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I might be shooting totally off track here but Imo I dont care much for the angle grinder (carvin/prs) carved top.
It seems to me Carvin and PRS make an archtop in as much as they take a huge bit of wood, hack most of it away with a hand tool round the sides (recurve area) and then go (look its an archtop).
A paul reed top doesnt look to me like a single hand is used to make it, except if you including the one holding the grinder.
Of course I could be wrong about the process, its just thats the impression I get when I look at them.
10 out of 10 I would buy Collings over PRs.
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12-07-2015 06:45 AM
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all CNC all day, no hand held power-carving tools are used in this factory.
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I remember in the early 90s on a quest to own a PRS, they were so trendy back then. I ended up getting a decent enough one, but really never bonded with it - as someone said it sounds like a Strat with a humbucker. He makes gorgeous guitars but I realized I am not a solid body guy and his hollow body guitars are aimed at the same guys that buy his other models. They're never gonna be jazz guitars - it would be like Gibson trying to tell shredders their new L5 has been reworked for shredding...
Great looking woods and finishes that I admire but would never want to own, even if it rang and sounded like a hollow body arch top.
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I have owned and sold a few PRSi over the years. I've had two Hollowbodies, a couple of CU22s and a CU24. I currently own a JA-15 and it is by far the best for jazz of all these, really a pretty much perfect all-around electric guitar for a player with diverse needs.
It weighs 6 lbs, is not neck heavy, is flawlessly built and fretted, and they finally... FINALLY got the pickups right (53/10). That has been the bane of all prior PRS guitars that I've owned, down to the last one, the pickups have been too hot and indistinct for me. I realize that so many PRS players crank up the distortion and don't care. But for my requirement of responsive, chimey, warm cleans, they never cut it. The JA-15 does.
Now, being a Gibson lover to the end, I will eventually sell it simply because I would rather have a Gibson as my all around electric guitar, and it is worth a few kilobucks.
The Private Stock guitars are another story, and PRS himself is a tiring presence, but that certainly doesn't dismiss the company's entire output.
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Roger - re: The hotness of the pickups: Paul advised me that they should be kept low beneath the strings. On my '86 Custom 24 this works out to very nearly flush with the mounting rings, given that I set my action a little higher than most. Your experience may differ, and your thoughts are always valued.
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Roger,
Ha! I thought I was the only one who drops humbuckers off the ends of their mounting screws, trying to get them low enough for playable purposes.
I've done that a time or three on my old ES-335.
GT
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I love PRS guitars and own a few solid bodies .... so I guess they are marketing to me
I had a PRS Archtop for a while .. it had a beautiful flamey maple back with a spruce top
There were some good sounds in it, but I sold it to help pay for my L5 Wes .... Fed Ex managed to crack the top when I shipped it to it's new owner ... it eventually ended up in Fed Ex's hands after they decided they actually were responsible for the crack
I also have a Gibson ES-446 which fills the small body archtop niche for me so I will probably not get another PRS archtop any time soon
I was looking at a JA-15 somewhat seriously, but played a Collings CL Jazz at the same time and the JA-15 just didn't have the same magic as the Collings ... but it didn't have the Collings price tag either
Maybe if I stumble on a used one at a good price someday
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Everything I know about the internal layout of electric guitars, I have learned from dropping pickups into their murky depths. My Strats and Tele have spent days on end with just two screws holding the pickguard assembly in place while I make just one more "Turn of the Screw" (apologies to Mr. James) and go a little too far. None of my Gibsons or PRSs have escaped. My entirely anecdotal evidence leads me to conclude I am A Idiot, either that or pickup screws are just not long enough. Or both.
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Got this Artist II 22 years ago as a 40th birthday present to myself. I like it.
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22 years ago???? Damn. PRs has earned it's stripes as a company. Paul Reed is still enthusiastic as ever promoting his wares that's for sure!
Originally Posted by TedBPhx
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I have a PRS McCarthy archtop (2003). They stopped production of this guitar after a few years because I believe there was no market for them. The sound is good, but not similar to Gibson archtops IMHO as the base is only 15 inches and the width about 2.5+, etc. They then went to the JA-15's I believe, which was more of a semi-hollow body construction. The PU's were then changed and the sound also changed. It looks like they are restarting their effort now to enter the archtop market again....uumm where is this going...I wonder?
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Having had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Smith and many conversations therewith, I can assure one and all that his enthusiasm for guitars , his designs, his team, and his products is totally genuine; and I am happy to know it is undiminished with the passage of time. The man is whip-smart, his knowledge of guitar arcana encyclopedic. He is warm, friendly, and 100% for real.
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His enthusiasm is definitely infectious. I have seen many videos of him talking about his wares and I can tell that regardless of if one likes his products or not, the man is enthusiastic about his life's work. Originally Posted by citizenk74
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i had a private stock. it was truly beeeeeautiful, and no complaints, but i traded it in along with a mesa boogie with super fancy wood for my Citation, which i'm playing tonight.
i don't see the need to bash this guitar. it's small. i would never expect it to sound like a 17-inch guitar. my Lee Rit certainly didn't, and it cost more than an L5CES, and i believe that they still do.
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I was just responding to what AH said about angle grinders.
CNC takes all kinds of skill to program and set up, and an engineering sensibility.
But seeing the milling bits carve through Honduran mahogany like it's butter makes me wonder about the sustainability of using endangered wood species.
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Nothing wrong with CNC's or angle grinders tbf.
I still dont understand why PRS has chosen this style though. Is he trying to move away from convention to have a more unique PRS style looking guitar, or is it functional? Perhaps PRS has discovered something we have all over looked in top carving, yet I doubt that and perhaps thats why people are instantly put off his archtops.
Either way i have played a few of his archtops and didtn like any of them, they sound and play just weird imo. If you like PRS you like PRS, if you dont then its a hard act to break into. Something about the necks, the sound being generic across the range, the use of flamed maple that actually puts me off my fav wood, the hard and uncomfortable feel of the archtop range and the brittle sound, I dont know. PRS are more Gretsch to me than Gibson if that makes sense.
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There's been a lot of comments about the sound of the guitars. Does anyone have any experience with PRS amps using 'jazz guitar shaped objects' and playing jazz?
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Aah, might you be saying that Prs archtop played through a PRS amp might be the answer? Originally Posted by rictroll
If not...
Yes there are folks who use = "Jazz guitar shaped objects" to "play jazz" - on this site.
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22 years? You realize that at this point, PRS has probably joined the pantheon and Gibson might have to scoot one chair over to make room. Nice Ax! Do you get real good "mellow" from this one? Originally Posted by TedBPhx
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It has a variety of tones. Two split coil humbuckers in a 5 way switch. Don't understand exactly what it's doing with the parallel and series stuff. I flip for what sounds good at the moment. It does seem a little more mellow. Maybe the magnets are aging. This guitar is from before the big factory move and was mostly carved and wound by humans not robots. Not sure if that makes any real difference though.
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I have PRS from the two periods :it does make really no difference.This guitar is from before the big factory move and was mostly carved and wound by humans not robots. Not sure if that makes any real difference though.
I prefer the Mc Carthy models (22frets electric and semi-hollows) for jazz.
From the first period,it's the semi hollow Ltd model ,who's chambered,who is best for jazz.
But I have a 84 model 24frets yellow quilted 10 Top who does give a really mellow tone
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Is that an S2 Custom 22 bottom left? Originally Posted by Hyppolyte Bergamotte
PRS S2 Custom 22 Semi-hollow - Violin Amber Sunburst | Sweetwater.com
Can you tell me more about it? I think it will work as a jazz guitar. The bass sound is quite nice.
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Sorry but PRS makes some very nice versatile hollow bodies,but no where near Gibson's carved archtops L-5,Super 400,Johnny Smith,Citation. Not even in the same ball park!
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Given the construction approach PRS uses why would anyone expect them to compete in the same space as the aforementioned instruments? It's really a different kind of instrument. Originally Posted by jads57
I own a PRS HBI and a JA15. I always use my Holst (laminate) for jazz gigs, but the PRS instruments do have their own sound and function very well as 'tweeners' for fusion gigs or other situations where a thicker (thunk) sound doesn't work.
Just this evening I used the JA15 on a gig and it sat very well in the mix. The snap of the spruce top gave it nice balance of warmth and bite to be heard in the space. And the HBI, while not a replacement for a 335, often works in similar situations.
However, I would love to see what PRS could do with a more traditionally constructed jazz guitar.
As a drummer I've found I favor stressed, laminated drums over un-stressed stave drums. I wonder if that's the difference people hear in the PRS hollow-bodies that are (CNC) carved out of solid wood, but have little tension or stress in the resulting structure.
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Agreed as I said PRS makes very functional well built good looking instruments that cover a lot of ground. What they don't do is have a lot of personality of their own. Now this can be good or bad depending what you're looking for.They don't sound that great acoustically is what I'm pointing out here. I've owned 2 different Hollow Body models and while they perform as very versatile guitars, they don't bring an individualized voice to the mix.
What Gibson especially the carved tops do is very personal and can be very finnicky as well. The L-5CES might be the exception since it has so much weight on the top and carved thicker to reduce feedback. They also don't have much of an acoustic voice. I don't think Paul Reed Smith is going after the carved top market here, although he certainly hypes it like he is. And that's where I have the issue, especially at 10K$
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mid-ranginess?
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