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Old 01-16-2019, 07:06 PM
tippy5 tippy5 is offline
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Join Date: May 2010
Location: So Cal
Posts: 3,246
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I have owned 12 PRS's and currently have 2. A new longer scale length 25.25" strat DC3, and a Rosewood neck McCarty. They keep in tune.

Plus column:

Looks, QC, tonewoods, fret size and material, great electronics. Their pickups only after 2009 did they get the core line PU's sounding woolier and delicious tonewise.
Nice features on some models with a piezo switch blend knob, above average split coil tones. Nice straight string thru to the tuners. Great locking tuners. Rolled smooth fretboard and fret ends. Usually a nice wide nut width and most have the widest 12th fret span 2 1/4" of the top 3 makers. Amazing ex employee machinist designer Mann tremolo bridges. Most PRS'es fretboards have a nice round 10" radius.

Minus column:

I would like a 1/32" wider string spacing at the saddle. (2 1/16" like Gibson is too narrow). The large frets are nice but can cause intonation issues with finger pressure. There is a pointy ridge that the flamed maple tops have right where your forearm drapes the body. Wish they had the more models with the long scale length (25.5"). Thier back of the neck finishes are not that smooth (so I have the bare, no finish, solid IR neck). Some are sticky including their V12 finish they introduced in 2012. You finger prints turn into yukky speed trap smudges during warm hot gigs.
Their humbucker PU covers tarnish quicker than any other maker. You can not clean the fingerprints after they start the corrosion process.

Oh and the best thing is they keep in tune during a lengthy gig.

For boutiques I love Tom Anderson's the most. But for USA production guitar companies the quality is very consistent with PRS's.
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