MA Pete
Pattern Thin Convert!
I mentioned a couple of times on other threads that I swapped out my Tremonti Stoptail for a Tremonti Trem. My NGD posting is overdue for the Trem one here.
The Stoptail was a fantastic guitar, it was very resonant and played and sounded great. But I was keen to compare it to a Trem version and see which won out as the keeper. The Trem version was comparable in tone, maybe a hair better. Both are equally lively in resonance - which was a surprise as usually Trems to me feel a little livelier, but the Stoptail had beastly sustain and resonance, so they were comparable in that regard.
As I mentioned, I am liking the Trems better these days, I am liking how close they are to the top of the guitar for the feeling of the right hand, and how it gives more freedom and not getting in the way of the bottom of your right hand below the pinky finger. And also of course the extra liveliness that generally comes with a Trem equipped PRS. I have 4 PRS guitars now, and 3 are Trems.
The top is great, and I absolutely love this Purple Iris color! It was discontinued around the end of the 2022 model year. I did a search here, and someone had posted that they had heard that PRS's supplier for the dye had discontinued the Dye(s) needed for this finish.
To me the finish is a nice mix of Modern and Vintage - Modern with the Purple tones (two different Purple Colors) but with a Natural Back, which I love.
A lot of the more modern finishes (like Purple Mist) have a Black Back and Neck, which I generally don't care for, I really like to see the grain on the Neck - and thus Natural and Cherry are my two favorite Back and Neck finish colors.
I like the Tremonti pickups for what they are, they are great for the heavier high gain stuff. But I want this guitar to be a little more versatile for me, like a 25" Singlecut Trem with more of a Classic Rock tone. So my plan is to put 5708's in this guitar (next week, I already have them in for the transplant). A little hotter than the 58/15 LT's, but still very much a PAF type of pickup. Stay tuned for a report on those in this guitar.
The guitar is fairly heavy at 9 pounds 3 ounces. It is a tad body heavy on your leg sitting down, but not too bad. The Stoptail was 9 pounds 2 ounces, about the same. I wouldn't play out with a guitar this heavy, that would bother my back for sure. Tremonti's are generally on the heavy side, usually over 9 pounds, or the high 8's. That's the way Mark likes them, as he has stated in interviews. But that's okay, I am not playing out these days, so I don't really mind the weight, especially if that is contributing to the awesome tone it has. If I were playing out these days, I would be grabbing the 25" McCarty for that duty, without question.
Strange fact - the 2022 Trem and the 2023 Stoptail were wired differently, the Volume for the Bridge pickups was in a different location, which was funny and troubling for the very short period of time I had both and was A/B'ing them. Not sure if a change was made for Model Year 2023, or if that was just a mistake.
So here is the current lineup:
Four very different PRS guitars, all equally great! This sort of approach of having very different models in the collection seems much more useful than back in the day when I had like 8+ Ted 245's or 8+ 594's.
A nice variety in colors as well.
The Stoptail was a fantastic guitar, it was very resonant and played and sounded great. But I was keen to compare it to a Trem version and see which won out as the keeper. The Trem version was comparable in tone, maybe a hair better. Both are equally lively in resonance - which was a surprise as usually Trems to me feel a little livelier, but the Stoptail had beastly sustain and resonance, so they were comparable in that regard.
As I mentioned, I am liking the Trems better these days, I am liking how close they are to the top of the guitar for the feeling of the right hand, and how it gives more freedom and not getting in the way of the bottom of your right hand below the pinky finger. And also of course the extra liveliness that generally comes with a Trem equipped PRS. I have 4 PRS guitars now, and 3 are Trems.
The top is great, and I absolutely love this Purple Iris color! It was discontinued around the end of the 2022 model year. I did a search here, and someone had posted that they had heard that PRS's supplier for the dye had discontinued the Dye(s) needed for this finish.
To me the finish is a nice mix of Modern and Vintage - Modern with the Purple tones (two different Purple Colors) but with a Natural Back, which I love.
A lot of the more modern finishes (like Purple Mist) have a Black Back and Neck, which I generally don't care for, I really like to see the grain on the Neck - and thus Natural and Cherry are my two favorite Back and Neck finish colors.
I like the Tremonti pickups for what they are, they are great for the heavier high gain stuff. But I want this guitar to be a little more versatile for me, like a 25" Singlecut Trem with more of a Classic Rock tone. So my plan is to put 5708's in this guitar (next week, I already have them in for the transplant). A little hotter than the 58/15 LT's, but still very much a PAF type of pickup. Stay tuned for a report on those in this guitar.
The guitar is fairly heavy at 9 pounds 3 ounces. It is a tad body heavy on your leg sitting down, but not too bad. The Stoptail was 9 pounds 2 ounces, about the same. I wouldn't play out with a guitar this heavy, that would bother my back for sure. Tremonti's are generally on the heavy side, usually over 9 pounds, or the high 8's. That's the way Mark likes them, as he has stated in interviews. But that's okay, I am not playing out these days, so I don't really mind the weight, especially if that is contributing to the awesome tone it has. If I were playing out these days, I would be grabbing the 25" McCarty for that duty, without question.
Strange fact - the 2022 Trem and the 2023 Stoptail were wired differently, the Volume for the Bridge pickups was in a different location, which was funny and troubling for the very short period of time I had both and was A/B'ing them. Not sure if a change was made for Model Year 2023, or if that was just a mistake.
So here is the current lineup:
Four very different PRS guitars, all equally great! This sort of approach of having very different models in the collection seems much more useful than back in the day when I had like 8+ Ted 245's or 8+ 594's.
A nice variety in colors as well.
