Paul Reed Smith (PRS) Guitars for Jazz

[Hyppolyte Bergamotte]

Is that an S2 Custom 22 bottom left?

it is a PRS Brazilian LTD Mc Carthy,Tortoise shell,one piece maple top.

A very versatile guitar.You can play all the styles with her!

[Woody Sound]

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.

I had a Hollowbody Spruce and it had a really unique sound. Awesome guitar. But not like a big carved top. Wasn't trying to be.

[West LA Jazz]

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?

A friend of mine love the McCarthy also.
Incidentally, check out this rant by Ed Roman. I first heard about Ed Roman in 2010. Apparently, quite a few guitarists really like him as a luthier etc.

McCarty PRS Guitar, Rant by Ed Roman Guitars

[jads57]

There are both pros and cons to most everything. I think we can agree PRS makes some very fine playable, real world instruments. That is not what I or some other members are questioning. Rather that his latest forray into the world of carved top/arch tops and the price point is in ? For those of you that actually play real carved top archtops on a regular basis, I believe you can tell (feel/hear) the difference.
It also may well be that this PRS Archtop is not CNC made at all, rather hand made. But the guitar sounds flat to my ears, and that may be the sound PRS is going for. It probably is a very versatile instrument like his JA-15 or Hollow Body guitars as well. But a carved archtop has a personality good as well as bad. And to me PRS guitars tend to lack that in general. And as Pat Metheny has so aptly put it regarding his Ibanez PM models,"It's a clean slate,what you put in you get out of it."
For the $10K asking price, I'd much rather own a Buscarino,Comins,Campellone,Elferink, Gibson,etc.

[Elamberth]

Beautiful guitars. Because of this, I have tried on several occasions to like a PRS. So well made, so flawless.

I was sure a couple of times that this would be the one for me.

But, I could never find their soul. Just not for me. I'm happy for those who do bond with them.

So I have several other guitars from Fender, Gibson, Peerless & Forster that I can bond with for different reasons.

[Boston Joe]

I had an HB-I and absolutely loved it. It was my favorite guitar for years. Now, the one I got was not one of their more cosmetically brilliant ones. It didn't have a 10-top and it had moon inlays instead of birds. I think I paid $2,500 new, which is probably more than I'd pay now, knowing the market better than I do.

Is it an ideal jazz guitar? No. If you want a real jazz tone, get an archtop. But it gets a perfectly serviceable jazz tone (probably even better if you put flats on it), and can do a hell of a lot more besides. It was a BRILLIANT fusion guitar.

[shrews824]

I had an HB-I and absolutely loved it. It was my favorite guitar for years. Now, the one I got was not one of their more cosmetically brilliant ones. It didn't have a 10-top and it had moon inlays instead of birds. I think I paid $2,500 new, which is probably more than I'd pay now, knowing the market better than I do.

Is it an ideal jazz guitar? No. If you want a real jazz tone, get an archtop. But it gets a perfectly serviceable jazz tone (probably even better if you put flats on it), and can do a hell of a lot more besides. It was a BRILLIANT fusion guitar.

I tell ya, I thought it sounded pretty nice. It was so light too. I agree though, if I want the "true" tone I'm more than likely going to have to get the real thing. I'm not of good fortune to be able to try out a lot of different archtops. I live, literally, in the middle of nowhere. I've had the opportunity to try a couple of Eastman's and while they are nice guitars and I've heard a lot of positive remarks about them, they weren't really what I was looking for tonally or "feelwise". Like I mentioned, if I'm going to shell out $5K-$6K.... I better be sure that I'm getting something that I will be completely satisfied with. That is until I find the next guitar I can't live without!!!

[Jo Bim]

I've had a bit of time to experiment with JA-15 as well as a Hollowbody I.

The setup:

JA-15, 11 gauge roundwound strings (spruce top, 53/10 pickups)
Hollowbody I - 12 gauge flatwound string (maple top, McCarty pickups)

Like Steve Z said, the acoustic sound in either is not much to write home about. Unplugged, the HB sounds mellower that's probably because of the heavier gauge flatwound strings. When I first picked up the hollow body, it had round wound 11s, and I recall it sounding very bright, indeed much brighter than the JA-15. That would of course be expected given the smaller body and a maple top on the HB.

When you plug them in though, HB is great - being a PRS, it plays beautifully and really does the job for almost any kind of occasion. The McCarty pickups are very clean with tons of definition. They do exactly what you expect, but without a huge amount of character.

Plugged in, the JA-15 is a completely different beast. The pickups (53/10) produce something that I can only describe as sparkle or shimmer. It's thick and creamy on the top end (I would never get that kind of sound with 11s on any of my other guitars), and the bottom end is solid but not boomy. When it comes to electric guitars, I can say that I've never played anything that comes close, and I've tried all sorts from Gibsons/Heritages to the more traditional Jazz boxes like Sadowskies.

It's got a very particular sound though. Maybe with more than a hint of fusion in there. There's also a ton of sustain compared to traditional jazz boxes. This probably makes sense given that the top is not fully free to move; there's a small piece of wood (maple?) just under the bridge, just like the HB, so the body absorbs less of the vibration than a real archtop.

[Jo Bim]

Probably worth adding that I absolutely love the JA-15. It's got a certain presence of tone that none of my other guitars have. But it's definitely not a jazz box in the spirit of Jim Hall or Sweet 16. It's different, but an amazing piece of kit. In fact, I think I'm going to have a play right now.

[Drifting]

The sound of my JA-15 does not have enough articulation for me. Using 11 flats. Thinking about a low-wound Loller Imperial for the neck P/U. Mainly playing solo jazz. Any suggestions?

[jzucker]

I think it would compare more similarly to an ibanez pm120 for the slim body, but the videos have thin strings and those don't help to listen the guitar's tone.

Not even close. I had the spruce version and it was super bright. I found it bright and nasally. The PM120 is a very dark sounding guitar.

[Wildcat]

Jack, what are your thoughts on this guitar model?

[jzucker]

on the JA-15? I didn't like it. I had a PRS hollowbody spruce and PRS Archtop Spruce and liked them although they were both neck heavy. The ebony and maple neck on the JA-15 made for a bright sound and I never bonded with it. I thought my seventy seven Albatross sounded a lot better.

In retrospect, I should have held onto the archtop spruce. They are very difficult to find now...

I've never played the JA-15 with maple top and perhaps if there's an option for mahogany neck I'd like that one better.

[DonG717]

What a sweet lesson, just what I've been practicing up to on my PRS HB2. So my 2008 HB2 is Maple Front and back, set up exactly like below with just standard 1/4 inc Jack. I love it, it plays it self. Someone said it had no soul? I found it played with more soul that I could muster. Crazy enough the photo of the ES175 next here I have a 92 just like it with only inlaid dots. I've been playing 49 years, and these are my final guitars. I love them both in their differences. I also sport a indo. fender tele with gibson bridge and stop/seymore duncans to bang on, and a Taylor Prototype 2017 614ce. Non will ever be for sale. There is no neck like a PRS HB2 @2k + all day.
3+ is not unimaginable. PRS= Rose wood fret, Ebony Tuner paddles, on the fly locking machine heads, solid flame maple back & front

[newsense]

I see that PRS have launched 2 versions of their "hollowbody" guitars at very affordable price points (<£1000 in UK). These are laminate (either mahogany or maple), thin-line guitars with a block under the bridge - not to be confused with their semi-hollow line. Not many demos online and no examples in the UK to try yet. Whilst PRS don't have a strong presence in the jazz sphere, I'm interested in these as an alternative to the higher priced Ibanez thin-lines, etc, for fusion, blues etc.

Any thoughts ?

[guga7]

I have a SE semi-hollow and my past teacher had two old PRS hollowbody.
I only have positive things to say about PRS guitars.

[jads57]

I love the sound an practical application of PRS Hollow Body guitars. Don't care for the small necks on them or most of their guitars.
But I'm probably in the minority of their customer base, so unless I'm willing to pony up way over $5k I'm out of luck.

***It does seem like their 594 line offers Vintage Pattern necks which are a bit thicker at least.***

[Gitfiddler]

I love the sound an practical application of PRS Hollow Body guitars. Don't care for the small necks on them or most of their guitars.
But I'm probably in the minority of their customer base, so unless I'm willing to pony up way over $5k I'm out of luck.

***It does seem like their 594 line offers Vintage Pattern necks which are a bit thicker at least.***

PRS specs these new SE hollow body models with their "Wide Fat Profile Mahogany Neck" profile. I currently own a 2008 PRS McCarty with that profile and like it...even though its nowhere near as thick as Gibson '59, it has a bit more girth than other PRS' I've played. I ordered one of the Tri-Burst hollowbodies and it should arrive mid-December. Will let you know my impressions then.

[Woody Sound]

I love the sound an practical application of PRS Hollow Body guitars. Don't care for the small necks on them or most of their guitars.
But I'm probably in the minority of their customer base, so unless I'm willing to pony up way over $5k I'm out of luck.

***It does seem like their 594 line offers Vintage Pattern necks which are a bit thicker at least.***

I think the standard necks on most PRS Hollowbodies is the Wide-Fat or Pattern Vintage. They're pretty substantial carves.

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[greveost]

Would love to test one of those as well, looks very interesting for sure.

[jads57]

Wide Fat is really not a good description of their neck profile. They are fairly slim in depth at about .840" 1st fret to .940" with very little shoulder.
They feel like a Medium size neck at best.

I have this same problem with most guitar companies. At least Gibson and some others offer the Big 1950's shaped necks as an option on some models.

[Woody Sound]

Wide Fat is really not a good description of their neck profile. They are fairly slim in depth at about .840" 1st fret to .940" with very little shoulder.
They feel like a Medium size neck at best.

Isn't it closer to .875"?

[jads57]

No, not on most unless you either are talking 594 series or you have a one off.

[Woody Sound]

I like fancy wood as much as the next person, but this just looks ugly to me.

PRS Custom 24 Piezo 2019 burnt maple leaf wood library | | Reverb

[darkwaters]

Whoa! Yep, understated and classic.