I measured from the nut to the middle of the bottom cutaway (since I usually rest it on my leg) . My LP is 21.5 inches and my SG is 24. What do y’all think?
You mean to the narrowest part of the
waist at the bottom of the guitar? Not cutaway - that would have nothing to do with where a guitar sits on the leg.
From the middle of the front of the nut (between D & G strings) to the narrowest part of the lower waist, it's 20.5" on the Custom 22 - vs 21.5" on the CU24. Another fit-and-position metric: on the CU22, the back of the bridge is 5.375" from the butt of the guitar; on the CU24, it's 6.125".
________
Unsolicited Advice Section
You don't say what colors are acceptable. In any given model year, each SE comes only in (at most) a few colors. And as the feller says, there are no SE 22s at all this year (other than the semi, which is my favorite anyway). But you can find a wider range of colors on any given model in recent previous years, and still get the Paul Reed Smith signature on the headstock (which I do like to see). Check out this site for PDFs of catalogs, in which you can find what colors were available.
https://guitar-compare.com/catalogs/prs-catalogs/
As you're considering various models from a PRS-neophyte perspective, I'll mention other considerations which might ought to go into your deliberations.
Year & place of manufacture. To my way-o-thinkin', an Excellent-to-Mint 2017-2021 is just as good as a brand new one. Some guys have opinions about Korea vs Indonesia; I have no problem with either, and all other things being equal, actually prefer Indonesian. Having recently been through several dozen SEs across most models, I find the later Indonesian ones just seem to be slightly better sorted out (in ways I can't quantify), and seem to have better/stronger/more articulate pickups.
I believe the choice of which coil is active in single-coil mode has also changed in that period (though I forget the details at the moment). In broad brushstrokes, if the outer ("screw") coils are left active, the guitar's single-coil tones will have more of a Tele character; if the inner "slug" coils are active, you get more of a Strat effect.
Body Build & Pickups. You identified the first One That Got Away from you as "Custom 24-08 in transparent blue." It's worth mentioning that that if it was Trans Blue, it was in all likelihood a
Standard - so all-mahogany body without the flamey maple top. The others you've mentioned are all truly the maple-topped Customs. Some thoughts come to mind.
Aside from the 22-24 fret decision, you'll necessarily have to consider that build choice (Standard/all-mahogany vs Custom/maple-over-hog) AND the pickup choice between the 85/15s which come in most models and the SE PCI pickups that come in both 24-08 varieties.
I'll say first that all the 25"-scale SEs, and especially with the 85/15 pickups, share a certain tonal profile: bright and articulate. I also come from a well-balanced Gibson/Fender background - with a major major in Gretsch over the past 15 years or so - and I find all the 25" SEs you're considering to be at
least as bright as the Gretschs, and (while with a slightly different voice), nearly as bright as the clangin'est Fenders. I back the tone control on the SEs down much of the time, even in humbucker mode - almost always in single-coil, especially if clean (but, oddly, the 85/15s in single-coil mode, wide open, work seductively well with dirt).
Where I'm going with that discussion is this: I can appreciate that some ears will find a maple-over-mahogany 25" PRS
too toppy in tone overall. So the all-mahogany build of the Standard really makes a just-right platform by warming/darkening that profile a bit. Not a lot - just enough to take the edge off. And, for them what find the vivid flame and extroverted colors of the traditional PRS just too BUT. It's hard to PRS and
not do a nicely flamed top, and the tone controls can certainly soften the highs as well. I find myself playing the maple-toppers more than my Standard 24.
Onward to pickups: I
really like the 24-08 configuration. It's not so much that the toggles let you have either pickup as a humbucker OR a single-coil, and mix-match them either way - though that's useful - it's more that the TCI pickups in the 24-08s have a more robust-sounding single coil when split. Bigger, less volume loss, more full-bodied, more like an "authentic" single-coil.
So for the pickups alone - as long as I could stand the color - I'd choose a Custom 24-08 over a Custom 24, and the Standard 24-08 over a Custom 24. However, at least for my taste, the colors
are a problem - I'm just not crazy about the current colors of
either -08 model has, and the 24-08s only came out in 2021, I think, so there's not a wide variety of choice in the back catalog either.
And, personally, I'd prefer an -08 in a 22-fret format. So I sidestepped the whole can't-have-it-all dilemma with the
Paul's Guitar: nice flame, good colors, 22 frets, and TCI pickups. It's my co-favorite SE, along with the Hollowbody Standard (which is another whole discussion).
BUT - no tremolo. And the PRS tremolo is a wonderful thing: for those of us who haven't been along with PRS for the whole ride, a Custom 24 or 22 is probably the
most distinctive and revelatory PRS, combining pickups and switching that get you close enough to both Gibsonny and Fenderesque tones - without sounding
exactly like either one - and a great trem. The first time you're noodling along with a tone that sounds like a super-articulate Les Paul, and you grab a trem that feels like the smoothest, most stable Strat trem you've ever wiggled...well, you know you're not in Kansas (or Kalamazoo or Fullerton) anymore.
Given all that, I wouldn't discourage you from a Custom 22 or 24. (Unless you KNOW you don't care about tremolo, in which case I advise studying the Paul's Guitar carefully. It's pretty much a perfect guitar.)
But wait, that's not all! With your combined Gibson-Gretsch background, I'd
strongly recommend considering the CU22 Semi-Hollow. It does't sound all
that much different from a solid Custom 22 - but it does have a bit more body resonance and sonic mass. Compared side-by-side with a Custom 22, it won out for me. You get
most of the signature PRS ingredients (gorgeous shape and top wood, 25" scale, 10" radius, articulate dynamic pickups, and the trem) - plus that extra sonic complexity of a partially hollow body. For my ears, it's the cream of the PRS Custom crop. And it's come in some gorgeous colors - including the black-gold burst (quilt even!) you like on the CU24.