Help Me Replace my 10th Anniversary S2 Custom 24

[MarcWink]

Okay folks. As much as I love the tone of my S2 Custom 24 10th Anniversary and as much as I love the looks, a year out from getting it, I'm still not crazy about the Pattern Thin neck shape. Don't get me wrong, I can play it perfectly fine, but I don't find it to be as comfortable in my hand as my CE 22 or 2008 Custom 22, both with Wide Fat necks, or my 35th Anniversary Core Custom 24. I actually find the S2 only marginally more comfortable than my Ibanez Prestige RG with its Wizard neck that's mega thin. At present, I'm tossing around the idea of parting with the S2 Custom 24 and going with an S2 594 Single Cut, a US Swamp Ash Special, or perhaps trying to hunt down an older Core Custom 22 Stoptail with a Wide Fat, or maybe even an older McCarty. No matter where I land, the guitar is going to be set up in D standard tuning using 10-52 strings if it's a 25" scale or 11-56 if it's the 594. Pickups will likely not be swapped.

 

[DISTORT6]

Don’t forget about the OG Singlecut.
WF neck and Stoptail. McCarty thickness.
Sound great in D Standard with that EXACT 10-52 set of strings.

 

[MarcWink]

Don’t forget about the OG Singlecut.
WF neck and Stoptail. McCarty thickness.
Sound great in D Standard with that EXACT 10-52 set of strings.

Oh, my damn...I almost forgot about the ol' early 00's Singlecut and the subsequent SC250.

 

[Stephen J.]

Oh, my damn...I almost forgot about the ol' early 00's Singlecut and the subsequent SC250.

Speaking of which,
https://www.davesguitar.com/products/singlecut-2

Recently listed.

 

[FatFingerBlues]

Not to be a party pooper but you will regret selling the 10th anniversary Cu24
its a great guitar
Mine has become one of my favorites

 

[DISTORT6]

Speaking of which,
https://www.davesguitar.com/products/singlecut-2

Recently listed.

That would be probably rated as a 2025 10-top.

 

[MarcWink]

Not to be a party pooper but you will regret selling the 10th anniversary Cu24
its a great guitar
Mine has become one of my favorites

Don't get me wrong, I do really like the tone of the guitar, but it doesn't do a tone that's unique enough to justify keeping it since it has the same pickups as my Core Custom 24 35th Anniversary, and I don't reach for it as often because I just don't get on well with the neck shape. I very much prefer a more oval shaped neck that's a little deeper front to back. The Wide Fat and Pattern neck shapes are my favorite with Pattern Regular coming very close behind them. Pattern Thin just isn't for me, despite my being a metal guy.

 

[Maertl513]

@MarcWink,
Your hands seem to be pretty much as sensitive as my hands towards Wizard and Wide Thin necks.

I do have a different recommendation for you, taking care of 24 frets, HH-layout, some Custom legacy aswell. Okay, by tier of production it's a downgrade.
SE Mark Holcomb. It has WT profile, BUT in combination with a 20" fretboard radius it's way more comfortable, than PRS's standard radius and WT combination. And geniusly it's shipped with a .010 - .052 string set.

 

[d^rren]

Don’t forget about the OG Singlecut.
WF neck and Stoptail. McCarty thickness.
Sound great in D Standard with that EXACT 10-52 set of strings.

i thought the OG singlecuts were thinner, and didn’t get chonky until the McCarty, SC250 and SC245 models came out later.

 

[d^rren]

Thin necks aren’t so much a “metal” thing as they are a “small hands” thing. I never understood thin necks being associated with “shred” as I find my hand cramps up on them. I much prefer a medium thickness neck with a more elliptical shape, not the thin/flat “D” shape that has more pronounced shoulders.

And to be honest, I don’t find the PRS wide/thin neck profile to be all that thin. It’s quite comfy to me, but I get that it’s not for everyone. Wide/fat is a great profile, though. I wish I’d kept my Swamp Ash Special that had a w/f neck. That thing was glorious.

 

[Maertl513]

The main problem in our evaluations are the sizes of our hands, and the things we are used to.

Hence: Our words can give a hint, but crucial is your own and direct experience.

 

[RickP]

You might consider a core Mira if you’d like to shred a little weight in the process. Underrated, fire-breathing rock machine.

 

[DISTORT6]

i thought the OG singlecuts were thinner, and didn’t get chonky until the McCarty, SC250 and SC245 models came out later.

Nope. Thick from the jump.

 

[MarcWink]

@MarcWink,
Your hands seem to be pretty much as sensitive as my hands towards Wizard and Wide Thin necks.

I do have a different recommendation for you, taking care of 24 frets, HH-layout, some Custom legacy aswell. Okay, by tier of production it's a downgrade.
SE Mark Holcomb. It has WT profile, BUT in combination with a 20" fretboard radius it's way more comfortable, than PRS's standard radius and WT combination. And geniusly it's shipped with a .010 - .052 string set.

The Holcomb is one that's crossed my mind in the past, but after the sour QC experience that I had with the SE Silver Sky Maple, I'm more inclined to avoid the SE's like a case of the clap.

 

[Maertl513]

One bad QC experience shouldn't put you under stress.

 

[MarcWink]

To be fair, it was one model with a sample size of three that were bad in different ways. The first had dead frets on the third string around the 14 and 15th fret. The second had terrible fret sprout, and the third, when taking the strings off to set it up with my preferred strings had a nut that wasn't glued on properly...so I'm not terribly confident with SE options at this point.

 

[Maertl513]

I do have two. The Holcomb had a small neck twist, but my guitar tech handled it perfectly.
The Tremonti was perfect.

 

[Prina]

Oh, my damn...I almost forgot about the ol' early 00's Singlecut and the subsequent SC250.

My first PRS was a S2 594 singlecut and it was the only one that's left the stable. The Stripped 58 (in the line of the SC250/SC245 and SC58 eventually evolving to the McCarty 594) is a way better guitar for me, the more comfortable pattern neck vs the pattern vintage on the S2, very musical acoustic tone, Core quality and the 57/08 pickups.

Check out others' Stripped 58 comments

 

[FatFingerBlues]

Don't get me wrong, I do really like the tone of the guitar, but it doesn't do a tone that's unique enough to justify keeping it since it has the same pickups as my Core Custom 24 35th Anniversary, and I don't reach for it as often because I just don't get on well with the neck shape. I very much prefer a more oval shaped neck that's a little deeper front to back. The Wide Fat and Pattern neck shapes are my favorite with Pattern Regular coming very close behind them. Pattern Thin just isn't for me, despite my being a metal guy.

I can understand you have better already
that changes things
My S2 is my best Cu24

to be clear though I never understood the complaints about the different necks
I can play either the WF or the WT without telling much difference
I have short fat fingers though
I am sure it would be different with long fingers

 

[Glide-bpm]

I can understand you have better already
that changes things
My S2 is my best Cu24

to be clear though I never understood the complaints about the different necks
I can play either the WF or the WT without telling much difference
I have short fat fingers though
I am sure it would be different with long fingers

I've got pretty long fingers and I can comfortably play any neck carve. I guess I've had so many different brands of guitars over my 57 years that it just doesn't matter to me.