Drool, Slobber, Swoon

If you have been reading this blog or if you used to listen to the Guitar Technique Tutor Podcast for any length of time, you know I love, love, love PRS guitars.  Actually, I may be understating it. 

There is something to love about every PRS guitar -- the constants are superior quality and masterful design. Likewise for the limited editions, but on steroids.  Enter, the premier Limited Edition Custom 24 Semi-Hollow.

LUSCIOUS, isn't it??

The Custom 24 is the original PRS guitar - the guitar Paul Reed Smith took to his first NAMM trade show in 1985. The original one I fell in love with.  That flagship model has since become indispensable to countless musicians in the studio and on the stage. It's  a guitar that "streets" for the low $700s

Through the years, the SE Custom 24 has evolved with the PRS craft and has been offered in several  configurations. 

Definitely, not too shabby. This one, is the Brushstroke 24. Based on Paul’s Guitar, the guitar Paul Reed Smith is currently playing in the studio and on the stage, the Brushstroke 24 is lacking neither tone nor style. This limited edition model carries over a familiar wood combination, the unique “brushstroke” bird inlay design, and adds 24-fret, tremolo versatility to the Core Paul’s Guitar model. The pickups deliver a full range of tones from sweet, clean highs to full, alive mids and driven lows, and the electronics configuration consists of two narrow 408 pickups with a 3-way toggle switch and two mini-toggle switches that allow players to move between humbucking and single coil tones with no volume loss when switching from full to single coils for maximum versatility.

Fewer than 200 of these instruments will be made for this small batch run. The specs are impressive on this beauty that "streets" for about $3800.

BODY

Top Wood Figured Maple

Back Wood Mahogany

NECK

Number of Frets 24

Scale Length 25"

Neck Wood Mahogany

Fretboard Wood Rosewood

Neck Shape Pattern Regular

Fretboard Inlays Brushstroke Birds

Headstock Inlay Rosewood Headstock Veneer with Inlaid Signature

HARDWARE/ELECTRONICS

Bridge PRS Tremolo

Tuners PRS Phase III Locking Tuners

Hardware Type Nickel

Treble Pickup Narrow 408 Treble

Bass Pickup Narrow 408 Bass

Pickup Switching Volume and Tone Control with 3-Way Toggle Pickup Switch and 2 Mini-Toggle Switches for Coil Tapping

Back to the copious drool worthy Custom 24 Semi-Hollow. It is the one configuration that has never been offered on a Core Custom 24 - a semi-hollow body with an f-hole...until now.

The 2014 Custom 24 Semi-Hollow has all of the versatility and reliability of the Core Custom. The addition of a chambered, semi-hollow body gives this guitar added midrange and resonance while losing none of the instrument’s tried-and-true character.

The 2014 Custom 24 Semi-Hollow is the first of its kind. Fewer than 200 of these instruments will be made for this small batch run. Like the Brushstroke 24, extremely limited run.

 It's available in the same colors as the Brushstroke 24, except for Tiger Red, which are:

Aquableux

Blackgold Burst 

Blood Orange

Faded Whale Blue

Violet

Jade

(I would have probably named the "Jade" color something else, if the photo is true to the color of the guitar -- maybe "Moldavite," and why not the color of a meteorite-born stone for a cosmically fabulous guitar?)

Obsidian

The Specs on this uber-marvelous work of art are:

CUSTOM 24 SEMI-HOLLOW MODEL SPECS

BODY

Top Wood Figured Maple 10–Top

Back Wood Mahogany

NECK

Number of Frets 24

Scale Length 25"

Neck Wood Mahogany

Fretboard Wood Rosewood

Neck Shape Pattern Regular

Fretboard Inlays Birds

Headstock Inlay East Indian Rosewood Veneer with Inlaid Signature

HARDWARE/ELECTRONICS

Bridge PRS Tremolo

Tuners PRS Phase III Locking Tuners

Truss Rod Cover "Custom"

Hardware Type Nickel

Treble Pickup Uncovered 59/09

Bass Pickup Uncovered 59/09

Pickup Switching Volume and Tone Control with 5-Way Blade

The street price is about the same as the Custom 24 Brushstroke.

Whether you're in the market for your first PRS and your budget is constrained, or you have some serious coin to spend, there is PRS work of art for you.  If there is a guitar store near you that carries them, you owe it to yourself to play them.  If you do, be prepared to love, love. love them. 

Hearty Thank You!

Yes, I'm back.

Thank you for all the emails and DMs on Twitter.  

It's quite a rough battle, emotionally, after the left wrist fracture.  I'm trying to ward off depression with a 4 - 5 mile walk every day.  I guess it's holding back the very worst of the blues, but my frame of mind and the reality that I will probably never get my chops back is proving a hard thing for me.  That being written, let me move on to what this blog was always intended to be: a source of good info for guitarists of all levels of interest and accomplishment.

I don't think I have looked at this blog since March.  I won't go into the details of my excruciating nerve pain while casted, nor the woefully short results of OT, at this point. I have been updating my web site month by month, and the  August update has a few new/changed pages.   I used to have a link that took you to RaptorPicksUSA.com, but now it takes you to an internal Raptor Picks pages.  And if you haven't yet tried Raptors, this is your lucky month!  I'm having a flash sale for  4 + 1 free and 8 + 2 free Raptors at over 30% off.  Now is the time to stock up, if you use them, or try them, if the price gave you pause.  They are genuine Raptor R Series picks, first quality, individually packaged and unused.  The link to the Flash Sale is here.  You'll also find a couple of other picks on that page, too.   All sales are safe and secure, through PayPal. 

My hand and wrist swell terribly when I "play," which is just a nice way of saying "guitar therapy."  I can't not play, so I'm having to play every other day, just to allow the excessive swelling to reduce before going back at it.  To say it's frustrating is a huge understatement.  I really have to put fresh DRs on all my guitars.  They sound so dead, which isn't helping my frame of mind at all.  If you haven't tried DRs, you really have to.  They are be finest string I've ever used, and I have tried just about all of them, including some European imports.

Maybe it's my imagination, but I don't ever recall the music over the speakers in the common areas of my apartment building being B. B. King, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Al Di Meola, Carlos Santana, Steve Vai, Slash or any other guitar luminaries PRIOR to my fracture.  Now, it seems like that's all they play.  Maybe it's my perception, but I think it's true.

Have you been reading about NAMM?  It was a week or 2 ago.  Sounds like it was another very successful show. 

I will be foraging through  guitar company emails for my next post/s. There are a lot of great things emerging from the top companies.

Thanks, again, for all the DMs and emails.  I will be back in some regular fashion beginning next week.  This week is a brain melter, so I won't be back to blogging until the weekend, at the earliest.  After that, I hope to resume posting on my previous schedule.