I’ve been on the hunt for a used or discounted Core Paul’s Guitar for some time now and finally found one. The guy who ordered it before me sent it back and left a few very minor cosmetic traces on the back of the instrument. I could buy it for the price of a used one, with full warranty etc. It arrived a few days ago and I’ve spent several hours each day playing it, enough time to share my first impressions.
The guitar was made in 2023 and it’s facing stiff competition from a 2010 NF3, a 25thAnn C22, a DGT and a 594HB-II (all Core). The PG complements those very nicely. It has a unique voice that no other guitar has. Quality is off the scale. I didn’t need to adjust anything. The store had tuned it down to D to take some pressure off the neck during shipping and the guitar was pretty much in tune (in D) upon arrival. Tuning stability and intonation are perfect. The neck is a dream and has no binding, which I prefer. It’s just so comfortable to play. The PG pickups are said to sound somewhat like a beefy P90 and I can’t disagree with that, although the PG pickups are more powerful, transparent and bright than a P90. The true single coil sounds are nothing like the usual coil split or coil tap, which I never use on my other guitars. On the PG, the neck pickup single coil sounds is outstanding by any standard. What I particularly like is the lovely woody quality of the bass strings.
Two points of concern. First, both pickup mounting rings are equally tall which means that the neck pickup can’t be lowered as far as I’d like (unless it’s lower than the ring, which just looks wrong). Second, and more seriously, the steel wraparound tailpiece with the brass inserts lends a very, very, very noticeable metallic twang to the treble strings. This is quite noticeable unplugged and even more noticeable plugged in. The effect isn’t limited to just one string, it affects all three treble strings equally. There are pros and cons to this. Pro: when strumming tenderly, there are rich angelic, harp-like overtones to chords. The harmonic complexity of this PG is unlike any of my other guitars. Con: start doing Prince-style funk vamps at your peril… the top-end will eject your eyes 6 feet out of their pockets. Or make you infertile. Or both. This guitar can be seriously bright! The wraparound bridge is clearly the cause of this. Didn’t see that coming. By comparison, my 25thAnn C22 also has a wraparound bridge but isn’t nearly as metallic sounding nor as bright. I doubt that it’s a manufacturing error because it affects all plain strings equally and it’s so obvious that it couldn’t have slipped by QC. But I will contact PRS about it, to be continued.
Because of this, the guitar sounds very different through different amps. Through a bright, Fender-style amp and a totally clean sound it’s very bright. Too bright. Adding just a bit of hair from an overdrive tames the high end a bit and takes things into Robben Ford territory - that’s a great place to be with this PG. By contrast, plugging straight into a Jazz Chorus makes the neck humbucker sound absolutely incredible. And I don’t say that lightly. A Jazz Chorus is a very neutral amp and with a ‘gushing’ guitar like this PG, which is anything _but_ neutral, the result is magical.
The guitar is definitely a keeper. Despite the metallic, trebly tailpiece it’s still clear that this is a spectacular guitar.

The guitar was made in 2023 and it’s facing stiff competition from a 2010 NF3, a 25thAnn C22, a DGT and a 594HB-II (all Core). The PG complements those very nicely. It has a unique voice that no other guitar has. Quality is off the scale. I didn’t need to adjust anything. The store had tuned it down to D to take some pressure off the neck during shipping and the guitar was pretty much in tune (in D) upon arrival. Tuning stability and intonation are perfect. The neck is a dream and has no binding, which I prefer. It’s just so comfortable to play. The PG pickups are said to sound somewhat like a beefy P90 and I can’t disagree with that, although the PG pickups are more powerful, transparent and bright than a P90. The true single coil sounds are nothing like the usual coil split or coil tap, which I never use on my other guitars. On the PG, the neck pickup single coil sounds is outstanding by any standard. What I particularly like is the lovely woody quality of the bass strings.
Two points of concern. First, both pickup mounting rings are equally tall which means that the neck pickup can’t be lowered as far as I’d like (unless it’s lower than the ring, which just looks wrong). Second, and more seriously, the steel wraparound tailpiece with the brass inserts lends a very, very, very noticeable metallic twang to the treble strings. This is quite noticeable unplugged and even more noticeable plugged in. The effect isn’t limited to just one string, it affects all three treble strings equally. There are pros and cons to this. Pro: when strumming tenderly, there are rich angelic, harp-like overtones to chords. The harmonic complexity of this PG is unlike any of my other guitars. Con: start doing Prince-style funk vamps at your peril… the top-end will eject your eyes 6 feet out of their pockets. Or make you infertile. Or both. This guitar can be seriously bright! The wraparound bridge is clearly the cause of this. Didn’t see that coming. By comparison, my 25thAnn C22 also has a wraparound bridge but isn’t nearly as metallic sounding nor as bright. I doubt that it’s a manufacturing error because it affects all plain strings equally and it’s so obvious that it couldn’t have slipped by QC. But I will contact PRS about it, to be continued.
Because of this, the guitar sounds very different through different amps. Through a bright, Fender-style amp and a totally clean sound it’s very bright. Too bright. Adding just a bit of hair from an overdrive tames the high end a bit and takes things into Robben Ford territory - that’s a great place to be with this PG. By contrast, plugging straight into a Jazz Chorus makes the neck humbucker sound absolutely incredible. And I don’t say that lightly. A Jazz Chorus is a very neutral amp and with a ‘gushing’ guitar like this PG, which is anything _but_ neutral, the result is magical.
The guitar is definitely a keeper. Despite the metallic, trebly tailpiece it’s still clear that this is a spectacular guitar.