Paul Reed Smith Guitars Custom 24

2008 Paul Reed Smith Guitars Custom 24 solid body electric double cutaway guitar. "Old" (filled-in) abalone bird inlays, whale blue standard grade 1-piece quilt top, gloss black back, natural maple edge. Polyurethane-acrylic composite finish. 5 way rotary selector, volume, tone. 25 inch scale length, HFS and Vintage Bass pickups, nickel hardware, PRS tremolo. You know the drill. Locking PRS 14:1 Phase II locking tuners (much better than Schaller or Sperzels, by the way, and I like both of those). Regular neck carve. Case included.

This guitar is one of best-sounding guitars I have played at any price. In my quest for a new guitar I have tried all the major brands, and some of the not-so-major brands. I compared it against 4k+ Les Paul Customs and VOSes, Strats, ESPs, Ibanezes, Jacksons, etc, as well as a slew of other PRS guitars (including a PRS Modern Eagle). This was the best sounding and playing out of them all by far (with the rosewood-necked Modern Eagles a close second).

This is a very versatile-sounding guitar. The bridge pickup is biting and aggressive but cleans up well, and the neck pickup is round and full, chock full of harmonics. The in-between single coil positions on the 5 way are my favorite sounds of the guitar in general and are great for blues or rock rhythms, while the full-on humbucking positions are excellent for hard rock/metal shred and super-aggro riffage. There is a TON of definition in the bridge pickup...as such the guitar is not very forgiving. Your mistakes will show but your triumphs will shine through as well. It's a very 'transparent' guitar-- you can get YOUR sound out if it.

Clean the bridge and neck pickup alone aren't the greatest sounds (however I'm used to an EMG 60 neck for my cleans so I'm biased), but once you have your amp dialed in with respect to the neck pickup, selecting the in-between positions will give you an AWESOME goldmine of clean tones. The neck pickup clean is very thick and meaty. The bridge clean is a little indistinct and honky.

Distorted, the bridge pickup is where its at. Searing leads that break into feedback very naturally, with lots of bottom-end. Between the bridge and neck PU you can get some very LP tones out of the guitar, and then using the single coil positions you get crisp and bright--dial back the volume a little and you can go from VERY distorted to nice and clean, without even touching the amp.

I'd say this is possibly the most versatile guitar I've ever played (save for maybe the PRS 513).

Oh and this bears saying: You will not find a more rock-solid tremolo system. Granted it doesn't have as much up-pull as a Floyd, it WILL stay in tune! If I ever get a customized, Private Stock PRS, I'm definitely requesting an uprouted tremolo cavity like Mark Tremonti has done.

I don't think I ever played this guitar straight-from-factory. The store had it set up already (they did a very good job considering it was GC). I had my buddy set it up afterwards and it went from great to MIND-BLOWINGLY easy to play. Dead straight neck, nothing frets out, no buzz, perfect intonation. Aside from the action nothing needed seeing to.

The finish gets me compliments every time I open the case. You really can't beat a PRS figured maple top. There were absolutely no flaws. I've yet to see a mass production guitar rival the quality control at PRS.

I know many guitar players, both professional and hobbyist, who swear by their Paul Reed Smith Customs. I swear by mine already. This is a sturdy guitar meant for the road. I have a friend who just bought a PRS from 1986 that is in just as good shape as mine which is fresh from the factory.

Only time will tell but I'm going to give it a '10' because of the firsthand experience I've had with PRS as old as I am that have seen constant use and have yet to fall to pieces.

My first week with the guitar I accidentally had the tremolo arm tightening screw fall out on me and get lost (I found it later). I emailed PRS for a replacement screw and it was sent to me the next day, no questions asked, no charge, and it arrived at my door within a couple of days. Many thanks to Shawn Nuthall for his awesome customer service!

I play this guitar through a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Roadster and an Orange Tiny Terror, and I get pretty much any tone I need. I definitely love how reliable this guitar is but also how resonant and full it sounds. I no longer resort to active pickups to get the bite and attack I need...it's all here in this nicely put together work of luthier art.

I just wish the trem had more up-pull to it! haha

If it were stolen, there'd be a lot of hell to pay, police involved, and much scandal. If I lost it, and couldn't find it, I'd buy another PRS Custom 24. In fact I may do that anyways and have one in a different color to suit a different mood. :)

Talkin' bout a PRS CE 24, PRS trem, abalone moon inlays. Bought it in Belgium. Maple vintage yellow top which contrasts beautifully with the red back, neck and headstock. Wide thin neck, HFS treble pickup in the bridge position, vintage pickup in the neck. Nice locking tuners.

Wow! I was already in a very good mood when I bought it. The moment I plugged it in, I knew it was what I was looking for. I messed around for the past 3 years with gear and though the PRS CE 22 was the max I could get for rock, jazz blues and pop. For the shred, I chose a Music man silhouette I beefed up with a bare knuckle 'rebel yell' pickup. To be frank, both guitars sound like a joke compared to the CE 24 and I'm going to sell them instantly.

The tone of the CE 24 is thick, rich and smooth for the neck PU and it bites with the bridge one. With the neck PU, roll down the tone knob and presence of your amp and you get Santana easily. Switch to the bridge pickup, add some presence and treble, the SD-1 and you'll hear Zakk Wylde.

Great harmonics as well. For cleans, some nice jazz sounds on the neck PU with the tone knob halfway and on position 2 or 4 you come close to a strat. Wide fat neck plays like a dream and, very important, while playing some jazz arpeggio lines the definition remains very precise even with full distortion.

All above mentioned styles are covered, except funk, but for this I keep my fender strat. Also the reason why I give it a 9.

I run it trough a Kock multitone head (great one!), a 2x12 koch cab with and some boss fx (SD-1, CS-3, CH1, DD3), You can easily forget bout the fx cause it sounds already awesome when I plug it in directly. Think PRS and koch matches perfectly, and recently discovered that PRS endorses koch. No surprise for me.

See under 'features'. Everything flawless but this goes without saying considering the price. Still I am amazed that PRS can still deliver such quality and their standards and craftmanship. did not go dowm after their success. In the end, quality pays off.

Just have it for two days. Will use it in my band next week and hope to get live with it soon. Finish looks great an reliable.

Great stuff. Well done. Just tried it while writing this and had difficulties putting it aside ;-).
Have to come back a little to my remark on the funk sounds, cause it does sounds great as well. Still I'll keep the strat cause you can't beat the original.

Would look for a new one if it was stolen because you get a grin on your face once you are plugged in. As said above, tonewise my music man and CE22 (ok this one a little less cause it still has a warm sound) are dwarfed by it. Only thing is that I would have preferred 22 frets to give the PU's more breathing space, but you can't have it all.

Ok, if you have red other reviews, you know the stuff... Two humbuckers, 24 frets, five position rotary switch, one tone pot, tremolo, etc...
Mine is a 98' orange, not top ten, moon inlays..I give an 8 because of the rotary switch...More of later.

This is NOT a mixture of a Strat and a Les Paul, neither the clone of them. It has its own sound, and maybe not everybody's cup of tea, IMHO. I like it, it fits me ;-)I play in a cover band, 60s, 70s 80s songs, mostly rock. I am not Steve Vai or Satriani (unfortunately), but it has a very distinctive, characteristic sound. The neck PU is deep, a little bit muddy if you use heavy distorsion. The neck PU is very good, it bites. The in-beetween settings are also useable, but volume vise a little bit lower than the others, which is not necessarily a bad thing, if you want to do a solo during a song with in between setting, you just switch to a humbucker setting...

I bought it used, so I took it to my local guitar shop for a good checking, setting, etc... The finish is beautiful, the binding is neat, the neck is very comfortable, it almost plays itself. I use 9 set of strings (yes, I do not have monster hands).

I have other guitars, so I do not gig it very often, but it never broke a string. I like the locking tuners, the big strap buttons, because I do not use straplock. It is not heavy, it would be important during a long gig. I would NOT do a gig withouth a spare one, because of the tremolo and possible string breaking, but othervise I rank it a good 9er.

I sent them mails 3 times, they answered promptly. I asked them the exact colour, model, because in the shop they did not even know this info. Next time I asked them how to lock the tremolo, as Mr. Clapton did, they asnwered promptly and politely. Last time I asked aboutfactory setings, like PU height, it was the same.

Let me just emphasize: it is not everybody's guitar. It was love at first sight for me, and I do not regret I bought her. I have ten other geetarz, I am a really freak, but I would suggest an extensive test before YOU buy one. I saw a review here, a guiter fella bought 9 of them, and he/she still do not like it. Well, I would not buy the SECOND one after the first test failed...I do not like the rotary switch, but instead of swap it for a traditional switch, I installed a pointer washer on it. I rank it 9, because I like it, but it is up to you as well, my guitar brethrens!

Black cherry, Maple top with nice flame. Stock was 5 position rotary switch but I swapped it out for a standard 3 way les paul type. Excellent fretting and finger board finish. Swapped out the bridge pickup HFS for a seymour duncan Custom Custom. Also got rid of the bleed cap on the volume control (I'll explain later)

In it's stock configuration the sound is very much dependant on the amp played through. It sounded pretty good through a Marshall TSL2000 all valve combo (but so did my $200 yamaha pacifica)
Plugged into a Mesa F50 it sounded awful very harsh and brittle sound) At first I though it was the Amp (I suppose pride didn't allow me to entertain the fact my expensive PRS could possibly sound bad). It really did sound awfull. I changed the bridge pickup for a seymour custom custom (This is THE pickup for a PRS custom 24) It takes away all the top end harshness. Much Much better. After a while I couldn't stand the rotary switch so I put a regular 3 position one in. I'm going to rate it as stock (I'd give it an 8 with the seymour)

Best playing and nicest looking guitar I ever owned (Parker Fly came close), Nice action. Flawless construction. Perfect relief, no buzzes.

Nice to play live, not to heavy, a joy to hold and wonderfull for fast lead runs. Stays in tune very well also. Trem not too light, just right! Really looks the part.

Never had any call to use them!

I've been playing for 26 years, I've had virtually every model of guitar and amp. My current favourite guitar is a 1994 Orville Les Paul, fitted with Seymour JB on bridge ($500 from ebay). Soundwise, it totally blows away the PRS. It has a crunchy, smooth, sustained, warm tone that cleans down to pure jazz and blues. Wonderfull.

Basically I wish I'd never bought the PRS. But it makes a very nice ornament!

I play in a church worship band. The gear I use currently, and it's the best guitar sound I've managed to get so far, Vox tonelab SE (with Damage control Womanizer in insert loop), going into Sonic Maximizer stomp and then ending up going into a Tech21 Power Engine 60. The great thing about this setup is that you can have a wonderfully full powerfull tone without ear splitting volume. Very sound engineer friendly.

1994 (pre-factory) Whale blue stained flamed maple top, solid mahogany body, rosewood fretboard with birds.

I Play Metal, hardrock, rock, blues... celtic, bluegrass.

Have plugged this into solid state amps, stacks and combo tube amps. The most particular amps that compliment this guitars sound are any decent quality tube amp. The sound is just amazing. Even if this guitar didn't look as beautiful as it does, the sound alone would justify the price paid (ie. the market price for elite guitars today)
The sound, is absolutely incredible. Just the ring and resonation when it isn't plugged in once strummed will give anyone around a 'double take'.

The guitar was purchased used in 2000 ( 6 years old at the time) however I spoke to the original owner about the setup and all the other mumbo-jumbo and apparently it was A+. I purchased the guitar from a pro musician, and its setup was perfect.

The setup and finish is far beyond expectations for elite guitars and the competitors that are representative (the Gibsons and fenders of the world).

Just awesome!

This guitar will blow your mind in a live performance.

The hardware is solid, despite the tarnish from the saddles on the tremolo. BUT, that isn't a concern and it makes the guitar look super vintage.

The finish is pretine after 12 years of age and continual play and wear.

Strap buttoms are like concrete...no movement, no wiggle and oversized for anti-drop protection (for us doofus people who can drop lovely items....no one is perfect!!)

This guitar will go to the grave with me... totally dependable.

I don't believe that anyone should gig without a backup, just for the sake of being careful and prepared for anything. In all circustances, this guitar is super solid and just an incredible instrument... the only thing I can see happening at a gig would be a string break, in which case the locking tuners would ensure that I'd get a replacement string on in a few seconds. So, no backup required if absolutely necessary.

N/A

Been playing 15 years.

This guitar is such a gem and so important to me that I have it insured separately under my home owner's insurance policy. It's the gem of my collection. Some people will look at my collection and perhaps disagree. If you played this one, you'd agree.

Guitars I own: Vintage 67' Fender Telecaster, '98 USA Strat, 2001 USA Les Paul Standard, ES 335 Epiphone DOT, 1980 Fender Newporter (like a strat), Ibanez Artcore Hollowbody, Larrivee D-05 (acoustic), 2002 Martin D18, 1957 Gibson LG-1, 2005 Gibson Songwriter, 1997 Simon and Patrick

Previously owned: (I go through guitars like underwear....however there are some that one will always keep, gems such as the PRS Custom 24)
1977 Gibson J-45 Deluxe, Taylor 310-CE, 1999 USA Strat, 1994 Ovation Baladeer, G series Takamine, etc...

In the topic of elite electric guitars, I think PRS guitars in general are in a different category of their own, as compared to Gibson and Fender (as well as others). My custom 24 is a pre-factory, so there's a little more attention to detail in terms of fret work and the finger board, just to name a few features. The feel is unbelievable, and it is the best guitar I have ever played. It's like butter...plays so easy, sounds so good it makes the crappy guitar player think he sounds fantastic ( I used to think that way!)

10 top, dark cherry sunburst transparent finish, wide-thin neck w/birds on rosewood fretboard, 5 way switch, 1 volume, 1 tone, HFS and vintage bass pickup, PRS tremolo, locking tuners, graphite nut, tuning pegs, and backplate. Came with a nice case. Made in 1999-2000 in USA, 24 frets. Solid (and thick) maple top on mahogany back. For features this guitar is great. The finish is flawless. I kind of wish it had the 3-way switch with coil tap, but the 5 way is great too.

PRS guitars excell at versatility. I play mostly hard rock, rock, and blues and this guitar suits me well. For the blues, its not as good as a strat, but it sure can rock. I have used it with line 6(bleh), Ampeg V4 (100+ watt tube head) and a Tryanor YCV40WR tube combo. With the traynor and this guitar I can play just about any style - even metal with the bridge puckup and amp boost engaged. My one complaint is that for overdriven sounds, the bridge pickup can be a little harsh, and the neck can be a little muddy - typically I find a good middle ground using EQ. One thing I will say is that I absolutely love the sound of the vintage bass neck pickup through a clean amp - it has the sweetest warmest tone I have heard in a guitar pickup. I also like how the fender-like pickup positions 2 and 4 drop in output - with a tube amp a flick of the pickup switch can take you from a heavy lead sound to a smooth more touch sensitive bluesy grit. Again, probably not as good as a gibson or fender if you are going for those exact sounds, but has a character of its own and is far more versatile than these other brands.

Set up and shipped perfectly in tune, great action - everything perfect. Top bookmatched well, but not perfect. Fit and finish Perfect.

Everything about the guitar seems great except the chrome hardware - it oxidizes heavily and looks like shi*. This is unacceptable on a guitar that costs this much - the chrome hardware on my MIM strat started out less shiny, but looks a lot better now.

Finish has held up nicely, strap butten are oversized which is awesome. I would easily gig w/o a backup.

My only complaint is cosmetic - one you wouldn't expect on a PRS.

Havn't dealt with them, I should see if i can get the hardware replaced though.

Playing about 12 years, first guitar was a MIM strat and then I took a big step up to this guitar. I wish I would have known about the hardware - maybe the gold hardware is more robust. If I could afford a Les Paul and a US Strat, and had the room for more guitars i might prefer that setup - but the PRS takes up less room, sounds great, and I don't have to switch guitars to get different sounds. If it were stolen I would probably buy a strat since I couldn't afford a PRS.

One important note - compared it to the custom 22 - the 22 has a much larger and more uncomfortable neck heel. I might have prefered the 22 since the fret spacing is pretty small on the 24 and a little cramped to play in the upper registers, but the 22 is nearly unplayable in these registers due to the enormous heel.

mine was unusual in that it had a tunomatic and stop tailpiece.........when i described it, i was always being corrected...."no, what YOU've got is a DRAAAAAGON stop....".......really.... a stop and tuna.......the fella i got it from had put dragon pups in it......paul said that was a bad choice for the cu24.....but i liked it ok.

anyway, it had a gold maple cap w/ wiped edge on a clear fin'ed mahogany back and a wide fat neck w/ abalone dots....no....not "MOONS".......dots........(yeah, they corrected me on THAT, too)..............really.........DOTS!

1 vol, 1 tone and a 5 way switch. hand numbered. a "93 if i remember right. hard case. locking tuners.

sounded and felt like a les paul. leaned a little to the dark side (luuuke!).

everything was put together very well. one thing though......the was an area under the bridge.....barely detectable.....at just the right angle....in just the right light.........like, maybe, it was routed for a trem, and then filled in......still...it played and felt great.

very solid. their reputation is universal.

never had to use them.

been playing 30 years. i've seen 'em all. i traded mine because i got bored with it. but, i know plenty of guys who have a corral full, and they wouldn't play anything else! just nott my thing, otherwise, great guitar!

The guitar sports 24 frets (Hence its name) on a 25" scale length. This particular one sports mahogany body and neck (regular profile) with a flamed maple cap and rosewood fingerboard. Inlay wise you have the classic PRS abalone birds.

Control wise it's all nicely layed out, Single gain knob, single tone knob and a rotary 5 way pickup selector knob. Pickup wise the guitar has Prs brand HFS treble and Vintage bass pickups in it in an H/H config.

Hardware comes in the form of PRS 14:1 locking tuners and a PRS Trem for the bridge.

Comes in a very solid fitted hard case.

Before trying out this guitar I went through a lot of other models, Suhrs, and Don grosh bent top custom, Dean Z usa... the list goes on. When I finally came to this guitar and played it, I was blown away by how well balanced its sound was.

The different pickup selection options are great, each brings its own character to the tone of the guitar, and each is usable in its own right for various purposes.

Sparkling cleans, jazzy tones, blues, rock, metal... Depending on how you set up your amp, the guitar will deal very well with all of these.

For those really saturated gained singing rock lead and rhythm tones though, look no further than this guitar, it really delivers brillianty on this front.

So many reviews on this site give very high scores for sound, you see 10s all over the place, but this one is really deserving of it.

I can't find a single niggle to make about the fit or finish on this guitar, everything is very exactingly done. No problems here.

The guitar plays very well indeed, one of the first things I noticed about it was just how easy it was to play.

I'm sure this gutar would withstand live playing, and the hardware will last for as long as anything else on this planet will, the build quality is excellent, everything is very solid.

The strap buttons are solid, and oversized, so your strap isn't going to be going anywhere fast once it's on there.

If I had to gig this without a backup I feel I could fully depend on it, i've no worries on this count.

I've not had to use customer support yet and so cannot comment.

Just another glowing PRS review? There is a reason for that, PRS make some seriously great guitars. I'm hooked!

I have a 2002 prs custom 24, emerald green "10 top". I bought it used at guitar center and it was a STEAL!! came with the prs locking tuners, tremelo bridge, and a graphite nut...did i mention a "10 top"? i am only giving this a 9 because the features are pretty standard but they are awasome.

WOW! i reciently played this guitar live for the first time and it ripped! the HFS (hot fat scream) humbuckers are insane, i thought about buying emg-81s but now i dont know if i will. the guitar is pretty quiet even with the hot humbuckers, no excess noise at all. Prs guitars have a sound all their own, nice and bright (SG-ish) and low and dark (les paul-ish) when played next to a LP their was no comparsion. LPs are great guitars but lack the vesitality of sound this guitar emits. the tremelo maks for tough palm muting but after u get used to it its awesome...10 zillion times better than the stoptail...to akward for me.

this guitar played like butter..the neck was extreamly smooth and well finished. the frests were crowned nicley. the action is amazing i dont think it could go any lower with out string buzz... but it is amazingly low and every string rings clear....the 10 top makes this guitar not only look cool but sustain forever. sound good unplugged to

this guitar is amazingly light which brings up a concern on how strong it is, but, it is built like a tank... tuning stays in tune! i just droped the guitar about an hour ago and not a scratch was on it...still in tune! i replaced the strap button for dimarzio clip on straps but the ones that were on there semmes solid, the scres were reall really long. i wouldnt gig without a back up just because thats a dumb idea. if u break a string it only takes about a minuite and your back to playing..awesome tunners.

havent delt with them..but guitar center takes care of me

i have been playign for about 10 years and this is the best guita I have ever played. i own a epi les paul( good guitar for the money) and a fat strat with an invader humbucker( extreamly reliable) i am playing this guitar through a marshall JCM 2000 TSL 100 and it is amazing! it will rip someones head off if your not careful. i love everything about this guitar! i would not change anything on it..i wish i had bought a new one though but i couldnt pass this one up for the money. my other guitar player has a les paul studio that he runs through a crate blue voodoo 120. if u like the Les Paul sound dont buy a prs buy the LP ( studio in my opinon is one of the best LPs u can buy)prs guitars have a sound all their own. if your willing to spen a little extra cash go with a PRS u wont be disapointed. but if cash is a concern and u want it heavy go with a LP. Prs's will deliver all the tones u need...heavy, bright, twangy, bluesy, the works! my bands sound is awesome so i sugest u go buy a PRS or a LP studio now!!

This is a 2005 model, wide thin neck and other features every body knows about. Hate rotary switch, love the rest.

It fits my music style well, classic rock and metal. It is very quiet guitar, almost as quiet as Ibanez JEM 7WV. I have five PRS guitars; one has bright sound, the other nice dark sound and so on. They all have the purpose. Some people love dark, the others bright. Don't be stupid and judge guitar based on a switch or darkness. Some of you here complained about thin, weak sound. Here is my stand. Use different amp, or learn how to play. I recently visited a site www.metalloidz.com, which was recommended by friend of mine, they use a number of custom 24 guitars on their album and it does not sound weak at all, especially song named "Cat with you". Use some effects, good amps and the sound will be big.
I love the sound of PRS, it has modern sound similar to Fender or Gibson, similar but different.

Good tip for some of you. You can get very good sound using Duncan?s JB and other pickups, take out the capacitor and you will get raw natural sound like not other.

Stop complaining and learn to play. Do not use 500 dollar amp on 3000 dollar guitar, tell you mamas to spend more money or sit and learn to play, which means 8 hours a day for 2-3 years and then come to this forum and read your postings.

The other tip: string buzzing cannot be avoided, and every guitar has one. Learn not hit hard and you can rock. Watch the real players like Vai or Satriani and learn from the best.

Only Tom Anderson, Ibanez JEM 7V and some Hamer come close to PRS.

Use them for 4 years with no problem.

I have been playng for 20 years and own or owned evey guitar worth playing, which means over 2000 dollars.
Good guitarist sounds good on 200 dollar crap, but good guitar is not less than 2000 dollars and will make you smile whie you play.