NGD - Autographed Bernie Marsden

[grausch]

A couple of weeks ago, I had a business lunch in town and walked past a lottery outlet. I knew I had one ticket with 3€ of winnings and another that I suspected was a bust. To be honest I had contemplated throwing the tickets away as collecting 3€ is just not that high a priority for me. Well, as it turns out the second ticket won on of the alternate draws and I was 503€ richer.

So, after some very thoughtful deliberation (probably 5 seconds or so), I decided to pick up a white Ibanez Jem JR. Yes, I know, anyone buying a guitar with a monkey grip should be shot and put out of his misery, but it just was a very sweet playing guitar. Comfortable, stayed in tune, sounded decent and the satin neck felt really nice.

Knowing my Bernie was going in for a nut replacement, I decided to pick up the guitar over that weekend. Imagine my dismay to discover that someone had actually bought it! I thought I was the only one with such bad taste...

So eBay to the rescue. I saw some Jem JRs, but before I pulled the trigger, I did a search for some Bernies and found a Bernie signed by both Bernie Marsden and Paul Reed Smith. Add to that some Bareknuckle Mules, PRS lampshade knobs, Switchcraft toggle switch and locking tuners. The minimum bid was a bit higher than I would have liked, but it was still less than a new Bernie plus upgrades. The seller did not want to ship outside the UK, but was fine with me arranging shipping from outside the UK. Not thinking that I would win, I put in a bid at the minimum.

Sadly, after I put in the bid, I found a 2003 Gibson Les Paul Standard (refretted without nibs) for a couple of hundred GBP more and a 2000 PRS Singlecut McCarty (with 10th anniversary BKPs) for just slightly more than the Gibson. At this point I was really hoping someone would outbid me and then I could place a bid on either of those two.

Alas, it was not to be and I won the auction. Two hours later the Les Paul sold to a single bidder and four days later the McCarty listing ended unsold. Since both the seller and I had holiday plans, we agreed to only ship the guitar once both of us returned from our holidays.

Fast forward almost three weeks and I finally received my second Bernie today. Have plugged it in and played a couple of chords, but have not yet had the time for photographs.

However, here is one from the original eBay listing. Don't wish to use the sellers photos, and will take my own this weekend to update the thread.

Should add that with the little I have played, I love the sound of the Mules and don't regret missing out on either of the other two guitars now. This Bernie really sounds like it means business.

Edit: Removed seller's photo and will be inserting my own in a next post.

 

[Bowtiefanatc]

Pretty slick!

 

[bodia]

Nice!

 

[dmatthews]

Great story, nicely done!

 

[Alan Manning]

Many Congrats

 

[veinbuster]

Lucky the Jem was sold. This one is a gem.

 

[grausch]

My photo of Bernie's autograph.

Autograph of PRS on back of headstock

Yes, the seller's name was Roger

My 2 Bernies side-by-side

The photos were all taken at night without flash, so the flame looks a little darker now, but the vintage sunburst is slightly brighter in real life. If I had to choose between either colour, I would flip a coin. The red colour on the Black Cherry ("BC") looks nicer to me, but the flames on the Vintage Sunburst ("VS") pop much more.

On to the sound - I have played all 3 my guitars through the emulated out into headphones for now. My SG Deluxe ('57 Classics) has the crispest sound, closely followed by the VS with the Mules and the SE 245s in the BC are quite dark sounding. Of the three, I would say the Mules and the '57 Classics have the same type of character whereas the 245s are noticeably different.

The SG has a slighly longer scale length and slimmer body and there is a noticeable difference in the unplugged sound between it and the Bernies. It definitely has the classic AC/DC sound and it sounds sublime when playing rhythm on the bridge pickup. The Mules in the VS are a very close second when it comes to tone. I don't know if I could pick them apart in a blind test, but the SG just sounds slightly more crisp. It could still be my imagination though - they are extremely close in sound. The 245s in the BC sometimes leave me confounded - on some nights I get the sound I want instantly and other times I spend the whole night fiddling with the tone controls on the amp trying to find a decent sound.

However, all of these clean up pretty well when I turn back the volume pot and I am happy strumming cowboy chords on the neck pickup with any of these guitars.

All-in-all, very happy with the purchase. Now I just need to win another 500€, get some MannMade bridges and a set of BKP Mississippi Queens...or perhaps leave all of that and pick up a Bernie in Grey-Black.

 

[grausch]

Nice!

Hi bodia,

I know you are an advocate of Dunlop 7s strings. Are you using them on the Bernie and what is your action like? Installed a set on my SG today and action seems decent, but I am not sure how much more fret-buzz I will get from 7s on the Bernie. Ernie Ball 8s seem to be pushing it. The Dunlop 7s have the same wound gauges as the Ernie Ball 8s (except of the D), but I was thinking of installing the Dunlop 8s as their wound strings have a slightly larger gauge.

Would be great if you could give some input.

Thanks,

 

[bodia]

Hi bodia,

I know you are an advocate of Dunlop 7s strings. Are you using them on the Bernie and what is your action like? Installed a set on my SG today and action seems decent, but I am not sure how much more fret-buzz I will get from 7s on the Bernie. Ernie Ball 8s seem to be pushing it. The Dunlop 7s have the same wound gauges as the Ernie Ball 8s (except of the D), but I was thinking of installing the Dunlop 8s as their wound strings have a slightly larger gauge.

Would be great if you could give some input.

Thanks,

I've actually got a set of 8's on there right now. Action is pretty low and buzz is minimal. I'll probably stick with the 8's for now. I did a minor truss rod tweak, and that's about it. Maybe 1/4 turn.

 

[grausch]

I've actually got a set of 8's on there right now. Action is pretty low and buzz is minimal. I'll probably stick with the 8's for now. I did a minor truss rod tweak, and that's about it. Maybe 1/4 turn.

Cool, thanks for clarifying. My BC Bernie has a pretty good set up with 8s, but there is a little fret buzz if I strum hard. I think I will leave those on for now and have the VS Bernie set up with a set of 9s to compare.

With the 24.75" scale on the SG, there is very little fret buzz and bends are really effortless using 7s.

 

[Mikegarveyblues]

Nice pair of Bernies!

A Mann bridge on those would look great!

Enjoy!

 

[toothace]

Great score! Congrats!!

 

[pac90]

Now this is going to sound a bit funny, but I guess its not so much as we are on a prs forum, but I thought I recognised that serial number, and had to check with a photo

Yep, small world, I was the original owner of that Bernie, enjoy it, it's a great guitar. Nice to see its in good hands again, its a bit like putting a message in a bottle and seeing where it turns up

It was quite expensive new as it originally was a limited edition with the 53/10s but although the neck pickup was fantastic, the bridge was really bright in that guitar. The mules suit it better.
I added the USA knobs and wide fat nut, gotoh locking tuners and the mules.

 

[CVS]

Very nice guitars! Enjoy

Grausch - What gauge strings are on the Bernie guitar right now?

 

[grausch]

Very nice guitars! Enjoy

Grausch - What gauge strings are on the Bernie guitar right now?

The BC Bernie has Ernie Ball 8-38s on there right now. Action is pretty low, but I need a light hand when strumming to avoid fret buzz.

Edit: fret buzz is usually noticeable when hitting power chords hard. Some regular or barre chords does not lead to noticeable fret buzz.

 

[grausch]

Now this is going to sound a bit funny, but I guess its not so much as we are on a prs forum, but I thought I recognised that serial number, and had to check with a photo

Yep, small world, I was the original owner of that Bernie, enjoy it, it's a great guitar. Nice to see its in good hands again, its a bit like putting a message in a bottle and seeing where it turns up

It was quite expensive new as it originally was a limited edition with the 53/10s but although the neck pickup was fantastic, the bridge was really bright in that guitar. The mules suit it better.
I added the USA knobs and wide fat nut, gotoh locking tuners and the mules.

Wow, that is very cool...thank you for providing that bit of the guitar's history.

I had looked on eBay before to see if I could score one of the limited editions, but it looked like no one was selling theirs. Am curious what the 53/10s sound like, but the Mules have the sound I was looking for, so not eager to change back.

Guitar is pretty well taken care of, some dings on the headstock and a very small bit of damage to the finish on the back. Fretboard needs a little bit of oil and I need to do a setup (hopefully this weekend).

I was curious about the nut. Knew it wasn't stock and it looked like the PRS one, but had no confirmation. Since it is also slightly too small, I wonder if the Bernie's neck profile is wider than a wide-fat.

If you don't mind me asking, why did you sell the guitar?

 

[pac90]

They come with 10s, so it should just need a tweak for the 8s. There's a thread on here somewhere with pictures of the nut replacement.

why do we ever sell gear, to get something else. I have 6 guitars and 1 wife, there's a finite ratio there

I gravitated to singlecoils and I had gotten an old soapbar 1 from another forum member which I put new pots and BK p90 pickups into, and that and a new strat was getting all the playing time.

 

[grausch]

Yeah, my SG can relate to other guitars being played all the time. I have been eyeing a PRS SE Singlcut Soapbar on eBay, but the asking price is very close to the price of a new Bernie. So I can just take my Bernie (Black Cherry or "BC") and put some Mississippi Queens in there. Sort of what I am leaning towards now - already have a great guitar, just modify the sound a little.

My BC has been set up with a bone nut cut of 8s, so setup is pretty much spot-on. Same guy set up my SG as well. With the 8s, the SG has almost no fret buzz and the BC has not got enough to really bother me. Your Bernie (Vintage Sunburst or "VS") probably came with 9s - they just don't feel like 10s to me. I plan on setting the VS up for 9s and then I will compare it to the 8s on the BC. The Dunlop strings also have a higher gauge for the lower strings, so that could have an effect on the fret buzz. I am just experimenting at this point, trying to find strings that work for me, but still allow decent attack.

 

[prsrocker1988]

Very cool...

 

[grausch]

I have been playing a bit more hair metal lately and am still considering upgrading the pickups in my other Bernie (BC) to something like a BKP Holy Diver / Emerald set. Imagine my surprise when I saw that BKP also has sound clips for Mules playing hair metal. Since this Bernie (VS) has some Mules in it, I decided to give it a go.

With Mules, the VS gets a really good hair metal sound, but still retains a PAF characteristic while being less aggressive than the SG - this works better for hair metal. However, the HFS in my Standard 24 and the SE 245 bridge in the BC do a better job of this. Where the Mules shine though is when I switch to the neck - the VB and SE 245 neck become instantly muddy with that much gain, while the Mules retain much more clarity.

While planning on changing my output jack I got a pleasant surprise - one of the previous owners had changed the jack to a Switchcraft jack and there may also be an Orange Drop cap in there. Need to open up the BC again to be sure.

Of course, any post is useless without pics, so here is some more guitar porn.

This looks so much better than my previous pics - glad the wife let me use her camera and it helps when the sun is out. This now looks like all of the other Bernies that gave me so much GAS.