PRS Custom 24 sounds really bad

[Barry Walker]

I purchased a Custom 24 three years ago. The guitar plays great but sounds terrible. I don't know what I expected, but it has a thin, plastic tone with little sustain. I dropped in a Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates Humbucker set and it helped slightly. I would like to obtain a more robust and sustained mid-range tone, closer to a Les Paul sound, if possible. Is there a pickup that will improve the sound of this guitar?

 

[markd21]

A custom 24 is its own thing. It's one of the reasons for the singlecuts, 245s, 594s, etc. The CU24 has a thinner body, thinner neck, a trem.

Curious, is your CU24 a Core or an SE? What are the body/neck woods?

 

[Barry Walker]

Yes, its a core custom 24, with mahogny neck and body and I believe a maple top.

 

[AP515]

raise the pickups as a check.

 

[Rider1260]

A CU24 has much hotter pickups than most LPs also has a trem and a thinner neck and body BUT they can and do sound huge just clearer and brighter than a L es Paul , If you want to change pickups go 57/08s for the vintage vibe OR Suhr Aldrich set to change your world

 

[Bogner]

I purchased a Custom 24 three years ago. The guitar plays great but sounds terrible. I don't know what I expected, but it has a thin, plastic tone with little sustain. I dropped in a Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates Humbucker set and it helped slightly. I would like to obtain a more robust and sustained mid-range tone, closer to a Les Paul sound, if possible. Is there a pickup that will improve the sound of this guitar?

Getting A Custom 24 To Sound Like A Les Paul Will Be A Challenge. Kind Of Like Hoping You Can Get Your Banjo To Sound Like A Mandolin. You Ask For A Pickup Suggestion That Would Improve And There Are Several But An Improvement In Sound Still May Not Be What You Are After Sonically. What Are The Natural Sonic Attributes Of Your Guitar? What Type Of Music Do You Play? What Type Of Tones Are You Interested In? What Is Your Rig/Set Up? I Ask This Because All Things Work Together. For Example, If You Are Using High Gain Amps You May Be Better Off NOT Using A Super High Output Pickup In Certain Situations, Etc.

The Sound Of Your Guitar Naturally Would Be Helpful As You Will Have To Work With What The Guitar Gives You. The Right Pickup Can Help Manipulate The Guitars Natural Attributes. This Information Is Important Or Else Everybody Will Just Be Giving You What They Like And That Could Be Very Different Than What You Like. Each Guitar Is Unique. I Have Multiple Guitars That Are Identical Aside From Color And The Same Pickup Doesn't Yield The Same Results In Each Guitar.

All That Said...Based Off What You Said You Wanted I Would Confidently Recommend The Bare Knuckle Polymath. In Certain Situation You Could Also Have Success With The Aftermath Or Juggernaut. If You Really Need To Brighten Your Guitar The Painkiller Is An Option. If You Need Some Girth And Low End Punch The Black Dog Is Exceptional And One Of The Best Pickups I Have Ever Used. It Is Also Outstanding In A Single Cut Type Guitar Along With The Rebel Yell.

I Am Happy To Help You Further Once I Know More Information. The BKP Site Has Some Great Info And Sound Samples That Can Be Of Help In Assisting You In Finding What You Like/Want/Hear And Also Assist in Magnet and Output Type, Etc To Point You In The Right Direction No Matter The Brand Of Pickup You Go with. https://www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/pickups/humbucker

There Is A Solution For You Out There For Sure! It Just Needs To Be Pinpointed With What You Presently Have To Work With Guitar Wise.

 

[Ovibos]

Did you buy it used? Might have some bad solders or a fried pot.

 

[László]

Did you buy it used? Might have some bad solders or a fried pot.

That's what I was thinking. I also had a new PRS with a pot that failed quickly.

 

[Lewguitar]

I don't think you can make your Custom 24 sound like a Les Paul. Maybe it will to a listener who is not a musician, but it won't sound like a LP to you. Not if you really know what a good LP should sound like.

As others have said:

1. Thinner body than an LP so in terms of the ratio of maple to mahogany there's more maple and more of the tone of maple coming from the body.

2. The neck pickup is moved about 1" towards the bridge to make room for the 23rd and 24th frets. For that reason the neck pickup on a 24 fret guitar cannot sound exactly like the neck pickup on a 22 fret guitar, and I've never found a neck humbucker that was successfully wound to compensate for it being moved towards the middle of the guitar.

3. The vibrato causes some loss of bass. It definitely changes the tone of the guitar compared to a LP with separate bridge and stop tailpiece or a CU22 with a wraparound bridge/tailpiece.

I like having the vibrato on my CE22 guitars and I also like the tone. But it's not the tone of a LP and I haven't been able to make them sound like a Les Paul with pickup changes.

I find that my three CE22's w/vibratos all sound best with a bridge pickup much stonger than a vintage pickup.

Two have Dragon I pickups and the third has some John Suhr SSV & SSH+ pickups that are wound just as as stong as the Dragon I's.

I tried Duncan Seth Lovers in my #3 and they were too weak. The tone was thin. Duncan Antiquitys were stronger but not strong enough.

So far the best sounding pickup sets I've had in that guitar are the John Suhr's or a Duncan 59B as the neck pickup and a Duncan JB.

 

[GuitarJammin]

I own LPs....CU24s...and singlecut PRSi......all different animals altogether. I will say I had the same experience as you buying and selling CU24s every one has been different and I didn't vibe with half of them. One in particular I remember just sounding thin as you describe...which sounded excellent on darker sounding amps. Still I never vibed with it.

The two I have now are excellent for me though..one is a keeper..the other is good enough to be a keeper...but I need a floyd in the family again soon so it may have to go. My main custom 24 sounds huge...and I really have not heard another CU24 like it ever. Playability isn't the best compared to others...but the tone is off the rails.

Still have a pic of that one I felt sounded a bit thin, because visually and playing wise it was 100%. In the end I sold it and found a different one.

 

[deepender]

I purchased a Custom 24 three years ago. The guitar plays great but sounds terrible. I don't know what I expected, but it has a thin, plastic tone with little sustain. I dropped in a Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates Humbucker set and it helped slightly. I would like to obtain a more robust and sustained mid-range tone, closer to a Les Paul sound, if possible. Is there a pickup that will improve the sound of this guitar?

Duncan ‘59s.

 

[ViperDoc]

Can you unpack “sounds terrible” with more specifics? You can start to rule out structural issues by removing the cavity cover and chop sticking the wires and components while the guitar makes sound. Note clicks, pops or hash in specific places. Test the pots and switch. Jiggle the jack. Anything of note there, try resoldering and retest, making sure you have good grounds on all components that need them.

 

[Rider1260]

I don't think you can make your Custom 24 sound like a Les Paul. Maybe it will to a listener who is not a musician, but it won't sound like a LP to you. Not if you really know what a good LP should sound like.

As others have said:

1. Thinner body than an LP so in terms of the ratio of maple to mahogany there's more maple and more of the tone of maple coming from the body.

2. The neck pickup is moved about 1" towards the bridge to make room for the 23rd and 24th frets. For that reason the neck pickup on a 24 fret guitar cannot sound exactly like the neck pickup on a 22 fret guitar, and I've never found a neck humbucker that was successfully wound to compensate for it being moved towards the middle of the guitar.

3. The vibrato causes some loss of bass. It definitely changes the tone of the guitar compared to a LP with separate bridge and stop tailpiece or a CU22 with a wraparound bridge/tailpiece. I like having the vibrato on my CE22 guitars and I also like the tone. But it's not the tone of a LP and I haven't been able to make them sound like a Les Paul with pickup changes.

I find that my three CE22's w/vibratos all sound best with a bridge pickup much stonger than a vintage pickup.

Two have Dragon I pickups and the third has some John Suhr SSV & SSH+ pickups that are wound just as as stong as the Dragon I's.

I tried Duncan Seth Lovers in my #3 and they were too weak. The tone was thin. Duncan Antiquitys were stronger but not strong enough.

So far the best sounding pickup sets I've had in that guitar are the John Suhr's or a Duncan 59B as the neck pickup and a Duncan JB.

I think it also comes down to player , I have always struggled with shorter scale and particular Gibson guitars and 100% trying to find a LP I like the sound is to woofy, wooly , dark , midrange whatever you like and I bet lots of that is how I play , not the guitar.

 

[Prs Mods too]

In my experience, this is usually a case of just not liking the sound of a particular instrument. I've never found pickups to drastically alter the sound of a guitar. If it sounds that far off to you, pickups probably won't fix it (assuming everything else about the instrument is working properly).

Before I knew better I threw numerous pickups at some guitars and never liked the sound and ended up selling them. Now, if I'm not immediately, fairly pleased with the sound of an instrument I don't buy it because pickups won't fix it IMO.

Perhaps that particular example isn't your cup of tea. If you can try other Custom 24s and find one you like the sound of then that would be your best bet. Then you can unload the one you have now.

 

[Lewguitar]

Duncan ‘59s.

Duncan 59's are some of my favorite pickups because #1: they sound good!

And #2: with a magnet swap you can turn them into a PAF pickup from any year.

Roughcast Alnico 2 for the '57 version.

Roughcast Alnico 4 or 5 for the later versions.

I kind of like them best with roughcast alnico 4 like a lot of real 1959 Gibson PAFs used.

They will not make a Custom 22 sound like a Les Paul though.

Duncan Antiquitys sounded really GREAT in my '95 CU22 and my '02 CU22.

Closest to a Les Paul of any of the pickups I tried in them.

Seth Lovers did NOT sound great. Too polite. Too weak. Not ballsy enough.

Antiquitys sounded the best to me.

https://imgur.com/0ykwbta

https://imgur.com/MdZhaJw

 

[Dirty_Boogie]

I purchased a Custom 24 three years ago. The guitar plays great but sounds terrible. I don't know what I expected, but it has a thin, plastic tone with little sustain. I dropped in a Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates Humbucker set and it helped slightly. I would like to obtain a more robust and sustained mid-range tone, closer to a Les Paul sound, if possible. Is there a pickup that will improve the sound of this guitar?

Not much to add to this discussion, but have you played another CU24 (through your same rig)? If it sounds drastically different, then something is up with yours. If it sounds the same/similar, then it’s not the sound you’re looking for.

 

[Tone-y]

Do you have other guitars with a treble bleed cap on the volume? If you're not used to that just try unsoldering one leg and seeing what that does for you. I find for me they shave just a bit of the bass off and removing that might just warm up your sound how you like

 

[Drew]

Can't make one guitar sound like another. Dude wants the LP sound and won't get it from a CU24. There are other PRS made alternatives for that sound but nothing replicates a LP exactly. It's why Gibby sells tons of them still.