Newbie - a few questions

[RaySachs]

Hi,

I’ve never owned a PRS. Have played guitar for 40 years, starting when I was 18, but it was ten years totally ON and then 30 years mostly off, with just brief periods back into it. But over the past year or so I’ve gotten waaaay back into it again. I’m not a terrible player but I’m really limited. Basically a blues and blues rock guy. I’ve been a strat guy all my life but this go around I seem to have lost most of my rock inclinations and have found myself playing more straight blues, jazzy blues, spacey blues, etc. And I’ve barely been playing the strat, having fallen for an Ibanez semi-hollow with humbuckers and an ebony fretboard. Just seems a better fit for what and how I’m playing these days. Also loving the shorter 24.7 scale.

With a big birthday coming up, I’m kind of thinking of selling off some dormant bicycling and camera gear and going for a real splurge. And for some reason I’ve gotten fixated on a 594 double cut. But I have to play one to see if this is real or just an idea without legs. I’m more of a feel guy with guitars than a sound guy - if I like the feel playing it and like how it resonates unplugged, I can usually find a sound or three I like once I plug in, but if the feel doesn’t really grab me, the best sound in the world isn’t enough to sway me.

So, first question, where’s a good place to demo one for a guy living in the Philly / Wilmington area? I could make a day trip down to the factory or to a shop in the Baltimore or NYC area. In terms of the factory store, do they have various models out for folks to play or is just more of a place to pick up PRS swag?. I haven’t seen anything in stock in the local places that sell them lately. Any idea who’s likely to have a few in stock that are reasonably well setup? If I decide I want to buy one, I could do a couple day trip out to Sweetwater or CME and play what they have in stock to pick the one that feels the best to me. But I’m not gonna take a trip like that just to see if I’m even really interested...

Second, I tend to like smooth, fast feeling fretboards. I almost always like maple and ebony, but rosewood can be a real crapshoot. I’ve played some that I really like, but a lot are really gritty / grippy and those I just never bond with - makes me feel like I’m playing in quicksand. I know the 594 can be had with an ebony board, but those artist models are out of even my splurge range, so it’s only likely to work if the rosewood boards on the base model are pretty slick and fast. So, any opinions on what those boards are like? Pretty slick and easy to move around on or more grippy?

Thanks for any help. I’m really in the early stages of thinking about this. And just tying to gather some information to see if I’m really gonna be serious about this model.

-Ray

 

[Deli6505]

Let me be the first to say welcome to the PRS club and I will simply say that only way to truly choose which PRS is right for you is to simply play a 594 or if you really want to go all the way to satisfy your curiosity, play them all until you find the one that feels golden in your hands. It could be an SE, S2 or a Core model but whichever one you choose, you can rest assured that its quality will be second to none that will leave you a PRS fan for life.

 

[RaySachs]

Let me be the first to say welcome to the PRS club and I will simply say that only way to truly choose which PRS is right for you is to simply play a 594 or if you really want to go all the way to satisfy your curiosity, play them all until you find the one that feels golden in your hands. It could be an SE, S2 or a Core model but whichever one you choose, you can rest assured that its quality will be second to none that will leave you a PRS fan for life.

Thanks much. I’ve played a couple of 24s and didn’t love them, but they were the wrong scale length and had tremolos - I definitely want to go for the shorter scale length and a hard tail. The only other model that’s really grabbed my attention is the Zach Myers, but I don’t see that being a step up from what I’ve already got. So I’m really more interested in the 594. But I’m open to playing others if I can find a place with a good amount of stock...

 

[Cbouty]

Your story sounds exactly like mine, except I wanted a trem and 24 frets instead of my strat. Just bought a custom 24 and I am in love with it. I asked a similar question to this very forum about a month ago and the overwhelming response was to go and play some to see what you like. Once you play it, you’ll be hooked. As far as where to play it, I’m on the other side of the country from you, but I looked up the certified dealers on the PRS website and then checked out the websites of those by me to see what stock they had to try. Unfortunately, the 2018 PRS’s are just starting to come out and there might not be the best stock for you to play for a few weeks/months... I’ve put the link to the list of dealers that may be near you below. Good luck and as one of the newest on this site, I look forward to seeing what you get!

http://www.prsguitars.com/dealers/

 

[veinbuster]

Outside of Experience, there isn’t really a playing opportunity at PRS so go to that if you haven’t found one sooner. For a near term short road trip I would try Rudy’s in New York or Washington Discount Music in the DC/Baltimore area.

 

[RaySachs]

Thanks folks - I’m away from home for another few weeks, but it sounds like a road trip is gonna be in order once I get back to see if I can find a few in stock. Some possible stores within 2-3 hours I think...

 

[Boogie]

There are several shops that carry a great selection of PRS, so I recommend that road trip. If double cuts don’t float your boat, the single cut variety should be interesting to you. But if you keep an open mind, there’s way more to the PRS line than meets the eye.

 

[dogrocketp]

Try Ryan Fowler's Guitar experience, just above Baltimore. He as a great selection, his prices are fair, and it's an excellent store.

 

[RaySachs]

Try Ryan Fowler's Guitar experience, just above Baltimore. He as a great selection, his prices are fair, and it's an excellent store.

Yeah, I looked at a few shops within a couple hours drive and that one seemed to have more in stock than just about any. And Towson is only about an hour and a quarter from my place - closer than the factory. So I’ll definitely check them out. Thanks!

 

[RaySachs]

So I found a shop that had a few PRS models in stock, some new some used. No 594, but I played a McCarty (liked but not overwhelmed), a 245, and a 24 of some sort that was never even remotely a consideration because it had a trem. But I didn't like the feel of it much anyway. So, I was underwhelmed but didn't want to let this go without at least trying a 594, based on the near unanimity of blown away reactions people seem to have for it. And since I couldn't find one nearby to play, I decided to order a used one from Guitar Center, knowing I might not like it enough to keep either, but knowing I could just drive 15 minutes to the nearest GC, return it, and only eat the shipping charge. Which seemed worth it. They had about 6 used ones on their site when I looked, all but one 10 tops, and all selling within a couple hundred dollars of what I could get a new base model for during one of their sales assuming I could get the 15% off ($500 max). The online photos mostly sucked, so I called a couple of the stores to ask a few questions. One of them was a faded whale blue model that sounded pretty close to unplayed and I actually ordered it. Not my favorite color but my favorite of the ones they had available. But then a couple hours later I went back into the site to check on something about that guitar and there was another 10 top that popped up, in tobacco burst, for $200 less, basically less than the cost of a new one at the sale price. So I called that store and the guy who took it in said it was basically unplayed. Came in from a guy that they evidently deal with a lot who's more of a collector than a player and he was dumping 3-4 guitars that he'd barely played to finance another guitar he probably wouldn't play much. They'd listed that waaaaaay too high and then when it sat for a couple months, dropped the price probably farther than they needed to. THAT one is a finish I really like, so I grabbed it also, and then canceled the first order for the whale blue model.

Long story short, the guitar showed up a few days ago, and I'm as blown away by it as everyone who's played one seems to be. Any concerns I had about the rosewood neck or the nickel frets were overwhelmed by the sheer playability of this guitar. The pickups are different than I'm used to, but within a couple hours I'd dialed in my amp to work with them and found a handful of really fine sounding settings. And, damn, there's a fullness to the sound of this guitar I've never quite experienced before - just incredible from the highest highs to the lowest lows. Love the humbucker sounds and like the split or tapped position enough to not need another single coil guitar. By mixing and matching the split coil and volume settings I can get dangerously close to a strat quack - close enough for my needs anyway. It's also beautiful in an understated way that I tend to like. I love looking at some of the more ornate specimens that PRS makes, but when it comes down to it, they're just not my taste as much as a fairly simple, understated finish.

I have an Ibanez semi-hollow that I love that reminded me how much I like humbuckers after years of only playing single coils. And I have a strat, having been a strat player pretty much all my life. But the semi-hollow had totally displace my strat as my #1. So now I'm gonna sell both of those and go back to being a one (electric) guitar guy again. I've never been one to want a bunch of guitars around. I don't play well enough or with enough versatility to need a bunch of different sounds. I tend to love just having a guitar I know REALLY well, that's MY guitar and my fingers just know what to do when I'm playing it, I know where all of the sounds hide and can find them, etc. Anytime I've had two (I've never had more than two electrics at a time), one of them always became my overwhelming #1 and the other basically sat unused making me feel guilty for not playing it. So I'm gonna sell both of those (which I need to anyway to help pay for this 594, along with a couple of bicycle frames and maybe camera lenses as well) and the 594 will be my electric going forward. Given my age and how long I tend to hang onto guitars when I really bond with them (I had a strat as my one and only for 30 years), this may well be the last electric guitar I ever buy. Or not, but that wouldn't surprise me.

I'll post a NGD with photos at some point - I'm gonna have to stop playing it long enough to pull out my camera and do it justice. I have a feeling I'll never get the finish to look near as good in photos as it does in person, but I'll try. It's got a sort of quiet elegance to it that I haven't seen since a '68 Martin D-28 that I also had for about 30 years. Oh, and one last thing - it's kind of funny to pick up a used guitar from Guitar Center and find among the goodies in the case a 55 point checklist from Sweetwater, where I guess the first owner bought this originally.

-Ray

 

[Cbouty]

Congratulations and welcome to the fold!

 

[dmatthews]

So I found a shop that had a few PRS models in stock, some new some used. No 594, but I played a McCarty (liked but not overwhelmed), a 245, and a 24 of some sort that was never even remotely a consideration because it had a trem. But I didn't like the feel of it much anyway. So, I was underwhelmed but didn't want to let this go without at least trying a 594, based on the near unanimity of blown away reactions people seem to have for it. And since I couldn't find one nearby to play, I decided to order a used one from Guitar Center, knowing I might not like it enough to keep either, but knowing I could just drive 15 minutes to the nearest GC, return it, and only eat the shipping charge. Which seemed worth it. They had about 6 used ones on their site when I looked, all but one 10 tops, and all selling within a couple hundred dollars of what I could get a new base model for during one of their sales assuming I could get the 15% off ($500 max). The online photos mostly sucked, so I called a couple of the stores to ask a few questions. One of them was a faded whale blue model that sounded pretty close to unplayed and I actually ordered it. Not my favorite color but my favorite of the ones they had available. But then a couple hours later I went back into the site to check on something about that guitar and there was another 10 top that popped up, in tobacco burst, for $200 less, basically less than the cost of a new one at the sale price. So I called that store and the guy who took it in said it was basically unplayed. Came in from a guy that they evidently deal with a lot who's more of a collector than a player and he was dumping 3-4 guitars that he'd barely played to finance another guitar he probably wouldn't play much. They'd listed that waaaaaay too high and then when it sat for a couple months, dropped the price probably farther than they needed to. THAT one is a finish I really like, so I grabbed it also, and then canceled the first order for the whale blue model.

Long story short, the guitar showed up a few days ago, and I'm as blown away by it as everyone who's played one seems to be. Any concerns I had about the rosewood neck or the nickel frets were overwhelmed by the sheer playability of this guitar. The pickups are different than I'm used to, but within a couple hours I'd dialed in my amp to work with them and found a handful of really fine sounding settings. And, damn, there's a fullness to the sound of this guitar I've never quite experienced before - just incredible from the highest highs to the lowest lows. Love the humbucker sounds and like the split or tapped position enough to not need another single coil guitar. By mixing and matching the split coil and volume settings I can get dangerously close to a strat quack - close enough for my needs anyway. It's also beautiful in an understated way that I tend to like. I love looking at some of the more ornate specimens that PRS makes, but when it comes down to it, they're just not my taste as much as a fairly simple, understated finish.

I have an Ibanez semi-hollow that I love that reminded me how much I like humbuckers after years of only playing single coils. And I have a strat, having been a strat player pretty much all my life. But the semi-hollow had totally displace my strat as my #1. So now I'm gonna sell both of those and go back to being a one (electric) guitar guy again. I've never been one to want a bunch of guitars around. I don't play well enough or with enough versatility to need a bunch of different sounds. I tend to love just having a guitar I know REALLY well, that's MY guitar and my fingers just know what to do when I'm playing it, I know where all of the sounds hide and can find them, etc. Anytime I've had two (I've never had more than two electrics at a time), one of them always became my overwhelming #1 and the other basically sat unused making me feel guilty for not playing it. So I'm gonna sell both of those (which I need to anyway to help pay for this 594, along with a couple of bicycle frames and maybe camera lenses as well) and the 594 will be my electric going forward. Given my age and how long I tend to hang onto guitars when I really bond with them (I had a strat as my one and only for 30 years), this may well be the last electric guitar I ever buy. Or not, but that wouldn't surprise me.

I'll post a NGD with photos at some point - I'm gonna have to stop playing it long enough to pull out my camera and do it justice. I have a feeling I'll never get the finish to look near as good in photos as it does in person, but I'll try. It's got a sort of quiet elegance to it that I haven't seen since a '68 Martin D-28 that I also had for about 30 years. Oh, and one last thing - it's kind of funny to pick up a used guitar from Guitar Center and find among the goodies in the case a 55 point checklist from Sweetwater, where I guess the first owner bought this originally.

-Ray

You found your holy grail, or desert island guitar.
Great story, and congrats!

 

[bodia]

So I found a shop that had a few PRS models in stock, some new some used. No 594, but I played a McCarty (liked but not overwhelmed), a 245, and a 24 of some sort that was never even remotely a consideration because it had a trem. But I didn't like the feel of it much anyway. So, I was underwhelmed but didn't want to let this go without at least trying a 594, based on the near unanimity of blown away reactions people seem to have for it. And since I couldn't find one nearby to play, I decided to order a used one from Guitar Center, knowing I might not like it enough to keep either, but knowing I could just drive 15 minutes to the nearest GC, return it, and only eat the shipping charge. Which seemed worth it. They had about 6 used ones on their site when I looked, all but one 10 tops, and all selling within a couple hundred dollars of what I could get a new base model for during one of their sales assuming I could get the 15% off ($500 max). The online photos mostly sucked, so I called a couple of the stores to ask a few questions. One of them was a faded whale blue model that sounded pretty close to unplayed and I actually ordered it. Not my favorite color but my favorite of the ones they had available. But then a couple hours later I went back into the site to check on something about that guitar and there was another 10 top that popped up, in tobacco burst, for $200 less, basically less than the cost of a new one at the sale price. So I called that store and the guy who took it in said it was basically unplayed. Came in from a guy that they evidently deal with a lot who's more of a collector than a player and he was dumping 3-4 guitars that he'd barely played to finance another guitar he probably wouldn't play much. They'd listed that waaaaaay too high and then when it sat for a couple months, dropped the price probably farther than they needed to. THAT one is a finish I really like, so I grabbed it also, and then canceled the first order for the whale blue model.

Long story short, the guitar showed up a few days ago, and I'm as blown away by it as everyone who's played one seems to be. Any concerns I had about the rosewood neck or the nickel frets were overwhelmed by the sheer playability of this guitar. The pickups are different than I'm used to, but within a couple hours I'd dialed in my amp to work with them and found a handful of really fine sounding settings. And, damn, there's a fullness to the sound of this guitar I've never quite experienced before - just incredible from the highest highs to the lowest lows. Love the humbucker sounds and like the split or tapped position enough to not need another single coil guitar. By mixing and matching the split coil and volume settings I can get dangerously close to a strat quack - close enough for my needs anyway. It's also beautiful in an understated way that I tend to like. I love looking at some of the more ornate specimens that PRS makes, but when it comes down to it, they're just not my taste as much as a fairly simple, understated finish.

I have an Ibanez semi-hollow that I love that reminded me how much I like humbuckers after years of only playing single coils. And I have a strat, having been a strat player pretty much all my life. But the semi-hollow had totally displace my strat as my #1. So now I'm gonna sell both of those and go back to being a one (electric) guitar guy again. I've never been one to want a bunch of guitars around. I don't play well enough or with enough versatility to need a bunch of different sounds. I tend to love just having a guitar I know REALLY well, that's MY guitar and my fingers just know what to do when I'm playing it, I know where all of the sounds hide and can find them, etc. Anytime I've had two (I've never had more than two electrics at a time), one of them always became my overwhelming #1 and the other basically sat unused making me feel guilty for not playing it. So I'm gonna sell both of those (which I need to anyway to help pay for this 594, along with a couple of bicycle frames and maybe camera lenses as well) and the 594 will be my electric going forward. Given my age and how long I tend to hang onto guitars when I really bond with them (I had a strat as my one and only for 30 years), this may well be the last electric guitar I ever buy. Or not, but that wouldn't surprise me.

I'll post a NGD with photos at some point - I'm gonna have to stop playing it long enough to pull out my camera and do it justice. I have a feeling I'll never get the finish to look near as good in photos as it does in person, but I'll try. It's got a sort of quiet elegance to it that I haven't seen since a '68 Martin D-28 that I also had for about 30 years. Oh, and one last thing - it's kind of funny to pick up a used guitar from Guitar Center and find among the goodies in the case a 55 point checklist from Sweetwater, where I guess the first owner bought this originally.

-Ray

I love a good story with a happy ending! Congrats!

 

[Klatuu]

Congrats on finding one that fits what you want.