Paul Reed Smith (PRS) Guitars for Jazz

**citizenk74** · 11-07-2021, 04:38 PM

Originally Posted by Madansi

Hi,
Yes the maple top is in 2 pieces, i was talking about the Mahogany body. The luthier that made it was known to have and use a big stock of a well dried +100 years old Mahogany !

In France an used PRS Custom 24 is at least 1700-1800€ for the cheapest model and i could have this luthier guitar for 1200€, would you call it a great deal ?

It is certainly a substantial savings. For me it come down to that tailpiece and its relative mass, but that is a purely personal thing on my part. The thing is, I have a special attachment to my CU 24, as the top wood was supplied by me from my private stock. Paul was kind enough to see that it was made with it, and they took the trouble to select a nice book-matched pair. The guitar is resonant not only acoustically, but personally, as well. Brazillian Rosewood, Honduran Mahogany, and Red Maple grown a few miles from my house. Pretty cool.

**Madansi** · 11-07-2021, 06:31 PM

Originally Posted by citizenk74

It is certainly a substantial savings. For me it come down to that tailpiece and its relative mass, but that is a purely personal thing on my part. The thing is, I have a special attachment to my CU 24, as the top wood was supplied by me from my private stock. Paul was kind enough to see that it was made with it, and they took the trouble to select a nice book-matched pair. The guitar is resonant not only acoustically, but personally, as well. Brazillian Rosewood, Honduran Mahogany, and Red Maple grown a few miles from my house. Pretty cool.

Wow that's a really cool story ! Any pictures to share ?

The thing about this luthier's guitar is that the builder is really known for his qualitative work, and i'm really thinking that for less than a PRS i could have an even better guitar... I do like the idea of having a tremolo and the ebony fingerboard.

**ooglybong** · 11-07-2021, 07:53 PM

I own several PRSes (outside my jazz archtop world), and I can say one thing for sure if you cannot play a PRS beforehand: you probably needn't have any worries at all. I have never gotten a PRS delivered here that was anything less than pretty much perfectly setup (which does include some new ones). Of course, it also doesn't hurt to have the shop that's selling do a setup/checkup before shipping, but that'll probably be largely a formality with a PRS. All IME and IMO, of course.

AFAICT, that luthier-built guitar certainly looks nice and very well-made from here. However, as an unknown quantity, *I* would personally be a lot more comfortable with giving it a good test run myself before purchasing (and keeping in mind my PRS recommendation). Which sounds unlikely in your case. Can you assume the very best from their reputation? If so, it might be a good acquisition. Really, though, it would have to be your call.

Finally, as far as that "Floyd" tailpiece goes... IMO, *I* personally find that overall design to be a wee bit 'fussy' to deal with, esp the various locking parts etc.. But I've also admittedly very little experience with them either, besides some rare tryouts in stores every now and then. If you're primarily a jazz player who's delving into rock, will you actually be needing or wanting to do all that much deep dive-bombing? If so, then that might be *the* bridge to have. But if your tastes and style run towards the occasional gentle quaver and even a bit more than that, a PRS with stock trem bridge would be pretty perfect, IMO. That's been my experience as a mostly PRS rock player for the past 20 years, and IME, they do tend to stay in tune more than my other 'rock' guitars (or certainly nearly enuf to rawk out on! lol). This coming from someone who's pretty picky about tuning, so...

Hope this helps you somehow.

**Crm114** · 11-07-2021, 10:38 PM

ThOugh the builder has a good reputation in his area I still am reluctant to be interested in a guitar that has that complicated a tremolo. And many people on the form will agree with me that when you buy guitar you but sometimes think about what will happen if you try to sell it later with a PRS which is such a known quantity in the world you wouldn’t have much trouble selling it. With the guitar you have shown us you will not have that easier time reselling. I would suggest you buy a PRS, though they are not my style of guitar any time I played one I’ve been immensely impressed by their quality.