad things have worked out for you. I suspect they'll work out for me too in the end. In fact, some of what I've learned here just today in this thread has given me an all new level encouragement. I think I simply need to spend more time researching and playing a wider range of PRS guitars, particularly the CU-24 and perhaps even the Throwback (if I can find one anywhere?), until I can narrow down the subtle differences between them, and get to a personal comfort zone. I suspect that's going to be the newer or older HFS/VB-equipped guitars.

My chief concern with purchasing an older CU-24 is making sure that it hasn't been modified in any serious way (which tends to be rare these days), and my concern with buying a newer one of some sort, is whether or not the other electronics (i.e., components other than the pickups, wiring scheme, etc), will be directly comparable to my earlier CU-24. I've built, restored and messed around with enough guitars over the years to know that very slight or simple changes in things like wiring pattern, switches, pots and tone caps can have a major influence on the overall sound palette. And here again, that makes a remote sale (ala E-Bay, etc.) a dicey proposition. Anyway, thanks again for your post and best of luck to you.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Can't wait to see your new (old model) Custom 24, have fun shopping!

 

[Troubadour]

Can't wait to see your new (old model) Custom 24, have fun shopping!

Thanks Sergio, and thanks also for your meaningful contributions to this thread. Its helped me to begin learning some of what I needed to learn. I don't honestly know which way I'll end up going. If I could (i.e., if it were possible), I'd order-up a special order CU-24 without the blade switch, and ask them to install a set of HFS/VB pups with rotary selector, sweet switch and single volume, but I suspect that's not too likely from their current offerings. Only time will tell. I've just gotta get busy researching things a bit.

 

[Troubadour]

Hello again guys,

I took a moment to re-read this entire thread here this morning, and unless I'm mistaken, it sounds like it might be entirely possible for me to custom order a CU-24 directly from PRS with features that would be almost exactly like those on the one I sold. I don't know if this was just a momentary epiphany on my part or whether this was the message that others here were trying to convey to me all along yesterday, but it certainly sounds like is possible. The key is going to be the blade switch. If I can special order a new CU-24 in virtually any color combination including gloss black back and sides, and with single volume/single tone controls, but with HFS/VB pickups and a rotary selector instead of blade switch, then as I see it, I'm about 99.9% of the way there, right? The older 'sweet switch' that I had certainly isn't a deal-breaker for me, so I don't see why that special order CU-24 wouldn't be extremely close to the one I foolishly sold back in 2001/2002. Have I missed anything?

The only concerns that I would have with such a special order are the newer (current production) HFS/VB pickups (and other electronic components), and the wiring scheme. I spent a fair bit of time looking over the PRS website last night, and its got a boatload of great information that I really didn't know was there, but I still wasn't able to determine the following:

a) Whether you can special order a CU-24 with rotary selector rather than blade switch?

b) Whether current-day (2013) HFS/VB pickups are exactly the same as the original HFS/VB pickups of circa '90/'91, or whether they're reissues of some sort?

c) Whether the current-day wiring pattern would be exactly the same as the original pattern used in '90/'91? And lastly . . .

d) Whether the other electronic components used in the current-day build (e.g., pots, caps, wire, etc) would be roughly the same or better materials as those used back in '90/'91?

Does anyone have any views on this?

Thanks for continued assistance.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

a) You can buy a Navarro and have the PTC install a rotary switch.

b) I don't recall the HFS/VB ever going out of production, so they should be the same.

c) Maybe, I'm not sure if yours had Power-out-of-phase, if not then yes.

d) Totally.

 

[Jazzedout]

I believe in this market you can find a lot of all original and in great condition CU24 with HFS and rotary switch, at a great price.

 

[Troubadour]

a) You can buy a Navarro and have the PTC install a rotary switch.

b) I don't recall the HFS/VB ever going out of production, so they should be the same.

c) Maybe, I'm not sure if yours had Power-out-of-phase, if not then yes.

d) Totally.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Many thanx, Serg!

a) No brainer! In fact, I could install the rotary switch here myself, and as you've said, the Navarro is indeed very close to a CU-24 in almost all respects, but alas, its available only white. Not good!

c) I'm not sure either

 

[Troubadour]

I believe in this market you can find a lot of all original and in great condition CU24 with HFS and rotary switch, at a great price.

Thanx, Jazzed-out!

To be perfectly honest, I haven't started looking particularly hard as yet, but I will be, in the weeks and months ahead, especially if a new (custom order) CU-24 cannot be ordered with rotary selector. So if what you say is true, its great news!