NGD: 2002 US Custom 22 Whale Blue 10-Top, wide-fat neck!

[jacenty]

This is my first US PRS after over ten years of yearning for one.
Bought online, so a little worried if I will like it but once I got it in my hands, all doubts went away.
It's a beast of a guitar and best sounding one I've ever had!

Shout out to Garrett Park Guitars for being an excellent dealer. Super fast shipping, best packaging I could have asked for and even included a personal note.
Guitar is in mint condition, came with case, hang tag and everything else that originally came with it. Made me feel like I bought a new guitar.

And here's the rest of the crew:

From top to bottom:
SE CU 24 - whale blue 30th anniversary with ebony fretboard and wide thing neck. (Great craftsmanship, very resonating guitar but not my cup of tea)
New Core CU 22
SE CU 22 - 2007 model with wide fat neck (love the dark sound and feel of this one)

I do have a few questions and I hope you can help me get to know my new guitar a little better.
1. Although marked as a 10-top, the maple figure isn't as prominent as I was expecting. Does this look like a 10-top to you guys?
2. The guitar came with Dragon II pickups. They sound pretty good but I can definitely hear the compression effect that people mention. The music style I play is similar to Porcupine Tree, so a mix of great cleans and heavy sounds.
Which pickups would you recommend? HFS/VB or 59/09?
3. The serial is 262324, suggesting it's one of the first ones to come out of the factory in 2002 but the tuners are winged. I thought Phase II were already the standard by that time. Is this common?
4. Is there any significant difference between these tuners and Phase III?

Thanks!

 

[László]

The years of yearning paid off big time! Very nice!

 

[toothace]

Excellent! Are blue PRS guitars the best or what??

 

[CVS]

Congrats - Great looking (and sounding) guitar. I have a 2003 CU24 with VB and HFS and I can tell you that for heavy / distorted sounds I have no other guitar that can match this one and cannot bring myself to swap out the pick ups. I use this guitar primarily for classic rock and Santana in songs that call for distortion. As far as clean sounds go, I am not particularly enamored with neck pickup, but I do like the clean single coil sound that you can get out of position 4. If you guitar came with VB / HFS (mine did) , why not try it out for a while before you think about switching pickups?

I can't talk to you about 59-09's because I have never played a guitar that has them (but I have played numerous other PRS's with all sort of different pickups). Hopefully someone else can give you a direct sound comparison between the 2 types of pick ups.

 

[Rachmaninoff]

Beautiful guitars and great pictures... congrats, dude.

 

[DISTORT6]

Congrats! That one is beautiful. :beer:

ATTENTION OWNERS OF WING-TUNER GUITARS:

THAT is the way they are meant to be. Period.
Thank you.

 

[jacenty]

Thanks everybody! I'm very excited about this one.

@Distort6, I just changed the strings for the first time and I have to say, I'm having problems getting it right. I followed the setup guide on PRS's support side but the wings on the non-wound strings side are still pointing towards the bridge, not outside.
I don't quite get this part: http://prsguitars.com/csc/tuners/wing4.html

I'm supposed to push the flat side of the wing towards the inside of the headstock but nothing moves if I do that. The photo seems to be showing the guy doing the opposite - pushing the curved side towards the outside of the headstock.
Any tips or videos?

 

[kes7u]

I do have a few questions and I hope you can help me get to know my new guitar a little better.
1. Although marked as a 10-top, the maple figure isn't as prominent as I was expecting. Does this look like a 10-top to you guys?


Thanks!

Congratulations on a beautiful guitar!! I love this top. Many people prefer a wider and more variable flame, but I love this. I have a Wood Library in a different color with a very similar top. I've seen Private Stocks with very similar tops.

Kevin

 

[CantankerousCarl]

Hi Jacenty - that looks to be in near-perfect condition - a really nice online score!

That top is certainly beautiful, I would definitely agree with others in that it most certainly looks 10-top-ish, maybe even closer to Artist grade because of how thin and even the figuring is.

I swapped out the DIIs in my 2000 CU22 because I didn't feel they were doing anything for the guitar. I have a few CU24s/CE24s with HFS/VB, and they sound great for heavier stuff. I have been playing more bluesy stuff lately, and using less gain, and for my taste the DIIs and HFS/VB are a little too compressed for that. You might want to try out the 59/09s as a nice middlegound - see if you can find a similarly-constructed guitar with them for comparison.

RE: the Wingers, FWIW I find that starting out well is critical. Make sure you have the opening in the collar and the flat part of the cam aligned so that you can see a good amount of daylight - you should be able to pull the string straight up and it should "lay" in the groove. After that, just keep plenty of tension while turning - you should be good to go in just a few turns. The Phase1s are the quickest string changers in the universe IMO. I don't think they are always the prettiest, but they work really well on a darker, black-backed guitar with a black headstock like yours.

Congrats!

 

[DISTORT6]

:top:

@Distort6, I just changed the strings for the first time and I have to say, I'm having problems getting it right. I followed the setup guide on PRS's support side but the wings on the non-wound strings side are still pointing towards the bridge, not outside.
I don't quite get this part: http://prsguitars.com/csc/tuners/wing4.html

I'm supposed to push the flat side of the wing towards the inside of the headstock but nothing moves if I do that. The photo seems to be showing the guy doing the opposite - pushing the curved side towards the outside of the headstock.
Any tips or videos?

RE: the Wingers, FWIW I find that starting out well is critical. Make sure you have the opening in the collar and the flat part of the cam aligned so that you can see a good amount of daylight - you should be able to pull the string straight up and it should "lay" in the groove. After that, just keep plenty of tension while turning - you should be good to go in just a few turns. The Phase1s are the quickest string changers in the universe IMO. I don't think they are always the prettiest, but they work really well on a darker, black-backed guitar with a black headstock like yours.

Cantankerous is correct. Keeping tension on the string is the biggest thing for these tuners. Keep pulling on them - past the headstock - and just keep re-doing this until they get in the right position. Once the cam is in place, string changes are WAY easier. :top:

 

[vchizzle]

Excellent example! That baby looks brand new!

Definitely looks like a 10 to me. Very even flame, no voids. Whale blue can suppress the top a bit since it's a dark color. Mine is the same.
I think the DII pickups would be fine for what you're after, that's not to say you wouldn't like something else better.
It's been forever since I've touched a winged tuner. I was never a fan because I couldn't change a string super quick in a low light club conditions. Not sure you can do phase 3, but I'd change to phase 2 if it were my guitar.

 

[jacenty]

Ah, that was it. Just had to pull harder on the strings. After doing that, I have to say I kind of like the winged tuners.
Makes it pretty quick to change strings.

 

[veinbuster]

Fantastic.

 

[DISTORT6]

YES! :shakehands:

 

[bricel24]

Im jealous, Ive wanted a Cu22 in that color. Maybe someday. Congrats!!