shinksma
What? I get a title?
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2014
- Messages
- 5,411
Last week a fellow PRS forumite mentioned he had been to a particular GC to try out a used Swamp Ash Special that had arrived recently. As it turned out, that fellow forum resident was not impressed by the SAS, and opted for a McKorina - a fine choice too, IMHO.
I have lusted after an SAS for a while now, so I thought I'd check online, and see which GCs had SASes in stock near that forum member's location (handily stated in his profile). Ah, there it is, Downtown Chigaco's GC has an SAS in blue. I don't have a blue PRS (don't tell Sergio about this one). Hmm, maple neck, which is what I want. Birds - a definite want. Trem bridge - good there too! But it looks like a solid blue in the online photos...not a transparent blue where you can still see the lovely swamp ash grain.
So I call up the store, ask about the finish, does it come with a PRS hardshell case, is the trem bar included, is the maple neck flamed at all, etc. Traded some more pics via email.
I present to you my seventh PRSi:
Yes, the grain is visible through the finish, though it isn't obvious from far away. And it came with a PRS OHSC and trem bar. A 2007, based on the SN.
The grain is quite difficult to photograph, but is very obvious in person:
You can see the only real ding this guitar has in the above shot. there are a couple of dents below the bridge, and the fretboard is worn through the finish in a few spots. Otherwise this thing is in great shape! It seems to have been played a fair bit, but whoever owned it took pretty good care of it and wasn't careless on stage (or wherever they played it).
Most curiously, the color is not quite as shown above, because it is Blue Matteo. But the online photos looked even more blue, like this one I took under fluorescent lights:
The neck is not very flamed, but there is a hint of it:
The back shows the grain better, probably because I can control the reflections off the flat back better than the carved top of the front:
It needs a bit of a set-up - action is higher than I'd like, and the bridge is decked to the body - I like the "stock" float setup.
Thank you for passing this one over, cjmwrx! For what it is worth, the neck feels great to me!
This wasn't due to arrive until tomorrow, so I did not come to work prepared with an amp today to try out the pickups, etc. Now I can't wait to get home and plug it into the Archon I got a couple of weeks ago...
(And have I satisfied my GAS for a while, or is it accelerating...?)
I have lusted after an SAS for a while now, so I thought I'd check online, and see which GCs had SASes in stock near that forum member's location (handily stated in his profile). Ah, there it is, Downtown Chigaco's GC has an SAS in blue. I don't have a blue PRS (don't tell Sergio about this one). Hmm, maple neck, which is what I want. Birds - a definite want. Trem bridge - good there too! But it looks like a solid blue in the online photos...not a transparent blue where you can still see the lovely swamp ash grain.
So I call up the store, ask about the finish, does it come with a PRS hardshell case, is the trem bar included, is the maple neck flamed at all, etc. Traded some more pics via email.
I present to you my seventh PRSi:

Yes, the grain is visible through the finish, though it isn't obvious from far away. And it came with a PRS OHSC and trem bar. A 2007, based on the SN.
The grain is quite difficult to photograph, but is very obvious in person:

You can see the only real ding this guitar has in the above shot. there are a couple of dents below the bridge, and the fretboard is worn through the finish in a few spots. Otherwise this thing is in great shape! It seems to have been played a fair bit, but whoever owned it took pretty good care of it and wasn't careless on stage (or wherever they played it).
Most curiously, the color is not quite as shown above, because it is Blue Matteo. But the online photos looked even more blue, like this one I took under fluorescent lights:

The neck is not very flamed, but there is a hint of it:


The back shows the grain better, probably because I can control the reflections off the flat back better than the carved top of the front:

It needs a bit of a set-up - action is higher than I'd like, and the bridge is decked to the body - I like the "stock" float setup.

Thank you for passing this one over, cjmwrx! For what it is worth, the neck feels great to me!
This wasn't due to arrive until tomorrow, so I did not come to work prepared with an amp today to try out the pickups, etc. Now I can't wait to get home and plug it into the Archon I got a couple of weeks ago...
(And have I satisfied my GAS for a while, or is it accelerating...?)
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