The Guitar Formerly Known As The Wizard Has Arrived.

There was some wheeling, and some dealing. Some angst and some anticipation. Choices to be made. But now the guitar formerly known as The Wizard* (until five minutes ago) is home. Oh, it was The Wizard until I read a certain post. Now...well, what can ya do.

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I spent some time playing it through both the DG30 and the Lone Star, with and without pedals, on the theory that these amps, played clean and semi clean would give me the lowdown on the guitar's tone quickly.

With the ebony board, I'd call the guitar airy, bright and very articulate. You can hear the semi-hollow nature of the thing in all positions.

I figured the most unique tones in the guitar would be positions 2 and 4 on the 5-way blade, with the humbuckers either full-on or split. They are.

The neck, whether full or split humbucker, and the bridge, full or split, are certainly great. The 4 middle position tones with both humbuckers are also quite cool. However, the guitar's raison d'être has to be the plucky formant tones you get with that middle pickup engaged, and that's what I was looking forward to. The guitar delivers those tones, and they're gorgeous.The semi hollow body almost acts as a resonant filter, giving the guitar a very vocal sound, yet...with the ebony board there's that sparkle.

That's all I know so far. My hands are still getting to know the feel of the neck and fretboard - they all feel a little different, don't they? On Day One I feel like I'm playing someone else's guitar.

In person, the guitar is darker than the pic, and the purple smoke burst is less obvious. That's not a bad thing.

The reason I named it The Wizard is that I was kind of worried about the blue/purple combination being too...unusual...for my taste, For grins I googled purple and blue guitars online, and a wizard troll doll with magenta-purple hair and a blue wizard outfit popped up!

Cracked me up, and I thought, "How appropriate, It will forever be that guy!

* [Edit-See Screamingdaisy's post. I have to un-name it now.]

I've always liked PRS' wrap finishes. There's something unusual about them. I've had several.
That is really really nice!
 
That's one sweet guitar!

I'd also like to point out, that while few have listened, I've been shouting from the rooftops for years now, about the greatness of the NF pickups in general, but one specific greatness is the NF in the middle. I knew that eventually someone would take me seriously. I mean, not take my word for it, of course, and not until after they had bought and played their own middle position NF. But hey, now that PRS has released some new models with NF middles, and owners seem to be loving them all, how about a little, even grudgingly "Hey, DTR said this NF middle pickup was awesome, and I think that goofball finally got something right?"

So let me just leave this here now. Again. The NF pickups KILLS in the middle position!!!
 
Glad you like it, guys!

The slight Chevron tilt of the flame makes me weak in the knees.:D

First, I'm glad you have one, and I'm not surprised that we agree on the tone characteristics, when have we not agreed on tone? I can't even remember back that far.

When I bought the guitar, I was stoked about the features, but I wasn't sure I'd be able to live with the finish; I'm more of a traditionalist.

So a whole lot of mental energy has been wasted on the can-I-live-with-the-purple-burst thing -- to the point that I wasn't able to see the forest for the trees, and really appreciate the guitar's looks. I honestly didn't notice the chevron pattern until you pointed it out!

:eek:

Hey, it is pretty nice after all!

Well, at least you know I don't buy these things for looks alone.
 
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That's one sweet guitar!

I'd also like to point out, that while few have listened, I've been shouting from the rooftops for years now, about the greatness of the NF pickups in general, but one specific greatness is the NF in the middle. I knew that eventually someone would take me seriously. I mean, not take my word for it, of course, and not until after they had bought and played their own middle position NF. But hey, now that PRS has released some new models with NF middles, and owners seem to be loving them all, how about a little, even grudgingly "Hey, DTR said this NF middle pickup was awesome, and I think that goofball finally got something right?"

So let me just leave this here now. Again. The NF pickups KILLS in the middle position!!!

Right on, but you’re preaching to the choir. :)

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Beautiful guitar, Les. I'm sure you'll find many more reasons to love it the more you play it. And look at it. :)
 
Right on, but you’re preaching to the choir. :)

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Amen, brother! :) (Although that particular example is a few notches above my choir's price range.

Seriously, there is some magic in a great middle pickup, for many things. I've had some great clean to high gain solo tones out of that middle NF. "Special" I'd say... No neck and bridge pickups combined can have the same response and tone as a middle pickup, and this one is the magic bullet in that spot on a guitar. And, about ANY guitar, I'd imagine...
 
That’s smoking hot Mr. Les! I don’t know if I’d like it as much without the purple burst. It really finishes it off and brings things together. Yeah, anything that involves a middle NF, is a great tone.

Looks aside, it's a great guitar. The honeymoon is going well, and even if the bride is a bit gothic with the dark purple lipstick, she's still a looker. ;)
 
Nice! Is it a Limited or a newer ”core” (WL I assume?). What are the neck and body woods?
 
Amen, brother! :) (Although that particular example is a few notches above my choir's price range.

Seriously, there is some magic in a great middle pickup, for many things. I've had some great clean to high gain solo tones out of that middle NF. "Special" I'd say... No neck and bridge pickups combined can have the same response and tone as a middle pickup, and this one is the magic bullet in that spot on a guitar. And, about ANY guitar, I'd imagine...

I really dig the 305 middle pickup, but there was something extra killer about the 25th SAS I had. I never cared for 2 & 4, but each pickup on its own was stunning. The middle was my fav on that guitar.
 
Neato. These have been on my radar since they were introduced as the "Special Semi-Hollow" (in computerdom, "ssh" means "secure shell" -- perhaps, "The Hacker"? Or perhaps "Moss", "Jen", or "Roy"? XD ).

Also, please do tell me more about these "...plucky formant tones..." -- are they vocal-ish formants? That would make one of these even more interesting to me. Sound clips?

Also, because I'm me: too much blue, not enough purple. I would love love LOVE a purple/navy burst (I.E. the colours swapped).
 
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