What PRS does the best "Telecaster" impression?

Casi1 said:
I don’t have specifics...

But I can feel it.

My magic 8/ crystal/ LOTR ball predicted the silver sky and it’s been showing me a PRS Tele for at least six months now.

Just sayin.
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Alright! If you say so, I'm a believer. You haven't steered me wrong, yet!

Honestly, I'm not sure I'd be that interested. I love Teles (and Strats), but I just don't have the drive to buy another one. PRS designs always draw me in and make me keep wanting to buy more. Strats and Teles, not so much. I haven't even played an SS, yet. I will sometime, but it just seems like a really good Strat, and I have that covered (I'm even trying to make one Strat into something completely different...because I'm a little bored with them).

I AM curious to see what the PRS take on a Tele would be. Everything they do ups the game, so it'll be neat to see. God, I hope they put winged tuners on it!
 
Casi1 said:
This wasn’t addressed to me but I’ve got some input:

I had a couple of those SAS Studios with the NFs and 57/08. It seemed to me that the pickups ‘fought’ each other and one would always overpower the other. I had the impression that the NFs were a different take on the 57/08 design. They seem to have a lot of commonalities... almost like the NF started life as a 57/08 then grew up to be more focused.

The NFs were more single coily, more focused, can get closer to Strat/Tele land but other than that, they seemed similar to 57/08 to me. If I recall, the 57/08s sound balanced and big in a Swamp Ash maple necked guitar. I didn’t care for them at all in my rosewood necked guitars. Whatever was awesome about those pickups got sucked right out before the signal reached the amp.

I preferred the 57/08 in neck position, so my SAS Studios (with the 57/08 in bridge) all went away in favor of my McCartys and Customs. My SAS NFs all went away once I found a Strat that I liked. I miss the necks on those SAS guitars though. Those necks were made for my hand.
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Your input is greatly appreciated; thank you very much for the awesome and helpful insight!

Funny you mention how a rosewood neck can have such a marked influence. I remember wayyyy back when I got my McRosie.....and absolutely hated the McCarty pickups in it. Just a muddy, woofy mess. In the SAS, they a different beast altogether. I am still playing with the idea of different pickups in there, but not because it sounds bad. Anyway, anyone who doesn't think tonewood can effect how a guitar sounds, needs to plug in a guitar with a rosewood neck!
 
VHTStark said:
Your input is greatly appreciated; thank you very much for the awesome and helpful insight!

Funny you mention how a rosewood neck can have such a marked influence. I remember wayyyy back when I got my McRosie.....and absolutely hated the McCarty pickups in it. Just a muddy, woofy mess. In the SAS, they a different beast altogether. I am still playing with the idea of different pickups in there, but not because it sounds bad. Anyway, anyone who doesn't think tonewood can effect how a guitar sounds, needs to plug in a guitar with a rosewood neck!
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You are welcome!

Yup, I clearly remember the muddy woofy mess that you speak of.

Rosewood is beautiful, it feels great, but it has to be married to the right pickups and a tweakable amp. A lot of folks might feel like that is just too much work.

I always wondered why the original owner would have sold the McCarty I ended up with. The only thing I can think of is if the 57/08s weren’t rocking his/her world. They didn’t rock mine either and I almost thought that rosewood necks weren’t meant for me because of that. Fortunately, before I could sell the guitar, I found the secret combination that rosewood seems to love: 58/15s, 59/09s, and 85/15s.
 
This thread inspired me to compare the tones of some of my guitars. My Telecaster is a MIM, so not a pure Tele tone test, but close. I don’t have Workin’ Man playing skills either, but I did what I could.

My S2 Singlecut Semi-hollow with the pickups split got closer than I expected. It was a little more subdued than the Tele. Similar tone, but the attack was softer. It came closer than my Brent Mason Signature or my rosewood neck Strat with a set of Swamp Ash Special (McCarty) pickups.
 
Egads said:
I haven't even played an SS, yet. I will sometime, but it just seems like a really good Strat, and I have that covered (I'm even trying to make one Strat into something completely different...because I'm a little bored with them).
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I felt the same way until I played a Silver Sky. I wasn’t interested, but one was in front of me so I picked it up. I was really surprised it sounded so good. I started comparing it to all the Fender Strats in the store. The PRS was in another league.
 
markd21 said:
Johnny Hiland Signature - this guitar is supposed to have a bridge pickup that's the closest PRS ever came to a tele (PRS Book). Nope. It's just a really sweet CE24 eith a maple fretboard. I did really like the switching though: the neck humbucket is always split unless you pull the tone pot UP, then you get neck humbucker.
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Grapeshot said:
Wasn’t the 53/10 based on a ‘53 Tele pickup?
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Well I guess I was ahead of the PRS / Tele curve by putting a set of 53/10s in my Johnny Hiland :D

This thread was fun to read considering recent discoveries...
 
To answer the OP question: surprised nobody named the starla. There is definitely some Tele on steroids in there. At least to my ears
 
I’ll throw in my hat in the ring and tell you which of my 25 PRS (I believe I have pretty much every major core model except the silver sky) sounds the most like my fender custom shop rosewood tele.

Believe it or not, it is my Private stock 594 trem with a kingwood neck with its Tremonti bridge pickup in a split position with the volume rolled off to about 8. The Tremonti Bridge pickup is usually not found with splits in the wild but it can be. And while it’s a hot pickup, the volume roll off tames it while still retaining a very punchy and bright sound.

Do note I am not a Tele player so it is more from A Bing vs my rosewood tele. No clue how it compares vs a regular Tele. But it does the Stairway to Heaven solo dead on

The split bridge of the Paul’s guitar is a close second
 
Utkarsh said:
I’ll throw in my hat in the ring and tell you which of my 25 PRS (I believe I have pretty much every major core model except the silver sky) sounds the most like my fender custom shop rosewood tele.

Believe it or not, it is my Private stock 594 trem with a kingwood neck with its Tremonti bridge pickup in a split position with the volume rolled off to about 8. The Tremonti Bridge pickup is usually not found with splits in the wild but it can be. And while it’s a hot pickup, the volume roll off tames it while still retaining a very punchy and bright sound.

Do note I am not a Tele player so it is more from A Bing vs my rosewood tele. No clue how it compares vs a regular Tele. But it does the Stairway to Heaven solo dead on

The split bridge of the Paul’s guitar is a close second
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You must have been searching very hard if you had to go through all those hoops to find it;)
 
Utkarsh said:
I’ll throw in my hat in the ring and tell you which of my 25 PRS ...
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Okay, we can stop right there. Thank you for moving the goal posts of reality when it comes to PRS ownership!

I have 6 core USA models (or 7, I probably need to count again, I lose track of my children sometimes ) and I thought that was kind of a lot.

Till this post! Thank you! :)

=K
 
Kiwi said:
Okay, we can stop right there. Thank you for moving the goal posts of reality when it comes to PRS ownership!

I have 6 core USA models (or 7, I probably need to count again, I lose track of my children sometimes ) and I thought that was kind of a lot.

Till this post! Thank you! :)

=K
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Haha I can assure you that was not the plan when I got my first Custom 22 seven years ago. I blame three years of frequent business trips to Japan which provided me with access to all sorts of stuff.
I have often tried to downsize but am either too emotionally attached (my first PRS, the 594 my girlfriend now wife bought me, my first 513 which blew my mind) or some are too rare (ME1, Holcomb, 513 Rosewood, Graveyard II) to let go. That said I am six months into one year no new guitar resolution. Though there is something special on the way which doesn't count as it was ordered 12 months ago
 
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