Paul Reed Smith Guitars Custom 24

Mine is a 1995 with a 10 top in emerald green and abalone bird inlays. Very pretty guitar. Features are sort of an update on the Les Paul- mahogany body with a maple cap (not as heavy as an LP, thank God), 2 humbuckers, rosewood board on a mahogany neck. Nice updates are the contour in the body, similar to a Strat- much more comfortable- and a very nice tremolo unit, that combined with the locking Sperzels, allows very smooth action with no detuning. It has a scale length in between a Fender and Gibson, and I find it to be very comfortable and a little brighter than a Les Paul. American made, of course. One last neat feature is the pickup switching. It has a five way rotary knob, that while it can be a little tricky in situations where you need to switch fast, allows you to split the coils for a satisfying single coiil tone.

I am eclectic in style, and the PRS seems to do well for about anything. The pickups are about average in regards to noise. I have heard humbuckers that are much quieter, but the PU's in this guitar are excellent in that they do not feed back in the annoying, high pitched way that cheaper PU's can. But I guess you expect that from a $2000 guitar, right? The tone is a bit brighter than most Gibsons, but fatter than a Fender. The only complaint I have for sound is one I have for just about any humbucker equipped solidbody- it doesn't have a whole lot of character. This of course is just my opinion, as plenty of players love them. For humbuckers, I prefer semi-hollows like the 335. For the most part I like single coils, but it's good to have a quality solidbody in your arsenal. The PRS does the trick nicely.

Set-up, finish, and all that is immaculate. PRS obviously takes a lot of pride in their work. There is a little bit of spillover dye on the natural wood binding, but this is a labor intensive task, and hey, I DONT CARE! Construction is beautiful.

I wore the chrome off of the bridge, but that's where my hand gets parked whenver I play. I also happen to get a bit fiesty sometimes and the sweat off of my hands combined with the constant friction has stripped the chrome down to the brass. But I guess now it looks like gold hardware. Hey hey, a free extra! It is completely reliable and very rarey breaks strings ( I use Blue Steels, by the way.)

I talked to them prior to my buying the guitar- they told me where I could get it for a really good price. I ended up paying $1700 for a guitar I've seen for $2200.

Overall it's basically a bright Les Paul with a trem. Very cool. If I lost it and actually had the money to replace it, I would have a hard time deciding between it and a nice ES-335. But like I said, I'm partial to thinline guitars.

94, 10 top, birds, flame, vintage red, trem, case, tone knob, wide/thin neck. Locking tuners (confusing but effective), decent trem (doesn't cause tuning problems, but doesn't look all that durable), excellent flexibility, built like a tank. Easy to play.

The best flexibility with both single coil and humbucker sounds available. It's that simple.

Mine was used, has a few dings, but the finish is durable, looks good and is easy to fix. Most of them are flawless, mine has a little tiny bit of orange peel. Everything else-tuners, bridge, neck, frets, nut, knobs etc is top drawer and works well.

Don't drop it (the trem can slip off it's posts a bit). Otherwise, bulletproof.

No idea, never neede them.

I play everything but metal, it does it all, very well. If you can only own one guitar, this is it.