PRS CE24 Black Sunburst strange line

[Tom Smeets]

Hello forum,
I just became part of the family!
I already had a SE baritone, but now I have just gotten my hands on a beautiful CE24. The guy who sold it to me said his research led him to believe it is a very early run of CE24, a full alder 1987 model (which I found strange to hear). He was knowledgeable about guitars allright, sitting on a big collection and happy to take my Ibanez 2618 for trade (plus cash) but still, I started doubting when I saw, after I had come home of course, what I'd call a strange line running over the top. It does look like a body joint, and the hue and light reflection is really separated by the line. At the same time the top is so beautifully 3D that i would think it is a maple top.
When I opened up the pickups everything seems legit. It has a 3 way switch and push pull button to tap/split the coils inside the tone wheel. So I decided to ask you folks: What do you make of this ? what kind of top is this? Do you know the year it was built (i'd say 1991 interpreting the serial number 173303) ?
What is your opinion? did I get a good one? It plays and sounds really good, hard to put down.


[URL=http://s1024.photobucket.com/user/tomearthwalker/media/WP_20180611_18_37_48_Pro_zps2a9z45jy.jpg.html][/URL]

 

[Tom Smeets]

Here a picture of the body joint?
[URL=http://s1024.photobucket.com/user/tomearthwalker/media/WP_20180611_18_39_33_Pro_zpsnsj68sai.jpg.html][/URL]

but it is so clean, like a case queen
[URL=http://s1024.photobucket.com/user/tomearthwalker/media/WP_20180611_18_40_59_Pro_zpswm1wfmb2.jpg.html][/URL]

the serial on the plate
[URL=http://s1024.photobucket.com/user/tomearthwalker/media/WP_20180611_18_42_02_Pro_zps4ebxg4ka.jpg.html][/URL]

And inside the body, under the bridge pickup
[URL=http://s1024.photobucket.com/user/tomearthwalker/media/WP_20180611_19_01_40_Pro_zpsynwn5koq.jpg.html][/URL]

 

[Mesaman]

You said the most important thing, it plays and sounds good! That's really all that matters!

I'm no expert but it looks like alder to me, and the seam is perfectly normal. In fact, I believe some were even made in three or four pieces too.

 

[rugerpc]

Looks to be a 2 piece top with light figuring...

Figured alder? SWEET!

 

[AP515]

It's a 91 with the first year headstock. Pretty cool. Flamed alder as a bonus. Most are opaque paint. The older ones are special.

 

[justmund]

Yup figured Alder, they exist!

Serial number points to a '91, but the headstock points to an '88 or '89. Maybe they found a neck kicking around from after the problems they had with Peavey and the "Classic" thing.

Pickups wouldn't be '88/'89 either as they were Vintage Treble and Bass.

The join line IS slightly odd in that it's off centre...?

 

[bodia]

Yup figured Alder, they exist!

Serial number points to a '91, but the headstock points to an '88 or '89. Maybe they found a neck kicking around from after the problems they had with Peavey and the "Classic" thing.

Pickups wouldn't be '88/'89 either as they were Vintage Treble and Bass.

The join line IS slightly odd in that it's off centre...?

There was another post about an off center line yesterday, or the day before. Appears to be a normal occurrence, depending on top wood.

To the OP; cool guitar! You done good!

 

[gush]

Don' t forget it has the coveted one piece trem!!!!

I just looked at the pics a little closer, it appears to have the 2 piece trem......bummer.

I thought they were still using the one piece in 91

 

[shinksma]

There was another post about an off center line yesterday, or the day before. Appears to be a normal occurrence, depending on top wood.

To the OP; cool guitar! You done good!

That was in my thread about my 1990 CE with alder body.

Mine has the old-school "Electric" headstock too. It seem like they had a few laying about through '91 or '92.

The off-center joint is also typical, from what I understand - mine seems to have it (never did look at it closely last night).

Congrats, quite a nice find!

EDIT: here's mine:

 

[Tom Smeets]

Flamed alder. Jeez.
Did not even know that exists.
I thought body joinery would be done in the centre, like bookmatched caps.

 

[shinksma]

Don' t forget it has the coveted one piece trem!!!!

I just looked at the pics a little closer, it appears to have the 2 piece trem......bummer.

I thought they were still using the one piece in 91

Someone want to school me on the visual differences I should look for in 1-piece trem vs 2-piece? Just curious.

 

[shinksma]

Flamed alder. Jeez.
Did not even know that exists.
I thought body joinery would be done in the centre, like bookmatched caps.

From what I gather, figuring can occur in almost any wood. And it was considered a defect in many cases, unless really strong and "regular".

 

[Tom Smeets]

The off-center joint is also typical, from what I understand - mine seems to have it (never did look at it closely last night).

Well when I saw yours on this forum my heart came to rest - with all the oddities here I thought I had been fooled

 

[Tom Smeets]

From a different angle, the cheap flash on my cheap phone accentuates the different body parts

 

[bodia]

Someone want to school me on the visual differences I should look for in 1-piece trem vs 2-piece? Just curious.

You'd have to look under the saddles. There would be either two or three screws that attach the plate to the block. On a one piece, like the MannMade, it is one piece of milled brass. In other words, the deck and plate are one hunk-o-metal.

 

[garrettb]

Two piece alder body with some cool curl. Off-center join, no biggie, just a little funny cosmetically.

Would've come with the one piece bridge. It does look like there are screws underneath the saddles, which would indicate a two piece. You can also tell by looking at the block. The one piece version will be nickel all over, while the two piece will have a naked brass block. Could be that the original got trashed and replaced later. I don't think the three-way toggle is original either.

If I remember right, the '91's should have rosewood board and black headstock face, but there are some floating around out there that have the older style all maple version for unknown reasons.

SUPER clean for an old CE. Nice score!

 

[Tom Smeets]

Yes it has a brass block and 3 screws under the 6 saddles
2 piece then?
It does not work really well, very tight, i have to push it quite a bit to get it vibrato-ing

 

[shimmilou]

Looks to me that the bridge is possibly “decked”, maybe the trem claw screws are tightened down for this purpose. How many springs?

Beautiful guitar!

 

[László]

Gorgeous guitar!

Looks like the trem is in need of a setup, should be pretty simple. Lots of videos on how to do it properly. The off-center join is very typical with alder bodies, as most alder boards were/are fairly narrow. You see that on old (and probably new) Fenders as well.

I think the toggle switch is a later addition. Lots of them were added to replace 5-way rotary switches.

The neck will be finished in nitro, the body in poly.

 

[Tom Smeets]

Thank you for the compliments and the advice. I'll try to get some better shots soon and post them here.
I'm going to see what i can do with that trem. Right now i don't touch it, intonation being perfect right now. It is indeed in a near mint state, that plus the lack of info on the interweb had me worried. I never played an alder bodied maple neck and fretboard guitar before (only mahogany/maple/rosewood/ebony) and i love the way the way it plays direct and aggressive but oganic and has a nice bloom to it.