Please help!

[WifeofaPRSER]

Ok so I'm looking to get my husband a new PRS for Christmas and I need help/suggestions from thee experts...the two I'm looking at is a Custom 24 with artist package or just the custom 24 with 10 top wood...in sure I hacked up the description What should I look for? Is their much of a difference? Should I go another route...I'm looking to spend about 5,000 so any help would be most appreciated.

 

[xjbebop]

your safest bet is to take him out for guitar safari and let him pick...

 

[ElrytNamrogo]

Sounds like an awesome gift idea!!!!

The Custom 24 is a great all-around guitar and is the "quintessential PRS". In terms of your price range, you should be able to get quite the guitar for that money.

In regards to your question referring to "Artist Package vs. 10-Top"....

The Artist Package guitars offer a lot more variety in terms of woods used in the build, electronics, and colors not usually available through the "Core" line. Any Artist Package guitar will have at the very least a 10-Top (the intensity of the wood grain on the top of the guitar) with some Artist Tops exceeding that of the 10-Top. I'm not sure if it's still the case, but Artist Tops were once considered one step above the 10-Top.

My suggestion is to check out some of the PRS Dealers through this forum, some of them design some truly beautiful and inspiring builds and will have links to their online stores. All of them are extremely helpful and just great people willing to answer any of your questions. I'm sure some other folks here will chime in with some more advise and tid-bits of information.

Good luck, and again, super-cool move to buy your husband a PRS for Christmas!!!

 

[AP515]

I agree with the safari idea. Wrap a note he can open for Christmas that has a PRS logo on it and tell him you are going to take him to his favorite PRS store as soon as it opens after Christmas. He will not be able to sleep that night, but he will love it.

By the way, I own both core and Artist Cu24's. They are both great, but I favor the Artist pack ones.

 

[dmatthews]

Gotta agree with what's been said. Guitars are very personal items to most players.
Best of luck to you, and yes... Artist packs are considered a step above generally.

 

[toothace]

That's a Christmas IOU we'd all be happy to unwrap!

 

[Huggy Love]

Yea, what several have mentioned (that it's better to have him pick it) is the way to go and yes I understand that it takes the cookie out of it, a PRS guitar case under the tree, but like so many already said that a guitar is so personal an item that his hands & ears usually make the choice. If you knew what he wanted then you could pull it off, like if he mentioned "Oh I wish I had one of those PRS Mccarty models, or a custom 24, or a 408", then you would be safe in picking up one of those models because PRS quality control is top notch.

A PRS gift card, maybe a road trip to a PRS dealer, have a nice romantic lunch *before you get there*...................because after he buys it...........oh well you know.

 

[Deleted member 2284]

What a wonderful gift.

I definitely agree on the safari! You could buy an cheap or old guitar case and put a nice, homemade gift certificate in there, good for a Custom 24, if you want to deliver it in style.

If you're not too keen on the idea of not giving him the "real deal" right away, maybe we could help you narrow it down.

For instance (and before you answer any of these, you should make sure that he doesn't frequent these forums! ):
- Which guitars does he already have?
- Why are you going for a custom 24 specifically?
- What is/are his favourite colour(s)?

 

[Dusty Chalk]

They both sound like really nice guitars. If the shop has a nice return policy, you're pretty safe just picking one and keeping the receipt handy. Personally, I like maple necks, so if the artist pack one has a maple neck, I'd go with that one.

If you really want to surprise him with a guitar, take an inventory of his guitar collection and post it here, and we might be able to figure it out from that. (If that's more information than you're willing to share -- which is fine -- then at least find out what PRS guitars he has -- if he already has a Custom 24, then we might suggest something different.)

Unless it's Sergio, in which case we know what he wants, just get him that one.

 

[vchizzle]

Good advice from everyone so far. The other option is if you know for fact the custom 24 is what he wants and you have a dealer near, is talk with dealer, tell them the situation. Most places have a solid return/exchange policy. So you could buy with the understanding of an exchange. Just try to go with that same dealer.

If you know which guitars he's eyeing already, well then that takes some guess work out. Artist package is always nice as the woods usually look nicer.

 

[veinbuster]

Very cool. I've been lucky enough to open a guitar at Christmas and it is awesome. If both are at the same place, I would do as vchizzle suggested in the previous post. I think most dealers would be happy to go along with that. Take home the one you would most like to see him play.

 

[AP515]

If you have a dealer that will play along, buy the PRS and ask him to put an Epiphone Les Paul in the case. Then wrap it and put it under the tree. Put the PRS sticker in a Christmas card and give that to him just before he opens the present. When he opens the card he will see the PRS sticker and think he's got his Cu24. Then when he opens the case and sees the Epiphone he will really be confused. You can string him along for as long as it's fun and then bring the PRS out when he's ready to declare world war 3.

 

[bluefade]

McCARTY 594 - Xmass gift solved .

 

[Alan Manning]

Will you Marry Me!!!
The feel of the guitar can mean everything and what sounds nice to him makes it complete.
It's a great idea to take him to a good store and try a few.
"I'll have to show my Mrs this thread but she'll probably tell me to jog on".

 

[Deleted member 2284]

By the way - do you have your eye on a specific dealer? Regarding return policy, it's best if it's someone who has a big stock of "core" PRS models (not just the SE and S2 series).

 

[gush]

You are an awesome wife. My wife surprisedme with a prs mMcCarty a few years back and it was an absolute shock.

She gets nice diamond jewelry on a regular basis from me ever since.

Rock on Mrs.

 

[Boogie]

My first PRS was a Christmas gift from my wife many years ago. She didn't bother with the gift card or even keep it a secret, but it's one of my best memories. I went in November to pick it out, giving it plenty of time to arrive by Christmas. Sadly, it arrived in early December and she made me put it under the tree until the 25th. Needless to say, I got over it.

That guitar is one of my most cherished. You husband will feel the same.

 

[AP515]

My sweetheart doesn't know enough about the models to worry about 10 tops and Artist packs (you are a rare lady). She just says something like "Christmas is coming up, let's find you another guitar."

 

[HANGAR18]

Find out what shape of neck carve he likes (fat or thin). Get one with the right neck carve.
http://www.prsguitars.com/csc/neckprofiles.html

 

[clasbtenn]

A lot of good advice here. The fact that you took the time to learn the nomenclature is just fantastic.
Your safest route is to put the card under the tree and then allow him the excitement and pleasure of going to buy it after Christmas, and after he does something really special for you!

Being a player, I know enough not to second-guess another player's choice in choosing a guitar, unless they told me exactly what they wanted and that they trusted my judgment implicitly. To me, it's like bringing home a pet for someone without allowing the pet to pick out the owner.

I had mentioned to my wife earlier this past year that I would like a private stock PRS, but that I thought I might wait a bit.
To my utter surprise, her next statement was "If not now, when?" Being 68, I got her point.. I'm still having to wait about 7-9 more months, but at least it's in the que.