Melisschief
New Member
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2017
- Messages
- 20
The short version of the story is that I tried my first PRS, and after not much deliberation, I brought her home!
The longer version of the story is that last year I started a "bucket list" project of learning to play the bass. It's been a great journey, and my bass teacher suggested I learn to play the guitar as well to enhance my musicianship. I honestly didn't think I could get my fingers to play chords, but I borrowed my co-worker's guitar, and filed the fingernails on my left hand waaaaaay down, and just like that, I could play chords.
I was hooked! I love playing the bass, but playing the guitar brings things to a whole other level.
I started thinking about what kind of guitar I'd want. I was kind of all over the place. Strats are nice. But maybe an acoustic. Or wait, the Les Paul is very nice. Yeah, all over the place.
I told my guitar teacher that I liked the guitar tone in "Fade to Black" by Dire Straits or "Allison" by Elvis Costello. He said it'd be easier for me to get that kind of tone with humbuckers (even though he thinks Mr. Knopfler is playing a strat in "Fade to Black.")
I started researching Les Pauls online. One of the downsides to me is that they tend to be heavy and they don't have contours.
My next plan was to check out single cut, humbucking guitars whenever I was in a music store to get an idea of what could work for me. I wasn't in a huge rush -- I had a guitar I could borrow indefinitely, and thought the more I kept practicing, the more I'd have an idea of what I wanted in a guitar. In the meantime, I could just have fun familiarizing myself with different types of guitars whenever I was in a guitar store.
One fine day I was in a local independent music store with a wide selection of strats, Gibsons, Epiphones, acoustics, pretty much everything! I had a field day trying all the different guitars -- really, is there a better way to spend an afternoon? And then I noticed this pretty little red guitar hanging on the same wall as the Epiphones. It was a used PRS -- from my limited knowledge of guitars, I figured it was way out of my price range. Looked at the price tag, and it was very affordable, plus it came with a gig bag. Another thing I'd heard about PRS guitars was that you either loved or hated the neck profile, so I needed to find out which camp I was in.
I sat down with the guitar, and it felt nice in my hand. I could play the limited chords I'd been taught, and I could run through scales fairly easily. Nice! And the guitar sure looked nice -- bird inlays on the fretboard, binding, nice wood grain showing under the red. It was pristine -- just a fine coating of dust and maybe some light surface scratches. It was certainly lighter than the Les Pauls I tried, and the PRS has body contours that made it more comfortable for me. Soundwise, the PRS sounded nicer than the guitar I was borrowing, but I might have a slight preference for the pro-bucker pickups on the Epiphone in the store.
The more I played it, the more my plans changed from "I'm just gonna check this out to see if I'd want one in the future" to "this is pretty much exactly what I'm looking for, and I'd be seriously bummed if someone else bought it."
So I bought it. It did come with a gig bag that's way nicer than the one I bought for my short scale bass. Researching the serial number, it looks like it was made in 2010.
I've owned the guitar for a little more than a month. Since then, I've cleaned the fine layer of dust off it, put new strings on it, oiled the fretboard, lubed the nut to get rid of the tink I heard when tuning the G string, and got it a PRS black leather strap with birds on it. I've also started learning barre chords, and this guitar makes it pretty simple to pick up things like that. It's a keeper -- I feel like it's my partner-in-crime/running-mate on my guitar learning adventure.
Thanks for listening.
- Melissa
PS Let's see if I can post a pic. Typical disclaimer applies: it's a terrible pic that I snapped on my phone that doesn't do the guitar justice.
The longer version of the story is that last year I started a "bucket list" project of learning to play the bass. It's been a great journey, and my bass teacher suggested I learn to play the guitar as well to enhance my musicianship. I honestly didn't think I could get my fingers to play chords, but I borrowed my co-worker's guitar, and filed the fingernails on my left hand waaaaaay down, and just like that, I could play chords.
I was hooked! I love playing the bass, but playing the guitar brings things to a whole other level.
I started thinking about what kind of guitar I'd want. I was kind of all over the place. Strats are nice. But maybe an acoustic. Or wait, the Les Paul is very nice. Yeah, all over the place.
I told my guitar teacher that I liked the guitar tone in "Fade to Black" by Dire Straits or "Allison" by Elvis Costello. He said it'd be easier for me to get that kind of tone with humbuckers (even though he thinks Mr. Knopfler is playing a strat in "Fade to Black.")
I started researching Les Pauls online. One of the downsides to me is that they tend to be heavy and they don't have contours.
My next plan was to check out single cut, humbucking guitars whenever I was in a music store to get an idea of what could work for me. I wasn't in a huge rush -- I had a guitar I could borrow indefinitely, and thought the more I kept practicing, the more I'd have an idea of what I wanted in a guitar. In the meantime, I could just have fun familiarizing myself with different types of guitars whenever I was in a guitar store.
One fine day I was in a local independent music store with a wide selection of strats, Gibsons, Epiphones, acoustics, pretty much everything! I had a field day trying all the different guitars -- really, is there a better way to spend an afternoon? And then I noticed this pretty little red guitar hanging on the same wall as the Epiphones. It was a used PRS -- from my limited knowledge of guitars, I figured it was way out of my price range. Looked at the price tag, and it was very affordable, plus it came with a gig bag. Another thing I'd heard about PRS guitars was that you either loved or hated the neck profile, so I needed to find out which camp I was in.
I sat down with the guitar, and it felt nice in my hand. I could play the limited chords I'd been taught, and I could run through scales fairly easily. Nice! And the guitar sure looked nice -- bird inlays on the fretboard, binding, nice wood grain showing under the red. It was pristine -- just a fine coating of dust and maybe some light surface scratches. It was certainly lighter than the Les Pauls I tried, and the PRS has body contours that made it more comfortable for me. Soundwise, the PRS sounded nicer than the guitar I was borrowing, but I might have a slight preference for the pro-bucker pickups on the Epiphone in the store.
The more I played it, the more my plans changed from "I'm just gonna check this out to see if I'd want one in the future" to "this is pretty much exactly what I'm looking for, and I'd be seriously bummed if someone else bought it."
So I bought it. It did come with a gig bag that's way nicer than the one I bought for my short scale bass. Researching the serial number, it looks like it was made in 2010.
I've owned the guitar for a little more than a month. Since then, I've cleaned the fine layer of dust off it, put new strings on it, oiled the fretboard, lubed the nut to get rid of the tink I heard when tuning the G string, and got it a PRS black leather strap with birds on it. I've also started learning barre chords, and this guitar makes it pretty simple to pick up things like that. It's a keeper -- I feel like it's my partner-in-crime/running-mate on my guitar learning adventure.
Thanks for listening.
- Melissa
PS Let's see if I can post a pic. Typical disclaimer applies: it's a terrible pic that I snapped on my phone that doesn't do the guitar justice.