Paul Reed Smith DGT

Ususal PRS Spec of Maple top over a Mahogany body, Mahogany neck with Rosewood board and the bird inlays. Standard tuners with Ivoroid buttons and PRS Standard trem system. The main difference is the DGT pickups and the tone control layout and the nitro overspray. This is not a fully nirto finish but rather a thin nitro overspray, i suggest to give the feel and long term againg that nitro guitars have.
I have had a lot of PRS over the years, Custom 22's and 24's, artist packs, single cuts and McCarty's. I liked them but always thought that they were always to similar. The McCarty was my favourite and that is why I really fancied the DGT. A McCarty with a trem.
I was wanting the Tobacco burst but ended up with the Gold as that was all that was available and to be honest I'm pretty glad I did.
It has the coil tap, 3 way and is really flexible so giving it a 9 for features. To be honest the only guitars that deserve a 10 for features is the Variax or VG or Gibson Dark Fire. The no. features bears no resemblance to how good a guitar is. I just wish the neck was a little wider. That is just preference but other than that I'm totally love it

To be honest, i'm pretty sad at owning the DGT. All my life I have been looking for a guitar that does this, or can sound like a Strat, Tele, Les Paul and even cover some Joe Satriani stuff. Now I have the best sounding guitar out there and everytime I look at something else I can't help compare it with the DGT and then think whats the point. It does not stop me trawling the add's or e-bay day in day out though.

I use it in the studio and occasional gigs with my Ceriatone Overtone HRM 50 Dumble Clone (Astounding Amp and will review this once I've had it for a few months and know it inside out. No point in reviewing anything until the honeymoon period is over. Otherwise everything would get a 10!)

Anyway clean this guitar is almost HiFi with superb clarity and depth to chords. Every note stands out.

When it comes to adding some gain this is where the guitar just stands above anything else out there. It has balls with a huge growling tonal spectrum that is so flexible it is unbeleivable. The bridge is not to biting and the neck is not wooly. Single notes have that wood sustain that just makes me convinced that this guitar has a soul. I always think that the guitar is in a similar soundscape as the cello and when playing single notes on the lower wound strings through a slightly grainy amp setting the sound sends shivers up your spine. Then turn up the gain and the harmoic overtones of the notes just make everything 3rd. I know this review is probably a bit all over the place but this guitar is seriously a contender for the best guitar ever.

My only niggle is that there is a slight hum when I tough the strings, but once I start to play it does away.

Spot On, everything was perfect

The guitar holds it's tuning, everthing is us to the usual PRS
quality and fit and finish is up there with the best, if not the best, but you never know. I would depend on it but always have a backup just in case of human error. Could knock it over or break a string.
Giving it a 9 because of the hum

Never delt with them on this gutar but did on a previous PRS that needed a grub screw. The send one out that day FOC. I would say that is pretty good

I have always thought PRS made great guitars but became too corporate and just kept pushing new models to keep them in the news and to be honest the jury is still out. I think they should just stick to making great guitars like the DGT.

You name it and I have played it, Andersons, Suhr, Tyler, Trussart, Grosh, Fender Custom Shop, Gibson, Turner and many many more. I work for a distrubutor of premium guitar brands and this to me (taste is subjective) is the best sounding guitar ever!! P.S. don't tell the wife or i'll never be able to buy another guitar

If lost or stolen I would definately buy another, but would need to compare just to make sure it was as good. They are expensive but the best usually is!

Hey All,
Here is a follow up to my last review:
I got my DGT GT last week. It's an amazing guitar. I found the layout not working for my brain. The Bridge volume control is the front knob; the middle knob is the neck volume control, and the rear control is a push pull for coil tap on both pickups as well the tone control. In addition, the tone cap (a mallory 150 .022) is wired directly to the output of the pickup selector switch.
So, here's what I did: I replaced the front volume control with a 500K push pull pot to be the master volume control and coil tap for the neck pickup. The middle control was replaced by a concentric volume conrol which gives me individual volume control for both pickups. I am using the original tone push pull pot with a sozo .047 cap for tone cap and coil tap for the bridge pickup. I used a sozo .002 with 100k resistor for treble by pass on the master volume as well as each individual volume control.
IMHO, the guitar tone has become uncongested. Incredible rich harmonic content and versatility. I now have 8 distinctive tones with very easy access. In addition, if you keep the master on 10 and use the individual volume controls a whole new set of tonal opportunities is available.
I used black metal knobs. It gives the guitar a high tech look.
I also had to move the high string at the nut about a 1/16th an an inch closer to the B string.
This guitar was fabulous when I first received it. IMHO, it's even better now.
Rick

Hi,
If you are interest in all the spec details, please visit the PRS.com web site. I must say that David is an incredible player and musician. He inspired me to check out his signature model. IMHO, it's the PRS to own. I had a 98 Custom 22, 10 top, birds, and trem. I ended up trading even for an 89 Heritage Cherry burst LP. The DGT is a keeper!
My PRS DGT was made in 1st Quarter 09. It is a Gold Top with moon inlays. Standard DGT features and set up: 22 frets; PRS trem, David Grissom voiced humbucker pickups; David Grissom neck design, very comfortable with taller frets. 3 way pickup togle switch. Individual volume controls for the neck and bridge pickup as well as seperate tone control which is a push pull for coil tap. The bridge volume control is in front of the neck volume control. Keep in mind that this Artist model is exactly how DG likes his set up and that's exactly how PRS built this guitar. I give the features section a 10 because it's built to David's specs.

Again, keep in mind that this is David Grissoms signature guitar. Apparently, the pickups were voiced from David's 59 ES-335 PAF's. So, I guess the folks at PRS got as close to that tone and reproduced it for the DGT. In addition, each pickup has it's own volume control with a 180pf cap for treble retention. You can hear the highs attenuate a bit as you roll down the volume. The tone cap is using a .022. Both volume pots are 500K. The single coil tap for both pickups is the push pull tone control. Again this is David's set up. I give it a 10 for PRS nailing the way David like to hear his guitar.

I purchased the guitar from Willcut Guitar Shop. http://www.willcuttguitars.com/ They are a professional, knowlegeable, customer service to the max dealer. If you are thinking about buying this or any musical piece of gear, check these guys out!
Willcut totally checked out the guitar for setup, intonation, pickup balance, fit and finish. The guitar comes with 11's on it. I changed the strings to Curt Mangan nickle wrap 10's. I also used a peterson strobe tune to check the intonation. A little tweek here and there and all good.
The finish on this guitar is to die for! The attention to detail blow's the big G out of the water. The frets, paint, neck, hardware, all first class, period!
The neck is a smaller version of David's McCarty. The feel of the neck is extremely comfortable. More so to me than the wide thin or Fat wide. In addition, taller frets. A great addition.
One small problem: The string spacing. The high E string is too close to the end of the fingerboard. It has a tendency to slip off the fret. I was told by Willcut, in a very nice way, that I wasn't the first person to discovery this situation. The remedy is either relearn how to play the E string or have a new nut cut. The string just needs move about an 1/8 of an inch. I will bring the guitar to a luthier and have him add a new slot in the nut.

PRS guitars are an increble instrument and investrment.

PRS makes it a point to have excellent customer service. Their attitude makes you feel like you are part of the family. I didn't get a feeling like they were doing me a favor by talking with me. No question will go unanswered. Great company!

As I suggested, this is David's baby and PRS built it to his specs. I have made a few changes to fit my playing style. I reversed the orientation of the Bridge and Neck pickups volume controls. I also changed out the 180pf cap to a .002 with 100k resistor. I will have the high E string problem fixed as well.
This particular overall design is the best I have seen from PRS (Thank you David Grissom and Paul Reed Smith). As player in the studio or stage, this model is a huge winner. The attention to detail is amazing. Do yourself a favor and check out this model.

Pretty good array of features - two volume, one tone, three-way toggle (bridge, neck, both), coil taps (tone knob), strat-style tremelo bar, PRS phase II locking tuners, set neck.

Tone and volume knobs are really effective - good linear response for the volumes and really sensitive tone control from 0-6 (after 6 you don't get such a marked difference). The trem and locking tuners work great, too, although the slot for my G string in the nut is a bit small, so that string ends up a tad sharp after abusing the tremolo. You can really work the trem (van Halen or Satriani style, even - without trem up of course) without losing the tuning, though.

Nitrocellulose finish makes this guitar ring and sustain like none other. Extra thick frets (22) make 11s seem like 10s. Pretty much everything I was looking for, and quite a lot for anybody, in my opinion. The only thing it might be missing is an extra tone knob. You might ask for a trem up option, but then you're probably looking for a different type of guitar.

I started out playing grunge and metal, but I've tried to move into all sorts of genres since then, including blues, jazz, and folk. My main interests are still on the heavier side, but that said, I wanted a guitar that could do it all and this one certainly fits that mould.

The pickups are punchy and powerful, but not overwhelming (I tried the Mark Tremonti model and the power of the pickups just drowned out any semblance of tone). With humbuckers, the tone is very full, but there's a brightness that's retained until you curl the tone knob below 3, where it becomes perhaps just a little muddy. I couldn't find the perfect jazz sound, but for any other style of music, you'll find a setting that works. With coil taps engaged, the DGT sounds somewhere in between a strat and a tele - not quite as bright as the strat, but not as chunky as a tele. Great sound, though.

I might not sound overly enthusiastic about the way this sounds, but make no mistake, it's a tone machine. I had gone into the store wanting and expecting to get a Mark Tremonti model, but found myself in love with the DGT after a few hours of trials, and I don't regret my choice at all.

Set up perfectly out of the shop. The only thing that bothered me immediately after I bought it was the way the neck felt a bit sticky (speaking of which, the neck is just slightly larger than a strat neck, but much smaller than a gibson). The nitrocellulose finish makes it a bit sticky, but over time, it's smoothed out a lot and it's a very quick, easy-playing neck now.

I would have no problem playing this live without a backup. I do have one qualm, though, which is that the pickup selector crapped out a bit at one point after I had abused it with some Tom Morello-style kill switching (not a great idea, I know). It would work sometimes, and other times no signal would come through. I unscrewed the back and found a loose piece of metal floating around, which was probably causing a short circuit on occasion, and once I took that out, I haven't had another problem. I also haven't done anymore kill switching.

I'm giving it a 9 for that problem because it's otherwise been perfect and this problem's probably mostly my fault.

Haven't been in touch with them before, but I've heard/read they're very helpful.

Been playing about 7 years now. I started out on a Schecter C-1 and play through a digitech whammy, vox wah, line6 echo park, little big muff, and boss BF-3 flanger all going to a fender twin amp. I've got a Gretsch electromatic hollow body and a Serie A (some random korean brand that went out of business in the 80s) junker as well.

With only 7 years, I can't call myself a guitar afficionado, but having played the violin for 18 years and trombone for 11, I think I have decent ears. If something happened to this, I would cry for a month while i saved up to buy another. At the price I got it, I'd say it's a steal. I've found out that these things are actually incredibly high in demand - there's a wait list of over a year for the gold-topped version because PRS have been having problems with the nitrocellulose finish, so I'm really lucky that I walked into a store and found one on the wall. At the very least, if you're looking for something in this price range, give it a shot.

I've ordered mine 9 months ago now (with a $2000 trade downpayment). Still dont have it. I try to imagine what the feature are, but they are nothing but air. - So I'll give it a 1. I cant belive a factory which turns out thousands of guitars a year can make a customer wait 9 months (or likely more) for a guitar. I'll think twice about ever placing another order with PRS.

I bought this guitar at a good reputable dealership of which I'm a long-time client. I've always had good service from them. Its the company which I have a problem with. They didnt deal with me straight up, and every time my delivery date gets close, they bump it another month. Im sure the guitar will be great like my other PRSs, but the wait for this model is a complete cluster ****. I ordered a custom 24 in '89 an it took 3-4 months to get it. This company is going backwards service-wise.

Dark Cherry Burst 10-top; DGT aged nickel humbucker pickups; 2 independent volume controls (1 for each pickup); push-pull tone control for coil tapping; trem; large fretwire; bird inlays

This is the finest production model PRS guitar I've ever owned or played (and I've had many, from McCartys to Custom 22s and 24s, to 513s and Modern Eagles). In my view, it is like a McCarty Plus, due to the unique features that enhance playability and tone. First, the neck is a slightly different carve - I believe just a little thinner than standard PRS wide-fat. To my hands, it feels just right. Second, the large fretwire. I was concerned about this, but it is extremely comfortable, even for lots of slide work, and it makes bends extremely easy, even with the standard 11 gauge strings. I don't know if the fretwire has anything to do with sustain, but this guitar has some of the best sustain I've ever heard - the notes just go on and on, even playing clean with no effects whatsoever. Finally, the electronics on this guitar are just terrific. The independent volume controls for each pickup are extremely sensitive, and allow you to blend the pups in so many different ways -- you could play around for hours on end and keep finding interesting and different tones just by playing with the volume controls. Add the tone control, with push-pull coil tapping, and you've got even more amazing tones to play with. In humbucker mode, this guitar sounds every bit as good as any Gibson Les Paul I have ever played - from clean, jazz runs to classic rock to heavily distorted metal, this guitar delivers in spades. With the tone control pulled out, you get into Strat territory - great for rock and blues. This guitar sounds much more like a Les Paul than a Strat, but I never heard a Les Paul come this close to Strat-like single coil sound. Just amazing!

Stunning! I've always loved the look, feel, and finish of PRS guitars. This one is no exception. I could have saved $600 or so by losing the 10-top and the bird inlays, but the look of this guitar just won me over and I didn't want to go with anything less. It's a fully loaded DGT and it's one of the nicest looking guitars I've owned. Setup out of the box was terrific. Nearly 2 months after purchase, I haven't changed a thing and still play it for a few hours every day.

This guitar feels solid. The passive pickup system means no battery to worry about. My history with PRS has been great - they build sturdy and reliable gear. So far, I wouldn't hesitate to use it without a backup.

PRS is pretty good about responding to e-mails. Their FAQ page is a little out of date. As of today, the DGT details aren't listed among the specs provided in the FAQs page. But I haven't tried to contact them with any questions or concerns about this guitar. I doubt I ever will need to.

I've been playing for near 30 years. I've always been on the lookout for the perfect guitar to accomodate my styles. I try lots of different styles, but my comfort zones are jazz and classic rock. For both of these styles, this guitar just nails it. It is no doubt very Les Paul like, not surprising since it is based on the PRS McCarty model. But it is more comfortable and versatile that any LP I've ever owned, and I've had quite a few high end LPs in my time. With the extra options (10-top and bird inlays), the price is right up there in LP Custom territory - but because of the coil tapping I think there's far better value here. And no LP has ever had this neat a fit and finish right out of the box. It's just a terrific guitar, and flat out the best PRS I've every played. I absolutely love it! The only thing I might prefer is a version with a singlecut, but that's really just a matter of aesthetic preference more than anything else. This guitar is a winner and deserves to be a huge, huge success. If you can find out, try it for yourself and really take the time to tweak those volume knobs - the effect on tone is tremendous, adding enormously to this instrument's versatility.