PRS Custom 24

Its a long story... I responded to an ad in the St Albans chronicle, a regional north london newspaper regarding a Gibson les paul firebrand! Not knowing what this strange animal was, I called the ad and got the address. The juvenile voice on the line had me suspicious, but my hunger for the elusive guitar deal of a life time made me overlook this disturbing detail. Arriving after speeding all the 12 miles through Watford to St Albans in a 69 Triumph spitfire I could hardly contain my excitement, but as with all deals I had to gain composure and pretend not to be excited. Perhaps this guy was a syd barrett that lived in his bedroom for 20 years? After knocking, a neanderthal looking mono sylabbic speaking youth with the greasiest hair i'd ever seen ushered me up to his bedroom. The thought of some scene from deliverence crossed my mind, but the smell of a guitar find powered me onward. He opened a wardrobe, removed what seemed to be dozens of pairs of shoes to reveal the unmistakeble shape of a fitted gibson case. Like a coffin being exhumed from a grave he wiped off the dust and laid the precious sarcophigus on the bed. OPening the case there was what appeared to be a les paul that had been scratched to death by the buried alive victim you see in movies. It was a les paul no doubt. I asked the cro magnon about its history and the like, but alas details were sketchy. He said he had to sell. I asked the all important question, how much? Expecting a four digit reply, he simply grunted make me an offer. This is the moment whan all the cool in the world is needed, and all the yoga in the world wouldnt have brought my heart rate down. I took a gamble, based on my suspected IQ assessment, and offered him 250 quid. He immediately said yes, and I began counting out the faces of queen elizabeth into his sweaty palm, trying not to appear excited, half expecting him to turn into the punk pithicus he looked like. I finished dealing out the wad, and closed the case, thanking him, got down the stairs and out the door. I was in the spitfire and down the road, glancing at the black gibson case wondering if the thing was for real or a fake or what!. Once home we , my brother and I thoroughly researched the strange gibson and found it be official. The bridge pickup was working intermittently so I took it to a guitar shop in St Albans for repair. Whilst there the owner asked me to try this new vox 24 fret guitar he had just received. Remember this was 1983 and Carlos Santana was using the Yamaha sg2000. I guess this vox was a challenger to this genre of axe...... he traded the gibson even up for the vox which was 699 pounds in the store with a hardshell case

The 24 frets was special, it was weird to be able to solo in B above the 12 fret easily. The action was incredible and the screaming response from the semour duncan double humbuckers was twice the output compared to my 74 strat. It has single coil switching and out of phase switching too, which gives versatility to the sounds available.

The guitar is heavy! Its made from a number of gorgeous looking dark woods laminated, but I was suffering from "les paul neck" by the end of the first jam with the boys.

Construction is excellent and the finish superb

Ive had this guitar 20 years now and the only change I made was to replace the neck double humbucker pickup with a fender lace sensor double pickup, the blue/ gold combo. This now allows me to have amazing fenderesque tones and the screaming seamour at the flick of a switch.

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

It was an aniversery gift from my Wife. It was purchaced from C&M music center in Baton Rouge, LA. The Cost was 2189.

I love everything about the guitar. The finish is beautifull. Its not a 10 top, but I like it better than a 10 top, I think 10 tops are too perfect with not enough character. Its Black Cherry stain. I got it with the 3 way toggle and the push/pull tone for coil tapping. This guitar sings. Its best when distorted, but the clean channel is beautiful.

There is nothing I don't like. The only thing I wish it had was seperate coil tapping for each bucker.

This guitar is built wonderfully. Feels great, looks great. All around great guitar.

This is a wonderful guitar. I would suggest to anyone thinking of buying a Les Paul to try a PRS. They play great and can sound like a Paul, but is also more diverse.

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

I bought this guitar second hand about two monthes ago. It set me back $2900 Australian dollars, but thats OK, as with our current exchange rate, they are completly worthless anyway.


After day dreaming about owning a PRS for ages, I finally found one that was affordable, and was completely blown away. This is the best guitar I have ever played.



The second you plug in a set neck PRS, you are absolutely blown away by the tone. It makes you amp sound ao much more alive than any other guitar before.


When playing my Les Paul after getting my PRS, it sounded very muddy. The PRS has a much clearer tone, but it is not as fat. The main difference between the two guitars, is that the PRS sings, and has a very smooth sound, where a Les Paul screams, and can sound very rough in comparison.


The main reason I prefer the PRS to a Les Paul is that it is capable of sweet clean sounds as well as awesome overdrive courtesy of coil taps. This is definately the most versatile guitar I have owned. You will no longer have to switch between your Les Paul and strat.


My PRS plays like a dream. This is definately the best neck I have ever played. It is similar to a Les Paul, but slightly wider, not as thick, and with a much flatter fretboard. I find it feels lovely, and is even faster than the neck on my Ibanez Universe.



The only thing I really do not like about this guitar is the rotary pick up selector. At first it can be a bit daughnting, as you can not look down and imediately see which pick-up you are using. Although after you have had the guitar for a while it is not a problem.


A continual problem with the selector though, is when your hands get sweaty, it can be very hard to turn. I think a standard switch would be much better.


I also do not think the case is acceptable on guitar that cots as much as a PRS.


The only complaint I have about the sound is that it can be a bit mid rangey. It is not a good match for high end biased amps such as marshalls. It sounds much better through a bassy amp. This is just not picking though.



I am lucky in that my guitar is a pre 1995 model. It was hand built in the Virginia street factory. It absolutely flawless, and looks like it is brand new, even though it is approximatey 12 years old. After moving to a larger factory in 95, the quality went down hill, as happens with mass production. The guitars are no longer hand made, and the grade of woods used is lower. Try and find a pre 95 model if possible.


This is definately the best sounding, best playing and best qualits guitar I have ever owned. Every other guitar feels like a plank of wood and sounds dead in comparison. A woderful guitar.


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

The PRS Custom 24 is one of the flagship guitars from the company and it was introduced back in the eighties as a blend between the Fender and Gibson camps. It features a mahogany body and neck with set neck construction like the Gibson guitars, a rosewood fretboard with 24 frets and really classy bird inlays, locking tuners, a custom design PRS tremolo system (non locking) and a pair of PRS humbuckers (usually the HFS/Vintage Bass combo). It's basically like a high class superstrat meets a Les Paul, and as a result it's quite versatile and can cover lots of sounds from clean through dirty with ease.

UTILIZATION

The design of the Custom 24 is pretty amazing. The shape is excellent and the weight is a great balance between light and heavy. It's got a beautiful carved top that not only looks killer, but offers nice support for your arm to rest on. The only real issue I have with the design is the neck heel, which can get in the way of the upper fret access a bit (though I'm no stranger to that, having played Gibsons that had the same issue). Getting a good sound out of this guitar is pretty easy. The woods and pickups used are top quality, so the tones are just excellent. Whether you are playing clean or distorted, rhythm or lead, this guitar will respond very well to whatever you are playing.

SOUNDS

The tones out of this guitar are excellent. I'm a big fan of the PRS pickups in general. They're pretty high output, yet they retain the feel of being like a vintage pickup like a PAF. The result is a very thick and sweet sounding guitar that has excellent sustain and oozes harmonics, especially when played through a distorted tube amp. The neck pickup is syrupy smooth, perfect for any kinds of smooth jazz comping or overdriven fusion leads, and the bridge pickup is biting and clear, yet very thick - a perfect mate for hard rock riffage and shredding lead work. The in between positions on the selector offer some very Fender-esque Strat/Tele type tones that really cap off the instrument and prove its versatility in a variety of settings.

OVERALL OPINION

All in all I think the PRS Custom 24 is truly a fantastic instrument. It looks killer, feels like an old friend, is very highly crafted and the tones are to die for. At about $2,800 new this guitar isn't cheap, but if you're willing to pay the price for a real instrument that blends the gap between Gibson and Fender and offers just a great guitar, do yourself a favour and try the PRS Custom 24. You won't leave disappointed.