Still Gotta Love The CU24 30th

[László]

I was playing around with some Eventide effects late tonight, stuff layered on stuff, and I got out the trusty CU24 30th Anniversary, and it just cut through those heavy effects and sounded so nice and fat! I fall in love with this guitar all over again every time I play it.

Anyway, it was far too late to cut tracks with my real amps, so I resorted to a UA model, but the sound was acceptable, so I put together an original track just for grins. My fretting hand is still not ready for prime time with the nerve damage, so I played kinda slowly out of necessity, but the upside is sometimes that makes me think in more melodic terms.

Anyway, check out how nice and fat the CU24 sounds. Both guitars are neck pickup through Eventide H3000 stuff.

https://soundcloud.com/lschefman/another-fine-mess

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Slow is under-rated. Some of my favourite Gilmour licks are the slow ones -- this sounds delicious!

 

[bodia]

Slow is under-rated. Some of my favourite Gilmour licks are the slow ones -- this sounds delicious!

Concur!

Les, you haven't mentioned your nerve issue recently. How are things progressing?

 

[goat-n-gitter]

Beautiful tones Les! My CU24 30th is my go-to most of the time. Love the 85/15s!

Tom

 

[Whitecat]

Killer guitars. Just superb.

 

[Boogie]

I'm a tremolo junkie. Thanks for providing my morning fix. And I am a firm believer that more emotion can be conjured with a single bend than a flurry of notes. No apologies are ever needed for "taking a cruise" down the highway instead of manic swerves through traffic. That sounded great.

 

[vox801]

Very nice! And I agree, great guitars.

 

[László]

Thanks, guys! Just kind of a fun excuse to mess with the gear.

Les, you haven't mentioned your nerve issue recently. How are things progressing?

I'm so appreciative of what my surgeon was able to accomplish! Granted, I won't know the extent of the healing for quite a while. The pinch was at the elbow area, and nerves heal at the rate of an inch a month, approximately.

There's stuff I am able to do, and stuff that used to be child's play that I still can't do. But I look at the positive side.

By the time I had the surgery, I literally had lost the ability to play; I couldn't coordinate the fingers on the fretboard at all. I literally couldn't play an E minor open chord in the first position.

So to be able to do what I can do now is truly a priceless gift.

 

[vchizzle]

Sounds awesome Les, the playing was really good too. Glad you're progressing and able to play again. Hopefully things continue to improve for you even if it's little by little. I just got an H9 not long ago and am working to incorporate into my live rig. While trying to build my needed sounds, I always end up on an exploration and spend more time screwing around than putting the "work" portion in. Oh well, it's spurred some new ideas so that's a positive. The CU24 has never quite been the guitar for me, but you and countless others really make it sound great. Cheers!

 

[Deleted member 2284]

Thanks, guys! Just kind of a fun excuse to mess with the gear.



I'm so appreciative of what my surgeon was able to accomplish! Granted, I won't know the extent of the healing for quite a while. The pinch was at the elbow area, and nerves heal at the rate of an inch a month, approximately.

There's stuff I am able to do, and stuff that used to be child's play that I still can't do. But I look at the positive side.

By the time I had the surgery, I literally had lost the ability to play; I couldn't coordinate the fingers on the fretboard at all. I literally couldn't play an E minor open chord in the first position.

So to be able to do what I can do now is truly a priceless gift.

So glad to hear this, brother

 

[g.wizz]

Fat and Juicy tone Les, glad your fingers' dexterity is coming back and you're able to play
and enjoy your wonderful collection... That is wonderful stuff.

 

[László]

I love that the guitar has plenty of "cut" yet at the same time, it's got a firm fundamental, nice and thick, with plenty of low end.

Even when it's loaded down with effects - in this case, H3000 and Eventide Blackhole effects, and they are thick, thick stuff, and I had the effects levels up much higher than I usually do - the character of the guitar still shines through.

For me, that's the genius of this design. It is SO capable. Ask it to do something, and it's just "Yes, sir! Anything else I can do for ya?"

And the 85/15s are phenomenal pickups, IMHO. I think they are very musical and expressive, they respond to one's touch, they sound great on everything.

I tend to use it on tracks where other players might choose a Tele, or even a Strat. Of course, it doesn't sound like a Tele or a Strat, but the way it works in a dense mix in just the right way, is an attribute of certain Strats and Teles that I have always found appealing. It never mushes out.

It's also an absolutely effortless guitar to play. It works with the hands so well.

All a player has to do is think a part, and it almost plays itself!

Now, I've had other CU24s in the past, and they've always been really sweet, but I do believe that the new tweaks, these pickups, and so on, are the absolute bomb, and that this is the best CU24 yet. Horses for courses, naturally, but this is a wonderful instrument.

 

[bodia]

Thanks, guys! Just kind of a fun excuse to mess with the gear.



I'm so appreciative of what my surgeon was able to accomplish! Granted, I won't know the extent of the healing for quite a while. The pinch was at the elbow area, and nerves heal at the rate of an inch a month, approximately.

There's stuff I am able to do, and stuff that used to be child's play that I still can't do. But I look at the positive side.

By the time I had the surgery, I literally had lost the ability to play; I couldn't coordinate the fingers on the fretboard at all. I literally couldn't play an E minor open chord in the first position.

So to be able to do what I can do now is truly a priceless gift.

So happy to hear you're making progress! You were really down prior to your surgery, it's nice to see you so excited about things post surgery.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Soundin' nice!

 

[toothace]

Sounds great Les! Glad the nerve issues are improving!

 

[guitarman001]

My Cu24 are 2013 (Experience) and 2014 (Wood Library) models - both with satin maple necks and 57/08 and 85/15 pups. The satin maple neck is a huge selling point.

IMO you can forget every other guitar out there, including other PRS. The Custom 24 is THE guitar. End of!

 

[Alan Manning]

Good to hear things are getting better Les. slowly but surely is still a good positive.
As long as I live I will never forget the buzz I got when I felt and played my custom 24 30th in the store.
and believe me Everybody heard it. she's my number 1 and probably always will be.
Man she makes me smile and will do anything.!!!

 

[dsenoj]

Les, I could listen to your playing all day long.

 

[László]

Les, I could listen to your playing all day long.

Thank your lucky stars you don't have to, my friend!

 

[kingsleyd]

Now, I've had other CU24s in the past, and they've always been really sweet, but I do believe that the new tweaks, these pickups, and so on, are the absolute bomb, and that this is the best CU24 yet. Horses for courses, naturally, but this is a wonderful instrument.

Y'know, Les, based on your continued extolling of the virtues of this particular model, I've gone to Willcutt a couple of times because I think I should be able to find a CU24 30 that I like better than my '86 VY Custom. Pretty much everything about it is an improvement over the old, OLD one.

[the fact that the '86 is, in PRS terms, truly OLD, is weird to me, especially since it's my younger son's birth-year guitar... ...of course, said son is a dad and an MD, so I guess he's not exactly young any more]

Each time I've come back with my '86, and a deeper understanding of why that particular guitar is so cool.

I do think that the CU24 30 is a great platform for what you're doing, and if I wanted to be able to paint with a broader palette, including effects and levels of gain that I typically don't use, I'd grab one in a heartbeat. But, as you know, I'm much more all about the raw guitar sounds. Not that I don't add a few artificial (or natural!) sweeteners here and there, but for the most part I really want to hear the guitar, which really means, I really want to hear the idiosyncrasies that make one guitar different from all the others.

And my '86 definitely sounds different from all the others.