At Home: 57/08s have arrived!

As some of you may know, I recently sent out my Paul Reed Smith McCartyburst CE-22 to the PRS factory in Stevensville, MD to get a set of the much talked about and highly-desirable 1957-2008 humbuckers put into the guitar for free. They also set up the guitar for free and I paid them to install the 3-way with push-pull coil tap system (to replace my 5-way rotary).

But, I also asked them to wind the 5708s for me custom. Open coil, with zebra bobbins...



What can I say? Beautiful! And an excellently done setup to boot. This drastically and dynamically changed the sound of my guitar. I'd previously had the stock Dragon II Treble and Bass in the guitar. The change is insane. Even my co-workers are drooling. The covered versions I'd heard before were bright and clear and raunchy but didn't have as much attack and output as I'd hoped. But the uncovered ones in this guitar made up for that. Jaw-dropping vintage hot tones and mellow, cool cleans, awesome chimey split-coil tones for days.

Good going, guys!

Now hear this...PRS Craziness again.

Everyone knows that Paul Reed Smith Guitars are my big obsession (I own two, trying to get a third), so I can't help it when something really cool comes into our store. Among these things are the Paul Reed Smith Tonare Grande Acoustic and a pre-owned 513 (Brazilian) Rosewood in black cherry. :)

I played the Tonare Grande Acoustic a couple of times, and let me say...oh my! I had high hopes for the new line of PRS acoustics--and so far there are very, very few of them--and was totally blown away. With a price tag approaching $5,000 before tax, I was worried about diminishing returns. "After all, we have a Taylor 914CE, and that's pretty sweet..."

Right.

I've played a few private luthier acoustics before, including some $20k Japanese pieces and this absolutely blew my mind. Rich, full--but not boomy-bass response, and superlatively articulated note definition and highs. Even with pretty dead strings this guitar is incredible in sound and playability. It's generally kinda hard to impress me on acoustic playability--my electrics play the way I want them and I've yet to meet an acoustic that plays to that standard--so that definitely says something in my book.



You pull it out and flip over and see this.... Seriously, guys at PRS...what the hell? Trying to give me a heart attack? W0w.




The other goody that we picked up recently is this pre-owned Black Cherry Brazilian Rosewood neck 513 with an absolutely stunning top, 513 birds, and gold hardware....



I have a deep love of brazilian-necked guitars--namely my friend's Modern Eagle I--so when this came through our doors I was pretty excited. Haven't plugged it in but it's definitely a player as well as a work of handcrafted art.

Also, I have a new email. Contact me at k.inoue.gc@gmail.com if you want to chat about guitars or anything you see here. :)