Johnny Rigs
"Hold on to your butts" - Samuel L Jackson
So I never actually revealed the conclusion of the story from Part I. What a horrible story teller..
Recap from Episode 1: sent my stock 2006 CE-22 Standard in Blazing Copper off to the PTC for some treatments. COVID happened. Pick a number and multiply every factor in life by that number (negative values accepted). A new year! And a new member of my PRS family..
Here's the result:
The thing I like about the old CE guitars is of course the fully carved top. So to have that shape, with a bolt-on maple neck, a Floyd bridge, gold hardware, dot inlays, and in vintage white — I don't think there was ever a production guitar like this. Not that I'm aware of. Which is kind of cool.
And about that toggle switch...
The other thing I wanted to do is add a bit more tonal versatility. Specifically, the VB/HFS pickup combo does in fact scream and also sounds great in the split positions of the rotary switch for cleans sounds. But the neck or bridge alone could sound a bit thick. I play Mesa amps mostly, which means I don't need a single dB more bass in my guitar tone
So I asked the PTC to add a bass cut mini toggle. I even sent a photo of the McCarty II for reference on position and slight recess into the body - because I figure I'm only doing this once.
The bass cut switch has become quite handy to me. I can leave it engaged when in humbucker mode, and switch it out when I go to split coils. This balances out the perceived bass loss when split. Also, I can switch between a bit tighter rhythm riff with the bass cut on, and a bit fuller lead tone with it disengaged. All while staying on the bridge pickup. It's not a huge change - I believe I said to shoot for a ~25% bass reduction, I don't know the actual component values - but it's clearly heard. Anyway, it's one of my favorite things about the guitar.
So there we go. 2020 not only produced something actually useful to me, but this guitars sole purpose in life is to have fun with. So that's what I'm using it for.
Recap from Episode 1: sent my stock 2006 CE-22 Standard in Blazing Copper off to the PTC for some treatments. COVID happened. Pick a number and multiply every factor in life by that number (negative values accepted). A new year! And a new member of my PRS family..
Here's the result:
The thing I like about the old CE guitars is of course the fully carved top. So to have that shape, with a bolt-on maple neck, a Floyd bridge, gold hardware, dot inlays, and in vintage white — I don't think there was ever a production guitar like this. Not that I'm aware of. Which is kind of cool.
And about that toggle switch...
The other thing I wanted to do is add a bit more tonal versatility. Specifically, the VB/HFS pickup combo does in fact scream and also sounds great in the split positions of the rotary switch for cleans sounds. But the neck or bridge alone could sound a bit thick. I play Mesa amps mostly, which means I don't need a single dB more bass in my guitar tone
So I asked the PTC to add a bass cut mini toggle. I even sent a photo of the McCarty II for reference on position and slight recess into the body - because I figure I'm only doing this once.The bass cut switch has become quite handy to me. I can leave it engaged when in humbucker mode, and switch it out when I go to split coils. This balances out the perceived bass loss when split. Also, I can switch between a bit tighter rhythm riff with the bass cut on, and a bit fuller lead tone with it disengaged. All while staying on the bridge pickup. It's not a huge change - I believe I said to shoot for a ~25% bass reduction, I don't know the actual component values - but it's clearly heard. Anyway, it's one of my favorite things about the guitar.
So there we go. 2020 not only produced something actually useful to me, but this guitars sole purpose in life is to have fun with. So that's what I'm using it for.
