Incoming PRS 94 CE24 project guitar

[dwrockdoctor]

Soooooo... I just won an auction on a second CE24 body and neck from the same ebay seller A cherry sunburst 2002 model for $700USD. Couldn't resist. Also have an original US trem and the new CE tuners on the way thanks to an awesome forum member.

I'll probably do some swapping around of parts when all the bits arrive and see what combo I like the best to keep as a second PRS and then part out the leftovers to maybe sell and recoup some of the expense. I'm a strat guy mainly and my number one strat is made from a neck and body from two different strats so this is natural territory for me and will be fun to see what works. I actually love the look of the cherry sunburst body, only a subtle flame and looks more like an old vintage les paul kinda vibe which is what I was after for my second CE. My original CE one piece maple top has a fairly strong flame so I'm covered there already.

Here's a link to the ebay listing for photos:

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Paul-Re...kXHHlTw4CY%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc

 

[Eddie kim]

Nice

 

[Alnus Rubra]

Soooooo... I just won an auction on a second CE24 body and neck from the same ebay seller A cherry sunburst 2002 model for $700USD. Couldn't resist. Also have an original US trem and the new CE tuners on the way thanks to an awesome forum member.

I'll probably do some swapping around of parts when all the bits arrive and see what combo I like the best to keep as a second PRS and then part out the leftovers to maybe sell and recoup some of the expense. I'm a strat guy mainly and my number one strat is made from a neck and body from two different strats so this is natural territory for me and will be fun to see what works. I actually love the look of the cherry sunburst body, only a subtle flame and looks more like an old vintage les paul kinda vibe which is what I was after for my second CE. My original CE one piece maple top has a fairly strong flame so I'm covered there already.

Here's a link to the ebay listing for photos:

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Paul-Reed-Smith-2002-Cherry-Burst-CE-24-Body-amp-Neck-PRS-/202513972524?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&nma=true&si=cNj9NGufTvo279U5TkXHHlTw4CY%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc

That’s a great looking CE! Love the flame in the neck.

 

[CVS]

Good luck. Can't wait to see how this turns out.

 

[dwrockdoctor]

That’s a great looking CE! Love the flame in the neck.

Yes, I really like its understated looks. My first CE is a beautiful guitar with its distinct flame but in the ten years since I first got it my tastes have changed and I find myself wanting something a little less blingy and I think the cherry sunburst one fits the bill nicely. Mating the 93 neck with the small heel to the 2002 body may be just the ticket. Will be hard to say until I get to play a game of swapsies though, hahaha.

Interested to see how the 93 alder body compares to the mahogany 98 that I'm used to. My first CE has an amazing unplugged resonance, even volume across the whole fretboard and strings where as my strats tend to lose a lot of acoustic volume on the treble strings up high in comparison. I love the V neck on my strat though and wish PRS had beefier necks on the CE's but I still love the wide thin for a different feel and perspective.

 

[dwrockdoctor]

Alright, the first of two incoming CE24 projects arrived today, the emerald green 94. It's definitely a beater, tonnes of little dings and chips with a really nice flame to the emerald green (would love to UV fade the colour) and it has a great neck on it and a nice subtle flame in the neck. From looking in the neck pocket it looks to actually be a mahogany back, really tight small grain and close pores in the small amount of raw wood I can see with a fairly brown look to it. I was hoping for alder and thought it would be seeing as it's a 94 with a small heel, is this normal?

The neck has a really lovely worn in feel, some of the lacquer looks to be close to wearing through in spots and feels great in the hand, a little different to my 98 CE24 even though it's the same Wide Thin neck profile. I want to post photo's but it never works when I try to link from photobucket (I'm running a super old school macbook setup with ancient OSX so that might be why it doesn't work).

 

[Geo408]

I had my eye on that, too. I was out when it ended, so my loss! Enjoy, I was going to leave it green, but build it out, era correct. Have fun, projects like that are satisfying!

 

[dwrockdoctor]

Cheers Geo408, yep, super fun. I do want to fade the finish somehow, I love the look of some of the faded 90's emerald green PRS' I've seen on the net.

This one will be getting the HFS/VB combo that I took out of my 98, not a huge fan of the HFS anymore though, served me great when I was getting high gain tones out of a 5150 but I'm a cleanish plexi driven with fuzz face guy now and the HFS doesn't seem to work so well for that. I put an alnico 5 magnet in it to see what that does to the tone but eventually I'll be hunting a lower output bridge pickup to match the vintage bass neck pickup. Funnily enough, I put a spare set of ibanez super 58's in my 98 CE and it sounds amazing with those in, great cleans as well as gain sounds, very vintage PAF output, ibanez' take on an original gibson PAF I believe.

A core PRS trem and some new CE24 tuners will complete the picture thanks to a kindly forum member. Can't wait to get this one up and running, the neck feels amazing to hold on this guy and the small neck heel makes the already easy upper fret access even easier now.

 

[dwrockdoctor]

Okay, I've found a strange discovery with this 94 CE, after putting pieces together I could swear the holes drilled for the bridge trem screws are out of alignment. With everything fitted the front edge of the bridge and the pickup ring aren't 100% parallel with each other and the bass string seems further off the edge of the neck than the treble string. Super weird. The neck also needs to be shimmed to get the correct angle of the neck to the body. The body and neck look 100% legit, no signs at all of being copies, if they are I'd very surprised but what is the deal with the workmanship? A neck shouldn't need to be shimmed to get the correct angle on a USA made PRS let alone a chinese made Squier. I'm perplexed...

Edit: Some additional comparing between my 98 and the new 94 parts. The trem screws holes are perfectly aligned at equal distance from the top and bottom of tremolo back route but on the 94 the the top trem screw hole actually buts up against the top of trem route and the bottom hole has a bit of distance from the bottom of the route. The trem screw holes aren't perfectly aligned in a straight line either... Also the top trem screw hole seems to sit lower in alignment with the top line of the neck pocket and vice versa the bottom screw hole sits closer to the bottom line of neck pocket, confirming the bass string sitting further from edge of neck than the treble string. Centre of bookmatch top isn't going centre perfectly between where the D and G strings would sit either, quite off actually...This is some really workmanship. Would a guitar like this pass quality control back in 94?

 

[dwrockdoctor]

So disappointed. I guess this one will be a full project guitar. As is it'll need plugging and redrilling so the trem holes are aligned up properly and the strings actually pass across the neck with equal distance from the edges and straight as they should be. I've got this problem on a mighty mite strat build but on a USA PRS? It just doesn't seem possible. There is no way this guitar could be a fake. You can tell it's been really played a ton for decades, heaps of wear on the neck and dings on the body, all the carving is legit, has all the handwritten stuff in the pickup cavities, everything matches my 98 except the super sloppy aligned trem screw holes and a neck that needs a shim to get the right action and angle to the body. Bummer.

 

[gush]

There was another member on here that complained about having to shim the neck on his prs.it was a while ago.

I find this to be really strange.

I just can't believe you need to plug and redrill fulcrum screw holes.

 

[dwrockdoctor]

I'll have to attach a photo when I get a chance or at least upload to photobucket if I can't get it to attach. It's pretty noticeable how askew it is viewed from above and through the trem route on the back too when lined up with straight routing lines. All strung up and I have the neck pushed up against the bass side neck pocket so the strings have a pretty straight string pull now. I need to build a better shim out of some maple veneer so it has maximum neck pocket contact too. Seems to be playing well like this but it definitely bugs me that it's off this much even though playability seems fine like this... It's a PRS! These things are known for impeccable build quality. The neck date reads 12/29 which I'm guessing means Dec 29th, must've been rushed before holidays or something!

 

[dwrockdoctor]

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The trem block is noticeably out of alignment with the trem back route in this photo.

 

[dwrockdoctor]

You can really see how crooked the lineup of fulcrum screws is here let alone being off from the line of the pickup ring.

 

[dwrockdoctor]

And the alignment of the screw holes without the trem attached, pretty wonky... If you drew a straight line through the EBG string holes and then another straight line through DAE holes they definitely wouldn't line up that great. The G hole is especially noticeable. Also, the writing in the cavity with the codes and serial number all look consistent with all others PRS's I've ever seen.

 

[Alnus Rubra]

I’m thinking that the original trem May have been the reason for the holes being out of line.

They were most likely cut to match the trem that was attached to the body?

 

[vchizzle]

The build date isn't going to change how the CNC routes the body cavities. I'm not a trem guy, so I don't have any advice. Maybe someone else will, or PRS customer service.

 

[gush]

Strange for sure.

 

[László]

The build date isn't going to change how the CNC routes the body cavities. I'm not a trem guy, so I don't have any advice. Maybe someone else will, or PRS customer service.

They may have still been using an old duplicarver back then. Still, I can’t imagine PRS drilling a second set of holes in the guitar for a trem; was the guitar modded before the OP got it?

It’s a mystery that may never be solved...

 

[dwrockdoctor]

@vchizzle My bad attempt at humour in regards to the build date, I had a super unreliable Toyota Camry back in the day that was always breaking down, my mate always joked it was a Xmas Camry and it was rush built so they could knock off for holidays, hahaha. Should've used an laugh emoticon, my bad.

It is such a weird mystery with the misaligned trem holes and off kilter bridge and shimmed neck but the guitar is playing fine now that it is all setup, a little airier sounding acoustically than my 98 with a little less meat when I whomp on the E string. It weighs a little less too.

I'll get around to getting the trem holes plugged and redrilled by a luthier when I get a chance. This one is pretty beat cosmetically, it's prime for a refin as well, full project guitar with lots of potential. Possible gold top would be awesome! As is it is playing nicely, it must've had a fret job recently as the frets are divot free and has a real fast neck and feel to it, definite nice player as it is with a few gremlins to get sorted down the line.

@LSchefman As far as I know it wasn't modded at all and doesn't seem to have any signs of this. Only the shim in the neck (I was surprised at this also for a PRS) and what looks to be a fret job. It was just the neck and body that I received off of ebay with no hardware or anything.