The story behind the guitar...

[László]

I posted this pic a bunch of times, but there’s also a story behind it. When PRS announced it, I thought a three pickup 408-based guitar (with a 57/08 NF in the middle) was a pretty cool idea, and placed the order.

Then, all of a sudden, I needed open heart surgery. That went really well, but unfortunately two fingers on my fretting hand stopped working within a few weeks after surgery. Several docs said, “It’s just neuropathy, learn to live with it.” Riiiiggghhhttt....

Because of the medical issues, I’d completely forgotten about the guitar, but suddenly it arrived!

Sadly, I couldn’t play it, so I figured I’d send it to my son Jamie so it’d get used. So I called him and said, “Look this thing just arrived, and you know the thing with my hand; someone oughta get some use out of it, I’m shipping it to you.” At the time he had an album coming out, and was planning a tour. I figured what could be more perfect, take the darn thing on tour! It’ll rock!

But my son said, “Django only needed three working fingers. Stick with it, don’t give up. Keep it.” So I did. Hope springs eternal, right?

Around this time, a hand surgeon who handles the Detroit sports teams’ players’ hand injuries gave me a series of tests and said, “I think these other docs are mistaken; I really think it’s just a pinched ulnar nerve, and if I’m right, this is fixable.” So I had a surgery to fix it, and after a few weeks of being in a cast, and so on, my fingers started working again. Turns out it was exactly what he thought. I probably owe this doc what’s left of my sanity!

Finally the cast and the sling came off, and I began to get use out of the fingers. The first guitar I picked up to play was this one, and I gotta tell ya, it felt pretty darn sweet.

20th Anniversary of PS Limited. African mahogany back that’s thicker than a McCarty back, maple top that’s thinner than a McCarty top, and Madagascar RW board. Gen III trem with locking saddles (stays in tune like a champion). PRS’ first 594 scale length neck (but a Pattern carve, not the 594 carve).

It’s easily the most incredible sounding guitar I own. It’s hard to explain how good this thing plays and sounds, but one of my session players said, “I’ve never heard a guitar that does everything this well!”

It’s also kinda cute. Gets a ton of use on my ad work.

PS, got a lot of encouragement on the hand thing and much helpful advice here, so thanks.

EDIT: If you want to hear the guitar in action, here ‘tis through the HXDA in this clip I had a lot of fun creating:

https://soundcloud.com/lschefman/ps-20-hxda

 

[László]

Aaaand moving right along...

My first electric guitar was originally my brother’s. He gave it to me in 1967, when he became less interested in music and more interested in the visual arts. It’s a 1965 SG Special with old school P-90s. I went with him and my Dad to pick it out, but at the time I only played keys.

It was also my only electric guitar for many years. My brother learned to play with it, I learned to play with it, and my son learned to play with it as well. Probably because of that, I was a Gibson player until I found PRS in ‘91.

You know, the thing with those old P-90s is that they’re noisy, and my old SG kind of fell off my radar. It was there, but I wasn’t all that interested.

Yeah I know, now it’s vintage and hey, it’s still around, but it has its limitations. Like, it’s kind of mellow. I like bright.

Plus I butchered its value in 1970, when I had a tune-o-matic installed.

When PRS first came out with the McCarty Soapbar, I was kind of iffy on the idea of it. I tried one a few times, and I wasn’t sure. Then at some point I got P-90 religion, bought one, later added a CU22 Soapbar, then a McSoapbar RW, and danged if I wasn’t back to soapbar pickup love!

But as with so many things in my sordid guitar history, I was attracted by a series of Next Shiny Objects, and suddenly I was without a PRS Soapy.

Then PRS announced the 594 Soapbar models, and there it was: My chance at Redemption (insert angels’ chorus SFX). Sure enough, a couple turned up on Jack Gretz’ website, and one was Black Gold.

You might say I’m a sucker for Black Gold. In fact, I when I’m looking for a new guitar, and there’s a Black Gold one, I have to be straitjacketed and put in a padded room if I can’t immediately buy it.

So there it was. Redemption and Black Gold. emailed Jack as soon as my heavy breathing stopped, and said, “Mine!”

Later I learned that my new 594 Soapy was in fact one of the guitars PRS photographed for the announcement of the model for the PRS website. The cool thing about this for me was that I realized I’d have a set of really, really sweet pics of my guitar, plus a little bit of PRS history.

Oh, so how does it sound and play? Well, it’s fantastic. Couldn’t be happier. The really neat thing is that this model sounds more vintage to me than my earlier McSoapies or the CU22 Soapbar. In fact, it’s the perfect solution; the vintage vibe that I have with the old SG Special, only with the brightness and articulation of a modern, maple cap PRS!

I would up taking the SG over to my brother’s and said, “Why don’t you play this for a while?” It’s still hanging out there.

So ta-da! One of the official PRS pics of >ahem< my 594 Soapbar:

 

[László]

Last one, because, well, I don’t have any more!

About a month after the 594 Soapy came in, I realized that the 594 model had a feel I couldn’t get enough of. I thought maybe I’d trade my WL McCarty in on a 594 with humbuckers, so I went to Jack’s website, and lo and behold, there was a spankin’ new 594 WL in Black Gold. Black Gooooooolllllddddd Gaaaaahhh MUST HAVE!!!!

[cue heart thumping SFX]

Two drawbacks: maple neck (turns out not a drawback, see below), and quilt top. But at least the maple neck was shiny (I’m one of those players who must have a gloss neck), and there was a BRW fretboard. The top, well, Black Gold kinda took care of that for me.

I figured WTF, and took a chance. Made a trade deal with Jack for my mint McCarty, and a couple of days later, the guitar arrived. I’m not sure I even got a clip before ordering this one (usually I do get a clip of the guitars I’m interested in, played through a PRS amp).

The guitar sounds and plays great, and because of the maple neck, there’s just enough uniqueness to the tone (especially on the neck pickup) that it doesn’t step too far in the McCarty Singlecut’s turf. This, of course, helped to assuage my usual post-purchase guilt. Fortunately, my wife didn’t bat an eye when it got here, and I didn’t have to do any mea culpas.

So, African mahogany back, maple neck, BRW fretboard, maple top, uniquely cool tones. I play this guitar an awful lot. It’s got a really sweet voice. I’m surprised I like the maple neck on this so much - that was a pleasant shocker!

“Gee Les, you have two Black Gold 594s. Sure, one has P-90s, and the other one has 58/15 LTs, but what exactly are the sonic differences?”

“I’m glad you asked, because this little jam I recorded includes lead parts by each guitar. First the Soapy, next the Humbucker version.”

https://soundcloud.com/lschefman/messy-2-guitars-mstr

 

[sergiodeblanc]

posting problems

 

[Alnus Rubra]

Ever have that feeling that you have almost exactly what you want, but you’re kind of obsessed with getting exactly what you want, and are willing to pay a lot more dough for it?

That’s the story of my maple Tonare Grand. At the time, PRS made a Core acoustic (with an Artist option that meant different fretboard, top wood, and maybe some trim) but it was only available with cocobolo or mahogany back and sides, and I had a thing for maple. I already had the Artist Tonare with cocobolo, and it was a sweet guitar. But I was obsessed, you see. So I sold the Coco, and ordered this one from PS:

Maple back and sides, Adirondack Spruce top, ebony fretboard and bridge. The trim was all stock PS, and I wanted the Core birds, no fancy stuff. Truth is, I didn’t want to be shy about bringing it out at a session, and I would have been with a fancy one. If you don’t look at it too hard, it’s just a nice small jumbo acoustic. The color is Smoky Blonde, which is appropriate, because it’s a cannon, and cannons smoke after they fire.

Keeping the backside to yourself, eh?!

 

[Mozzi]

Next up for me was my 2018 Hollowbody II with Piezo and a 1 Piece Maple top and back.

Having bought what I considered my 'Holy Trinity' of guitars - The 594 for the LP type, the 509 as my PRS Super Strat and the Custom 24 as the guitar in the middle, I was quite happy but aware that I didn't have a 'hollowbody' or a Piezo. As a mostly rock player, I could of got by but hollowbodies have been used in rock (Izzy Stradlin for example) and John Petrucci has a Piezo in his Music Man guitars. As I live in the UK, the prices of HBii's was quite off-putting - having to find an extra 50% more as a minimum on a new HBii, considering my other PRS solid bodies weren't cheap and were the most expensive single items I had ever bought.

I couldn't stop thinking about them though and kept checking Reverb, the PRS dealers and even Ebay for a used one and they rarely came up and 'never' in a Fire Red Burst. I loved the look of the Hollowbody II with Maple Back and no back-plates and kept watching youtube video's of demo's and that just made me want one even more. PRS made a 594 HBii and I loved that but at the time, it wasn't part of their core line but made me want a HBii even more. The lack of used ones and the fact that a few extra month's had gone by, my savings had grown but no Red Fire Bursts had cropped up. In fact they rarely seemed to be available in quite a few retailers and if they did have any, it was generally just the one. Just after New Year, as I was thinking I may have to go for a 2nd choice colour (Charcoal Cherry Burst) and look at buying from Europe, I checked my preferred retailer and they had this Fire Red Burst HBii.

I got in touch and put in a 'reasonable' offer - still a LOT more than I had paid for a guitar before and they accepted. Admittedly I was not so keen on the 1 piece top aesthetically as it looked unbalanced and, as you can see from these pictures, uneven. It had its own thing going on and at least gave it some character. I don't like some 10-tops that look like the perfectly even stripes had been drawn on with a ruler but after the Chevron Cu24, this seemed a little less pleasing. I felt I was buying it purely because it was Red and matched up well with my other 3 - was part of the family. I even felt like it was 'probably' for the better to have a 1 piece top/back on a Hollowbody with out having a join down the middle.

When it arrived though, it looked much better. There is a lot of the actual grain of the wood which hasn't been picked up by the camera and adds even more character to the top/back than I was expecting - in fact I thought this was 2nd only to my Chevron Cu24 aesthetically. The Pattern Neck felt no different to the Pattern Regular but the most obvious difference is the weight - unsurprisingly. My usual Strum acoustically almost made it feel like why should I even plug it in. In my small apartment and not playing my Acoustic guitar for quite a while, it seemed to fill the room and rang beautifully.

Plugging it in to hear the 58/15 LT's and how they compare to my 594 with the same PU's was interesting. There is certainly a difference and, if anything, I think I prefer the HBii. The pick-ups are certainly well suited to the hollowbody and has fuelled my GAS for a 594 HBii. Some of that maybe down to the resonance and acoustic sound I can hear because I can't play loud enough to hide the open body chime - I guess I need a decent set (or any) Headphones for that and apart from one test with the Piezo, I haven't used or experimented with that aspect - Its better to have and not need than to need and not have!

I can totally understand why the Hollowbody guitars rarely come up on the used market (at least they don't in the UK). Its an incredible instrument. I know the back isn't often a consideration, but I love the carve and lack of back-plates. The lack of back-plates may not be great if you want to swap PU's etc but I don't Mod guitars, so not a concern to me.

Just after buying this, PRS announced the 594 HBii as a Core model and part of me wants one even more because of this Hollowbody ii and part of me wonders whether its actually worth getting. A lack of Piezo but gain 594 coil splitting and independent tone/volume controls. I will just have to see but there is no way I would trade this HBii in. In any case, my Holy Trinity had become my Fantastic Four...

 

[László]

I think that HB is gorgeous, Mozzi.

The one piece top and back in that finish have an air of romance and mystery!

 

[Big Mike]

Ok WTF.

My supposed to be 'first' PRS, was a Standard 24 I ordered from a bro that worked at sweetwater.
2001 I think...Well I waited...and waited...and waited..(Why? Had to have all gold with birds and I was never going to get a 10 top...).
According to a guy I knew at PRS at the time, it hit the bandsaw twice. (My order #..or maybe stripped and refined..whatev).

Anyways..I found birds and moons forum about that time. My whole journey towards PRS was 1) instigated by the fact that after my hand surgery, I couldn't play Hamer's flat radius fingerboards anymore, and 2) I'm a huge Grissom ho. So I was cruising the forum learning, meeting cool guys like Les, and some in person. Then I learned about cruising dealer websites..whoopsie.

Jack Gretz, one of the greatest, most honest gear pushers on the planet had this pic on his website:

Lost.
My.
Sheeet.

Called him and asked how it sounded, said it rang like a bell.
Sold. So what should've been my second, became my first.
It's a stunning looking, but more importantly AMAZING sounding guitar. It's phat. I tthink's it's a McCarty or Les Paul or something.
I'm not telling it any different. THink it's likely refret time (Had it since 02, it's birthday is 01/02/02 IIRC).
I've worn out the original bridge (Now has a MANN NOS), I'ts on it's I hope final set of pickups as my rig has changed over the years ( Now SD 59/SNS). But it's still just amazingly tuneful. Eveyrone who knee jerks 'hates' PRS I put this in their hands and the $$ offers come. No.

Here's where she's at now, gig wounds and battle scars, new bridge and 3rd set of pickups I think. LOL



I've had 10 or more other PRS come through that I dearly loved, but nothing could beat this one.
My new to me DGT is easier to play (Neck shape is better on my hand) and sounds great, but still can't equal this for tone.
Jack still remembers it when pics pop up on IG.
3-4 band incarnations, hole in the wall gigs..whatev. She rules.

For the record, PRSi that came and went while this went unscathed (all great but not the lifer):
86 Custom
86 and 87 (H/S/H AR guitar) Standards, 2002 Standard, 98 Standard
McCarty Trem ex-Kevin Cadogan
10Q SCT, Black NAMM SCT
20th CU22, CuRo22 1pc top
haloflake CE, Regular neck CE24, Maple board 80's Classic Electric
90 Mapletop Studio
McCarty (02ish)

Loads of non PRS brand.
I have some pretty special small builder guitars I love. One edges this by a nose, but this is at worse #1B of the harem.

 

[Mozzi]

I think that HB is gorgeous, Mozzi.

The one piece top and back in that finish have an air of romance and mystery!

Thank-you very much.

After the Custom 24 though with its Chevron style Book match, I initially wasn't as enamoured with this. The striping was on a slant and it didn't look balanced. Normally, I like things to appear balanced - at least on a first glance. Its the little nuances that you can see when you look more deeply at it, the things that differentiate the two sides from each other that make the character for me. If two halves of a book match are too perfect, I don't like that - it seems unnatural - but if the two sides seem to have a similar balance of flame - one half not much more (or less) flame, then that is my preference.

The angle on these almost made me wish it had been split in half and be another chevron type top. When you look at the Pictures, the front seems to have quite thick stripes at the top half - less so on the back and the bottom half seems quite plain, very little striping - at least on the full length pictures. The one of the just the front of the body does look to have more grain and the picture of the front on an angle that really shows off the double binding looks the best and I think the most 3D look that PRS manage to get from their staining process.

As I said, compared to the Chevron top on the Cu24, this seemed somewhat underwhelming from its Pictures. I was unnecessarily concerned by the full guitar shots and the lack of flame particularly the back shot. The side angle shot in particular gave me hope that the guitar was much better than it looked and even the body pic made the bottom half look much more flamed. When it did arrive though, I really didn't need to be concerned. You can see the actual grain in the wood which hasn't been captured in any of these photo's. Its much more like the side view more detailed and more depth than the front view. It went from me thinking it would be my least favourite, me compromising on the flame just to get a Fire Red Burst Hollowbody ii - even trying to justify in my head that a 1 piece top/back would somehow be 'better' than a book matched Hollowbody to being one of my favourites when it arrived and I could see so much more than the camera didn't pick out.

Its not my favourite top of all my guitars but I certainly love it more than my 594 and 509 tops and they aren't bad tops at all. It really is a case of the camera not capturing the true beauty of it and it seems odd to me that the flame it has on both the front and back, hasn't really been captured by the camera at all on the full guitar shots. It really is a case of the camera lying. I will say that the grain isn't as prominent as my next and final PRS guitar (as of time of writing) but that also adds more to the character and pattern. Considering all my guitars are 'regular' Core guitars and not a 10 top, I think I have got very lucky with ALL my Maple tops (and Back in the case of the HBii) and actually prefer them to a LOT of the 10-tops and Artist grade tops. Others may not agree but each has its own character to me and I love their more uniqueness than most.

If there is any take away from this, I would say that the camera does lie! It doesn't always pick up the flame - just compare the two pics of the front and in the full length pic, some of the big thick lines you see in pic of just the body are almost grey smudges in the full length pic. Angle seems to matter! I was stunned my Chevron Cu24 wasn't a 10top and someone pointed out that the Stripes were missing in the bottom corner below the pots/switches until I posted a pic of the guitar at a side on angle and the flame was there. I am sure you know this yourself but if anyone else reads this and feel that a picture of a guitar online doesn't seem as flamed as you thought it should be, ask for a Pic at a different angle.

Anyway, I love my Hollowbody and whilst I don't have favourites because they all do something that none of my other guitars do. Its like having a favourite screwdriver when all your other screwdrivers are the same brand and built to do their specific job and do it equally as well. I do however have a soft spot for my HBii. Its lightweight, incredibly resonant and great to play. I think it could pretty much do any genre and sounds fantastic - whether its plugged in or not. Its my most expensive guitar in my collection by quite some margin - and that includes my Limited Edition PRS Special 22 Semi-Hollow. Forgetting the Piezo, its the simplest with the 2 Humbuckers and 3-way switch - nothing fancy like coil splitting either manually (push/pull or mini toggle) or built in (positions 2 and 4 on my Cu24 blade) but there is something special about playing a Hollowbody and the 58/15 LT's really do suit this guitar too. Its really fuelling my GAS for 594 Hollowbody even though I doubt I will split the coils often. I expect it to sound very similar but this just makes me want another PRS HB!

 

[László]

The angle on these almost made me wish it had been split in half and be another chevron type top. When you look at the Pictures, the front seems to have quite thick stripes at the top half - less so on the back and the bottom half seems quite plain, very little striping - at least on the full length pictures. The one of the just the front of the body does look to have more grain and the picture of the front on an angle that really shows off the double binding looks the best and I think the most 3D look that PRS manage to get from their staining process.

Sometimes we get so caught up in the minutiae of pieces of wood that we have a hard time seeing the forest for the trees (you see what I did there ).

That one’s a complete winner in my estimation. And when a guitar is beautiful and also sounds good?

As it is written in the ancient scrolls, “Hey, what’s not to like?”

You chose...wisely.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Surprisingly, a ton of effort went into getting this guitar.

I had moved from a house into a one bedroom apartment in order to keep costs down while my wife (then girlfriend) was getting her Masters degree. I had gotten a Tremonti SE in a trade deal while clearing out gear that I found myself with no room for. Previously, I was one of those dudes that hated the SE line for diluting the brand, or whatever BS I had going through my mind back then..

The tremonti opened my eyes to what incredible values SE’s were, and even though I couldn’t hang with the dude from Creed’s guitar, I found myself wishing for a less expensive PRS. I was doing a lot of reggae stuff at the time (real fundamentalist sh!t, not “white boy” stuff) and was going to rehearsal spots and studios in the areas of Chicago that uhh... aren’t that great, I guess you’d say... that’s a nice way of putting it.

So I perused Craigslist, and found a guy looking to trade for metal guitars, of which I had none. But I did have a buddy with an old Ibanez RG that he despised and lavished with contempt whenever possible. So I went back on CL, found a MIM strat body, bought it, built it up with parts and a MIJ neck I had laying around, traded that to him for the RG, and then answered the ad, hoping dude would bite.

I rolled over to the south side of Chicago at about 9 o’clock at night to his house where his mother answered the door, she screamed “Jason!” or whatever his name was, and led me down to a young Hesher’s basement. Dude just sat there... didn’t even have the social skills to get up or shake my hand.. around him sat piles of Kramer’s and entry level Jackson’s, nothing all that special. He was kind of a “collector” of not really impressive guitars.... and to my delight, a collector of equally unimpressive edged implements. There were Home Shopping Network swords and axes every f@cking where.... like a teenage katana fantasy had skeeted all over the paneled walls of this Beverly tract home.

I asked about the guitar, dude pulls it out without saying anything. I show him the Tremonti and the Ibanez, we both play the guitars a bit and...... nothing. Dude says not a single word. I tell him I’d really like the guitar, asked if he liked my trade bait, and he just kinda mumbles looking like an awkward Oil-Xpress employee.

So dude picks up my guitars, and walks them off into this room adjacent to his fap-pad and comes back empty handed and just sits back down.

I look at him like: WTF?! And dude says, without making eye contact: “I have a gig bag and the trem arm.... if you want them?”

I backed slowly outta the room with my new guitar, checking over my shoulder the whole way back to my car in case Ninja Gaiden was creepin’ on me.

I felt kind subversive rockin’ a “girls” guitar in sparkly red paint while working for dudes that routinely bashed on “bwatty bois” but I got away with it like only a 6’2” vampire could.


Anyway, it also facilitated me meeting my first BaM/forum member a few weeks later to buy some DII’s, and then a rotary switch, and thus began my journey of dumping money and parts into SE’s for the rest of my life.

It’s probably one of my favorite guitars, and definitely my favorite SE. I love the flat top, the paint job, the ebony board, and it kills for clean sounds... very disco.

 

[mark cassidy]

Last one, because, well, I don’t have any more!

About a month after the 594 Soapy came in, I realized that the 594 model had a feel I couldn’t get enough of. I thought maybe I’d trade my WL McCarty in on a 594 with humbuckers, so I went to Jack’s website, and lo and behold, there was a spankin’ new 594 WL in Black Gold. Black Gooooooolllllddddd Gaaaaahhh MUST HAVE!!!!

[cue heart thumping SFX]

Two drawbacks: maple neck (turns out not a drawback, see below), and quilt top. But at least the maple neck was shiny (I’m one of those players who must have a gloss neck), and there was a BRW fretboard. The top, well, Black Gold kinda took care of that for me.

I figured WTF, and took a chance. Made a trade deal with Jack for my mint McCarty, and a couple of days later, the guitar arrived. I’m not sure I even got a clip before ordering this one (usually I do get a clip of the guitars I’m interested in, played through a PRS amp).

The guitar sounds and plays great, and because of the maple neck, there’s just enough uniqueness to the tone (especially on the neck pickup) that it doesn’t step too far in the McCarty Singlecut’s turf. This, of course, helped to assuage my usual post-purchase guilt. Fortunately, my wife didn’t bat an eye when it got here, and I didn’t have to do any mea culpas.

So, African mahogany back, maple neck, BRW fretboard, maple top, uniquely cool tones. I play this guitar an awful lot. It’s got a really sweet voice. I’m surprised I like the maple neck on this so much - that was a pleasant shocker!

“Gee Les, you have two Black Gold 594s. Sure, one has P-90s, and the other one has 58/15 LTs, but what exactly are the sonic differences?”

“I’m glad you asked, because this little jam I recorded includes lead parts by each guitar. First the Soapy, next the Humbucker version.”

https://soundcloud.com/lschefman/messy-2-guitars-mstr

Good God Almighty, this is a beautiful guitar!

 

[László]

Good God Almighty, this is a beautiful guitar!

Thanks, Mark! It sounds really nice, and plays "easy" too!

 

[bodia]

Surprisingly, a ton of effort went into getting this guitar.

I had moved from a house into a one bedroom apartment in order to keep costs down while my wife (then girlfriend) was getting her Masters degree. I had gotten a Tremonti SE in a trade deal while clearing out gear that I found myself with no room for. Previously, I was one of those dudes that hated the SE line for diluting the brand, or whatever BS I had going through my mind back then..

The tremonti opened my eyes to what incredible values SE’s were, and even though I couldn’t hang with the dude from Creed’s guitar, I found myself wishing for a less expensive PRS. I was doing a lot of reggae stuff at the time (real fundamentalist sh!t, not “white boy” stuff) and was going to rehearsal spots and studios in the areas of Chicago that uhh... aren’t that great, I guess you’d say... that’s a nice way of putting it.

So I perused Craigslist, and found a guy looking to trade for metal guitars, of which I had none. But I did have a buddy with an old Ibanez RG that he despised and lavished with contempt whenever possible. So I went back on CL, found a MIM strat body, bought it, built it up with parts and a MIJ neck I had laying around, traded that to him for the RG, and then answered the ad, hoping dude would bite.

I rolled over to the south side of Chicago at about 9 o’clock at night to his house where his mother answered the door, she screamed “Jason!” or whatever his name was, and led me down to a young Hesher’s basement. Dude just sat there... didn’t even have the social skills to get up or shake my hand.. around him sat piles of Kramer’s and entry level Jackson’s, nothing all that special. He was kind of a “collector” of not really impressive guitars.... and to my delight, a collector of equally unimpressive edged implements. There were Home Shopping Network swords and axes every f@cking where.... like a teenage katana fantasy had skeeted all over the paneled walls of this Beverly tract home.

I asked about the guitar, dude pulls it out without saying anything. I show him the Tremonti and the Ibanez, we both play the guitars a bit and...... nothing. Dude says not a single word. I tell him I’d really like the guitar, asked if he liked my trade bait, and he just kinda mumbles looking like an awkward Oil-Xpress employee.

So dude picks up my guitars, and walks them off into this room adjacent to his fap-pad and comes back empty handed and just sits back down.

I look at him like: WTF?! And dude says, without making eye contact: “I have a gig bag and the trem arm.... if you want them?”

I backed slowly outta the room with my new guitar, checking over my shoulder the whole way back to my car in case Ninja Gaiden was creepin’ on me.

I felt kind subversive rockin’ a “girls” guitar in sparkly red paint while working for dudes that routinely bashed on “bwatty bois” but I got away with it like only a 6’2” vampire could.


Anyway, it also facilitated me meeting my first BaM/forum member a few weeks later to buy some DII’s, and then a rotary switch, and thus began my journey of dumping money and parts into SE’s for the rest of my life.

It’s probably one of my favorite guitars, and definitely my favorite SE. I love the flat top, the paint job, the ebony board, and it kills for clean sounds... very disco.

Classic tale!

 

[Mozzi]

Sometimes we get so caught up in the minutiae of pieces of wood that we have a hard time seeing the forest for the trees (you see what I did there ).

That one’s a complete winner in my estimation. And when a guitar is beautiful and also sounds good?

As it is written in the ancient scrolls, “Hey, what’s not to like?”

You chose...wisely.

As you know (or at least be able to guess), I am quite particular about the 'look' of a guitar and that does include the top - not just the colour. Had this guitar been Blue instead, then there is absolutely no chance it would have been bought - regardless of whether or not it was the best sounding/playing HBii. I know that others may have their favourite colours but wouldn't turn down the chance to own a HBii just because of colour but I would. Its not just Guitars either as I have never owned (or would) a blue car either.

Some can be very particular over the small things - be it colour, be it grain/flame or even small details in sound and or feel that others are not as sensitive to or even notice. At least PRS tend to pay attention to the smallest detail in the construction of their guitars - looking to see what small details can be done to improve the overall.

In part, the choice I made was somewhat based more on the fact that this was in the colour I wanted but, like the others, it has not disappointed at all and it does sound amazing. Whilst I may be particular on the look, its the feel and sound that makes a guitar a keeper and this is most definitely a keeper!

 

[garrett]

Surprisingly, a ton of effort went into getting this guitar.

I had moved from a house into a one bedroom apartment in order to keep costs down while my wife (then girlfriend) was getting her Masters degree. I had gotten a Tremonti SE in a trade deal while clearing out gear that I found myself with no room for. Previously, I was one of those dudes that hated the SE line for diluting the brand, or whatever BS I had going through my mind back then..

The tremonti opened my eyes to what incredible values SE’s were, and even though I couldn’t hang with the dude from Creed’s guitar, I found myself wishing for a less expensive PRS. I was doing a lot of reggae stuff at the time (real fundamentalist sh!t, not “white boy” stuff) and was going to rehearsal spots and studios in the areas of Chicago that uhh... aren’t that great, I guess you’d say... that’s a nice way of putting it.

So I perused Craigslist, and found a guy looking to trade for metal guitars, of which I had none. But I did have a buddy with an old Ibanez RG that he despised and lavished with contempt whenever possible. So I went back on CL, found a MIM strat body, bought it, built it up with parts and a MIJ neck I had laying around, traded that to him for the RG, and then answered the ad, hoping dude would bite.

I rolled over to the south side of Chicago at about 9 o’clock at night to his house where his mother answered the door, she screamed “Jason!” or whatever his name was, and led me down to a young Hesher’s basement. Dude just sat there... didn’t even have the social skills to get up or shake my hand.. around him sat piles of Kramer’s and entry level Jackson’s, nothing all that special. He was kind of a “collector” of not really impressive guitars.... and to my delight, a collector of equally unimpressive edged implements. There were Home Shopping Network swords and axes every f@cking where.... like a teenage katana fantasy had skeeted all over the paneled walls of this Beverly tract home.

I asked about the guitar, dude pulls it out without saying anything. I show him the Tremonti and the Ibanez, we both play the guitars a bit and...... nothing. Dude says not a single word. I tell him I’d really like the guitar, asked if he liked my trade bait, and he just kinda mumbles looking like an awkward Oil-Xpress employee.

So dude picks up my guitars, and walks them off into this room adjacent to his fap-pad and comes back empty handed and just sits back down.

I look at him like: WTF?! And dude says, without making eye contact: “I have a gig bag and the trem arm.... if you want them?”

I backed slowly outta the room with my new guitar, checking over my shoulder the whole way back to my car in case Ninja Gaiden was creepin’ on me.

I felt kind subversive rockin’ a “girls” guitar in sparkly red paint while working for dudes that routinely bashed on “bwatty bois” but I got away with it like only a 6’2” vampire could.


Anyway, it also facilitated me meeting my first BaM/forum member a few weeks later to buy some DII’s, and then a rotary switch, and thus began my journey of dumping money and parts into SE’s for the rest of my life.

It’s probably one of my favorite guitars, and definitely my favorite SE. I love the flat top, the paint job, the ebony board, and it kills for clean sounds... very disco.

This is why I'm scared to do business on Craig's List.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

This is why I'm scared to do business on Craig's List.

I kinda like the thrill.

 

[garrett]

So in 1998, I passed on a Standard 22 Maple Top in Goldtop. But in 2017, I bought the evolution of that same guitar, a Custom 22 in Goldtop.

After completely falling in love the 594 and the Pattern Vintage neck carve the previous year, I went looking for a trem-equipped companion. I was at Righteous Guitars and they said, "We have the guitar for you. We picked up this Custom 22 with a Pattern Vintage neck." Story was they perused the available stock from the factory, found this oddity and snapped it up because they knew it would sell.

I compared it side-by-side with my 594 and another Custom 22 with Pattern neck. The staff and I both swore we felt a difference between the neck on the Goldtop and the other one. The guitar was all-around fantastic, so the deal was made.

Later, I checked the MODCAT, which shows it having a normal Pattern neck. I emailed PRS customer service and they claimed that Pattern Vintage must've been an error on the hang tag. But Righteous bought it as an already-built guitar because of the unique spec, so something doesn't add up. All I know for sure is it's a dang good guitar, so I ignore the whole neck shape conspiracy and just enjoy it.

 

[MichaelS]

Not enough time for a story for each... cliff notes below... left to right.

My first electric. '91 RGX521... with EMG X pups
Built the strat ground up... '95ish... SD Hendrix pups
Second guitar. had to have it when I saw it. I guess I just always wanted a Santana but didnt know it... '89 Image Custom
Built that one too... has a SD Alnico II Pro
'18 R9, cuz i had to know what the hype is about. also '18 is the 59th anniversary of the '59
'05 LP Faded... wanted a Standard as old as my son and these had a cool reputation. I changed everything out though. 50s wiring. Faber parts, SkinnerBurst pups.and a sweet fret crowning. can't deal with GibsonUSA schoolbus frets.
'73 Custom... was looking for my birthyear, but '73 specs were preferable to '75
'92 Studio Lite... my first LP. all stock except that same sweet fret crowning job and setup.
'11 Special DC w/Wolfetones and a bunch of aged hardware, orange drops. Wanted a P90 guitar.
'15 Santana, finally got the PRS I always wanted
'98 Parker... bought last year. been on my mind since they came out
'16 CE24 Standard, cuz it was an awesome deal. MannMade bridge, 59/09 pups,

 

[Tonart]

When I first saw this being touted as Paul’s personal guitar, I did not know the dealer, and though I was blown away by the wide flame top and color, I was naturally skeptical. What proof could there be it was Paul’s?

Then I found that the guitar PS certificate explicitly states it’s Paul’s personal guitar, that he personally picked the woods, and that it’s the precursor prototype (ie grandpa) to the current batch of core and SE TCI Paul’s Guitars! Safe to say this was the first time a certificate swayed me.

As a final nail I was provided with videos of Paul gigging with it. Apparently, Paul was going around the globe carrying the guitar along and the dealer managed to talk Paul into selling him the guitar. So I thought, why not grab this little piece of history? Well the rest is history.

It’s turned out to be one of my favorite guitars, one of my best sounding, and one of my most magical guitars. It’s even got pick scratches left behind by Paul. Hell no I’m not buffing this one!