The "Official" PRS Custom 24 love thread!!

81aB0Cr.jpg

Still one of the best looking guitars I’ve ever seen in all my years on the forums.

Never tire of seeing this one!

Agreed....something about the tighter-grained quilt (I'm usually drawn to flame over quilt, but this one is perfect) with Vintage Yellow just looks so elegant, yet ballsy. Also, this would be my ideal Custom 24 setup, with the Vol/Tone/3-way toggle controls...super functional for what I do.

Absolutely love this guitar.
 
Agreed....something about the tighter-grained quilt (I'm usually drawn to flame over quilt, but this one is perfect) with Vintage Yellow just looks so elegant, yet ballsy. Also, this would be my ideal Custom 24 setup, with the Vol/Tone/3-way toggle controls...super functional for what I do.

Absolutely love this guitar.

It’s weird - I almost didn’t buy the guitar because of the quilt. I’m more of a flame maple guy, too. I was going to get a Core Artist in the same color with a flame top.

But I was curious as to which one had a tone I preferred, so I asked Jack Gretz to compare the two in a clip. He had his associate play both through a PRS amp for me, and in comparison, the tone of this particular PS literally haunted me for two days. It was my ideal of a CU24 tone, and spoke to me more than the other one.

After a lot of mental gymnastics, I decided to pull the trigger. I’m really happy with it, and even though it’s a quilt, that feeling has lasted four years, which is really unusual for me.
 
After starting with a CU22 instead of a CU24, it took me 13 years to come around. I bought this a few hours after Mrs bought a Westie.
CK_142KillerQuiltBodyAAA.JPG

I keep seeing things I had no idea you had. I'm gonna need to make a road trip, at some point, to check out the collection.
 
My Custom 24(mine is a 30th anniversary wood library with a birdseye maple neck and African blackwood fretboard) - and I agree with Les, it's the best "rock guitar":

IMG_5831-L.jpg


IMG_5890-L.jpg


And my Custom 24 piezo (just a plain old non-10 top) - Just about as versatile as a guitar can get:

side-L.jpg



I've really got to take some new pictures one of these days.
 
I've noticed that tree in several of your pictures, and I have to know - are you trying to motivate it by showing it what it could be some day?

Doing that looks better than leaning them up against the hot tub. If I could grow Mahogany, Maple and Rosewood trees in my yard, I'd do it. I've also considered planting a Redwood tree back there too.
 
I had hoped for a thicker back CU 24 to get a fatter tone. The P24 then came out and has a thicker McCarty body. To be honest the tone is NO fatter than my other Customs.

Maybe you need to go all the way to single cut thickness to make a real difference???

I also had wondered about a thicker neck (WF) and what that would do. I say a video with Peter Frampton and his magical LP that there has been so much talk about. He said the reason he fell in love with it was that the neck was MUCH smaller and fit his hand. Much different than the baseball bat necks of the day. His tone kills, and I love the pattern regular so no need to worry about neck shapes any more....
 
My Custom 24(mine is a 30th anniversary wood library with a birdseye maple neck and African blackwood fretboard) - and I agree with Les, it's the best "rock guitar":

IMG_5831-L.jpg


IMG_5890-L.jpg


And my Custom 24 piezo (just a plain old non-10 top) - Just about as versatile as a guitar can get:

side-L.jpg



I've really got to take some new pictures one of these days.

Really liked the maple neck that I had on my former Cu24. Just love that feel. And, that second one may not be a 10, but really dig that top!
 
Got mine new in 2014, never truly bonded with it till recently, I have played it with an Orange Rockerverb and a evh 5150iii and just couldn’t fully get along with it , almost sold it till....... my wife got me an axe fx 3. Now me and that guitar are inseparable!!!! I don’t know what it is about the combination of the 2 but it just works for me and playing has never been more fun. I actually just finished up about an hour of practice with the two of them. I absolutely love my custom 24.
 
I'd been on the lookout for a great looking older Custom 24 for a killer price for many years.

I finally hit pay dirt in February of this year, when I happened upon my '95 Purple Custom 24 10-Top in a pawnshop.

This guitar is going to be a lifer in my collection for sure.

Some people hate the VB & HFS pickups in these guitars,but I think with the right amp and EQ they work.

To me there's nothing like the singing sustaining lead tone of an HFS pickup for a heavy rock song.

My '95 PRS Purple Custom 24 10-Top

32125300807_6f4ee69db5_b.jpg


Updated outdoor shot

49148413361_5f0cea9031_b.jpg
 
Last edited:
My beloved 25th Anniversary Custom. This was the third Custom 24 that I owned, and the guitar that made me fall madly in love with Paul Reed Smith guitars... The neck binding and early 57/08s are what makes it a little different, but in truth it's just one of those exceptional examples we are always looking for... It's been played incessantly since new, gigged quite heavily, and is covered in small scratches and dings and scars to prove it. If I had to choose just one guitar today, this would make the short list; oh hell, sentiment assures it'd be the one, or I'd regret it the rest of my life... Truly a wonderful guitar.

HfBa5YS.jpg
 
My Custom 24's
PRS-2011-Cu24_57-08s_2760.jpg


PRS-2014_CU24_1889x1400.jpg


PRS-2018_CU24-08.jpg


PRS-2019_Cu24-WL-CharFade-1.jpg
Stunning instruments. I’m looking for a Custom 24 but I have a question. Due to the pandemic I cannot go to a store and try them so, could you please describe the differences between a mahogany back and a swamp ash back? And a Maple vs Ebony fingerboard? Do you have any favorites?
 
I have heard some say that the mahogany vs swamp ash is mostly cosmetic. Maple and Ebony both lean in the same direction - bright.
 
Doing my research tonight. Reading this thread as I jonez for the UPS man tomorrow. He is bringing me a CU24.

I owned an early Ted 245 with P-90s that I swapped pups in a few times, but never truly bonded with. Then I had an artist grade SCT form the lawsuit days (the Brazilian board was amazing). Regret selling that guitar, but it didn't get the play time that the Tele did. I have played a Tele predominantly with a Strat or Les Paul on ocasion for decades and went to a 335 a few years back. My Tele is a dream guitars and the 335 is great ... but I still I miss the SCT and its trem (best trem in guitardom IMHO). It was a great guitar but it just did take first billing. So this time, after much research and thought, I went with my first CU24. I have played a few of them over the years and I was around the music stores when they first came out. I remember the mystique - they were unobtanianium. Now after a few decades, and dozens of guitars I'll have my first CU24... tomorrow! The 5 way blade and the 85/15's are the things that I think make it a valid choice for me now. The neck is closer to the tele than the Ted or SCT. I'll post some pics at some point; the top is like a tiger or an anaconda.

Hopefully this will be the PRSi that keeps my attention....
 
Back
Top