So I wanted to share a bit on the experience of having 3 of these. Actually I have 4, but "only" 3 of them at home, one is in my CA apartment.
As you guys have seen from me here in my 8 years of PRS obsession, when I get captivated by a model, like I did with the Ted's, I tend to buy several and then make some upgrades to the collection over time.
Having these three has been great over the past week. When I play one of them, each one has a certain "vibe" that is a combination of how it plays (the setup), how it looks and how that makes you feel, and how it sounds. Each are subtly different in that regard.
I had 9's on 2, and got the Vintage Sunburst Willcutt's Wood Library in with 10's, to compare them. I found the 9's too thin, I felt like I lost a little tone. The 10's were too thick for me. I have been using the NYXL strings, I really like the way they feel and sound. I discovered that they do make a .095-.044 set of those. (They are harder to find, and I can't seem to find them in a 3-pack.) So then I strung one with those, and had one each with 9's, 9'5's and 10's. 9.5's - perfect for me! 9.5's, too skinny. 10's - a little stiff in certain situations. Now I have converted two to 9.5's. See - one of many justifications for multiple guitars of the same model!!
Of course there is that age old excuse of leaving different ones in different tunings. I used to use that one on myself, but I don't really do that anymore.
Also to me there is that vibe that comes from the looks. I seem to look at my left hand a lot while playing, but not so much the right, so I see the view of looking down at the neck quite often, so the color of the finish of the back of the neck really influences the visual experience and vibe for me.
Look how different those (look and vibe) are in my 3!
I think I need a Dark Cherry Sunburst one with a Cherry back and neck to round out the collection in that regard!
The one I seem to emotionally bond with the most so far is this one, the Vintage Sunburst one:
The visual part of it really gets me, but it also plays great, and sounds amazing.
And lastly the other thing I think about with multiple examples of the same model are pickup variations. These 5815 LT's sound so great, that I have been very reluctant to mess with that magic so far. But now that I have 3 of these at home, I am going to check out slightly hotter pickups in one. I am going to start with Lollar Imperials, which are about 8.4K bridge and 7.6K neck, versus the 5815's which I believe are about 7.8K for both the bridge and the neck.
I like the Lollar Imperials a lot in my b3 SL's, so that also gives me (and my local Chicago group) a chance to A/B the SL (a great guitar in its own right) with the 594 with the same pickup model.
Maybe later I will try something even hotter, like the Lollar Imperial High Wind (9.4K bridge and 8.4K neck).
I would love to try 5815's and 5909's in there, but wait, PRS doesn't sell those pickups separate from a guitar (not covered 5909's). Oh well, I guess I will just have to try another brand of pickups if I want to try something a little hotter!
Since the two Willcutt's Wood Library ones have a vintage vibe, I will put the Lollar's in the Green Metallic, and keep the vintage looking ones with the LT's...
