Why do you think I'm considering a new one?!?!?
Although there is a place in this world for "junk" that is magical, and my '86 qualifies. For one, it was factory-ordered with a tone control and a different-but-very-useful set of sounds on the 5-way rotary. Plus it has a unique and vibrant voice that really stands out from the crowd, in a good way. I call a guitar like that a "freak show." Generally speaking I'm not a huge fan of the early Customs (the pre-Standards, though, are another story altogether!) but this one grabbed me and won't let go.
Well I know that you know I was kidding!
Actually, my '91 Custom was a really special instrument, too. It was just one of those guitars that sounded good no matter what you play on it. Of course, when I saw the Artist II hanging on the wall in the store, my eyeballs popped out of my head and I HAD to have it. At that time I wasn't all-PRS, I sort of had a one Gibson, one PRS, one Fender, one Rick, etc., thing going.
So to preserve that balance I traded in my Custom on the Artist II. Bought with my eyeballs, not my ears. That can be a difficult thing to avoid, but I've learned over the years.
The Artist II really was a superb guitar, and was my #1 for several years, but honestly the Custom sounded more like what I wanted at the time on recordings. This could partly be attributed to the fact that it paired up really well with the Mesa amps I was playing through at the time, Tremoverb, Blue Angel, Maverick, several others. I was really, really into Mesa gear for recording because I could always dial up a "sound" with it very quickly (same with Vox amps, though of course they're more one trick ponies, it's a heck of a trick).
What has proved odd is that in the last ten years or so, I've felt no need to have one of everything. No one seemed to care which guitar I recorded, except me. In 25 years in my ad music business only once has a client asked me to play a certain guitar, and that was during a session where I'd already used that particular guitar (a rick) and pulled it out to show him. I realized the average person can't tell at all which guitar I use. So I found the best thing for me is to just play what I want to play, and the heck with thinking "I have to use a Strat on this song." Etc.
