MA Pete's weekly NGD - Tremonti Trem in Faded Whale Blue

[MA Pete]

Apparently my NGD's are going to be weekly until I settle into a 2024 collection? LOL...

I really liked the Modern Eagle V that I received a couple of weeks ago. The Paul's Guitar pickups are great, and that third pickup and the 5-Way really adds a lot of flexibility with regards to tones! But that one had a fairly beefy Pattern Neck, and I am so biased towards the Pattern Thin Necks that I couldn't get along with it. I made an exchange with the dealer I bought the Modern Eagle V from for a Faded Whale Blue Tremonti Trem that had just arrived.

Killer top! I was really loving the Faded Whale Blue finish on the Custom 2408, I figured I would get another guitar in that finish.

The Custom 2408 is a little more brown where it isn't Blue, maybe that is just from the piece of Maple being darker. I like the look of both of them a lot, I think the Custom 2408 looks a little more sinister, but the Tremonti looks awesome too.

So now I have the two Tremonti Trems. The Purple Iris one has 5708's in it, so tonally they are quite different.

If I love a guitar model, I like having two of that model because (1) two is always better than one, (2) it is fun to have two different types of pickups in the two, and (3) I can leave them in different tunings while working on stuff and they are ready to go when needed. Plus I think I feel like I need to fill on the guitar hangers on the wall.

The tone of the Tremonti's are really great, at the expense of a very thick body and a heavier guitar, relative to the Doublecuts. This one is 9 pounds even, the Purple Iris one is 9 pounds, 3.0 ounces. You can find lighter ones out there, but I am super picky on the tops and the finishes, and those are what I ended up with with regard to weights. They both sound great!

The Tremonti's make for a nice contrast to the Doublecuts, I love playing them for the Singlecut vibe and the big tone, but then when I go back to the Doublecuts, I appreciate the better ergonomics of them.

I have gone to playing with a strap while sitting down, which I had never done before. That is helping with the heavier weights of the Tremonti's, to help them feel more balanced. It also helps equalize the different ergonomics between the Custom 24's, the Singlecuts and the 22 Fret Doublecuts, with regard to how far out the left hand is, everything settles into a balance more and the differences don't seem as extreme, which particularly is making me like the Custom 24's more.

I am definitely "ALL IN" on the Pattern Thin Carve. All but one in the collection now are Pattern Thin, just the 25" McCarty has a Pattern Neck. That guitar is awesome, it won't be going anywhere soon, despite the Pattern Neck. (Interestingly enough, the ME V's Pattern felt a decent amount larger than the neck on the McCarty. They do tend to vary a little from guitar to guitar.)

 

[21Hemispheres12]

On the right top faded whale blue is definitely my favorite finish. One day I’ve got to get one like yours because it looks perfect! It’s interesting how much you like the pattern thin carve after being into the pattern vintage carve. I had one 594 and could not get along with the neck at all. Pattern thin for life for me I guess!

 

[xxxadixxx]

Wow, that is a beautiful guitar. I am with you on the Tremonti love.... I have a PS Tremonti in the oven. I also have a fondness for multiples of what works, though I tend to keep them stock and just use different tunings. Congrats on finding what you like and getting things to work for you. You really are killing it lately! Keep the amazing NGD's coming.

 

[bodia]

Killer guitar, Pete! The Tremonti finish almost makes the Cu24 look Charcoal in that picture.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Reigning champion

 

[MA Pete]

On the right top faded whale blue is definitely my favorite finish. One day I’ve got to get one like yours because it looks perfect! It’s interesting how much you like the pattern thin carve after being into the pattern vintage carve. I had one 594 and could not get along with the neck at all. Pattern thin for life for me I guess!

I think for me this time around, part of the preference for the Pattern Thin is that I am right now more so learning and playing heavy rock and metal sort of things. Previously I was more so playing Classic Rock and Blues, mostly because of the band focus from 2009 to 2015, that's what we played, and that got me deep into that type of music. Delving into something new for me has been very refreshing and exciting (and also challenging).

With what I am playing now, your left hand tends to be more stretched out, and you move a little quicker up and down the neck, so you typically position the thumb directly behind the neck for that - and as a result the Pattern Thin Carve feels better (and faster) for that sort of playing, at least for me.

But also per my Custom 22 NGD thread, I also discovered that I think the "newer" Pattern Thins are slightly different than the older Wide Thin and Pattern Thin necks from 10 years ago that I had it in my head that I didn't like. The older versions had much harder and sharper shoulders, so they felt more so like a "Wide Flat" neck like the many shredder Superstrat brands. The newer Pattern Thin seems to have much softer shoulders, and feels to me just like a Pattern Carve with a slightly shallower depth, but still super comfy with the much softer shoulders. That is my perception anyway!

The Pattern Neck Carve seems to be in the .86-.87" range at the first fret, where the Pattern Vintage Neck is a little beefier at .88-.89". The Custom 24 seems to be in the .82-.84" range, just a bit shallower, but nowhere near the shredder necks of other brands, which are below .80".

To me, the Pattern Thin is like the "Goldilocks" of Neck Carves, not too big, not too small - JUST RIGHT!!

An interesting place to look to compare is on the Wildwood Guitars Website, they do a great job measuring each guitar and posting the specs even on the summary page:

Wildwood Guitars Core PRS Guitars

Note that the Tremonti's seem to be just a hair thinner than the Custom 24's, more so .81-.83".

Just a couple of Hundredths of an inch makes a big difference in feel. For instance notice the the DW CE 24 is about .80-.81", more often .80". I was at Vision Guitars in San Jose a couple of weeks ago checking out a Custom 24, and while I was waiting for them to find the Custom 24 for me I grabbed one of the DW CE 24's off the wall and played it. Immediately, I determined that Neck Carve was way too thin for my tastes.

I know I am very sensitive to things like scale length, nut width and resulting string spacing, and neck carves, and many others are not. I seem to really like/need consistency across my collection for those three things. Maybe Fingerboard Radius and Fret Size while I am at it too!

 

[bodia]

Reigning champion

Fact!

 

[MA Pete]

Wow, that is a beautiful guitar. I am with you on the Tremonti love.... I have a PS Tremonti in the oven. I also have a fondness for multiples of what works, though I tend to keep them stock and just use different tunings. Congrats on finding what you like and getting things to work for you. You really are killing it lately! Keep the amazing NGD's coming.

Thanks!

Awesome on your Private Stock Tremonti in the oven!! I look forward to seeing that when it is done.

 

[Tedder]

Smokin hot, man! Gorgeous top!

Sorry about the MEV. I think I said before (in your MEV NGD post) that I liked the tonal options with the MEV a lot, but needed a 3 way switch for live playing first as the 5 way switches and I have a history of flubs in the middle of songs. Hitting positions 2, 3 and 4 in the middle of a solo or changing from clean to crunch has always been a challenge for me. I don't think I've played a Pattern neck yet, but I do love the Pattern Thin on my 24-08. I don't know if it could be improved upon for my hands.


Now if you could just DM me your address, I'd love to come over and uh.... live there with you for a while. I'm house broken and even have cooking skills. lol

 

[dmatthews]

Phundamentaly Phabulous, congrats!

 

[Moondog Wily]

All thumbs up on the Tremonti train! Glad you are finding your way into new territory!!

 

[WA Paul]

Killer!

Funny, I’ve avoided the Tremonti model due to the thin necks. Your comments on how the shoulders have changed since 2018 might mean I should revisit these thin neck carves. But Pattern Vintage is my favorite these days.

My P245T with solid Braz neck weights under 8lbs, so PRS does have some SCT models with light weight.

 

[SinSir]

Smokin! Congrats on your progress building your own private PRS dealership.

Agreed, the Tremonti is a killer guitar. Faded Whale Blue is one of my favorite finishes. It would be awesome to have a second one with 5708 and the Purple Iris is hot too

 

[MA Pete]

All thumbs up on the Tremonti train! Glad you are finding your way into new territory!!

Thanks! Yes, I am definitely finding my way into new territory. Today I got a new amp as well, the EVH EL34 100W Head here in the background in these pics.

The Tremonti's (and my Customs) sound amazing through the new amp, through the 4x12! Holy cow. Blue Channel for higher gain Classic Rock tones and Red Channel for more modern Heavy Rock and Metal tones. I get the 100W versions of heads for the best tone (versus a 50W version), and then dial back the volume with the OxBox. That approach has worked very well for me in the past.

(I had my beloved Metropoulos Superplex there in that spot, a KT-66 based 100W Hot-Rodded JTM45/100 Head from George Metropoulos. That has always been my favorite classic/vintage tone Marshally amp, it is my second one. I will hold on to that for those tones, and maybe set it up later across the room.)

I had been using the EVH III Red model in the Quad Cortex modeler and I really liked it, and also I played through an EVH amp at the Chicago Music Exchange while demoing some guitars, and liked that as well.

(I still intend to try a Tremonti 100W head as well, and A/B against the EVH.)

I took those pics above to compare and contrast the looks of those two guitars for you guys, one with a Natural Back and Neck, one with a Black Back and Neck. Both look amazing, and have a different vibe visually. I am really liking having them both.

Also in those pictures it cracks me up to see the depth of the body on the Tremonti, relative to the Customs. BEEFY!

Tonally in a back to back session today through the new amp, both guitars sounded amazing! But I did slightly prefer the tone of the Purple Iris Tremonti with the 5708's, even for more modern tones through the Red Channel. I may tinker with pickups in the Whale Blue one.

I played my Custom 22 after a decent amount of time with the two Tremonti's. It felt so tiny and frail, LOL! Like it was made out of popsicle sticks.

That 58/15 Bridge Pickup in the Custom 22 sounded a bit wimpy in comparison as well. I ordered a PRS "Metal" Bridge pickup for it today.

 

[Prina]

Awesome! The singlecuts are well represented.

Keep those NGD's coming. Fun to follow your re-entry and to think of what might come next!

 

[MA Pete]

Killer!

Funny, I’ve avoided the Tremonti model due to the thin necks. Your comments on how the shoulders have changed since 2018 might mean I should revisit these thin neck carves. But Pattern Vintage is my favorite these days.

My P245T with solid Braz neck weights under 8lbs, so PRS does have some SCT models with light weight.

Yes, it would be nice to have a Singlecut (a 25" one in my case) in the 8 to 8.5 pound range for a lighter one.

I am planning on spec'ing a Private Stock later this year, I might do an SCT with a Pattern Thin Neck Carve, with an intentionally light piece of Mahogany for the body. (But the wait is so long for a Private Stock!)

I have heard that Mark Tremonti has intentionally directed PRS to make the guitars on the heavy side, on average 9 pounds plus, by picking heavier pieces of Mahogany for the bodies. Every once in a while you see a lighter one, but most are like 8.75 to 9.5 pounds.

For a while I was looking at older used SCT's to try one of those again, but now that I am smitten with the Pattern Thin Neck carve, that won't work. I guess I will just have to keep my eye out for a lighter weight Tremonti!

 

[WA Paul]

Yes, it would be nice to have a Singlecut (a 25" one in my case) in the 8 to 8.5 pound range for a lighter one.

I am planning on spec'ing a Private Stock later this year, I might do an SCT with a Pattern Thin Neck Carve, with an intentionally light piece of Mahogany for the body. (But the wait is so long for a Private Stock!)

I have heard that Mark Tremonti has intentionally directed PRS to make the guitars on the heavy side, on average 9 pounds plus, by picking heavier pieces of Mahogany for the bodies. Every once in a while you see a lighter one, but most are like 8.75 to 9.5 pounds.

For a while I was looking at older used SCT's to try one of those again, but now that I am smitten with the Pattern Thin Neck carve, that won't work. I guess I will just have to keep my eye out for a lighter weight Tremonti!

I used to be in the ‘the heavier the body the better the tone camp’ but not anymore!

I specifically asked for my PS to be 8lbs or less and they delivered despite a full Braz neck and piezo trem as well! If I were to build another one, I’d likely go back to 25” scale since I already have 2 killer short scale SCTs. Lately I’ve had a hankering for a 25” scale maple neck SCT. Really miss my old Bahama Mama SCT with that combo!

 

[sloanthebone]

That’s a sexy looking Tremonti! Looks fantastic next to that 24/08. Funny your journey from larger necks to the thinner necks is similar to my own journey. I couldn’t hack them for a long time and gave up a fantastic Tremonti years ago as I switched to the larger neck but after getting my Tremonti PS last year, I seem to have no issue with the thin necks any longer. Must have all been in my head. I may have missed this but did you move your Tremonti hardtail?

 

[MA Pete]

That’s a sexy looking Tremonti! Looks fantastic next to that 24/08. Funny your journey from larger necks to the thinner necks is similar to my own journey. I couldn’t hack them for a long time and gave up a fantastic Tremonti years ago as I switched to the larger neck but after getting my Tremonti PS last year, I seem to have no issue with the thin necks any longer. Must have all been in my head. I may have missed this but did you move your Tremonti hardtail?

Thanks!

"Must have been in my head" - Yes, I think so for me too!

Yes, I got the Purple Iris Tremonti Trem in and returned the Tremonti Stoptail to the place I bought it from. Both sounded great, but I am finding I am greatly preferring the lower profile of the Trem for the right hand.

Go figure, a wall of Pattern Thin guitars with Trems! Never in a million years would have I guessed that one, after jumping back in a couple of months ago.

 

[Tedder]

If I am following correctly, and I probably am not.... from left to right:

Tremonti , Tremonti, 24-08, Paul's Guitar, and a Custom 22?


Damn sexy line up!