Hey there folks, I'm at fork in the road here and looking for advice on which way to go. I've currently got a 2013 Tremonti SE single cut, bought new so I've had it for a while now. It's been modified visually to make it look more to my tastes - nothing wrong with all black, but I did cream pickup rings, cream switch tip, amber knobs. I did swap out the stock pickups for Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro humbuckers, but otherwise it's stock.
Thing is, I've taken a dislike to my tone. Doesn't sound great, and I find myself wanting a trem of some sort. My first guitar had a Bigsby, and every few years I seem to get fixated on having a wiggle stick to play with. They're fun, but I don't have a big catalog of songs that require a trem. In the past I haven't cared for things falling out of tune, and a stoptail is always so much easier to string up than a Bigsby or a Strat style trem.
But here I am, not caring for my tone, and wondering what to do. I could put more money into the Tremonti by swapping in A5 magnets to replace the A2s. Turns out I'm an A5 guy, who knew. I'm using 9s and can't get it to intonate completely, but there's always the Mann bridge with adjustable saddles I could buy. On the plus side I've known the guitar for years now, it's super light, balances well on a stra. Guitar Center will only give me $222 for it, so it's not worth much in a trade and the locals around here aren't fond of PRS so fat luck selling it private party. No, I don't want to ship it.
Then there's the idea of going with a different guitar. I've played a ton, Gibson through Gretsch through Fender and more. I find myself liking, really liking, the Fender Player series Stratocaster. It fits on me great when seated, and unfortunately my playing going forward is going to be seated. I like the single coil sound right now, but in the past I had an American Special Strat and ended up trading it because it sounded "too thin" to me. Of course that's back when I didn't understand things like tone knobs, messing with volume, and amp settings. Dumbass. The satin finish maple neck also feels great in hand, much faster than the gloss neck of my PRS. They're running $675, which means after knocking off the $222 from my trade I'm still on the hook for $453, and I'd want to replace the bent steel saddles with Graph Tech's String Saver saddles for more comfortable palm muting.
So then I'm looking at a third option, which is the PRS SE Standard 24. Light weight like my Tremonti, all mahogany body like my Tremonti. Wide thin neck though, instead of wide fat. Not sure what's inside the pickups magnet-wise, or output. The only SE 24 I've been able to play around here is missing its trem arm (stupid thieves making it hard on the rest of us tire kickers) so I don't know how the trem feels on it or how well it returns to pitch. I like a trem closer to a Bigsby in that it's a deliberate movement requiring a little muscle rather than a pinky finger dive bomber. The SE 24 also has a coil split option, which sounds awesome on paper but in reality has been underwhelming.
There can be only one. Do I swap magnets on the Tremonti, Sharpie out the logo on the head stock, get the Mann bridge so I can fine tune my intonation and just not play songs needing a trem? Do I leave the PRS world and grab a Strat, putting on new saddles for comfy palm muting and maybe locking tuners, and trust in my ten years of playing since selling my old Strat to thicken up the tone when it starts to feel thin? Or do I go over to the SE Standard 24, and over time find more inspiring pickups to replace what's in there?
Thing is, I've taken a dislike to my tone. Doesn't sound great, and I find myself wanting a trem of some sort. My first guitar had a Bigsby, and every few years I seem to get fixated on having a wiggle stick to play with. They're fun, but I don't have a big catalog of songs that require a trem. In the past I haven't cared for things falling out of tune, and a stoptail is always so much easier to string up than a Bigsby or a Strat style trem.
But here I am, not caring for my tone, and wondering what to do. I could put more money into the Tremonti by swapping in A5 magnets to replace the A2s. Turns out I'm an A5 guy, who knew. I'm using 9s and can't get it to intonate completely, but there's always the Mann bridge with adjustable saddles I could buy. On the plus side I've known the guitar for years now, it's super light, balances well on a stra. Guitar Center will only give me $222 for it, so it's not worth much in a trade and the locals around here aren't fond of PRS so fat luck selling it private party. No, I don't want to ship it.
Then there's the idea of going with a different guitar. I've played a ton, Gibson through Gretsch through Fender and more. I find myself liking, really liking, the Fender Player series Stratocaster. It fits on me great when seated, and unfortunately my playing going forward is going to be seated. I like the single coil sound right now, but in the past I had an American Special Strat and ended up trading it because it sounded "too thin" to me. Of course that's back when I didn't understand things like tone knobs, messing with volume, and amp settings. Dumbass. The satin finish maple neck also feels great in hand, much faster than the gloss neck of my PRS. They're running $675, which means after knocking off the $222 from my trade I'm still on the hook for $453, and I'd want to replace the bent steel saddles with Graph Tech's String Saver saddles for more comfortable palm muting.
So then I'm looking at a third option, which is the PRS SE Standard 24. Light weight like my Tremonti, all mahogany body like my Tremonti. Wide thin neck though, instead of wide fat. Not sure what's inside the pickups magnet-wise, or output. The only SE 24 I've been able to play around here is missing its trem arm (stupid thieves making it hard on the rest of us tire kickers) so I don't know how the trem feels on it or how well it returns to pitch. I like a trem closer to a Bigsby in that it's a deliberate movement requiring a little muscle rather than a pinky finger dive bomber. The SE 24 also has a coil split option, which sounds awesome on paper but in reality has been underwhelming.
There can be only one. Do I swap magnets on the Tremonti, Sharpie out the logo on the head stock, get the Mann bridge so I can fine tune my intonation and just not play songs needing a trem? Do I leave the PRS world and grab a Strat, putting on new saddles for comfy palm muting and maybe locking tuners, and trust in my ten years of playing since selling my old Strat to thicken up the tone when it starts to feel thin? Or do I go over to the SE Standard 24, and over time find more inspiring pickups to replace what's in there?