Product: Paul Reed Smith Artist IV
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted
05/01/1998
at
06:12am
by
KJP
Features
:
10
Serial no. 59, Violin Amber Quilt Maple Top, Gold Bird Inlays, Gold Bird Inlay on headstock, Purfurling around the neck, I think it's paua The best I've seen! McCarty Electronics with gold pickup covers. Wide Fat neck
Sound
:
10
Sounds great. The McCarty pickups add a bit of depth to the sound. The push-pull (coil tap) tone control gives you some great single coil sounds. I have three PRS guitars, A Custom 24, an Artist III (see my reiews if those in this data base)and this one. The great thing, is that they all sound different.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
9
Here's the rub. The finish is outstanding, no flaws. The detail in the gold birds is beautiful. When the guitar was received, the leather case had scratches and an area where the leather surface was torn. The scratches were painted over with a magic marker, hmmm! In addition, the neck pickup cover was discolored. Some areas were darker than others. My wife, who purchased the guitar as a birthday gift for me, (She's the greatest) called the store. After much haggling, the store owner agreed to get us a new case and a new pickup cover. After this call, I noticed that the bridge pickup cover had scratches on it. We called the store again to get another pickup cover. The store owner was not pleased. A very bad discussion ensued with him hanging up. He called later to apologize but the whole thing was not good. We got a new case, one new pickup cover and reimbursement for the cost of shipping the old case back to the store. The story continues below in the customer service section. Needless to say that I was upset with these problems since I had no such problems with the other two PRS' and, after seeing Paul himself at a couple of clinics, knowing how much he puts into quality.
Reliability/Durability
:
10
It's a PRS!
Customer Support
:
10
The saga continues. I sent an Email to PRS with the whole story. I also requested another pickup cover. After fourdays with no response, I called them and spoke to Mark. He was very nice, and sent me a new pickup cover right away. Seems he getsover 150 emails a day so I can see where response is a problem for him. So, as far as customer support is concerned, I have no problem with PRS. I now havea new case and two new pickup covers.
Overall Rating
:
10
This guitar is great! In talking to Marc at PRS,he stated that it is most likely one of the last Artist IV's. Due to some problems, they kept the line going a little into '98. While there were some problems with the store, I can't fault them for coming up with this piece. After all is said and done, I think my lovely wife pulled a real coup d'e tat on this one.
