Has anyone sold a Paul's, 408, 513 or 509 because you hated the P/U's ?

[BALIstic]

I have to admit that I love looking at PRS guitars period.....but my real interest is 513's and Paul's Guitars and Ive now exhausted every thread and post on the forum regarding them. Going back page after page after page. Yes I used the search function but with little success ?

I have in my humble home two 513's and my Paul's guitar. I mulled over the various models readily available in Oz and settled on these models firstly because of the versatility and look of the proprietary pickups, stunning workmanship and quality of the guitars in general. I love the fact my PRS guitars are "all and uniquely PRS" .

I've heard some people describing the 513's pickups as "muddy". This is not my experience and I am particually fond of my 513 (I gave one to my boy. He uses it almost exclusively in a worship band and an up and coming local pop band with no such complaints). Ive not heard any such comments about the 509's but they're obviously quite new and only just becoming available in some countries.

What I'd like to know is.........Has anyone sold any of the above mentioned guitars because they found they disliked or hated even, the proprietary pickups and were left with little option other than selling as fitting after market or boutique pickups was essentially out of the question ?

I look forward to reading any replies in defence of or even deriding these unique PRSZ

Thanks in advance.

 

[Rider1260]

I have a Brushstroke 24 ( 408 narrow pickups ) and 408 standard and a 513 and love them all , I could not see selling any of them unless something stellar in the same model came up
I could see adding a Pauls in the future.
I would not describe my 513 as muddy , I would call the Hot Humbucker sound a bit compressed sounding ( and darker in a good way )

 

[WEDGE]

Yes I did. Ordered a 408 with a rosewood neck and loved it but could not bond with the pups. Might have a go at another to make sure but didnt love it off the bat.

 

[Shawn@PRS]

I love the pups on my Paul's guitar.

 

[WEDGE]

Yes I did. Ordered a 408 with a rosewood neck and loved it but could not bond with the pups. Might have a go at another to make sure but didnt love it off the bat.

Should have said why....couldn't stop it from being very sensitive to string noise. Any movement and it came through the amp, my fingers dragging on the strings. . Lowered and raised the pups but no change. I guess you could blame my lack of technique but I Never had that issue with any other guitar with standard buckers.

 

[garrettb]

I feel like those are the only PRS models that really require a try-before-buy approach. I can't imagine buying one if you don't love the pickups.

I love the pups on my Paul's guitar.

Agree! My favorites along with the 58/15 LT. Looking forward to trying out the 509, though.

 

[László]

I've had the 408, and now a Private Stock with Paul's Guitar pickups (plus a middle pickup).

I love both the regular 408s and the Paul's Guitar pickups.

Of course, everyone's got different tastes and needs, right?

 

[BALIstic]

Yes I did. Ordered a 408 with a rosewood neck and loved it but could not bond with the pups. Might have a go at another to make sure but didnt love it off the bat.

I didn't have the opportunity to try a 408 but for some reason I didn't like the look of the big bridge and narrow neck pickup ? I don't know why this would have bothered me, Ive owned a few Teles where the pickups look nothing alike or are even mounted at the same angle to the strings. Now all my Tele's have buckers.

I think I was also partial to the fact I was buying the guitar based on one Mr Smith built for himself. How could you go wrong ?

 

[BALIstic]

I have a Brushstroke 24 ( 408 narrow pickups ) and 408 standard and a 513 and love them all , I could not see selling any of them unless something stellar in the same model came up
I could see adding a Pauls in the future.
I would not describe my 513 as muddy , I would call the Hot Humbucker sound a bit compressed sounding ( and darker in a good way )

I agree completely with your description of the 513"s pickups in heavy humbucking mode.......The way they look even hints towards an active pickup /sound. I love active EMG's (no hecklers pls) and that's probably what makes the 513's sound so familiar to my ears......but better.
I love them em !

 

[Dancing Frog]

I would not describe my 513 as muddy , I would call the Hot Humbucker sound a bit compressed sounding ( and darker in a good way )

Whether you consider it muddy or not, really speaks to your skill at EQ'ing. I once said to someone who was complaining about that, "you know you have to adopt a different EQ strategy when playing a 513." The guy responded, "I don't want have to turn my amp upside down every time I use one." My experience has been that the heavier 513 rosewoods can be muddy. One of my rosewoods is a really heavy, and that one goes way dark. It's like a Guinness, it's not a taste everyone likes. It doesn't mean it's bad.

I came really close to selling my first one, but it took a couple of months to really figure it out. I wasn't a knob rider when this started. There was only place for the volume which was on 10. The 513 really cured me of that.

I think there's a SAS-NF that I haven't bounded with, but I am too lazy to sell it.

 

[gush]

Whether you consider it muddy or not, really speaks to your skill at EQ'ing. I once said to someone who was complaining about that, "you know you have to adopt a different EQ strategy when playing a 513." The guy responded, "I don't want have to turn my amp upside down every time I use one." My experience has been that the heavier 513 rosewoods can be muddy. One of my rosewoods is a really heavy, and that one goes way dark. It's like a Guinness, it's not a taste everyone likes. It doesn't mean it's bad.

I came really close to selling my first one, but it took a couple of months to really figure it out. I wasn't a knob rider when this started. There was only place for the volume which was on 10. The 513 really cured me of that.

I think there's a SAS-NF that I haven't bounded with, but I am too lazy to sell it.

Can I help you with that?

 

[drdoom8793]

It's like a Guinness, it's not a taste everyone likes. It doesn't mean it's bad.

Someone gave you bad info. You either like Guinness or you're wrong

 

[11top]

I like the 408s. I just don't like that they can't be easily swapped for a traditional pickup.

 

[BALIstic]

I like the 408s. I just don't like that they can't be easily swapped for a traditional pickup.

Fair enough. I don't really tinker with pickup's. If Ive played a guitar, liked it and bought it then as a rule I don't change anything other than say....add locking tuners. But I realise some guy's love swapping out pickups.

I recently bought three cheap MIK Epi's, all with alinco p/u's. A Korina V, LP Black Beauty Custom and a Custom 3 p/u SG. I bought them to permenantly hang as art in the guitar room but they all sound and play great. I like the SG so much that I am planning to add some Burst Buckers (Ive got a few Gibby's with 59 Classic / Classic +) and I'll have myself a truly kick ass SG for around $350 all in.

 

[Huggy Love]

I picked up my 408 at a price so low it was no way I could pass it up. Love the hell out of the instrument itself, it made me realize the playability and construction of PRS has gotten even better over time, but only from a tone/sound standpoint I'm considering moving it.

A combination of being too bright and too hot forces me to re-EQ when I switch between it and my other guitars, and I can't get a decent round jazz tone out of it in the neck pup. I originally intended it to be a workhorse guitar that I could use to record rock and fusion sounds (which it does very well), and double as something I could thump out jazz standards in the local spots, but at this point I only use it for recording overdriven sounds and shredwanking.

The clean sounds are too Fender-like to me so I rarely use it for that and was disappointed to find no other options for the pup shape either from PRS or after market.
Love the guitar, plays like a laser, just wish the neck pup had more mids/bottom and was more clear, less jangle. (For lack of a better description)

 

[shinksma]

Huggy B: so what color is this 408 that you wish to move? Got any pretty pics? (I'm asking for others in the forum too, of course...)

 

[coyote]

I played a 513 last year and it sounded spectacular. What I don't like is the look of the guitar with those pups.

 

[BALIstic]

I played a 513 last year and it sounded spectacular. What I don't like is the look of the guitar with those pups.

I'm glad to hear you enjoyed your 513 playing experience. Guitar aesthetics are a very personal thing. I love the "HSH appearance" but obviously PRSZ take on it with the 513 is not for eveyone. Maybe it's the fact they resemble active pup's, which many guitarists hate with a passion ? I'm personally not a fan of Zebra pickups, preferring covered then black, all creme or all white.

The main thing is that you own a PRS of some description and I'm guessing that with your post count that that is an affirmative.

 

[Spikedog007]

I really like the pups in my Paul's guitar. Very articulate, clear and powerful. To me they sound great both clean and over driven. The guitar rings like a bell so that helps.

I like pretty much all PRS pups from the 408's, Starla's, HFS/VB through the 57, 59 and 53 series. Picking a favorite would be hard but I might have to pick the narrow 408's in the Paul's.

The only PRS pups I've had trouble with are the ones in my 305 which I think are the same as what are in a 513. They sounded a bit harsh in the bridge and a little muddy in the neck but I'm not much of a single coil person so take that with a grain of salt. Also, lowering them a bit really helped.

 

[BALIstic]

I really like the pups in my Paul's guitar. Very articulate, clear and powerful. To me they sound great both clean and over driven. The guitar rings like a bell so that helps.

I like pretty much all PRS pups from the 408's, Starla's, HFS/VB through the 57, 59 and 53 series. Picking a favorite would be hard but I might have to pick the narrow 408's in the Paul's.

The only PRS pups I've had trouble with are the ones in my 305 which I think are the same as what are in a 513. They sounded a bit harsh in the bridge and a little muddy in the neck but I'm not much of a single coil person so take that with a grain of salt. Also, lowering them a bit really helped.

I had never heard of the 305 being more of a Fender guy than a PRS guy but saying this this is the only forum I've visited in months.....but have been playing a lot of my Flaxwood Liekki (love them P90's)? Can't tell me Flaxwoods body shape isn't PRS inspired.....but what to do in regards to the 305, so many Strats in my house but a PRS Strat O Like is already giving me gas and I haven't even seen one in the flesh. Couple of good vids on YT. What to do ? Quick interweb search reveals no 305's for sale in Oz. Problem solved.