Personalizing my PRSi...

[dbonanno]

Personalized my Tremonti SE Custom.
(Before and After)

 

[Chris528]

I'm debating on replacing the black pick guard with a tortoise shell one. Any opinions?

 

[swede71]

Tell me more about how this influences the tone! I have a trem on my guitar but I never use it.

For me,and this my personal view,the steelblock gives a clear strong tone.It makes the tone sound more open with more presence.More bite and upper mid shimmer or sizzle as i call it.To me it makes the guitar sound "tighter".I first noticed this when i put together 2 partocasters a few years agne based on the american standard with a cast steel block and the other one a japanese strat copy with the american vintage tremolo.The difference between the two kinds are like night and day to me.The american standard block sounds muddier.A common word to describe sound is "stratty".Many use this word and refer to the singlecoil pickups,often the position 2 and 4.For me "stratty" is very much the steelblock and how it influence the sound together with the pickups.The steelblock is a big part for the sound of a Stratocaster.I find the brassblock in the PRS guitars too mellow.I can only speculate why PRS use brassblock.Because PRS thinks brass sounds the best is of course the obvious one.As a product choice i would say the brass block makes it easier to sell the guitar to "gibson" players.Personally i think its harder to sell a PRS to "fender" people.The brass block definitely gives the guitar a more lower mid character than a steelblock does.The bridge against the body comes from The Clapton strat concept.The difference in sound is more noticeable on the strat than on the PRS but how i feel it and hear it,it gives the sound more body.Next step for me is steelsaddles

I'm debating on replacing the black pick guard with a tortoise shell one. Any opinions?

That guitar looks great as it is.I love white guitars with black pickguards.