PRS Studio 2011 version owners Review

[Ironwolf]

I've been weighing the pros and cons of the custom 24 versus the PRS studio 2011 versions.
They're both very appealing guitars.
I have the Jimmy page wiring on one of my Les Pauls with the 21 tones switching,
And I love it.

So I'm leaning heavily towards the PRS studio, unfortunately seems to be no way to play one of these Fine instruments. I also put a 59/09 in a guitar and found it to be nearly perfect pick up I took it out because I wanted to put a coil split and I had only a single conductor on the 59/09.
So the studio has 57/08's which I believe are very similar to 59/09.
So I have no fear of buying the guitar site unseen with a little additional support

I owned a custom 24 10 years ago I regret selling it so I'm pretty familiar with the custom 24.
What will I be gaining or losing with the studio.
The narrow field pickups do look amazing and flexible.

Opinions on why that guitar might not be more popular than it is.
Do the 22 frets Make it Slightly less desirable.
Too many switching options for some players.
Cheers

 

[garrett]

What you gain is the unique sound of the Narrowfield pickups and the Strat-esque in-between sounds. What you lose is two frets. You won't have a "regular" neck humbucker sound, but from the little experience I've had with a Studio, you can turn the tone down a bit and it sounds close.

It has a lot more tones, but I think not everyone wants a middle pickup and some people are put off by the unique size of the Narrowfields, which means they would be difficult to replace if you decide you want a different pickup.

The 59/09 models currently sold by PRS are split-able, so you could always put one in if you want.

 

[bodia]

I dig mine. I need to play it more! Cool tones to pick from. It covers a lot of ground. I think Garrett's right on about the middle pick up and the specific size of the Narrowfield's turning some people of. It seems that everyone that has one loves it.

I tricked mine out with black tuner buttons, black rings, a black MannMade bridge (that now has black stud posts too), and an uncovered 59/09.

2012 in Angry Larry (10 Top)

 

[László]

I have a Narrowfield in my 20th PS Anniversary model, and I think it's the best middle pickup I've ever had on a guitar.

 

[Ironwolf]

What you gain is the unique sound of the Narrowfield pickups and the Strat-esque in-between sounds. What you lose is two frets. You won't have a "regular" neck humbucker sound, but from the little experience I've had with a Studio, you can turn the tone down a bit and it sounds close.

It has a lot more tones, but I think not everyone wants a middle pickup and some people are put off by the unique size of the Narrowfields, which means they would be difficult to replace if you decide you want a different pickup.

The 59/09 models currently sold by PRS are split-able, so you could always put one in if you want.

Thank you very much for that reply have you been able to compare the 59/09 to 57/08, I was under the impression that they're very similar I have a dream of leaving a guitar completely stock, but alas I've never been able to do that. I have 3 mahogany body dual humbucker's, I always have to be careful just how I use the neck pickups and I often find that splitting them (narrow field) is one way to stop them from getting muddy) So I think I really like the idea of having a guitar that has a unique voice in addition to all the standard Les Paul configurations. I also don't quite understand why the custom 24 always has at least 2 coils of the pickups on at all times, is it simply a dream of quiet guitar while you try to get a Stratocaster tone, The closest Jimi Hendrix tone (on custom 24) is position 4, single neck single bridge in parallel.
So I think I'm going to pull the trigger they seem to be holding their resale value if I hate it.
But I really did like that 59/09 I have a Marshall JVM that's the one thing people Often don't understand is different pickups work with different amps in much different ways.
Thanks

 

[Ironwolf]

I dig mine. I need to play it more! Cool tones to pick from. It covers a lot of ground. I think Garrett's right on about the middle pick up and the specific size of the Narrowfield's turning some people of. It seems that everyone that has one loves it.

I tricked mine out with black tuner buttons, black rings, a black MannMade bridge (that now has black stud posts too), and an uncovered 59/09.

2012 in Angry Larry (10 Top)

Yes that looks like a hot rod Mustang, and what's your opinion on the 57/08 versus that 59/09
Will I not like the low output of the 57/08 In the bridge, I play a lot of 60s 70s classic rock,
I have obsessive compulsive drive OCD which drives the pearly gates just beautifully. I was expecting the 57/08's would drive equally well.
thanks

 

[gush]

Imho. 5708s and 5909s don't sound alike at all. I like 5708s but 5909 bridge is very hard to beat and is my favorite prs pickup.

 

[bodia]

Yes that looks like a hot rod Mustang, and what's your opinion on the 57/08 versus that 59/09
Will I not like the low output of the 57/08 In the bridge, I play a lot of 60s 70s classic rock,
I have obsessive compulsive drive OCD which drives the pearly gates just beautifully. I was expecting the 57/08's would drive equally well.
thanks

Thanks. I agree with Gush on the 59/09. I really like it. Not that I don't like to 57s! I've got a Cu24 with 57s in it. They'll be fine with the type of music you're playing. In all honesty, I put the 59 in my Studio for purely asthetic reasons. I bought it used and the 57 was terribly tarnished. Plus I really didn't like the looks of the ivory rings on such a dark color. I thought it was screaming for a blackout, and that's what I could get in terms of PRS pickups. Plus, I like how the squabbins on the 59 and the Narrowfields go together. Symmetry! I'm usually not such a diva when it comes to looks, but, for some reason, I was on this one!

 

[bodia]

Yes that looks like a hot rod Mustang, and what's your opinion on the 57/08 versus that 59/09
Will I not like the low output of the 57/08 In the bridge, I play a lot of 60s 70s classic rock,
I have obsessive compulsive drive OCD which drives the pearly gates just beautifully. I was expecting the 57/08's would drive equally well.
thanks

If you want to check out some cool 57 tones, check out this thread.

http://forums.prsguitars.com/threads/more-57-08s-in-a-les-paul.19161/#XenForo

I know they're in an LP, but still.......

 

[Ironwolf]

Imho. 5708s and 5909s don't sound alike at all. I like 5708s but 5909 bridge is very hard to beat and is my favorite prs pickup.

How would you characterize the difference, I noticed the 59/09 was on the slightly hot side, cleans are kinda dirty. which I like already starting to break up even on clean channel, crunch tones smoothly distort as gain goes up great control great clarity slighty rich in treble-high mids, nice balanced bass, tight power chords with signal pre amp boost pedal.

57/08 sounds nice in those clips for sure afraid they might be slightly too warm missing some that high mid bite, ?
I love bite lots of solos.
certainly close How would you describe the 2 eq wise and bite wise, string separation during mild gain chording ( fantastic withe 59/09) In other words "they dont sound alike" how.? I will certainly give them a try as most vids sound quite awesome
Thanks
BB

 

[gush]

This is going to sound strange, but a tele bridge pickup has this raw overdrive texture that seems to carry through up to the point of total saturation. The 5909 in my custom 24 does the same thing as long as I don't go overboardwith gain on my amp. It's not as twangy mind you as it's still a humbucker but that breakup texture is what I'm talking about.

My 5909s clean up well with guitar volume rolled back and they brighten up too. They are incredibly versatile pickups.

I think 5708s are great pickups. I have a set in a ce24. The single coil sounds out of these are pretty good. I think the ideal pickup set would be 5909 bridge 5708 neck.

My cu 24 has 5way blade my ce24 has 3 way toggle with push pulls on vol and tone. I can't get single coil on cu24 so I don't know how 5909s sound in single coil mode.

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Do the 22 frets Make it Slightly less desirable.

The short answer is no to this. There is an entire school of thought that believes that the 24th fret is the perfect spot for a pickup, and therefore a 22 fret guitar is preferable to a 24 fret guitar.

 

[Ironwolf]

The short answer is no to this. There is an entire school of thought that believes that the 24th fret is the perfect spot for a pickup, and therefore a 22 fret guitar is preferable to a 24 fret guitar.

I only suggested that because of the popularity of the custom 24 it appears the more modern players are drawn to the 24 frets even though there may be a compromise with ideal tone.
Playability versus perfect open chord tones. Compromise; sacrifice one thing for a little bit more of another thing.
I'm wondering if there's any sales numbers, like Paul Reed Smith has sold a 500,000 custom 24s
and maybe 10,000 custom 22s.

The 22's seem very adequate the thick neck slightly beefier tone, and yet when I play a 24 fret I love that access and playability all the way up I can't choose I'm going insane.

 

[Ironwolf]

I've been weighing the pros and cons of the custom 24 versus the PRS studio 2011 versions.
They're both very appealing guitars.
I have the Jimmy page wiring on one of my Les Pauls with the 21 tones switching,
And I love it.

So I'm leaning heavily towards the PRS studio, unfortunately seems to be no way to play one of these Fine instruments. I also put a 59/09 in a guitar and found it to be nearly perfect pick up I took it out because I wanted to put a coil split and I had only a single conductor on the 59/09.
So the studio has 57/08's which I believe are very similar to 59/09.
So I have no fear of buying the guitar site unseen with a little additional support

I owned a custom 24 10 years ago I regret selling it so I'm pretty familiar with the custom 24.
What will I be gaining or losing with the studio.
The narrow field pickups do look amazing and flexible.

Opinions on why that guitar might not be more popular than it is.
Do the 22 frets Make it Slightly less desirable.
Too many switching options for some players.
Cheers

OK I pulled the trigger, here are some photos, I don't think I can go wrong with either guitar custom 24 or the studio. I will try to see if I can live with the 57/08 in the bridge and I'm convinced that it will be very satisfactory. This is matched with a Marshall JVM .

Also I pulled out my 59/09 and measured the (resistance) 59/09 output resistance 9.06 kohms,
anybody Measure the actual resistance output of the their 57/08, I think I read one message here had them around 8.2, The official spec from PRS the 7.9 for the bridge 57/08, So I'm hoping my bridge pickup is slightly hot, I would be very happy with 8.3 kohms. I'm trying to remember if I played a PRS guitar that I didn't like. So I am convinced it's going to be awesome. I found about 22 2011 to 2013 PRS studios available. I fell in love with this one almost immediately I couldn't control myself had to buy it.

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[/IMG] http://imgur.com/ivXkLbl

I can't seem to add an image or maybe it doesn't show up until I send it.

[/IMG]

 

[bodia]

OK I pulled the trigger, here are some photos, I don't think I can go wrong with either guitar custom 24 or the studio. I will try to see if I can live with the 57/08 in the bridge and I'm convinced that it will be very satisfactory. This is matched with a Marshall JVM .

Also I pulled out my 59/09 and measured the (resistance) 59/09 output resistance 9.06 kohms,
anybody Measure the actual resistance output of the their 57/08, I think I read one message here had them around 8.2, The official spec from PRS the 7.9 for the bridge 57/08, So I'm hoping my bridge pickup is slightly hot, I would be very happy with 8.3 kohms. I'm trying to remember if I played a PRS guitar that I didn't like. So I am convinced it's going to be awesome. I found about 22 2011 to 2013 PRS studios available. I fell in love with this one almost immediately I couldn't control myself had to buy it.

[/url][/IMG]

[/IMG] http://imgur.com/ivXkLbl

I can't seem to add an image or maybe it doesn't show up until I send it.

[/IMG]

That's a beauty! Congrats! If that 57 doesn't work out for you, an uncovered 59 would look great in there!

 

[Ironwolf]

That's a beauty! Congrats! If that 57 doesn't work out for you, an uncovered 59 would look great in there!

Are there different versions of the 59, like a 4 wire conductor versus 3 wire conductor.
I would imagine pulling out the other pickup and just replace the identical colored wire to each solder point.
Probably a very easy pickup swap.
I love the colored transparent stain on the back, of the neck is the same.

[/IMG]

 

[gush]

Very nice looking guitar!

 

[bodia]

Are there different versions of the 59, like a 4 wire conductor versus 3 wire conductor.
I would imagine pulling out the other pickup and just replace the identical colored wire to each solder point.
Probably a very easy pickup swap.
I love the colored transparent stain on the back, of the neck is the same.

[/IMG]

Not to my knowledge. The 57 that's in there should be the same as the 59. I did not have to specify 3 or 4 wire when I ordered it from them.

 

[Dusty Chalk]

I only suggested that because of the popularity of the custom 24 it appears the more modern players are drawn to the 24 frets even though there may be a compromise with ideal tone.
Playability versus perfect open chord tones. Compromise; sacrifice one thing for a little bit more of another thing.

School of thought -- there are just as many who think they're just different, me being one of them.

I personally don't think any compromise or sacrifice is being made by either group. If one is your preference, then by all means, you're the target market for that guitar. We live in a world where you can have both. Rejoice.

 

[Broseph]

I need some help

I’m trying to install 59/09 to replace the 57/08:
The 57/08 has the black lead that’s hot. The braided shield to ground. And the white for split. Very similar to the 58/15 LTs that originally came out before TCI.
The 59/09 treble I have is wired black, red, white, braided shield. When I measure the black and white leads I get about 9.2k ohms
I thought the black was hot and put that to the 5 way. The red is split. And the white and shield grounded. But I measure at 4.6 k ohms when on humbucker only in the guitar. What am I doing wrong? Flipping the black and white makes no difference.