My take on the s2 custom 24

Chiliphil1

New Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2014
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94
Hey guys, I want to start by saying I am not a witter, so bear with me here I am going to try to do a review..

I am the proud new owner of a beautiful PRS cu24, s2 model.. I ordered online and bought sight un seen, I had no worry about doing that because it's a PRS, it's going to be great every time. When the guitar arrived the first thing I noticed (obviously) was the gig bag it was in, there is an embroidered PRS signature along the front pocket and the bag is ridiculously nice it has back pack straps which are heavily padded 2 carry handles and it is very padded, included with the bag was a molded foam piece which contours to the headstock to hold it in place overall extremely impressive bag.

You also get a PRS sticker, a warranty registration card, made in Maryland hang tag, owners manual, hand filled out spec sheet, truss rod wrench, saddle adjustment allen wrench.

When I unzipped the case that's when the magic happened, seeing the very nice flame top under the gray/black finish was amazing, if there is one thing PRS is famous for it is their tops. While this is obviously not anything close to a 10 top model it is still extremely nice. The fit and finish as expected is perfect, the inlay is excellent and interestingly enough on this model it's plain white rather than abalone or MOP it really sits nicely in the very dark rosewood board. The fretboard itself is also perfect, no gaps, no uneven grain, just a smooth dark rosewood. Frets are all even, ends are cut perfectly, and the frets are polished to a mirror shine with no snags or anything of the sort. Neck profile is wide fat or pattern regular as it's called now, at first I was a little put off by the profile, my previous experience with PRS included a wide thin neck which I absolutely loved. The pattern regular feels somewhere in between a gibson 50's and 60's neck but the fretboard is wider, this combo makes a very useable and comfortable neck though for me it took a little getting used to but for the average guy picking up his first PRS they will love this neck immediately. After spending a few hours playing the guitar I have really decided that this is the best neck I have ever played on and through hours of continuous playing your hand never gets tired, you can chord easily, solos come with no effort it's really a marvel of guitar engineering.

The body on this guitar is the classic double cut, this one is bevelled rather than carved but it is still a very nice look. The body is thin and light, no binding but finished exceptionally well. The guitar has the same tremolo as the SE model but this is still a solid trem, it stays in tune regardless of what you are doing and changing from standard to drop tuning only requires minor adjustment of the other strings. Overall the feel of the guitar is on point and better than anything else in the market.

The sound of this guitar is another area where I was disappointed at first but have really come to love this guitar. The s2 HFS and vintage bass pickups are a mid output pickup set which really covers a lot of sonic ground. I first played the guitar through my home amp which is a Marshall combo, the pickups really didn't do it for me in this setting. Low output, solos were tough because the guitar just didn't sustain that well, I really didn't like what it was going. I took the guitar to my band room where my JCM2000 DSL100 lives and I was completely blown away at what this guitar would do through that amp. The guitar came to life in the absolute best way, this guitar loves gain and it loves volume those 2 factors changed everything.. My amp has never sounded any better than it did with this guitar. The sonic range of the guitar shines when playing high gain every note is clear, the bottom end is tight an powerful, high notes sing forever, no mud what so ever. PRS really got it right on this guitar. Clean notes are just amazing, when you hit a chord with the neck pickup coil tapped you just look at the guitar and go whoa!

Overall this guitar is a premium instrument and I would put it against nearly anything that comes out of any manufacturers plant. The price is one of the guitars best selling points, for $1400 you get an instrument that will not disappoint in any way, you have a guitar that is better than anything else you can buy in it's price range and a few ranges higher. If you're on the fence, go for it.
 
Great review, but you forgot one thing.
Pics :D

Glad you are liking it.
I have only played one, an S2 semi hollow singlecut and it played nice, felt nice, and looked great.
 
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