Singlecut Preferences...................Discuss

My Stripped 58 , Riza, is one of the best sounding & playing guitars I've ever owned or played!
 
I have a Private Stock Singlecut with a 25" scale, wrap-around bridge, and wide-fat Pernambuco neck. It's the best sounding and playing guitar (not just PRS) I've ever played. In my opinion, if you want a "singlecut" styled guitar with a short scale length and two-piece bridge...that already exists. If that's what you like, you can't out "Les Paul" a Les Paul. However, I can understand buying a PRS with Les Paul specs because you want that high-level quality. I guess my point is: Buy what you like!
 
QueenCityGuitars said:
I have a Private Stock Singlecut with a 25" scale, wrap-around bridge, and wide-fat Pernambuco neck. It's the best sounding and playing guitar (not just PRS) I've ever played. In my opinion, if you want a "singlecut" styled guitar with a short scale length and two-piece bridge...that already exists. If that's what you like, you can't out "Les Paul" a Les Paul. However, I can understand buying a PRS with Les Paul specs because you want that high-level quality. I guess my point is: Buy what you like!
Click to expand...

Thanks for brining it to Markie's this past November. :tongue:
 
QueenCityGuitars said:
I have a Private Stock Singlecut with a 25" scale, wrap-around bridge, and wide-fat Pernambuco neck. It's the best sounding and playing guitar (not just PRS) I've ever played. In my opinion, if you want a "singlecut" styled guitar with a short scale length and two-piece bridge...that already exists. If that's what you like, you can't out "Les Paul" a Les Paul. However, I can understand buying a PRS with Les Paul specs because you want that high-level quality. I guess my point is: Buy what you like!
Click to expand...

Well said. I agree. I actually sold my last Les Paul which was a beautiful Darkburst R9. My 20th Singlecut just works for me. Not to mention, I get sooooo tired of hearing who's Les Paul is more "accurate" or who paid the most for their replica. Boring.
 
I like the monstrous SC 250 the most. It's got everything I want from a standard Les Paul, but with less weight and a more familiar (for me) PRS shaped body. Don't let me start talking about the details.... :laugh: Oh, and the one-piece bridge is just perfect as it is. I'm fine with the two-piece as well, just that the one-piece looks simpler and cleaner.
 
Wonder why they don't just make one in a 24-3/4" scale like a real Paul? I don't think a scale length is proprietary is it?

I cant comment on the differences between PRS SCs. I've been a Fender guy all my life...or used to be. Always loved the looks and tones of the LPs. I had a '62 ES335 for a lot of years. I bought a Les Paul just about annually trying to bind with them but I never could. Even with heavier strings, I could never cozy up to their loose, luxurious, slinky, no-fight having feel.

In May of this year just before my early June BDayand after giving away yet another strat and finding myself "beaterless" my Wife decided we were getting me an SE for my Birthday. Then I could be ALL and nothing BUT PRS. Even my beater would now be a PRS.
I was gassing for a sc. Mama thinks singlecuts look "country" which is clearly a bad thing?.
I won and we got me a Tremonti SE Custom.
Didn't HAVE to but I put a 59/09 bass in the neck...OMG...YUMMMM!!! and a Duncan CC in the bridge-I like them and have them in other PRS bridge pockets.

Well...I CAN comment on the difference between a thick SC and the PRS doublecuts (all kinds from the thicker MCcartys and Studio to the CUs and even an alder/maple CE). Even with the same pickups, the SC just sounds like it IS physically. Heavier, thicker, fatter, LesPaul-ier....it's louder too.
One of the Lesters I had is still in the family. My drummer owns it. It's just a Studio but an early ebony/trap ones. She's a minty wine red with gold beauty. I did A/B it with a Standard I had at the time...and a Chinese Epi. The Stood and Standard sounded VERY similar. The Epi "seemed" to sound better...because it was a little louder and in your face. I could see newbies thinking...woah the epi sounds BETTER!!! wink Point is that the Studio I still have access to sounds pretty benchmark Paul-y.
This week I'll try (again) to remember to get him to bring it to rehearsal so I can A/B it with the Tremonti SE. Judging only from memory for now, IIRC, the LPs didn't sound THIS much bigger than the PRS DCs.
The SE vs LP wont be a real fair compare seeing as how the Paul is bone stock and the SE has the 59/09 and the Duncan...not that it would be apples to apples with the original SE245pups.

SO...I'll be back with a LP vs PRS SC...an SE...which is NOT what you were asking...battle report and debriefing. In the meantime, I don't know how the USA SCs compare to each other...the SE SC sounds way FATTER than any of my USA DCs...and...they have a 25" scale and a 24-1/2" scale. If you wanna make a Les Paul killer...or a SC that competes with a Les Paul...wouldn't you offer one in a 24.75" scale? If not, WHY not? It seems to be pretty nice to the real Les Pauls.
 
My ideal Singlecut would have a 25" scale, tremolo, 24 frets, ebony board, some \m/ pickups, and a wide-thin neck.
 
Damn you! I'm jonesing again for the satin SC250 that I traded away. If I find another that works for me, will anyone want to trade the adjustable wrap bridge for a fixed one?
 
blaren said:
Wonder why they don't just make one in a 24-3/4" scale like a real Paul? I don't think a scale length is proprietary is it?

I cant comment on the differences between PRS SCs. I've been a Fender guy all my life...or used to be. Always loved the looks and tones of the LPs. I had a '62 ES335 for a lot of years. I bought a Les Paul just about annually trying to bind with them but I never could. Even with heavier strings, I could never cozy up to their loose, luxurious, slinky, no-fight having feel.

In May of this year just before my early June BDayand after giving away yet another strat and finding myself "beaterless" my Wife decided we were getting me an SE for my Birthday. Then I could be ALL and nothing BUT PRS. Even my beater would now be a PRS.
I was gassing for a sc. Mama thinks singlecuts look "country" which is clearly a bad thing?.
I won and we got me a Tremonti SE Custom.
Didn't HAVE to but I put a 59/09 bass in the neck...OMG...YUMMMM!!! and a Duncan CC in the bridge-I like them and have them in other PRS bridge pockets.

Well...I CAN comment on the difference between a thick SC and the PRS doublecuts (all kinds from the thicker MCcartys and Studio to the CUs and even an alder/maple CE). Even with the same pickups, the SC just sounds like it IS physically. Heavier, thicker, fatter, LesPaul-ier....it's louder too.
One of the Lesters I had is still in the family. My drummer owns it. It's just a Studio but an early ebony/trap ones. She's a minty wine red with gold beauty. I did A/B it with a Standard I had at the time...and a Chinese Epi. The Stood and Standard sounded VERY similar. The Epi "seemed" to sound better...because it was a little louder and in your face. I could see newbies thinking...woah the epi sounds BETTER!!! wink Point is that the Studio I still have access to sounds pretty benchmark Paul-y.
This week I'll try (again) to remember to get him to bring it to rehearsal so I can A/B it with the Tremonti SE. Judging only from memory for now, IIRC, the LPs didn't sound THIS much bigger than the PRS DCs.
The SE vs LP wont be a real fair compare seeing as how the Paul is bone stock and the SE has the 59/09 and the Duncan...not that it would be apples to apples with the original SE245pups.

SO...I'll be back with a LP vs PRS SC...an SE...which is NOT what you were asking...battle report and debriefing. In the meantime, I don't know how the USA SCs compare to each other...the SE SC sounds way FATTER than any of my USA DCs...and...they have a 25" scale and a 24-1/2" scale. If you wanna make a Les Paul killer...or a SC that competes with a Les Paul...wouldn't you offer one in a 24.75" scale? If not, WHY not? It seems to be pretty nice to the real Les Pauls.
Click to expand...


Because Gibson's are NOT 24.75" scale. They are all over the board and here's Paul's answer.

In an old article in Guitar Centers holiday platinum edition 2007, during an interview with Paul Reed Smith specifically he was asked: What was the inspiration for the new SC 245?
PRS answered, I got a whole bunch of old Les Pauls and new Les Pauls and old Gibson's out and started measuring the scale length. It's not 24 3/4". It's not 24 5/8" It's 24 9/16". It's 1/16" longer than 24 1/2." 24 1/2 is what I've been using on the Santana model for ever, It's the old scale. So 245 means 24 1/2" scale.
 
Paul is right about the scale length on the old Gibsons.

I have a lovely old Les Paul, a 1952 that someone more or less destroyed in an effort to convert it to '57 specs. It was ultimately retopped (which was necessary as the belly of the original top had been shaved down) and properly converted to 1959 specs, inside and out, and outfitted with all vintage plastic, metal, and electronics. The thing that tips off the real 'burst guys who have played it is: it's TOO GOOD. And it is. Put-it-in-the-dictionary PAF Les Paul tone.


With that in the house, I don't have much interest in a solidbody PRS single cut, regardless of scale length.

I did, however, recently acquire this guitar, and I have to say it's become an actual NUMBER ONE guitar for me. First time in many, many years I've had a guitar about which I felt that way. The dealer who spec'd and ordered the guitar is a newcomer to working with PRS, and I kibitzed quite a bit while he was having the conversation with Paul and Tina since I was one of his few clients who knew anything about PRS' models and options. Little did I know that I was spec'ing out a guitar that would turn out to be perfect-for-me. :)

Hollowbody, fuller thickness, spruce top, 57/08s, piezo, 25-in. scale. (my dealer friend wanted a 24.5-in. scale as he's not generally a fan of 25-in. scale guitars, and Paul S told him that with the piezo the 25-inch scale worked much better)

Aside from my own instrumental jazz/rock/pop hybrid thing, I've used this in my rock band which does a lot of Zeppelin and other '70s era tunes -- where I would normally use the aforementioned Les Paul -- and it works shockingly well in that (LOUD) context. And no, not just for "Stairway"...

1401463_606684846052475_619587927_o.jpg
 
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blaren said:
If you wanna make a Les Paul killer...or a SC that competes with a Les Paul...wouldn't you offer one in a 24.75" scale? If not, WHY not? It seems to be pretty nice to the real Les Pauls.
Click to expand...

Maybe PRS wanted to make an LP killer, but I think of it more as an alternative. The ones I've had have a different sound than a Les Paul, whether the bridge is one or two piece.

I'd describe the 25 inch scale with the wrap bridge as a more modern sound, and the 245 with the 2 piece as a woodier sound, but - this is just one player's opinion - I honestly prefer the PRS' sound to most nearly any LP I've played, including lots of vintage ones.

Kingsley's clip absolutely epitomizes what I think the classic LP tone is. It's a woody sound, unforced, with plenty of midrange definition, and yet not a heavy sound. It's also a more vintage sound than the PRS tone. There are aspects of the tone of Kingsley's guitar, particularly the midrange, that remind me of my '65 SG Special. Yeah, it sounds like an old guitar, and that's a good thing, no doubt!

PRS SCs of all stripes sound different, at least to me. They have a smoother tone with perhaps a touch more bottom, a touch more top, and less of what I call "gronk" in the mids (which I'll define as a combination of grit and honk).

Now, whether that is a good or bad thing is in the ear of the beholder, but if I were PRS I'd rather make a guitar that shows some LP influences but offers the player an interesting alternative, rather than try to reinvent the wheel. I've loved my SCs and have another being made.
 
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I would love a Tremonti with a 24.5" scale and a piezo trem.
Please make mine a goldtop.
 
I agree that the SC's,whether with the 24.5" or 25" are their own thing. The Sc58 I tried (short scale, 2 piece bridge) certainly sounded more vintage. It definitely sounded more like a Les Paul, but to my ears, a little cleaner/clearer and less raunchy than a typical Les Paul; of which I have owned and played many. I was a pretty devoted Les Paul guy before I discovered PRS. My favourite guitars PERIOD are the 25" scale SC's. In fact, my two main guitars are both OG style SC's ( a 20th anny and a PS). They are certainly more "hi-fi" sounding with an extended top and bottom but with a quick, percussive delivery. This is amplified even further with my PS, which has a rosewood neck and ebony board. Since 75% of the music I play falls in to the punk/metal/hard rock side of the music dial, those attributes suit me perfectly. Like any PRS, the 25" SC's are versatile, but it really shines in a rock context. My opinion of course. I am glad to see an SC250 option for the artist package now. I would love to get one in Obsidian with a maple neck and ebony board.
 
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