kbprs
New Member
Yep, spot-on guys IMO. I think the only unconfirmed spec is the CE neck and whether it's a scarf join or not.
Well, AFAIK the original SAS was literally a Special Run of CEs done in Swamp Ash with an extra middle pickup. So maybe the same evolution will happen here: run regular CEs for a couple years, then do a Swamp Ash version as a limited run, like a Dusty Waring or whatever.It looks great, but part of me wishes it was a swamp ash model.
Well, AFAIK the original SAS was literally a Special Run of CEs done in Swamp Ash with an extra middle pickup. So maybe the same evolution will happen here: run regular CEs for a couple years, then do a Swamp Ash version as a limited run, like a Dusty Waring or whatever.
Correct, as has been mentioned a couple of times: AMS jumped the gun on their webpage listing, so they took it down. Embargo ends Wednesday, allegedly, so perhaps we'll see more before the end of the week.The link is not working?
So I think one has to keep in mind what the CE was intended to be, and why it was discontinued the first time, before judging this new one too harshly. If you want a $3K CE, I suppose, yes, bash away. But that's not what the company is intending this to be.
...guilty.
If we look back at what PRS originally intended the CE to be, then we needn't look any farther than a 1989 brochure that described it as "Maple and Alder, bolt-on traditional feel with a sound all of its own."* One could assume from that statement that PRS initially went into the project to develop a different sounding/type of guitar.
What ended up happening was that customers wound up driving the development of the CE into more of a "budget Custom 24". People couldn't afford a Custom 24 and they wanted a cheaper guitar with most of the upscale features, which is why PRS added a maple top, script logo, and rotary control. To their credit, PRS listened and started adapting its specifications to match what customers wanted.
When PRS changed over to mahogany construction for the CE's the model lost a little bit of its unique tonal charm, and that was a byproduct of them wanting to "..stop CE reject due to (finish) checking and sinking glue lines; reduced labour, higher yield of stock; CE and Custom stock could be interchangeable; better price of stock."* All so customers and PRS could save a few bucks, and that's understandable.
*Taken from Dave Burrluck's The PRS Guitar Book pages 58 and 59
The thing that confuses me a little bit is I'm left wondering if are there enough people who want another cheap Custom 24? The SE and S2 lines both address this need, and very well I might add. Is this new CE a kind of redundancy for that market share?
We have already heard from a few people in this thread who believe that bolt-on guitars are inferior to their set-neck companions, so with that kind of thinking it's of my opinion that none of those dudes are gonna want to make what is essentially a baby-step towards a Core line guitar, and that few of the people who are established CE nuts will bite either.
But what do I know? Nothing. PRS knows their customers better than I do, I only know the fringe fanatics that hang out here!
... I definitely don't think a bolt-on is in any way inferior, just different.
Throwing the book at me, eh?
I was imagining something with alder, the dope-as-hell "in the wood" maple neck finish, and perhaps some mixture of the 305/513/NF pickups, with that old neck joint that feels identical to the CU/Std without the extended heel thingy like on the NF/DC3/BM.. C'est la vie.
Well, gotta say, I've got that "in the wood" maple finish on my McCarty maple neck WL model, and it isn't like the nitro finish on the original CE models at all. So right there it'd be different.
I prefer the older neck finish - I had that on my CU22 Soapy and my old SAS. I'm just not that into this new "in the wood" finish (that's UV cured, by the way).
For me and many others who think a "real" CE has its body made of alder, then there's a certain amount of disappointment. But that should be easy enough to fix with a dealer-limited run.
I hate to sound like such a rookie but is there a big difference in sound from the alder bodies vs. the mahogany ones? I've only played the mahogany models. Also, are the alder bodies the pre 95 models with the shorter heel and small script logo or were they mixed in?