View other reviews for this product:
tjon901 « How not to do a signature guitar »
Published on 06/02/11 at 14:43Recently PRS has been making cheaper guitars and trying to change their image from a guitar maker who only makes guitars for rich dentists to a guitar maker who makes guitars for everyone. Along with making more reasonably priced guitars they have also been making signature models for people younger players would recognize. One of those players who got a signature model was Nick Catanese. Nick Catanese is the other guitar player in Black Label Society opposite of Zakk Wylde who himself is no stranger to unnecessary endorsements. To my knowledge Nick Catanese did not play a PRS model before they made a signature model for them. I always remember seeing him with Les Pauls. The guitar is PRS's single cut shape but with a slightly thicker body. The body is all mahogany and has the classic EMG setup with an 81 in the bridge and an 85 in the neck. It has a Tonepros wrap around bridge. It has a 22 fret ebony fretboard with red binding. The body of the guitar is bound in red and the pickup rings are also red. On the body of the guitar is a huge Nick Catanese logo which I had never seen before.
UTILIZATION
Playability wise this guitar plays as good as any PRS guitar. It has PRS's wide-thin neck profile which feels a lot like a 60s Gibson profile. The Tonepros wrap around bridge is a great setup and matches well with the 25 inch scale. PRS guitars always seem to have better intonation than other guitars even with their seemingly simple bridge setups. The setneck joint is nice and slim so you can play all the way up on the neck.
SOUNDS
With the EMG pickups this guitar is built just for metal. The 81 in the bridge gets you the searing high end gain you you expect. BLS down tunes their guitars so the 81's crisp high end gain helps keep the note clarity. The 85 in the neck provides a smooth tone for quick solos. This guitar has EMG pickups in the standard configuration so you will get the good high gain sounds but with the cold and sterile clean sounds. To get better or more natural sounds from EMG pickups you should do the 18v mod.
OVERALL OPINION
This guitar could have been a lot better. If they kept the design simpler. They are losing a lot of potential customers with the huge crazy logo and the red binding. If it just had white or grey binding I think it would be really cool. And if it had to have the crazy logo on it why not make it removable or something or a finish option. Many guitar companies have them problem when it comes to signature guitars. Instead of just making a good guitar similar to what the guitarist uses they end up making 6 string billboards for that player and normal people dont want to play them live or anything because they have someone elses name plastered all over them.
UTILIZATION
Playability wise this guitar plays as good as any PRS guitar. It has PRS's wide-thin neck profile which feels a lot like a 60s Gibson profile. The Tonepros wrap around bridge is a great setup and matches well with the 25 inch scale. PRS guitars always seem to have better intonation than other guitars even with their seemingly simple bridge setups. The setneck joint is nice and slim so you can play all the way up on the neck.
SOUNDS
With the EMG pickups this guitar is built just for metal. The 81 in the bridge gets you the searing high end gain you you expect. BLS down tunes their guitars so the 81's crisp high end gain helps keep the note clarity. The 85 in the neck provides a smooth tone for quick solos. This guitar has EMG pickups in the standard configuration so you will get the good high gain sounds but with the cold and sterile clean sounds. To get better or more natural sounds from EMG pickups you should do the 18v mod.
OVERALL OPINION
This guitar could have been a lot better. If they kept the design simpler. They are losing a lot of potential customers with the huge crazy logo and the red binding. If it just had white or grey binding I think it would be really cool. And if it had to have the crazy logo on it why not make it removable or something or a finish option. Many guitar companies have them problem when it comes to signature guitars. Instead of just making a good guitar similar to what the guitarist uses they end up making 6 string billboards for that player and normal people dont want to play them live or anything because they have someone elses name plastered all over them.