Question about S2 finish: tri-tone/ sunburst (S2 30th custom 24 vs S2 custom 24)

[ColonelForbin]

Hello!

Looking closely at the S2 30th custom 24 and the S2 custom 24- will be able to check out a few of these in person, in stores tomorrow.
My question: On the S2 30th custom 24 in tri-color sunburst, is the headstock, back of neck and back of guitar actually black the way it appears in most photos?

By comparison, the headstock and back of the S2 custom 24 'mccarty sunburst / tobacco sunburst' appears to be a dark red / wood tone - not black.
Same for the custom 22 semi-hollow; headstock and back of guitar are not black. Am I seeing things>? I guess I will know tomorrow either way; so if no one else has wondered or knows about this, I will report back with what I see.

Torn between the four sunburst type finishes, assuming that the tri-tone is actually somewhat different than the mccarty sunburst..
Definitely want the custom 24 to be the 30th anniversary when I get one (already have an s2 custom 22 semi coming from Sweetwater)

s2 30th custom 24:
-Dark Cherry sunburst
-Violin Amber sunburst
-Tri-tone sunburst (black headstock?)

s2 custom 24:
-McCarty tobacco sunburst (not black headstock)

Opinions and observations are most welcome!! Thanks!

 

[ColonelForbin]

http://www.chicagomusicexchange.com/products/prs-s-2-30th-anniversary-custom-24-tri-color-sunburst

 

[ColonelForbin]

http://www.chicagomusicexchange.com/products/paul-reed-smith-s-2-custom-24-mccarty-tobacco-sunburst
http://www.chicagomusicexchange.com...-custom-24-mccarty-tobacco-sunburst-used-s633

 

[ColonelForbin]

Found photos on American Musical's website that pretty much do the best job of illustrating the difference between the headstock colors:

S2 Custom 24 (mccarty sunburst / dark red headstock)

S2 30th Custom 24 (tri-tone sunburst / black headstock?)

These are the S2 30th custom 24:

These are the S2 custom 24:

 

[ColonelForbin]

Ok, so basically, this started with me looking at S2's, and ended with me playing several ten tops. Go figure...\

Quick report on my original WTF? about the headstock - near as I can tell, from looking at several in person,
"tri tone sunburst" = black headstock
"mccarty sunburst" or "mccarty tobacco" = not black headstock.

That being said, I played pretty much the whole line of the S2 guitars today.
Chicago Music Exchange, and Guitar Center (the one on Halsted has a sweet used semi hollow 24 fret that just came in..)
I digress - between those two stores, I pretty much got to see the full set.

I played an S2 custom 24 and/or 30th anniversary in the dark cherry sunburst, tri-tone sunburst, violin amber sunburst, and mccarty sunburst.
I played an S2 custom 22 semi in the dark cherry burst and the mccarty tobacco sunburst.
I briefly looked at the Starla and the Mira; those are actually sweet looking.

I liked the s2 custom 22 semi's a lot more than the s2 custom 24's. There was something just really nice about the semi hollow's.
But, I also went there with a mission to compare the necks of the S2's to some core lines, and ten tops.

And from what I understand, most of the S2's are using the pattern regular neck.
For some reason, in both stores, the majority of the core and ten top custom 24's they had were the patterm thin necks, so it was a decent comparison between the two.

If anyone is trying to decide, you gotta play the necks to know what will feel right to you. The numbers when you compare the measurements seem minute, but I feel like there was a slight, but specific difference in feel between them. A lot of it will depend on how you grip, fret and play the guitar in general, as well as your hand size and finger length.

What I didn't get to play, unfortunately, was a core or ten top custom 24 in pattern regular. They use the same terminology on the S2 and core neck description, but after playing them back to back, side by side, the S2 feels quite nice; it's not like it's an inferior product. It's just slightly less appointed. In particular, you might notice on the wide open body of the custom 24, where you might be accustomed to a more presentation oriented top, these are far more subtle. Of the S2 24's that I played and looked at, the violin amber sunburst stood out to me as a nice looking overall axe. The headstock was a nice wood tone - it was a 30th anniversary guitar - and had a bit more style than the standard S2's.

As far as the headstock think, I saw two S2 3 color sunbursts, but one must have been the mccarty, and the other the tri-tone. Held the heads next to each other, one was clearly black, the other a dark wood tone.

My overall impression, is the mccarty is more pleasing overall, than the severity of the black sunburst - but others might find it's what they like; definitely looks sweet. Like and edgy black sunburst. Playing open chords at the 14th fret feels nice on these. I am not used to the 24 fret feel, my pinky was rebelling! The high E note sounds true though; intonation and setup seemed fine, nothing stood out as off. Just, I mean, I should have known better to even look at the ten tops... DOH!

As for the necks - I am leaning heavily toward pattern regular. Pattern thin is accurate, in that the height / thickness of the neck is thinner - but it's also wider. I noticed that a bit, felt slightly off, playing open chords, scales, etc. Not majorly off - just, knowing you have a choice in this if you spend up to a core or ten top.. It's worth knowing what your hands want! Ended that run dropping off the SG at Third Coast for a setup, and headed home for a jam session.

Life is good

In summary, going there knowing I had an S2 custom 22 semi in mccarty sunburst on order from the Sweetwater deal, I felt pretty good about that choice - even though I have to wait until May. And that gives me lots of time between now and then to drool over ten top 24's, and make extraneous excursions to various GC's in and around Chicagoland, to see what I can get my hands on to play a few more, maybe get lucky, find a nice used ten top or something.

Cheers ya'all!

 

[garrett]

Great info, thanks!

 

[ColonelForbin]

Great info, thanks!

Yeah! I am still astonished it took me this long to turn on to PRS.. Wow, what a grand and epic discovery. As they say, "late to the party" , but better late than never!