Different Models and their "One Thing@

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Mole351

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I'll preface by saying I know PRS guitars can be very versatile.

Not being extremely well versed in many of the PRS models - and the fact that I see many folks saying the have so many PRS guitars because each one does one thing well - I wanted to see which models you all use for which specialties.

I know the Hollowbody can really be boxed in as specializing in jazz. That said - what are the "specialties" for the custom 24? Custom 22? DGT? 408, 513, etc etc? Would love to see what folks on this board use for their "one thing"
 
It's nicer to unbox than to box.
That's the beauty and kinda the founding idea of PRS. Make a guitar so the player didn't need to switch from Strat to LP. Things are much evolved since then obviously. Still, that's part of the reason I like them. I could play most styles on any one of my guitars. I generally will switch from a single coil spanky clean sound to full rage high gain and go anywhere in between just by using the knobs on my guitar.
 
toothace said:
What Vaughn said!

And the HB isn't just a jazz box...check out Emil Werstler ripping some metal on his HB!
Click to expand...


Right - I know how versatile the HB is - I've seen him play it! Good stuff. Just saying that's the general view on the main use of that guitar...
 
dscn2745-jpg.552513


I do have two PRS as my property. Since NOV 2011 a 513 MT and since OCT 2016 a SE Mark Holcomb.

My all-day-axe is the 513. I felt in love with that model the time I noticed a guy in a YT-clip named @Dave Weiner showing his 513 Swamp Ash. I like the option of several voicings under one roof very much.
The Holcomb has some advantages: The scale of 25,5", a 20" fretboard radius and very articulated pickups. The singlecoil sounds are great, and this is supported by the scale. Whilst the 513 is tuned in E-standard (or Drop D), the Holcomb is tuned in Drop C (or D-Standard).

I recommend both guitars for their playability, both are versatile, one with 6 different voicings, the other with 13 voicings.
 
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What I've noticed about my 408 is that a) it has a voice all its own, and b) that voice sounds great in a variety of genres and contexts.

It really does not sound at all like my Strats, or like any Gibson or anything else I've played or heard. And I disagree with those saying it has a wide variety of tones. It does not! The single-coil configs in it sounds very much like the humbucking configs, except they hum lol. That has to do with the tone circuit I guess. In any event, I use it for jazz and for rock and for country, and it sounds appropriate and wonderful in all situations. It's clear, and it cuts through without being shrill.
 
I have several PRS guitars not because each one does one thing well, but because they all do a lot of things well. They simply do things differently from each other.

For me, the idea that an electric guitar can only be used to do one thing is nonsense. YMMV.

David Grissom and John McLaughlin both use DGTs (McLaughlin uses other PRSes as well). Yet their styles couldn't be more different. I played my McCarty Singlecut on a country music TV ad for Dodge Truck the very first day I got it. I've used the CU24 on a jazz spot, and a McCarty on virtually every style of music. Don't even get me started on the 20th Anniversary of Private Stock guitar, another one I've used on soundtracks from ambient to very heavy.

Anyway, I pick 'em for certain moods they accentuate, and because they inspire me to try different things. They're not one-trick ponies, and really, no guitar is (OK, maybe guitars set up for slide).
 
I think I am one of the ones guilty of giving the OP the original question of why we have different PRSi for different "specialties". I agree that one of the advantages of owning a PRS is the versatility. But if so, why do I say I use a different one for a different job. To this I plead guilty but maybe not for the reason you think. It isn't so much a tone or a style, it's feel. Yes the Cu24 will cover most all ground. I get just about all the sounds I want in 1 guitar. But the Cu24 feels different than the Cu22. I know the length of the neck is the same, the neck pup moves not the neck, but it still feels different. The 4 control layout of the SC make how I change tone or switch between pickups different than the Customs. The Brazilian neck feels different than the painted mahogany neck. The Mira's light weight and rock voiced pickups just evokes different emotion from it's playing.

Now that doesn't mean that I don't select a PRS based on tone. I do that too. Dragon 1 pups just sound different than 57/08's. The HB does sound different than the CE. So I will pick one over the other for a tone that I want to find, but it's a combination of things that roll up into wanting to play one guitar over the other.

If it was only about a certain tone it would be no big thing to play one guitar all night and it would probably be the Cu24. But since each guitar brings something different, I think about playing different ones. Besides, it makes a terrific excuse to own many different PRS guitars.
 
Mole351 said:
Right - I know how versatile the HB is - I've seen him play it! Good stuff. Just saying that's the general view on the main use of that guitar...
Click to expand...
The first mistake is to pigeonhole any PRS model. Yes, there are the normal "logical" inclinations, but that's how you think your guitar into a corner. I've played a Cu24 for vintage rock (56s-60s) to modern country, a DGT for prog rock and metal, and each other of my PRSi for every genre I play. It's more about the amp selection and pedals, for me, than it is the guitar for a style or sound. Each model brings something unique to the game that gives me creative options I might not have otherwise leveraged with a narrow expectation.
 
There is an attack and clarity to notes ( and chords ) from my PRS that I have never had with other guitars , The effort to get a sound is lower so my speed and accuracy is higher my PRS just make me better !!!!
I am particularly fond of the models that are unique to PRS ( pickup wise ) but then I grab my modern eagle and just marvel at the power of the sound.
I am more about how the guitar feels and projects my playing because most any guitar can make any sound think Albert King on a V or Steve Morse on a Tele or Jimmy Page on a Tele Les Paul vs Slash on a similar guitar.
Good Luck on your tone hunt its a fun ride
 
For me, it`s whichever one feels like it`s ready to go on any given night. Lately, it`s been an SAS that plays great (and is less filling in a band mix). My old CE 24 or one of my se`s also come out, but only one guitar per gig. Everything is capable of many sounds, it`s always just what I want to hear or feel that night. Each one is different, and special in its own way.
 
Boogie said:
The first mistake is to pigeonhole any PRS model. Yes, there are the normal "logical" inclinations, but that's how you think your guitar into a corner. I've played a Cu24 for vintage rock (56s-60s) to modern country, a DGT for prog rock and metal, and each other of my PRSi for every genre I play. It's more about the amp selection and pedals, for me, than it is the guitar for a style or sound. Each model brings something unique to the game that gives me creative options I might not have otherwise leveraged with a narrow expectation.
Click to expand...
Within reason, no guitar should be pigeonholed. Most (in)famous example is an early PRS user, Ted Nugent. His main axe for two decades was the Gibson Byrdland. A hollowbody named for a famous jazzman / jazz club, designed for jazz.... and he plugged it in to a handful of SuperTwin stacks and cranked 'em up, and made azz-kickin' hard rock.
 
I'll grab my NF3 if I want mainly spanky clean sounds or ethereal ambient stuff. It's my only maple neck/fretboard guitar and only guitar with a trem. I can get some similar enough sounds on other guitars(minus any trem use), but I did buy that guitar for everything I listed. Also that middle pickup gives me something different. I actually tend to stick to the middle three pickup selections on the switch much of the time.
 
When I had a CU24 that thing just wanted to rock. You could play anything on it, but it was happiest rocking hard! No better guitar for that, IMO.

The HBII is definitely good for the cleaner, bluesier stuff, particularly with the McCarty Archtop pickups.Those pickups sound very clean, but they take on a nice edge with some gain. That's what I particularly like it for. Sounds huge like George Thorogood or a fatter 335. It may be a slightly different story as they moved through the 57/08, 58/15, and now 58/15 LT pickups.

The 594 is my LP, or as close as I'll ever strive to get. But on top of that, it makes an excellent twangin' country machine with the coil splits!
 
For me, it's just a breakdown between solid or hollow, I'm not a trem guy but that's the other factor.
My HB ( although not a full blown jazz box) can do jazz fairly well with a bit of amp tweaking, it does blues, alt & old school rock, while my 408 can do jazz if I want to fake it in a pinch and roll off all the highs on my amp, and pretty much all other applications (metal to country to whatever). It (408, like the 513) is a swiss army knife kinda axe and covers a lot of ground.

But in the end it's all a bit subjective, they're still just six stringers, and all we do is strum chords and pluck out solos........we can do any music on any model.
 
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