While I will always love fancy guitars with birds and killer tops, I thought it would be cool to go in the opposite direction. This is exactly what I was looking for: a goldtop with dots, no neck binding, and vintage tuners.
I bought it at an amazing price. It’s a 2002 and in mint condition; except for the frets, while not worn, could use a good polish. I love the gold inlaid PRS signature on the headstock. I miss that.
It came with aged Wizz Premium Clone PAFs, which are highly regarded and usually sound amazing. However, they come premounted in tall Gibson pickup rings. So, instead of putting the PRS rings on there, someone raised the bridge really high to go above the taller Gibson pickup rings.
Ridiculous. It wasn’t evident in the pictures.
Anyway, the guitar is so sweet that I didn’t complain. Oh, also the wiring isn’t right and it sounds like ass. Again, I’m so happy with the price and condition that electronics are not an issue to me.
So, I dropped it off at my tech. I asked him to polish the frets and to install all new pots, bumblebee caps, and a new input jack. I put the PRS pickup rings on there and I lowered the bridge but I’ll have him give it a full set up. I want to try the Wizz pickups with proper wiring and set up before I yank them out. It has a cap in there now that is for single coils.
So, I am expecting that the Wizz will sound so much better.
I had a set of John Mann modified vintage tuners
on hand so those were the first things to go on. What can I say? I like quick and easy string changes, especially when playing out.
I will give you a full report when I get it back from the tech. I ordered black pickup rings and three way tip because I think it would look good. I hope they arrive in time for me to run them over to the shop before he does the work. If not, I can put them on later. I’m also changing the speed knobs to the amber lampshade knobs.
