NGD: Paul's Guitar

MA Pete

MA Pete

Pattern Thin Convert!
Joined
Apr 27, 2012
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Location
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So you guys have seen that since I have returned from Hiatus, I have been very impressed with the 2020 models with the Nitro finishes and the TCI pickups.

I discovered that while I was hiatus that the Paul's Guitar was refreshed with some new pickups, which now have true Singlecoils. I hadn't owned a Paul's Guitar previously, but I did have a couple of Core 408 guitars back in the day, and also I had a DC 245 Private Stock built with 408 pickups. That DC 245 PS was my primary gigging guitar for a couple of years.

I wasn't really proactively seeking out the Paul's guitar, but as I posted on BrianC's thread, I came across this video from Baxter at Casino Guitars, and I was impressed with the Bluesy tones he was getting out of the guitar, both in Humbucker and Singlecoil modes. Those Bluesy tones he was getting are right in my wheelhouse! I have really been enjoying my 2020 25" McCarty, so I knew a 25" DC with a Pattern Neck would be something I would like, combined with the tones I was hearing in the video:


I ended up grabbing the exact guitar in the video. (Baxter was a great guy to deal with!)

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(The guitar came with Ivoroid Tuner Knobs, but I decided to try Ebony Knobs, I like those better on this guitar. They kind of match together with the Black Bobbins on the guitar...)

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My primary wheelhouse right now is the 2020 SC and DC 594s, and the 2020 25" McCarty. This guitar is a nice complement to those, this one to me has the best Singlecoil tones of the bunch, while still having a great Bridge Humbucker tone for ballsy Classic Rock and Bluesy tones.

I am glad I tried it!

More detailed tone thoughts to follow...
 
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Nice. Yes ivory buttons for me as well.

The Peach Guitars video for me was the one to make me want to buy it. That kid can play - love all of his videos.

The new one has a real nice top and I really like the birds. They are a great variant.
 
More thoughts on tone here:

The Singlecoil modes are really great on the neck pickup and also the Middle position, in my opinion. The hum is canceled for the most part in the Middle position, which is nice. (Even with just the Neck Singlecoil, there isn't much hum. WAY less for instance than with a Soapbar guitar.) The Neck Singlecoil really nails some great Jimi Hendrix tones, both cleanish and also with higher gain.

The Neck Humbucker is really great. So much so that I prefer it over the 594s and the 25" McCarty! It is more "focused", doesn't get as Bassy as the 5815 LTs do, but is still full and rich.

The Bridge Humbucker was a very pleasant surprise. I had it in my head that it might be a little "thin" based on what I heard from YouTube demos of the original Paul's Guitar back in the day. It is really great, has a great robust snarly sort of tone, great for the Classic Rock and Blues tones I seek!

I do have to tune the amps a little differently to optimize for this guitar, particularly on the Bridge pickup. My go-to Amps are Plexi style amps, the HX/DA 30W head and a Metropoulos DVL-1 in '65 and '66 mode. I also have a PRS Dallas 50W Head, it sounds great through that as well, but the Plexi thing is more my wheelhouse, both with low gain and at medium and higher gain settings. When I give the Amp a bit more Bass, and fine tune everything else, I can get the Bridge Humbucker to sound pretty close (in a good way) to the 5815 family of pickups (I have 5815 LT+'s in the SC 594s, regular 5815s in the 25" McCarty, and pre-TCI 5815 LTs in a couple of the Private Stocks). It still has that slightly more "focused" quality about it, but can hang with the 5815s with regards to good Classic Rock tones.

There is something to be said for these pickups having a P-90 "ish" tone in Humbucker Mode. To be clear, they don't sound like P-90s, but they have a quality about them that reminds you of P-90s, in a good way. To me they seem like a cross between 5815 / 5815 LT pickups and PRS Soapbars, as in all the good things from both. They have the chimeyness and sparkle of the 5815 LTs, which I love.

The Singlecoils are totally awesome! I have a Cu22 Special SH (WL with a Swamp Ash Body, Maple Neck and Board), and I prefer this guitar's Singlecoil tones in the Neck and the Middle position over the Special in positions 5 and 3, but of course the Special has that advantage of having positions 4 and 2, which are great, especially position 4.

That last comparison really draws attention to how great a Core version of the Modern Eagle V would be - these great pickups with a Singlecoil in the Middle and a 5-Way switch. Hopefully such a guitar is coming sometime soon! (PRS Team - If you do come out with that guitar, please just make sure it retains the Pattern/WF Neck Carve, and a Stoptail option would be nice as well!) :)

I haven't played out in a band environment in a few years, but I would bet this guitar would be terrific in the mix with a band. The Singlecoil tones are much better IMO than the 408 pickups I gigged for a couple of years, they would have been great to have for the songs I needed them for! And I have a feeling this Bridge tone with gain would cut through the mix quite nicely.
 
That's the nicest one of those I have seen to date.
I love the color and I have a thing for reverse chevron tops.
I think the reverse chevron goes well with the PRS shape.
Congratulations and enjoy the Hell out of it.
 
MA Pete said:
I do have to tune the amps a little differently to optimize for this guitar...
Click to expand...

A little more clarity here on this topic. I do find the guitar/pickups to be a LOT more amp sensitive than most. I have a hard time dialing in great tones with the Metropoulus DVL-1 amp, which dials in very easily with the McCarty family of guitars and 5815 pickups.

The Paul's guitar seems to really like the HX/DA, particularly at higher gain. I find that particularly interesting, since the HX/DA is basically a derivative of the same amp across the 25th Anniversary Amp, the HXDA, the MDT and Paul's Amp. Perhaps the pickups were optimized on that Amp platform, and that is why it matches so well with it.
 
bodia said:
Nice grab, Pete! Sorry, I'm all in on the ivory buttons, too! Love that video. I can totally see why you jumped.
Click to expand...

Overwhelming votes for the Ivory buttons! Ha. For me I really went overboard on the Ivory Buttons on all the 594s, I guess I wanted a break from them, and wanted to make this one different in vibe than the 594s.

I am really digging the look and vibe of the new non-locking vintage tuners on the 2020s, you will see I will have mostly those in the collection going forward anyway. ;)

I had some wood stained buttons that I thought would go look good with the monotone look of this guitar, but they didn't match the colors quite right. I think something like that would be best with this guitar, I will probably keep looking for something like that.


Tony M. said:
That's the nicest one of those I have seen to date.
I love the color and I have a thing for reverse chevron tops.
I think the reverse chevron goes well with the PRS shape.
Congratulations and enjoy the Hell out of it.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I totally agree with you with regards to the reverse chevron tops, those are my absolute favorite on PRS Guitars! I like them in a reverse chevron or straight across, not as much in the regular chevron...

(If you think that one looks good - I have another guitar inbound that is a mind-blowing reverse chevron top. Stay tuned for that one within a week or so!) :)
 
Beautiful PG! I'm also on the ivoroid tuners but that's just a minor thing. I've heard that these newer TCI pickups are much more touch sensitive. Might have to try some once the plague is over.
 
BrianC said:
Nice. Yes ivory buttons for me as well.

The Peach Guitars video for me was the one to make me want to buy it. That kid can play - love all of his videos.

The new one has a real nice top and I really like the birds. They are a great variant.
Click to expand...

sergiodeblanc said:
Bangin’!

Man, I love me some brushstroke birds.
Click to expand...

Yes, I forgot to mention that - I really like the brushstroke birds as well! They are really cool looking in real life, and are a nice change from the Old Birds and the J-Birds on all the other models.

One thing I don't dig about the model in general and this one in particular is the lighter colored Honduran Board. That said, with this Copper finish, it looks kind of cool with the monotone look of the guitar, all of the medium brown wood tones. It is more in the context of hanging next to my other guitars which all have really dark Indian rosewood or Brazilian Rosewood boards, it just looks odd to me, not in a good way. But when seeing it on its own and playing it, it doesn't as much bother me. Up close the board actually has a nice grain in it.

Honduran Boards are generally lighter in color, but sometimes darker, the one in the Peach Guitars video is for instance darker.

It would be cool if they did an Artist Package version of this guitar, with a Brazilian Board and the Brushstroke Birds in Abalone or Paua or something like that. I would be all over that! ;)

One more comment with regards to the aesthetics of the guitar - I thought it would bother me that it doesn't have binding, I am SO used to that with the 594s and the 25" McCarty. It doesn't bother me, I kind of like that it is different in that regard.

Also the back and neck are a nice Caramel color, much darker than the "Natural" finish on my Charcoal and Yellow Tiger guitars, I really like that. I think I *would* miss the binding if the back were just Natural...
 
LOL, I've been sad as this was on my Reverb watch list, and I'd been talking to the Casino guys - and it disappeared (sold) in the last few days. I thought I had a buyer for my boat - which is on hold now, so I was waiting for that to move.

It's the only copperhead Paul's TCI available in the US - treat it well bro! I'm sure it's in way better hands than it would've been with me, but I would've gave it my all ;)

You better love it long time or I'm gonna be mad! :D
 
Warmart said:
LOL, I've been sad as this was on my Reverb watch list, and I'd been talking to the Casino guys - and it disappeared (sold) in the last few days. I thought I had a buyer for my boat - which is on hold now, so I was waiting for that to move.

It's the only copperhead Paul's TCI available in the US - treat it well bro! I'm sure it's in way better hands than it would've been with me, but I would've gave it my all ;)

You better love it long time or I'm gonna be mad! :D
Click to expand...

Sorry about that!

What is weird is that there seems to be a lot of these just showing up at dealers now, they must have done a large batch of them (obviously prior to the factory shutdown). Maybe because of the unique pickups and electronics, it was easiest for them to just do a large batch of them.

That Peach Guitars video was just filmed a few weeks ago, and they also did another one in late January.

This guitar came out in 2018, but there didn't seem to be many out there. There were a couple of threads I found in the search history that were asking why they weren't many out there yet, and now all of a sudden several of them seem to be showing up...
 
With regards to the tone report - I realize I forgot to mention the Bridge Singlecoil. It also is great!
 
MA Pete said:
Sorry about that!
Click to expand...

Thank you, sir, but he who strikes first deserves it, and like I said, it's no doubt in better hands! Hopefully you got a hint of humor from it all :D

A Paul's is still on my gas list, along with 1 or 2 594's - to supplement my 2019 CU24 - and I definitely want the 2018 Experience or newer models. And yes, there definitely have been more out in the wild of late, it'll happen for me when it happens:D
 
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