themike missed you all | MEGA-CONTEST OF AWESOME! | 1 of 2 |

[themike]

So I started a new position at work that has demanded a lot of my time as I got acclimated to it. As would happen to anyone, I was unable to chat with you guys and post on here as much as I would have liked. Oh no, that's terrible- we missed you! I know, thanks! I missed you too.

So to make up for it I am running not one, not three, but TWO contests at the same time to show I care.

Contest 1: The Legacy Piece! Your favorite PRS - I want to hear about it! Post a photo along with a little back story on the guitar. Why its your favorite, the story of getting it or hunting it down - anything that explains the legacy of that axe!

The prize? A copy of Dave Burrluck's "The PRS Guitar Book: A Complete History of Paul Reed Smith Guitars ". This book is fantastic and an absolutely great read for anyone who cares about the man and his brand.

1 winner will be chosen by me, randomly. I will put all entry's in a hat and pick a winner to keep it fair as everyone's story is special in its own right. If a person wins one contest, they are not eligible to win the other. If by some chance one person wins both, I will let them pick which one they would prefer, and redraw for the second. This contest is not officially sanctioned by Paul Reed Smith Guitars in any way, shape or form so don't complain and no - the guitars in the photos are not included

 

[themike]

Contest ends two weeks from today - July 1st, 2013.

 

[]-[@n$0Ma☩!©]

3-Mike for the win!

 

[sergiodeblanc]

 

[László]

Great idea from a great guy!

 

[Egads]

You are the Man...err, TheMike!

 

[cwhenke]

What a great guy with a great idea.

 

[cwhenke]

My Entry: Artist IV



The story of how I got is is not as interesting as the story of what I did with it...
I had the guitar for a couple of years, and I knew one person was very interested in getting it if I ever decided to sell. The time came where I felt he needed it more than I did, so I put a plan in place. I contacted his wife through Facebook and pitched a crazy idea to her to get the guitar for him as a Christmas gift. She was on-board, and we figured out the logistics.

Then, I concocted a story about selling it to another forum member, and that guy even posted a "NGD" thread of it. I wrote a long email to original guy explaining that it was a once-in-a-lifetime offer, and I apologized for not offering it to him first. He was really cool about the whole thing, and he said he completely understood.

I'm told that the guy cried on Christmas morning when the wife give him his present...for him, it was an expression of his wife's love more than the actual guitar. For me, it was tough to let go of the guitar since I worked so hard to find and buy it, but this experience was the real meaning of Christmas. The entire experience was amazing, and I'm proud to say that guy is a great friend of mine today.

 

[Michael B]

Here's my grail..2010 Tremonti. Had gibsons and deans for years and always longed for a PRS. Started jamming with a friend who had an artist and fell in love with how PRS guitars felt and played. Decided to take the plunge and did tons of research and decided the Tremonti would suit my needs. Traded in 2 old Gibson flying v guitars to m local dealer to get the build started and waited 2 long months without ever playing a Tremonti. Was nervous that I wouldn't like it and lose money big time. The guitar came in to my local shop on a Friday and I spent that whole weekend picking my jaw up off the floor...it was everything I was looking for in a guitar my whole life, fit me like glove. Then I firmly believe that the guitar helped me to advance my playing ..guitar playing reached a new level with PRS. Then I decided to figure out a way to meet Mark Tremonti and get him to sign this awesome guitar. I did meet him and got him to sign it and have met him 2 more times after and he remembered me both times and asked how my guitar was!!!!

 

[CoreyT]

Nice of you to do this Mike.

There is not to much background on my favorite PRS, but I can tell you why I decided to go with the 408 MT.
I had played Gibsons long ago, and after taking a thirty year break from any playing at all, I bought a new 2012 Gibson SG '61 Reissue.
Not long afterwards I bought my first PRS, a SE Santana, and right away I liked how much easier it was to play than my new SG.
Rest was all downhill from there, bought two more SEs for me, and one SE for my youngest son.

I knew then that I wanted to try a Maryland built PRS, and after doing much thinking on which guitar to get, the 408 spoke to me since it was designed to be a very unique sounding guitar.
It is my favorite out of all of mine.
Not because it is the most expensive, but because of the way the body contours are.
Right where you rest your picking hand the body is contoured there and it holds your hand like it was meant to be that way, which is probably the way it was designed.

I bought this guitar sight unseen and had never played a Maryland built PRS, but after playing my SEs, I knew that I would enjoy this 408 very much.
I too would like to echo that I think this guitar has opened up my playing some, and I find myself when I listen to music that I am visualizing how the parts are played.
This will be a guitar that I have no intention of ever letting go.

 

[jfb]

Mike is back with some serious force. :five:

Good luck to all!

 

[Blackbird]

Wow! Sweet contest, thanks for doing this Mike. :top:

 

[John Beef]

It was 2006. My wife and I were in our 4th band together called Chief Beef. Our other guitar player had quit the band and we were moving along as a 3 piece, unable to find anyone who fit well. She's the bass player, I was the guitarist and vocalist and we had a great drummer to round it out.

For the previous 4 years I had built and bought and sold many guitar parts, built mongrel partscasters that rarely measured up to what I wanted them to be. I had this Warmoth Jazzmaster with Fender pickups that sounded really good, but was very bright, twangy and VERY noisy. I kept trying to find ways to kill the noise but it was a major problem with the guitar and I was tired of it.

One day, my wife looks at me and says, "You need a humbucker guitar". Not just to kill the noise, but to fill out the guitar tones in our newly 3 piece band. I always get excited when my wife says I need to buy some new gear.

I went shopping. An SG standard was topping my list of things to try just based on the specs. I played a few and thought they all sounded terrible. None of them spoke to me when I picked them up. I also played some Les Pauls, and the only two that did it for me was a 58 RI (whoooooa, expensive!) and believe it or not, an Epiphone Elitist from Japan, which sounded and played really well, but had a much skinnier neck than I ever thought I'd get used to. the store I went to was the largest independent Gibson dealer around, and out of a whole wall of Gibsons there wasn't a single one that was just right.

Finally, I tried some of the PRSi on the wall. This black one was on sale, new for less than $2k! Wow! It really did it for me! There was also a platinum metallic Standard 22 by its side that was equally good. A McRosie was the nicest of the bunch but was too expensive and had gold hardware. The PRS stoptail bridge felt strange to my right hand, so I focused on the trem-based silver standard and black custom. Ultimately, the slightly brighter toned Custom won. Coming from a line of single coil guitars, I felt the brighter tone would integrate better with our material.

On paper, this guitar was totally wrong for me. I had sworn off trem-based guitars, didn't like them at all. I had one when I was just starting and HATED the way they flew wildly out of tune when you broke a string in the middle of a song. I had sworn off black guitars as well. I had this beautiful black Gretsch Electromatic hollowbody for a short while that looked great, but the moment you touched it, the fingerprints! Ack! Yet here I was looking at this guitar that was black and had a trem! I couldn't believe I was considering it at all!! And that rotary! What a crazy contraption that must be impossible to use live!!

But it was such a great instrument and it really spoke to me. I decided: 1) to block the trem, 2) NEVER clean the guitar, let the fingerprints lay where they were, and 3) to give the rotary a shot knowing I could modify it at any time. I left the store spending more than double what I had ever spent on a guitar before, nervous and freaked out. It was New Years Eve, and we hit the road right from the store in Phoenix, straight to Los Angeles to see Chavez on their reunion tour at Spaceland. My wife got pinkeye from handing the guitars, the band was great that night and our hotel was within walking distance of the club, so we both got absolutely smashed.

EDIT: There was one important thing I forgot: When Chavez went on stage, we were right in front of their guitarist. He had the most basic setup ever, two Les Pauls, a Marshall 800 half stack, a Boss tuner and a MXR Distortion+ pedal. His Les Pauls were both goldtops, one with P-90s and one with humbuckers (possibly a R6 and a R7?). He played the one with P-90s the whole show and it sounded GREAT. Here I was, I had sold my JCM800 earlier that year, I had passed on so many Les Pauls in my guitar hunt, and here's a guy rocking it with fantastic tone headlining Spaceland on New Year's Eve using everything I had just rejected. Having just shelled out so much money for this guitar that wasn't right for me on paper, I was already having this existential crisis and then seeing this awesome display of tone totally demolished any confidence at all I still had.

Despite my worries, when all was said and done, the new guitar worked beautifully with the band. 6 and a half years later, 4 out of 5 guitars are PRS (still have that Warmoth Jazzmaster), and I still take the stage most shows with my black Custom.

 

[slowro]

Welcome back mike! Hope this new position allows you even more funds for your crazy PTC adventures!

 

[AP515]

It was after midnight. I was about to go to bed. I had my browser open and thought I'd just click on my local CL and see what the late night zombies were putting up for sale. First thing on the list was a PRS CE24. The price was shockingly low. I sent a response and he answered right back. It's stolen I thought.

He said he had found it at a pawn shop and played it a few years. The switch had recently broken and he replaced it. He said it didn't sound the same after the R&R and he was selling it to buy drums! Here's the picture he sent me of him playing it.

I doubt it is stolen at this point so I set up to meet him the next morning at the GC parking lot to look it over and play it. I open up the beat up case and there is a beautiful black CE24. It's old. I see some miles on this one. I like that. Again he tells me that something is wrong with the wiring and I should take it in the GC and try it out. At his asking price, I'm already pulling the bills out of my wallet and handing them to him. "I'll take it", I said.

I get it home and play it. It sounds like I'm running through a wah but I'm straight into the amp! I've never heard such a crazy sound. I remember reading somewhere that PRS pups have the bridge wired backwards. I flip the white and black wires on the switch and everything plays just fine.

Then I did the research to find out what I have. It is a 1988 PRS CE24 with the first year logo on the headstock. Alder body. Original Vintage pups. Rosewood board.

Recently SpHj posted the original switch and wiring for it so I bought the correct switch off Ebay and put it back original. It's a great player, a piece of history, and not a bad way to spend a tax return.

A year or so ago I was talking to a friend of mine who plays in a local band. I told him how I found it on CL, and he said, "So you're the guy that got that one!" Seems a number of local players tried but I just happened to be up and looking at just the right time. Here is a shot of my friend playing the CE when they won a chance to warm up the crowd before the opening act at a KISS concert in Raleigh. He says the guitar is "SICK"... and he's a LP guy.

I hope the guy liked the drums...

 

[veinbuster]

I don't want to enter this contest either, but Mike is so awesome I want to post something in his thread.

My wife has bought a few guitars for me to play over the years. Until we stopped counting, she had bought as many PRS as I had. Usually she buys me stuff that I've seen and tried and commented favourably about. This is the first guitar she found that she KNEW she wanted me to have.
She took me to see it and I rebelled a bit saying something like "I really don't need another guitar. It looks amazing though."
She wasn't having any of that and with credit card in hand she quoted me as having said in the past that "You can buy any PRS, because they always play great and sound great."
I said I'd give it a quick go, it was horribly out of tune. It was pretty noisy but I managed to tune it up and tinker a bit acoustically.
She asked if it sucked.
I had to say no it did not.
Minutes later it was packed in a black leather case and ready to go.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Wait a second... you've got a grey Westie and this is all I get to see?! C'mon, it's my birthday!!!

 

[Egads]

Wait a second... you've got a grey Westie and this is all I get to see?! C'mon, it's my birthday!!!

Yeah! Come on!

Wait. Sergio, you have had more birthdays this month than I've had in the last decade!

But, anyway, let's see that baby!

 

[jfb]

Wait a second... you've got a grey Westie and this is all I get to see?! C'mon, it's my birthday!!!

He's sneaky sneaky like that.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

He's sneaky sneaky like that.