The gift of guitar

[markintime]

Very cool!

I have 4 sisters, but none of them can paint like that. Oh well, I'm short of wall space anyway...

 

[veinbuster]

The history threads of been kind of fun to watch, so maybe while those are waiting for the next arrival, I'll start this tale at the beginning...

By the late 90s, it seems I had become difficult to buy gifts for. It was a combination of having everything I cared about (a good family, a nice house, a decent car, a fun bicycle, a well stocked music room and plenty of books) and being somewhat fussy about what I liked. I was starting to collect some discretionary income because there really wasn't much I felt an urgent need to buy. Maybe it would end up being a rainy day fund and maybe it would just collect until it accumulated enough for something really spectacular, like taking everyone to Australia for a few weeks.

My wife was in a similar financial state and for reasons known only to her, she periodically feels the need to buy me something that I would like enough to keep, and use for a long time. To assist her in that end, we would periodically visit quality sporting goods stores and music stores. My favourite music store is a bit of a drive, but Brent was the first owner I liked enough to buy two guitars from and his taste in guitars is similar enough to mine that I could always find a couple things worth looking at. On one of those trips I saw a PRS Swamp Ash Special for the first time. It had fairly traditional dark burst top - to black around the edges and covering the back and sides, much like Stevie Ray Vaughn's Strat. The lighter middle area of the top clearly showed the figure of the swamp ash. Looks wise, the top was very nice, but the figure on the maple neck was exceptional. The guitar was quite light and very comfortable to play.

Sound wise, the tone was quite satisfying played acoustically. No louder than one would expect of a solid body, but quite clear. The electronics, like the look, were much like a Stratocaster with 3 pickups. The switching setup however was quite different in that you could engage the middle Seymour Duncan hot rail with a push pull. This let you use the middle pickup with either the bridge or neck pickup, or with both. The range of sounds from this setup was quite extreme. I declared the guitar worthy of joining the household and went about my business. Some time later it reappeared under the grand parents Christmas tree. And yes, it has lived up to expectations. Its wide range of tone makes it a frequent traveling companion on vacations, tucked away under suitcases filled with beach clothes.

You've seen this picture. The Mrs made an extra drive of about 500km to get this stashed in a corner of her parent's basement before Christmas.

This is the guitar at home, where it hasn't been in over 10 years. It was one of the first ones I took to my work location 700km away.

And a fair number of people in the SAS thread have noted how nice the necks on these early ones are. The shot of the fingerboard is a bit washed out, but it has a nice flame to. It is of the nicest looking fingerboards I have.

 

[veinbuster]

The Mrs. had enough fun with the SAS that she tried it again for my birthday. Her second try was a bit less main stream and her timing was excellent because PRS didn't make these for very long and I've always had a bit of a thing for the style.

Isn't that nice thick carved body a piece of work. Big old 12 gauge strings, and if you can't manage a bit of jazz stylings, you can't blame the guitar.

rear view

And she always like to have a record of the first use. This was probably taken just after skiiing, which I do on my birthday if I'm lucky enough to get some good snow that week (early March).

 

[László]

Nice! Beautiful guitar and great pics!

 

[bodia]

I don't know jazz, but I know what I like. And I like that hollowbody! Very nice!

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Stonkin'!

 

[guitarman001]

WOW, great pic but.... is that just one of your rooms in the background? That's about the size of my flat here in the UK!!

 

[veinbuster]

WOW, great pic but.... is that just one of your rooms in the background? That's about the size of my flat here in the UK!!

The photo of me playing the swamp ash is in my mother in law's living room - probably about 12' by 16'. The photo of the swamp ash on a stand is in our our music room (though the builder called it a dining room) - it is just big enough for a baby grand and a couple of guitar amps - about 11' by 14'.

 

[veinbuster]

Fast forward to 2009. I hadn't bought an instrument for almost 10 years. I still looked in stores periodically, but often felt that there wasn't anything that would do anything I didn't already have covered. There was always lots of pretty, and interesting, but nothing that really needed to come home with me. I did imagine occasionally what specifications would constitute one last guitar. To that end, the 2009 PRS experience didn't conflict with any other obligations, so my wife and I decided to go and see what they had changed in the 10 years since we had visited the factory.

We did the grand tours, listened to a bunch of music, and looked at everything in the archives, including a pre factory Santana style with a tiny little dragon on the body. In my mind this mahogany guitar with a little decoration was the star of the collection. Not that I don't find the later limited run Dragon guitars extreme examples of the peak of the craft and worthy of the attention they got. It's just that the West Street mahogany seemed to be the seed of what Dragons would become.

Towards the end of the day we went into the warehouse where dealers were displaying new guitars. We toured the tables, imagining what might find a place in our home.

On one of the dealers' tables was a modern version of that early design with the little dragon: Santana style headstock, 24 frets, and tiny dragon on the body. The body was not solid mahogany. Instead it had a one piece sapele top. The top was quite striking with a very tight quilt. I found it quite interesting, but my wife was crazy for it. The next day, when the dealers were permitted to sell, we went straight back to that guitar. I picked it up to see how it felt, but put it back because it wasn't nearly in tune. That wasn't the desired reaction, so I struggled through tuning it in a very noisy environment - if that seems odd, picture a warehouse, a bunch of excited people and trying to pick out the sound of a solid body guitar played acoustically. I got it tuned, played a couple of test bits and could declare it consistent with PRS standards. I was inclined to look for something even more interesting from someone's secret stash, but my wife didn't want to risk missing out on the opportunity. After all, it had been 10 years since she had bought a guitar too.

 

[bodia]

Fast forward to 2009. I hadn't bought an instrument for almost 10 years. I still looked in stores periodically, but often felt that there wasn't anything that would do anything I didn't already have covered. There was always lots of pretty, and interesting, but nothing that really needed to come home with me. I did imagine occasionally what specifications would constitute one last guitar. To that end, the 2009 PRS experience didn't conflict with any other obligations, so my wife and I decided to go and see what they had changed in the 10 years since we had visited the factory.

We did the grand tours, listened to a bunch of music, and looked at everything in the archives, including a pre factory Santana style with a tiny little dragon on the body. In my mind this mahogany guitar with a little decoration was the star of the collection. Not that I don't find the later limited run Dragon guitars extreme examples of the peak of the craft and worthy of the attention they got. It's just that the West Street mahogany seemed to be the seed of what Dragons would become.

Towards the end of the day we went into the warehouse where dealers were displaying new guitars. We toured the tables, imagining what might find a place in our home.

On one of the dealers' tables was a modern version of that early design with the little dragon: Santana style headstock, 24 frets, and tiny dragon on the body. The body was not solid mahogany. Instead it had a one piece sapele top. The top was quite striking with a very tight quilt. I found it quite interesting, but my wife was crazy for it. The next day, when the dealers were permitted to sell, we went straight back to that guitar. I picked it up to see how it felt, but put it back because it wasn't nearly in tune. That wasn't the desired reaction, so I struggled through tuning it in a very noisy environment - if that seems odd, picture a warehouse, a bunch of excited people and trying to pick out the sound of a solid body guitar played acoustically. I got it tuned, played a couple of test bits and could declare it consistent with PRS standards. I was inclined to look for something even more interesting from someone's secret stash, but my wife didn't want to risk missing out on the opportunity. After all, it had been 10 years since she had bought a guitar too.

This definitely deserves a BANGIN'!

 

[László]

This definitely deserves a BANGIN'!

+1

A Big Bang.

 

[veinbuster]

I think this guitar only exists because I teased the Moss Man one day. He described a few new guitars and mentioned one that he couldn't talk about. I replied "Please don't tell me it is a burl hollow body". A bit later photos of two candidate burl tops made an appearance. We debated features and appointments a bit, and which piece of wood would make a nicer top. The inevitable result was to use one piece on the top and the other on the back.

Some time passes by and it makes its way to the shop, so down I went with Mrs. to see how it came out.

You can stare at if for ages and still find new features. And if you get tired of looking at the outside, there are more interesting things going on in the wood inside the guitar. But I felt I had enough guitars so I was prepared to let it go to another home. Mrs. disagreed and took me outside to have a little talk. Since she was unable to convince me to buy it, she bought it.

As we went out to the car I mentioned that this was 13. A funny look came over her and a few moments later she said "Well, you can't have it then". She let me try it out to make sure her guitar was as good as it looked and then squirreled it away. Another PRS Experience came up and we came up with something else to build so that there wouldn't have to be a 13th. Still she kept the hollowbody locked away. Then on my 20,000 birthday she presented a beautiful leather case with the guitar in it.

Here is the back.

 

[bodia]

I think this guitar only exists because I teased the Moss Man one day. He described a few new guitars and mentioned one that he couldn't talk about. I replied "Please don't tell me it is a burl hollow body". A bit later photos of two candidate burl tops made an appearance. We debated features and appointments a bit, and which piece of wood would make a nicer top. The inevitable result was to use one piece on the top and the other on the back.

Some time passes by and it makes its way to the shop, so down I went with Mrs. to see how it came out.

You can stare at if for ages and still find new features. And if you get tired of looking at the outside, there are more interesting things going on in the wood inside the guitar. But I felt I had enough guitars so I was prepared to let it go to another home. Mrs. disagreed and took me outside to have a little talk. Since she was unable to convince me to buy it, she bought it.

As we went out to the car I mentioned that this was 13. A funny look came over her and a few moments later she said "Well, you can't have it then". She let me try it out to make sure her guitar was as good as it looked and then squirreled it away. Another PRS Experience came up and we came up with something else to build so that there wouldn't have to be a 13th. Still she kept the hollowbody locked away. Then on my 20,000 birthday she presented a beautiful leather case with the guitar in it.

Here is the back.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.......off to change my shorts. I'll have to see if there are any Depends in the house. If there are, I'll come back and comment on that fine fine specimen. Sha-goinks!

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Beautiful specimen. How's it sound?

 

[veinbuster]

Beautiful specimen. How's it sound?

A little bit like heaven.

To me it is the pinnacle of what I want to hear from a hollowbody. It differs from the 25th anniversary in that it has 59/09 pickups rather than 57/08 and it has an ebony board. It is very articulate and response well to changes in attack - either finger or pick. It also has a really nice sustain in higher notes - particularly noticeable on the B and high E string. I attribute most of this to the ebony board - this based on other 59/09 equipped guitars I have.

so...clear ring, nice sustain, good note separation.

 

[veinbuster]

Les's question about amps reminded me that I should finish the story of my wife's contributions to my PRS family.

One day while at PRS I got a chance to look at a special project in the works.

I thought it was pretty cool and was anxious to test it out.
I started out about here.

For anyone who wonders about such things, the little thing on top is an adapter so I can plug something else into the speakers.
A mighty fine piece of work.

 

[veinbuster]

She wasn't going to be able to sneak it into the car for the trip we were taking for our anniversary, so when she picked it up she had Brent take a glamour shot of it that she could print out and carry with her to present to me along with the secret code to the room it would be tucked away in when I got home.

 

[Dusty Chalk]

@ MDT
Mine has the paisley tolex, too, but not the ... honey?...flame maple fascia. It's a wonderful amp.

 

[Goldtop]

That's a cool painting. I'd be proud to hang it on my wall.

Goldtop