In praise of my Paul's Guitar...

Yup! Totally dig my Paul's guitar....
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I thought it had to be, but the red seems to be much rarer than the other colors, and the others I've seen have been from singularly bad Reverb ads, so I don't have much by way of comparison - and yours looks less redly fiery than those.

I've had experience with the color - one core, assorted SEs - and seems like they're usually more saturated / vivid than yours. Is your pic true to life? I like yours; faced with a choice between it and the Fire Red I have in my mind's eye, I don't know which I'd choose. Assuming tone, playability, and condition were equal (and are they ever?), I'd probably decide on the basis of wood figure more than color.

Just curious.
Yes the pic is true with no processing of any kind..
 
It's coming up on a year since I purchased my first PRS - a 2020 Paul's Guitar. Ordered it on Dec. 2, 2020. I'm no pro, but I'm not exactly a rookie either. I'm 70 years old, and I've been playing the guitar since I was 9 or 10. I've owned too many guitars to remember over the years, and I currently own several very nice guitars including a beautiful Les Paul R8. But my PRS Paul's Guitar is the one I play 99 percent of the time.

The PG is as perfect as a guitar can possibly be. Every time I pick it up, I marvel at the quality and craftsmanship, the playability... and the tone! OMG, these TCI pickups are truly amazing. The single coil and humbucker sounds are perfect to my ears.

I now own 2 PRS guitars, having bought a used SE Hollow Body II Piezo several months ago. It's a fine guitar in its own right. But the Paul's Guitar is my number one, by a long shot.

At my age, I'm pretty much done buying guitars. In fact, in the coming years as I get older I'll be selling them off. But I guarantee you, my Paul's Guitar will be the last to go.

Anyone else love their PG?

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Love my PG. One of the best I own from PRS and probably one of the best in my collection
 
Yes the pic is true with no processing of any kind..
Guess I'll find out in person for myself...got a red one coming.

But I know myself too well. I'll still want a Core. Feel like it's inevitable.

I'm easily enough impressed by guitars which are particularly good examples of the kinds of guitars they are - ie, a good take (refined, enhanced, or right on the money) on a standard type - Teletype, Les & Less Paul, semi of some description, etc. And I'm happy to recognize a blend of elements which adds up to something new - even when (maybe especially when) that new thing has the predictable flavor of its ingredients. (IE, the classic PRS Custom formula). All valid stuff, and candy fixes for an avowed guitar junkie.

But a guitar that jumps up and reveals itself as something I haven't heard before, embodying some alchemy by which the result could not quite have been predicted as a sum of parts - that's a lot rarer, and more special. For me the Paul's Guitar is one of those. From the first demo I heard (Bryan Ewald's of the Core), I heard not just great "humbuckers" that also sounded rich and "authentic" as "single-coils." (Quotation marks to flag self-aware repetitions of stock buzzwords) - I heard a guitar with an inherently distinctive voice through all those modes by which it transcends replication to become its own thing.

I wondered if it was Bryan's playing, which is always tasty and, while not necessarily what I do, has a familiar flavor and range of technique and dynamics through which I can readily hear the guitar's contributions. So I listened to his demos of other models, came back to the Paul's - and still heard that distinctive voice. Heard a measure of it in his SE PG demo as well.

The ultimate test was to grab one and see if it came through in person. It does! I couldn't be happier with my Aqua. If that SE was as good as PRS gets, a definitive statement of Mr Smith's lifelong tonequest, it would be good enough. It stands with my best guitars, each of which I consider equally The Best Guitar in the Known Universe, impossible to rank because each is as good as it gets. Each has a unique voice that opens musical doors I wouldn't otherwise have found.

But I've listened to back-to-back ütoob comparisons, the SE vs the Core - and as good as the SE is, even through 3" laptop speakers, I can hear a difference. I think everyone who has heard and played both acknowledges that there's a difference, and - horses for courses aside - if money were no object and there was no fear of owning something too valuable to subject to normal use, I get the sense they'd all choose the Core.

Also, I have hands- and ears-on experience with the difference between other Cores and their SE counterparts, and I think I know in what way a Core PG would improve on the SE. It's 3-4 times the money, and is it worth that? As an SE lover, I say not for EVERY model in the PRS line. Not that a Core C24, for instance, doesn't improve on an SE C24 - or a Core Santana on an SE Santana. No doubt they do. But as a guy who can't (or won't) afford a stable of Cores, the SE ticket has gotten me in to a tasty sonic and aesthetic smorgasbord from which I would otherwise have been excluded, and I'm way more than happy with all of them. I don't feel the need with most models to step up - but I suspect the Paul is one of those singularities, a guitar that sounds like nothing but itself, with a voice I can adopt as my own.

So as an instrument for a lifetime (given what's left of it, certainly an heirloom as well), I think the Core will be worth its premium. I'm not thinking 3x better for 3x money, or twice as good for 3x money. I'm thinking maybe 20% "better" (however we quantify differences when we've already crossed over into the superlative). But when a guitar that smacks me upside the head, dazzles with uniqueness I would never have predicted, shows me something new under the tonal sun - AND sounds and feels like it was made for me - yeah, I think it'll be worth the ticket. So I want the whole package, all the parts and pieces Paul intends, in their most evolved form. I want it to be a visual work of art as well - a thing of beauty being a joy forever and all that - and to embody the most refined and passionate craftsmanship that can go into a guitar.

But man! The SE is so good already. If the Core (when I eventually manage it) is even that 20% better - a little richer, fuller, warmer, expressively dynamic - my head may explode.
 
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Well. THOSE are quite nice. Paul has him some good aesthetic taste. You too, I reckon - if those are yours. Can I have one?
 
Guess I'll find out in person for myself...got a red one coming.

But I know myself too well. I'll still want a Core. Feel like it's inevitable.

I'm easily enough impressed by guitars which are particularly good examples of the kinds of guitars they are - ie, a good take (refined, enhanced, or right on the money) on a standard type - Teletype, Les & Less Paul, semi of some description, etc. And I'm happy to recognize a blend of elements which adds up to something new - even when (maybe especially when) that new thing has the predictable flavor of its ingredients. (IE, the classic PRS Custom formula). All valid stuff, and candy fixes for an avowed guitar junkie.

But a guitar that jumps up and reveals itself as something I haven't heard before, embodying some alchemy by which the result could not quite have been predicted as a sum of parts - that's a lot rarer, and more special. For me the Paul's Guitar is one of those. From the first demo I heard (Bryan Ewald's of the Core), I heard not just great "humbuckers" that also sounded rich and "authentic" as "single-coils." (Quotation marks to flag self-aware repetitions of stock buzzwords) - I heard a guitar with an inherently distinctive voice through all those modes by which it transcends replication to become its own thing.

I wondered if it was Bryan's playing, which is always tasty and, while not necessarily what I do, has a familiar flavor and range of technique and dynamics through which I can readily hear the guitar's contributions. So I listened to his demos of other models, came back to the Paul's - and still heard that distinctive voice. Heard a measure of it in his SE PG demo as well.

The ultimate test was to grab one and see if it came through in person. It does! I couldn't be happier with my Aqua. If that SE was as good as PRS gets, a definitive statement of Mr Smith's lifelong tonequest, it would be good enough. It stands with my best guitars, each of which I consider equally The Best Guitar in the Known Universe, impossible to rank because each is as good as it gets. Each has a unique voice that opens musical doors I wouldn't otherwise have found.

But I've listened to back-to-back ütoob comparisons, the SE vs the Core - and as good as the SE is, even through 3" laptop speakers, I can hear a difference. I think everyone who has heard and played both acknowledges that there's a difference, and - horses for courses aside - if money were no object and there was no fear of owning something too valuable to subject to normal use, I get the sense they'd all choose the Core.

Also, I have hands- and ears-on experience with the difference between other Cores and their SE counterparts, and I think I know in what way a Core PG would improve on the SE. It's 3-4 times the money, and is it worth that? As an SE lover, I say not for EVERY model in the PRS line. Not that a Core C24, for instance, doesn't improve on an SE C24 - or a Core Santana on an SE Santana. No doubt they do. But as a guy who can't (or won't) afford a stable of Cores, the SE ticket has gotten me in to a tasty sonic and aesthetic smorgasbord from which I would otherwise have been excluded, and I'm way more than happy with all of them. I don't feel the need with most models to step up - but I suspect the Paul is one of those singularities, a guitar with a voice I can adopt as my own.

So as an instrument for a lifetime (given what's left of it, certainly an heirloom as well), I think the Core will be worth its premium. I'm not thinking 3x better for 3x money, or twice as good for 3x money. I'm thinking maybe 20% "better" (however we quantify differences when we've already crossed over into the superlative). But when a guitar that smacks me upside the head, dazzles with uniqueness I would never have predicted, show me something new under the tonal sun - AND sounds and feels like it was made for me - yeah, I think it'll be worth the ticket. So I want the whole package, all the parts and pieces Paul intends, in their most evolved form. I want it to be a visual work of art as well - a thing of beauty being a joy forever and all that - and to embody the most refined and passionate craftsmanship that can go into a guitar.

But man! The SE is so good already. If the Core (when I eventually manage it) is even that 20% better - a little richer, fuller, warmer, expressively dynamic - my head may explode.
Congrats on the incoming PG. And, yes, your head will explode. No doubt about it.
 
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