NGD: 2016 Custom 22 Trem (and a Pattern Thin Neck Carve assessment)

[Gtrbldr]

Mine is not Semi-Hollow.

I should have quoted the message above mine .

 

[MA Pete]

I should have quoted the message above mine .

Oh, got it!

There was a run of Custom 22 Semi-Hollows in the 2010 timeframe, with the F-Hole.

I remember this well because we had a pretty great get-together when I lived in MA in 2009, John Mann, Kingsley D and BostonGuitar converged on my house a brought a ton of gear. John had just become a PRS dealer that year I think, and he was kind enough to bring several guitars. 2 were these Custom 22 Semi-Hollows. They both were great, but one sounded AMAZING! (It was in the Angry Larry finish - it looked great too!) We all agreed. I was going to buy it, but I made the mistake of waiting a couple of days. Kingsley's brother bought it, before I got a chance to. I took that forward as a lesson - when you play a guitar and it amazes you, buy it right away! (If you can afford it at the time.) I thought of that 2010 Custom 22 Semi-Hollow when I played the Custom 24 Private Stock recently in December, and decided to just buy it, even though I was of the mind at the time that I didn't like Custom 24's. As I was there paying for it, someone called to buy it, had his credit card out and ready! Whew. Good thing I have learned my lesson.

(Apologies for the blurry pic - the iPhone Cameras weren't nearly as good in 2010 as they are now! )

 

[László]

I had one of the 2010 CU22 Semi-hollow models. I thought it was a wonderful guitar.

 

[jackduis]

Haven't had an NGD since Tuesday, so I figured I was due for another one! LOL...

Here is a used 2016 Custom 22 that was a great find for me given my current preferences. I have talked about how I am preferring Pattern Thin Necks, Trems and guitars with Black Backs and Necks.

I am really digging the Custom 24's for that reason, but I kind of still have a slight preference for the geometry and ergonomics of the 22 Fret PRS Doublecut - I adore my 25" McCarty, it feels like "home" for me. So I was searching for something that was 22 Fret Doublecut, 2 Humbuckers, a Pattern Thin Neck Carve, and a Trem. Not easy to find such a beast! It doesn't seem to exist out there in a Core guitar. McCarty's were always Wide Fat or Pattern Necks. Custom 22's seem to have been Wide Fat / Pattern, or Regular / Pattern Regular.

The only place a Pattern Thin exists in the 2024 Core lineup is the Custom 24 Models, and the Tremonti.

So when I came across this used Custom 22 with a Pattern Thin Neck on Reverb, described as Mint Condition and hardly played, I couldn't resist! This is a 10-Top in Grey Black.

I have had some challenging experiences over the years buying used guitars on Reverb from private sellers. I can think of several that went horribly, that I had to call them out on the condition as being way off, and had to return for a refund. (I don't buy that many used guitars, mostly new.) Not this time - the seller was great to work with, and the guitar was pretty immaculate, especially for an 8 year old guitar! It was built in 2016, the buyer bought it in 2018 from Sweetwater. The only imperfection is that there is a small spot where the finish has a small "misty" spot at the edge of the guitar on the top. About the width of a thumbnail, about 1/8" thick from the edge of the body, to the right of the 5-Way when the guitar is hanging or standing straight up. Once you see it you always notice it, but it is pretty small and for a used guitar at a good price, I am fine with it given it was the only issue. (You can see that misty spot best in the third and fifth pictures above - not a huge deal.) No dings or scratches, not even buckle rash or signs of wear on the back, which is pretty impressive for a guitar with a Black Back. One of the tuners is a little tight to turn, I may need to replace it. But it works fine for now. My guitar setup guy says the frets show basically zero signs of wear, as if it had hardly been played.

(It came with Chrome Tuner knobs, I swapped to Black ones right away.)

One of the reasons I bought it was because I am thinking of spec'ing a Private Stock sometime this year. I am thinking of something like this, but with Custom 2408 Switching. So like a 22 Fret version of the Custom 2408. Before going down that expensive path of a Private Stock, best to be sure and experience it first. This was a good to find to check it out and see if that is something I would want. (The other primary thought I had was to do the same but in McCarty body thickness. So like a McCarty Trem with a Pattern Thin Neck and 2408 switching.)

I like it! It is pretty much everything I thought it would be.

But as I played it twice today, I made an interesting discovery / assessment - the current day Pattern Thin is not the same as this 2016 Pattern Thin Neck Carve. Every neck is going to be a little different, but still - when I played this, it instantly brought back memories of the many older PRS guitars with Wide Thin and Pattern Thin Necks that I had bought and not liked, and many more that I had played at a shop or someone else's guitar.

I knew right away what the difference was - the shoulders are much softer on the current day Pattern Thin versus the 2016 Pattern Thin (and my memory of previous Pattern/Wide Thin Necks have noticeably harder/sharper shoulders. The harder shoulders of the 2016 make the Neck Width (in the Nut direction) seem bigger, and also as a result makes the neck seem thinner. It tricks your brain in that regard, and feels way more different than the Pattern (formerly Wide Fat) Neck.

I do like the newer spec for the Pattern Thin with the softer shoulders. It just feels like a cozy Pattern Neck with a slightly shallower Neck depth. I am pretty certain on this assessment, I A/B'ed with all 4 of my current day Pattern Thin necks (one 2022 and three 2023's). All 4 had the softer shoulders.

Interesting!! Now it makes a little more sense to me that I previously didn't as much so like the Pattern/Wide Thin Neck Carve, and now I do. This perceived difference of softer shoulders is a big part of that for me. It feels more like the Pattern neck but a little thinner, which makes it easier to go back and forth, they are less different. For playing things that you want a "faster" feeling neck for, I prefer this newer Pattern Thin feel over the Pattern feel. But they are not too far apart in shape, more so just the neck depth dimension.

That all said, I don't think that I will be disappointed with the guitar and the harder shoulders. Now that I know what it is, I think I can live with it, and enjoy the benefits of having a 22 Fret Custom with a Pattern Thin Neck.

The pickups are 58/15's, the original ones before the LT ones came out. They are nice, they remind me of 5708's.

Agree 100% with your findings about the pattern thin neck on 2021 and younger guitars from PRS. I own a 2022 Custom 24-08 it's amazing! The pattern thin neck has like you wrote, softer shoulders. I also have a Custom 22 from 2006 with astoptail and also pattern thin neck. Neck is great but edges are harder and I also prefer the modern pattern the neck. I fitted 85/15 on this C22 form 2006 and use volume and tone knob to pull the knobs for coil split. Its fantastic. My dream instrument is a Custom 22-08 with pattern thin neck like my C24-08 from 2022. It's a much more comfortable fit for me than the C24. It just has different ergonomics because the neck is shifted to the left. My hand is not comfortable fretting there's tension on my elbow because I have to reach more to the left to play most chords and lines. A C22 just feels more natural and relaxed. I am 1.75 meter tall (European so don't know inches) and my hands are small. A pattern thin neck on a 22 fret guitar is it for me. Another reason is the position of the neck pickup. I prefer the way a neck hum bucker sounds on a C22 guitar. More like a Les Paul. Sweet child of mine just won't work on a C24.... Last but not least on a Custom 22 with a 5-way switch you can't use neck and bridge pickup alone in single coil.... that's why the 08 switching is so good... the neck humbucker 85/15 split is such a good sound like Hendrix style... also bridge 85/15 split is tele with a turbo... So completely agree your post.

PRS Custom 22-08 with pattern thin neck is missing in the PRS line up.