grausch
New Member
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2016
- Messages
- 505
A long, long time ago...
Ok, not that long, but in July I decided that I was going to treat myself to a proper big-boy guitar for my 40th birthday in November. The initial plan was to buy a 1977 Gibson and I did find one or two candidates, but since I couldn't test these in-store, I never could convince myself to pull the trigger. I just found it difficult to trust the G guitars from that period due to the several well-publicized reasons. It took a bit longer than it should have, but after a while I thought - why not just buy a core PRS?
So, after the candidates got narrowed to two, I got some input from this forum to help with my decision. That conversation be found here - http://forums.prsguitars.com/threads/mccarty-594-vs-408-for-versatility.25364/. Sold my signed Bernie with Mules and a Gibson SG to reduce the cost. My Black Cherry Bernie did not sell, and after rejecting some low-ball offers, I did not mind that at all.
After working with the dealer, the guitar finally shipped on 20 October 2017, which incidentally is exactly 40 years after the Lynyrd Skynyrd aircraft crash. That was unintentional, but I guess it is a good a reason as any to learn to play Freebird by my 41st.
The guitar arrived a couple of days before my birthday and of course I persuaded the wife that I needed to both test it and photograph it to ensure that everything was fine. Here are some of the photos from late October.
Here are some thoughts on the guitar in general:
With the Standard 24 feeling like the smoother player, I doubt I would have bought the Siggy Ltd. if I had played both in-store - it just didn't feel like it justified the money.
However, I have now spent some more time with it, and I guess we both understand each other much better now. I am now playing around a lot more with the pickups and usually use the neck in SC mode and I'll set the bridge between either mode (depending on the song). Also am finding some really great sounds by combining both pickups and that is something I never do. This guitar is great for Smoke on the water, and by just using the toggle switch I can handle the overdriven and cleaner parts of the song extremely well.
So, while it initially felt like this guitar was not a keeper, it has become the guitar I play when I wish to treat myself - I just needed some time to figure out all of its nuances and how to get what I want from it. All that being said though, my respect for the old Satin Standards has increased even more - a potential 594 purchase may not happen if I can pick up a satin Singlecut...
Ok, not that long, but in July I decided that I was going to treat myself to a proper big-boy guitar for my 40th birthday in November. The initial plan was to buy a 1977 Gibson and I did find one or two candidates, but since I couldn't test these in-store, I never could convince myself to pull the trigger. I just found it difficult to trust the G guitars from that period due to the several well-publicized reasons. It took a bit longer than it should have, but after a while I thought - why not just buy a core PRS?
So, after the candidates got narrowed to two, I got some input from this forum to help with my decision. That conversation be found here - http://forums.prsguitars.com/threads/mccarty-594-vs-408-for-versatility.25364/. Sold my signed Bernie with Mules and a Gibson SG to reduce the cost. My Black Cherry Bernie did not sell, and after rejecting some low-ball offers, I did not mind that at all.
After working with the dealer, the guitar finally shipped on 20 October 2017, which incidentally is exactly 40 years after the Lynyrd Skynyrd aircraft crash. That was unintentional, but I guess it is a good a reason as any to learn to play Freebird by my 41st.
The guitar arrived a couple of days before my birthday and of course I persuaded the wife that I needed to both test it and photograph it to ensure that everything was fine. Here are some of the photos from late October.
Here are some thoughts on the guitar in general:
- The V12 finish is excellent - feels very hard and the neck is a joy to play on. It is a close second in feel to my 20th Anniversary Standard 24. Feels much better than the poly on my Bernie, but unless I compare these guitars one after the other, I would be happy with any of the finishes.
- The thicker body (compared to the Standard 24) is slightly less comfortable. When my strumming arm hits the body on the Standard 24, it feels nice and soft. Both the extra body and the finish make this guitar feel "harder" for lack of a better term.
- The pattern neck is phenomenal - small difference compared to the pattern regular on the Standard 24, but enough for me to prefer this by a significant margin.
- The guitar came with jumbo frets which was a pleasant surprise, but requires some adjusting of my technique. Bends with 10s are easy and I can understand why people praise the DGT frets. The Standard 24 with its smaller frets and 9s does feel smoother to play though.
- Hardware is a definite upgrade from the Standard 24 (which has a 2005 serial number). I can see why PRSh is of the opinion that his newer guitars are better.
With the Standard 24 feeling like the smoother player, I doubt I would have bought the Siggy Ltd. if I had played both in-store - it just didn't feel like it justified the money.
However, I have now spent some more time with it, and I guess we both understand each other much better now. I am now playing around a lot more with the pickups and usually use the neck in SC mode and I'll set the bridge between either mode (depending on the song). Also am finding some really great sounds by combining both pickups and that is something I never do. This guitar is great for Smoke on the water, and by just using the toggle switch I can handle the overdriven and cleaner parts of the song extremely well.
So, while it initially felt like this guitar was not a keeper, it has become the guitar I play when I wish to treat myself - I just needed some time to figure out all of its nuances and how to get what I want from it. All that being said though, my respect for the old Satin Standards has increased even more - a potential 594 purchase may not happen if I can pick up a satin Singlecut...
