Paul Reed Smith 513

Mine is a 513 Rosewood, whale blue 10 top, gold hardware. You'll know the spec from the other reviews.

For the 'small car' money, it might have come with a bit more case candy, maybe a strap, lead etc, or perhaps some ground unicorn horn...

Great sound, truly versatile. Strat style pickup selection, but with switchable pickup modes for the front and back pickups- single coil, light humbucking (quite vintage sounding) and heavy humbucking (all the crunch you'd need, dark sound.) Cleans up beautifully on the volume pot. Some hum in single coil mode, quieter than my Strat.

Trem stays in tune well, no divebombing though!

I practice through a vox valvetronix and gig through a Mesa Express 5:50 and it sounds great through both.

The guitar arrived perfectly set up for .10 strings. Never touched it, no need to- no buzzing, and no choking.

Fit and finish was flawless, 10 top even has non-guitar people going 'Ooooooooh'.

Its a heavy beast though. I note quite a few of the private stock ones are chambered, no coincidence I suspect.

It did go wrong shortly after delivery, which was a shame, hence my score.

Even now, I still love the look of it, and the feel of the neck. Has aged beautifully, feels like an favourite old gunstock might do.

I've gigged it alot, never so much as a crackle. In the first few days of ownership it did go wrong, but very quickly fixed, and no trouble since.

Its odd how I have a relic'd custom shop strat, yet, I obsessively polish the PRS every time I use it. Go figure.

The only worry is the replacement cost- I never let it out of my sight when out and about.

Warranty is for life with the original owner.

The one fault it had was dealt with very quickly- picked up by the dealer, driven personally down to the UK agent, fixed, and returned to my workplace personally by the dealer the next day.

This guitar shares room with 3 Strats. I've been playing for 25 years, and I always love playing the 513, and my band love 'the blue one'.

I love how it feels- it feels like a little bit of luxury, makes me feel a bit special every time I plug in. I feel like its on my side rather than fighting it like the Strats.

Despite the expense, I've never looked back.

If it got stolen, I'd defo get another if I could afford it, and find another brazilian rosewood neck'd one.

Ordered from prs sept 2008 arrived dec 2008.
Grey black flamed 10 top 513 mohogany neck rosewood fretboard.
Stock guitar needs no upgrades unless you like gold hardware.
paid 3500.00 worth every penny,they cost 4300.00 for this one now
Thick neck similar to a 59 gibson les paul standard

This guitar does exactly what I wanted fat single coil sound
like a strat but not twangy,p-90 sounds,and hot rod humbucker tones.Im playing through a cybertwin and a carvin belair
I use noise gate to remove hum from single coils...and wala....pperfectoo..This axe has a sound all of its own its not a fender or gibson...its better in my opinion...

almost perfect out of box,I lowered the action a tinny bit and reintonated.I know its hard to believe but its perfect no flaws

I will not be taking this guitar to a crappy club with a tiny stage where it could get broken or stolen.For that gig a fender will get me paid the same. It will be a great axe to play on a large stage
indoor so she doesnt get relic treatment.I would never gig any guitar
without a back up.This guitar is super high quality from top to bottom, dont divebomb whammy,light touch and she will stay perfectly in tune.I put strap locks on her

Ive only had it for a couple months so far so good

If it were stolen I would buy another if I got an insurance check to pay for it. Cost too much to replace.Till death do us part.
If you want a bargin guitar this aint it.Although its worth every penny I paid.I work in a music store,teach guitar,bass and run sound
for area bands,record in my home,and play in rock,blues,funk,pop in a cover band 10 years of experience.

Made in 2007, bought in 2007. Waited 6 months to review. This is a 513 Mahogany 10-top. Is the BRW-necked version better? I own another PRS with an IRW neck and I have to believe it is better. It also costs something like $2000 more. The 513 Mahogany is still a great, high-end guitar. The features are well known. Trem, 22 frets, 5 single coils etc. Mine is a Blue Matteo 10-top. It is basically your typical Custom 22 with different electronics, and a slightly longer scale which is so slight, I don't notice it. I do notice that the frets are a bit bigger on this compared to a normal Cu22. Everything is high quality, as expected on a high-end PRS: best tuners in the business, best stock tremolo in the business, best finish in the business, etc. Having said that it is not a cheap guitar.

I play through a Diamond 100w head. I had doubts about the guitar at first when I was forced to temporarily play through solid state. Once put through tube, all doubts disappeared. The guitar excels with cleans, it is where you hear the greatest difference between the pickup combinations. I don't find the single coil mode to be particularly noisy, actually quiet compared to others Ive had. The heavy humbuckers can handle high saturation well.

I do want to specifically talk about the sound combinations. This guitar is called a 513 because it supposedly has 13 "sounds". To my ears this is a stretch, because some of the sounds are so similar it is pointless to quibble about the differences. I especially can't hear much difference between most of the medium and high output humbucker modes. And with distortion forget about it. Having said that it has about 9 usable, distinguishable sounds, which is quite nice. The neck pickups especially in humbucker mode are FAT. Massive bass response. Good chunk out of the bridge pup, and the 2 and 4 positions provide nice variations of quack, pick attack, etc. I dont think, however, that it sounds like a strat, an LP, or anything else. It sounds like a PRS, with subtleties. The tone control doesn't seem to make as much of an impact as on other guitars...but now i'm getting picky.

What do I like? Good cleans, good with distortion, variation...
What don't I? I hear differences after owning it for months. I don't think if you're playing it in a bar, anyone will notice anything, except maybe the diff between neck and bridge pups.

This is a high-end PRS. In other words,

the finish = flawless
the action = perfect
the top = stunning

Tuning stability is top notch for a guitar with a floating bridge. No problems with the electronics unlike some others, love the PRS strap buttons. I wouldn't hesitate to use it without a backup, but strings do break. Of course the easiest guitar to change strings on is....yes you guessed it: PRS

Been playing over half my life, owned and played loads of different guitars. This was my first PRS. I now own 3, and have sold my ESP, fender... That says it all.

Of course everything here is my subjective opinion, but they are the best production guitars on the market today. They are unmatched by all others Ive owned and played in terms of playability, sound, reliability, flexibility, and looks. They are also more expensive than virtually any other production guitar...but the old saying is true, you get what you pay for.

The only thing I don't particularly like about the 513 is that the pup/electronics design is so unusual, that there is no possibility whatsoever (as far as I know) of modifying or upgrading the pickups. They cover a wide range though and I like the sound so this is a minor point. If you don't like them, you have to sell it. I'm only giving it a 9 because I don't like giving 10s as overall scores. Great guitar.

I bought my PRS 513 new from Wild West Guitars. It's "violin amber", and although it looks like a "10" top, it isn't. It has the PRS trem setup and the new lower-mass PRS proprietary locking tuners. This guitar is the only PRS made at the 25 1/4" scale length (all others are 25" even except the Santana models), so it's close to a strat scale. It is amazing how much difference that little 1/4" difference in scale length makes in feel compared to a strat and also compared to my other (25") PRS guitars.

5 single coil pickups, 13 sounds. Wow.

I'm not a huge fan of the way that the newer locking tuners 'lock up'. The older (cam) ones are not as easy to use, and yes, the ratio on these new ones is better. These DO work better. But I'm not a big fan of using a dime to tighten the locking mechanism on each tuner; I prefer systems (Sperzel, anyone?) that require no tools. As it is, I make sure that I keep a dime in my pocket on gigs where I'mn playing this guitar.

Also, this is the heaviest guitar I own. Not as heavy as, say, a Les Paul Standard...but way heavier than my Suhr (strat-style) or other PRS guitars. I understand from PRS that the electronics in this thing weigh something like 4 pounds. If that's the case, I don't see how they could make it appreciably lighter.

Because of the weight plus the tuner locks, I give this category a "9" instead of a "10". There's always something...

I play in a cover band, and I need a 'swiss army knife' in a guitar. This instrument has more extremes of tone than any other guitar I've ever owned...and that's saying a lot, because I've owned quite a few over the last 40-odd years. Gibsonesque thick humbucking sounds are available (the guitar combines 2 single coils into a faux humbucker), as are bright, cutting single-coil sounds and a huge amount of strat 'cluck' in the in-between positions.

The "clear humbucking" moide is the most unusual, and if this jack-of-all-trades guitar has a personality, it's to be found there. In this mode, 2 single coils are conbined into a faux humbucker, but the windings of that 'humbucker' are tapped into a ways up into the coil. This produces a tone with a noticeably more edgy and pronounced attack, but with a tone that is much thicker than a single-coil tone. Kind of like a Fender attack and a Gibson tone. Wow. Best of both worlds. My PRS Swamp Ash Special does this, too, but not as well as this 513 does.

This is the usual high quality PRS American-made instrument. One nice difference: the chunky neck block employed by PRS in more recent years is gone. This thing stays sleek all the way to the body.

Impeccable fretwork, no flaws in the stain or paint. A slight variating in the bookmatching of the highly figured violin amber top is likely the reason it's not a 10 top, but it shure is pretty.

I'm more of a fan of the birds on older PRS guitars; the 513 has a more modern inlay, and while it's nice, I prefer the older ones. Not available on a stock 513, though.

I've gigged with this guitar maybe 20 times now. It's the usual top quality PRS American guitar. No concerns. I do bring a backup to gigs, but not because I'm aftraid the guitar will fail...more because I might break a string (not often, but it does happen once in a great while) or, heaven forbid, the thing gets dropped or damaged.

I have not dealt with PRS concerning this guitar, however, I've found them to be available and accomodating in the past.

I've played guitar for about 40 years. I currently own several other solidbody electric guitars: PRS(American and imports), Parkers, a custom Suhr, etc.). This guitar produces the most varied set of sounds I've experienced in any electric solidbody. Really amazing. From squeaky clean country to really heavy with the flick of a switch. Nice.

This is a 2007 Mahogany 513. I bought the Mahogany model because the Rosewood is a bit too expensive and arder to find. Mine has a "10" carved and figured maple top with a Violin Amber Finish. It is a stunning instrument. The rest of the specs are well documented elsewhere.
This is a very versatile guitar, capable of strat sounds, super-strat sounds, and most LP type sounds. The fit and finish is superb - if you ignore the heavy coating of plastic on the guitar. Some claim this kills what could be a great sounding guitar, others claim this is less a problem on solid bodies. I'm taking one point off for the plastic.

The most notable thing about this guitar is the pickup system. It uses five specially developed single-coil pickups. There are two switches that control them. One is a 5-way selector switch that operates like any Stratocaster. The other controls how the bridge and neck pickups work. Choices are: single-coil, "clean" or "medium" humbucker, or "heavy" humbucker. The humbucjer choices are noiseless. (The middle pickup is always a single coil, and is always noisy.) When you select the "single-coil" option, only positions 2 and 4 on the 5-way switch are noise-free. This is how single coils work.

I am very satisfied with the range of sounds I can get out of this guitar. The mahogany neck and body, coupled with a rosewood neck adeliver a warm sound. The maple top adds a bit of brilliance when you want it. If you use the tone control, you can get a great range of sounds out of it.

I run this through a range of amps: a Line 6 Flextone IIII, A Mesa Boogie 5/50, a Roland Cube 60, and an old (60's) Fender Super Reverb - not all at the same time though. This guitar sounds great through all of them.

I wanted to hold out for the Rosewood version when I saw this at the local GC. Of course, I had to try it and loved it, but walked away. I finally bought it on the third visit. I dug the warmth of the sound with the neck pickup (all settings), the range of tones (from strat sqwack to screaming bridge HB), and the playability. I tried it through three different amps to be sure that the sound was from the guitar, not the amp. (I always use a fender with a 12 for a spot check.)

I play in a pop cover band and have to cover a wide range of tones through a set, so I look for guitars that give me as much versatility as possible. I am also studying Jazz and look for a fair approximation of the "jazz" sound when I don't have a jazz box handy.This does a credible job for a solid body. It can also get mean and nasty when needed.

The factory set up was great. This guitar played great in the store. As with every guitar, this changed after I had it home for awhile. I keep the guitar rooms around 70 degrees with 40% relative humidity. This may not be "typical", but it is stable. As a result, many sguitars need some adjustment after they've been in this environment a while. Rosewood boards tend to swell a little, requiring adjustment. Nothing else needed tweaking. The maple top is a "10", iso it looks great. There were no manufacturing flaws. Again, I'm taking off one point for the plastic coating. But, that said, this is a great sounding guitar.

I have had this guitar all of two months, with no problems. The hardware seems solid enough. I believe I could rely on this more than a few others I have, but I will always have a back-up. Still, I will be careful about where this guitar goes. It will never leave my sight as it will be too expensive to replace.

I have no experience with PRS, so can't comment on this.

Overall, this guitar is fantastic. I've been playing for over 40 years. I've owned close to 60 guitars in that time. I currently have 45 and this is still one of my favorites.. It has some serious competition, but remains in rotation. The only thing I wish I asked is whether the guitar was new or used. I suspect this one had been out of the shop a bit. It might hae been a return or trade. I didn't get the usual case candy and certificates I should have expected with this level of guitar. The case they gave me was for another guitarr - a fact I didn't realize till later. This means: no warranty card and no certificate of authenticity. The case fits, the guitar is great, biut I might have been able to get a slightly better price on a used instrument. Lack of case candy affect resale. So beware! This is on the seller, not PRS. Still, I'm only giving it a 9 because of the plastic coatingg.
That said, I love this guitar and don't see parting with it until I can no longer play. I love the sound, playability and looks.

Features have been well described below. Mine was a new mahogany necked version. I was interested in this guitar as it offered the intriguing possibility of a multi-sounding guitar, covering the bases from single coil to modern humbuckers.

Three recommendations to PRS here:
1. Noiseless single coil pickups: The singlecoil settings are not "noiseless" and they did not seem to interact very well with my pedals, especially my boutique fuzz/octaver (MG Music's Lexotone - ace pedal BTW). For a guitar costing over $2300, I expect a lot more from the pickups

Whilst some might want to argue for the noise being an integral part of the vintage single coil sound, I'm not one of them - especially when recording.

2. Piezo bridge: For this guitar to be even more versatile, a piezo option should be considered, as on my Ernie Ball Music Man Petrucci sigs.

3. PIckup switching settings: When in humbucking mode it is not possible to get the middle position to incorporate both neck and bridge "humbuckers" on at the same time (a al Les Paul, McCarty etc). I contacted PRS about it, but they said it wasn't possible. I'm not sure I believe them - consider the Brian May guitar, for example, which can produce virtually any combination of pickups and phasing possible

When my guitar was working, see below, it sounded good apart from the issues mentioned above: noisy single coil sounds, and lack of certain obvious switching options.

As others have noted, the single coil sounds have less quack than most Fenders (which isn't necessarily a bad thing) but the clear humbucking mode was excellent. The heavy humbucking mode, to my ears and with my setup, was quite harsh, especially under heavy distortion.

The guitar definitely sounds better with 10s, as factory spec recommends.

Obviously, one guitar cannot do everything but the 513 does get close, with the reservations noted above and the major reservation outlined below.

The guitar's cosmetics and finish were faultless. All new guitars require setup to match your own preferences, which mine did but YMMV with the factory setup.

This is my major beef. For a guitar made by PRS and costing in excess of $2300 I didn't really expect the pickup/electronics to quit on me within five weeks of getting the guitar.

There I was happily playing along when the middle pickup decided to quit, rendering pickup positions 2, 3 and 4 completely silent in all modes. A quick check of cables, amp etc confirmed it was the guitar and a quick look inside showed no obvious problems (loose wires etc.). However, the PCB on which the connections are made was quite large and it was obvious that a number of the pickup wires had been forced into position around it. The actual wires from the pickups were tiny (much smaller than a conventional 4 wire pickup) and I understand that even the special design pickups are connected to and mounted on their own PCB. I suspect that one of these wires was broken or there was a bad solder joint.

What really made me mad was that because I hadn't returned the warranty card within 30 days of getting the guitar, all repairs would have to be made at my expense. Whilst I acknowledge my mistake, I never would have thought a PRS would crap out on me like this, especially one so high up in their product range. For such an expensive guitar and to maintain customer confidence, I would have liked some understanding.

So in answer to the questions - no I don't think it would withstand live playing, I can't depend on it, and I really don't think the design and execution of the electronics package was well executed.

Note the comments about the guitar not being covered under warranty. Talk about sticking to the letter of the law...

I own two Ball Family Reserve John Petrucci signature guitars, a Carr Slant 6V, a Collings OM2H, a Martin Simpson Sobell signature and I use boutique effects.

I've been playing for 30 years on and off and for a guitar made by such a respected manufacturer I am totally underwhelmed.

Once it is repaired it will be sold. Sadly, this will now be my last PRS.

This is an update to my recent posting. Nothing changes on my raction to the guitar, just the customer service. See below.

So, I buy a $5200 PRS Rosewood 513, and I also buy a Custom 24 Artist 20th Ann quilt, which I pay $3200 for on Nov. 30 and receive Dec. 1. Then I get an email that any purchase made in December qualifies you for $150 in PRS stuff from their online store. So, I email PRS and I ask if I can qualify. They say no. I politely mention how much I have spent in the last week and how really insignificant it would be for them to recognize that by giving me one day's credit. Again, they say no. I was going to escalate the gripe, but it occurs that the Customer Service rep is obviously acting on orders from above, so that would be fruitless. In my business, we'd give a Thank You credit immediately, even though we might not call it the December promo so that we have a happy customer. Now they just have a baffled, disappointed one. And yeah, it's a small thing, but it says something about what they think.

2007 Rosewood, one of the last. A beautiful orange flamed maple top. Gold hardware, other features covered by all other reviews. The 13 sounds are varied, and the control you have is amazing when you consider it's not an active system with all sorts of battery-run boost/tone effects. The smell of the linseed oil on the rosewood is very earthy, organic.

The range of tones is amazing. I had a mahogany version of the 513 and sold it as I thought it was interesting but kind of bland. Then I played the rosewood neck version last week and I am back in the fold. I think it has a beautiful ringing character that the other one didn't. When you back the volume off to 8 you can get a very smooth almost acoustic sound. Jazz is in there too. But it can roar like a Les and break up and quack like a strat (not 100% to Stevie, but I digress). Is it a "one guitar is all you need"? It might be the only one you can afford if you buy it new, but I'd say it does lots. I wouldn't leave it on a stand at your next gig, though.

Dealer did a great set up for me. One thing that has been mentioned is the neck heel that seems to be protruding to far. That's because the pickups need a greater-than-normal depth, so the neck has to be supported before the pickups. You'll note that the body actually comes out and supports the heel to help this. It's not a bother to me, but an interesting engineering solution nonetheless. As with all bookmatched tops, you look very carefully to see how the grain matches and this one is almost perfect. What you would expect from PRS at this level.

Too new to tell. Never had a problem with other PRS instruments.

Never had to contact them.

45 years, still doing it every day. I bought this as both a great instrument and an investment as the rosewood neck version is no longer produced. I have a similar feeling about a 20th Anniversary Quilt Artist Custom 24 I have, since there are no more Artist quilts being produced, and someday the nicer 20th bird design will be unique. I will be dead, however, so someone else will have to realize the gain or the pleasure (son, are you reading this?). I wish I had my current talent 30 (no 40) years ago, but I was clueless. Moving on, I can't say enough about the rosewood 513 and encourage all to save and get em while they are at least available.

Polyester finished (to a very high standard) double-cutaway with PRS own-brand trem and locking tuners. Nice rounded neck-carve that's unique to the instrument. The neck is solid rosewood and is unfinished, so necessitates a regular routine of oiling and polishing. Feels lovely though and looks simply amazing with some weird grain patterns running through it. The neck heel is ridiculously large for a modern instrument and is about the only downside of this otherwise superb guitar. The body is mahogany with a maple top. It has 5 pickups which look rather space-age and pretty cool actually.

This guitar makes an amazing variety of sounds, and all of them are great. This really is THE instrument for the working guitarist, which makes it a pity that it's so expensive that most of them will be bought by collectors :-(. I've tried the mahogany necked one, and it's not quite as good, but the rosewood necked model is mind-blowing. It's VERY sensistive to string gauge though, and is only of the only guitars that sound better with lighter gauge strings than heavier. After much experimenting I settled on .9s, as my normal .11s sound way too thick and destroy the dynamics of the guitar for some reason.

Peerless. Gibson take note!

Gold plating is going on the bridge saddles but otherwise it looks like new! It will outlast me, I feel.

Getting noticeably poorer. Not good.

Utterly brilliant in every way, except for the silly heel. Might be nice if they did a 24 fret version too, but I'm just nit picking.

Flamed (10 Top) in Black Cherry Typical double cutaway PRS body.With a gold PRS wigglestick( The best wigglestick I've ever used.Stays in perfect tune no matter how hard it's used.Gold PRS Phase II Locking Tuners.PRS 513 Neck Carve(Rosewood).It's a little thinner across the neck but deeper from front to back.Compared to the PRS Wide Thin Neck.Neck scale is 25" I believe.Comes with PRS hardshell case and all typical case candy.Made 11-2006. In the Great U.S.A.. It has 22 fret's with Gold mother of pearl 513 bird inlay's.It has a Flamed Male Top,Mahogany Body,Rosewood Fret Board&Neck,Figured Rosewood Head stock.It has a 5-way pickup sector,3-way mode selector(Hot Humbucker,Mid output humbucker,Single coil)5 single coil Pickup's,1 Vol.,1 Tone.Electronic's only found on this model PRS.

This guitar is insanely versital.From rock to traditioal Country & everything in between this guitar can handle it.I play a VHT Deliverance D-120.I put the guitar in single Coil Mode and it sound's almost like a modern stratocaster.(close enough for me)I can play texas blues till the cow's come home.put the guitar in mid-output(or clean humbucker ) Mode.And it's Jazz central.But put this in Hot Humbucker Mode turn up the fuzz on my amp and It will keep up with just about amy so called metal machine.The only thing I can complaine about(the ONLY thing)Is if I have on just a single coil the noise you hear from the pickup is exteremly a pain in the backside.You need to use 2&4 Position on the pickup selector to cancel the noise.I only rate "9" because of this.

Right from the factory this work of art was absolutly flawless.Not a scatch.Not a ding.Action was low and fast.fret's where done perfect.Not a thing out of place.Intonation was perfect also.nothing had to be done. Just take her home and plug her in and play

The graet thing about a guitar like this is it is absolutly there for you in every way.Built like a tank with the look's of your fav.pinup.Like I said before. This is a work of art.This also sadly mean's you my want to be carful where you play the 513 Rosewood. It is a hard guitar to pass up if your a dirt bag theif.At over $4700.00 a copy can you replace it?Plus this model(513 Rosewood has been discountinued spring of 2007)about the only place to find them is a big guitar chain or E-Bay.otherwise a very dependible axe.super sounding.They make the 513 with a very dependible Mahogany neck know.

I had some question's about the guitar and PRS is the bomb.They treat you like a king(of Queen). You as a customer count dearly to them.They answered my question's happily and where a pleasure to deal with.they know everything about guitar's.And actually care.

I've been playing for 27 Year's Mostly Rock-N-Roll or Metal.But from time to time I can't let go of the Blues maybe some Jazz chorde danc'in in my head I just have to play that then.I bought this guitar because of the quality of craftsmanship and of course the versitility of the sound.Like PRS say's 5 Pickup'd 13 Sound's.I was going to buy a Les Paul Standard.But as soon as I saw this guitar I knew it was coming home with me.You know if it was stolen I wouldn't buy another.Only because I couldn't afford another.since there hard to find a little bit That dosen't help.Plus I just don't feel comfy putting down $4,000.00 or so on a guitar on E-Bay.If not for the price I'd snag another in a heart beat.Again I just wish PRS would address the Single Coil Noise Problem Other than that a perfect guitar.