PRS Custom 22 Artist Package

This guitar was purchased in Leesburg Virginia at Melodee Music. I paid about 2300.00 for this beauty. It was worth the wait!

Fantastic ACTION! Beautiful artist package with black leather case. Birds add that PRS touch. The pickups are great, from the clean sounds to raw, it performs.

A little pricy, but well worth it. I look at it as an investment.

Artist maple top, better that AAA or Quilt.Rosewood frets with famous birds. Quality is perfect in every way.

I own or have owned a lot of guitars in my time. This guitar was worth the 3 month wait. Strait out of the case, it played effortlessly. PRS really does take the time to set them up, and test them. The only guitar I have not had to set up before I played it. Pickups are superior to any guitar I own.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I purchased the guitar from Professional Music Technology in Birmingham, UK. I paid £3,000 for the instrument, which was a competitive price, as the recommended UK retail price is around £4,400. As for why, I have always wanted a PRS and seeing and playing my example, it was love at first sight.

Just about everything. I have been playing guitar for most of my 40 years of life and also have a Les Paul Standard, US Deluxe Stratocaster (my fourth Strat)and a Martin 00028. Putting the accoustic to one side, this guitar comfortably surpasses all the electrics I have owned so far. I can best describe it as having the soulful sweetness of the Les Paul, whilst careful experimentation with the controls will yield a nice strat-type attack-based sound. It's also as easy to handle as - and actually lighter than - the Fender.

In complete honesty - nothing at all.

Quality and attention to detail is one of PRS's selling points. Everything, the quality of materials, the finish, hardware and set up itself raises the bar far beyond what would reasonably be expected of high end guitar builders. It's very clear that much thought has gone into the design and build of this guitar. My particular example has the Artist pack and is finished in dark cherry quilt, with pau bird inlays and looks simply stunning. I initially thought of going for a conventional (i.e., non-Artist) Custom, but I'm very pleased I went the whole hog. My advice to anyone with a similar dilemma, assuming expense is not an issue, is simply to go for it - you'll be getting a unique instrument which cannot be replicated and is likely to hold it's value well. Besides, the extras, which includes gold hardware, Pau bird inlays & headstock insignia (which under certain types of stage lighting, look as though they are back-lit!!), 10-top and a very smart black leather case (unique to the Artist) are all well worth the extra outlay.

Whilst I am thoroughlly pleased with my guitar, the Custom 22 isn't for every style. Whereas the 22 is sweet, melow and very Les Paul orientated, the 24 on the other hand is very agressive, with an entirely different personality - a shredders dream. The best idea is to try one. Also, be aware that the neck profiles are very different, which itself has implications for the tonal characteristics. Mine is of the 'wide-fat' variety, most consistent with this sweet, bluesy tone.

I also want to add some comments about PRS themselves. I researched my purchase thoroughlly and actually consulted PRS for advice. They were very friendly and astonishingly honest and asked me to let them know which model I eventually decided upon. I did and a few days later, in the post, was a parcel with PRS's name stamp on the front, which contained a friendly letter thanking me for my interest, enclosing a backplate signed by the man himself!! That will be worth something in years to come. In the meantime, it is nice to know that they not only care about their instruments, but also the people that play them as well.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

The PRS Custom is that the Les Paul Standard is to Gibson. Among the Custom Package is the Artist's accomplished as a LP Custom may be among the LP.

- Made in USA
- Table domed carved maple AAAAA
- Mahogany body
- Set neck Mahogany tuning fork 25 ", 635 mm
- Rio rosewood fingerboard, 22 frets, medium-jumbo frets
- Tackle head of Brazilian rosewood
- Abalone inserts
- 2 microphones PRS double caps golden dragon
- Gold hardware, PRS mechanical locking
- Volume and tone knobs (push / pull the coil tap tone for the 2 microphones)
- 3 position selector
- Block bridge / tailpiece Wraparound PRS
- Delivered in flightcase PRS

Manufacturing quality and finishing of course impeccable. The abalone inserts are beautiful, especially the signature Paul Reed Smith on the head, also abalone! The Brazilian rosewood is a rare and precious woods. It has its place on this small wonder of violin making.

UTILIZATION

Again this is obvious: the handle is a little marvel, the ergonomics, weight, content, despite the use of a mahogany top quality knobs are accurate, sensitive and progressive, the tuning is required flawless ...

Brief dream of a guitar.

SOUNDS

Is it necessary to continue? Go for fun.
Empty: hey, this is a semi-hollow? Well, okay, I exaggerate. But empty, the sound is already full, satisfying bass with present and especially sustain what promises to be exceptional.
Once connected, the "double dragon" are readily a good output level. These double coils of character associated with the warm mahogany and rosewood premium PRS give this a fantastic personality! Hey, I hear my Gibson LP Standard crying ...
Sustain? infinity ... I now know how to take Santana makes his notes so long!
The micro serious is full and rich, with nice bass, never obtrusive. The sound is always well defined. The microphone is dynamic acute, with a nice sharp density, never garish.
The push-pull? Not specified by PRS but I think it's more of a coil tap that a spli coil. Indeed, we win the treble and precision but without losing too much output level. This sounds more like a configuration between two single coils like that. That said, the association with mahogany-purple, simple would hopefully be slammin ...
Regardless, coil tap or split coil, the versatility is there, although I would have preferred sounds more "simple", ie with more treble, definition and clacking. In short, not a machine funker anyway this PRS.

This guitar is so quiet ballad, jazz, blues, rock and even metal. For the surf music and country is less convincing. On the other hand, when you have a guitar like that, it was very probably a Fender in his collection.

OVERALL OPINION

Not surprisingly, impossible not to love it. The workmanship, quality workmanship, sound, everything about this guitar flirts with the exceptional.
The price for that matter ...