PRS Acronym Guide for Newbie Dummies?

[Todd_FindingMyWay]

hey gang,
Pleae excuse my newness to guitar land and this forum.
So really trying to follow the lingo around here and I guess as time goes on it will probably make sense BUT..in the meantime, many times I try and read what you guys write about various guitars et c'est comme francaise..oui?

So in particular? things like 'singlecut'? DGT? Soapbar? etc etc etc (used one this morning in the shower and nothing to do with a guitar??..)
:iamconfused:
So is there a PRS acronym dictionary/rosetta stone I can find and be one with the PRS universe?

 

[Sekunda]

I'm not sure about a dictionary here... but if you spend some time looking through the guitars/amps/options on the main products pages, you will start getting a good idea of the models and options available. It does take a while to get up to speed on stuff, but that's the fun of it!

i.e - MODELS = Singlecut, Custom 24, Custom 22, Hollowbody, DGT, 408, 305, Modern Eagle, etc...
i.e. - PICKUPS = Humbuckers in various versions (57/08, etc), singlecoils, soapbars, (look like a bar of soap), narrowfields (NF), etc...

Hope this helps you get started!

Also: once you start getting a handle on terms, you can read some of the posts comparing pickups and such to find the differences in them...

 

[jfb]

There's this...it might help.

The PRS Lexicon.

 

[jfine]

"Singlecut"--a single-cutaway guitar
"DGT"--David Grissom model; not sure what the "T" stands for; tremolo?
"Soapbar"-- a single-coil pickup first developed by Gibson around 1940; named for the Ivory Soap-like appearance of the ones used on Gibson Les Paul Models from 1952-1956--they have cream-colored covers. Most of the Soapbars (also known as P-90's) used in the '50's and '60's have black covers. P-90's used on Gibson hollowbodies have triangular mounts at either end of the cover; they're known as "Dog Ears"--early ones are black; the ones used on ES-330's from about 1963 and later are chrome, and the ones used on ES-295's from 1952-1956 were cream. Most of the PRS Soapbars I've seen are black, but cream ones turn up too.

 

[Kiwi]

Beyond the very helpful "PRS Lexicon," here are some more entries. Members here should post any corrections to what appears below.
CU22 or CU24 = Custom 22 or 24 fret model

HB-II – Hollowbody II model. There were also some HB-I’s made but HB-II is more common. Sometimes prefixed as “McCarty HB-II” as well –see below. The HB-II’s were made for years with “Archtop” pickups, an underwound design to resist feedback.

SC and DC-245: Singlecut and Doublecut models with a 24.5-inch scale. These are a little different, in that the standard PRS scale is 25.0 inches between nut and bridge.

McCarty: the longtime workhorse model of the PRS line, developed by PRS himself with Ted McCarty, former president of Gibson Guitars. Check the man’s obit here, and speak well of him: http://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/apr/09/guardianobituaries2

McCarty guitars were mostly solid bodies, but the basic design also applied to the HB-II. They came with McCarty pickups, and some variations include:

- McSoapy – with P-90 “soapbar” pickups

- McBrazzie – with solid Brazilian rosewood necks

- McRosie – with solid East Indian rosewood necks

RW: a solid rosewood neck, not just the fretboard; BRW =Brazilian rosewood; IRW = Indian rosewood

W/F, W/T = Wide-Fat and Wide-Thin shaped necks

FBJ = Faded Blue Jean finish

SAS = Swamp Ash Special model, made from, you guessed it, swamp ash wood

53/10, 57/08, 59/09: These are various PRS pickups designed to sound more retro or vintage, listed in approximate order of output or “hotness.” The first number denotes the year (1953, for example) of the original pickup that PRS was modeling; the second (2010, for example) is the year that model pickup first appeared.

 

[maxtuna26]

Singlecut - basically any guitar with just one cutaway, etc Les Paul, PRS Singlecut model, Gretsch Pro Jet. Even a Telecaster is technically a singlecut.
DGT - David Grissom's signature guitar. The T probably means Trem, assuming they were using the same acronym meaning as the discontinued SCT (Singlecut Trem)
Soapbar - Any P90 pickups. Well, it looks like a bar of soap stuck on the guitar top, hence the name. :laugh: No offence, soapbar lovers, I'm just kidding!

There's a lot more coming up, with Paul putting out pickups with names like HFS/VB, 57/08, 59/09, 53/10, 305, NF, 408 and even the funnily-but-righteously-named \m/ pickups. But once you get familiar with everything, it will be clear to you. You can almost feel that those names are in fact self-explanatory.