New Guitar

not heard of a PRS but Les Paul's (the proper Gibson ones, not the dodgy Epiphone version) are great, a friend of mine had one when I played bass in a band, and boy could he play it 🙂

I even owned a Gibson Explorer for a while 🙂

I hope you get the guitar you want and enjoy it!! Don't forget to record yourself playing and post it here to get our seal of approval 😂

😉

Woah! Before you get your Paul Reed Smith, take a moment to browse www.carvin.com. They have a CT-6 (Carved Top), which essentially is a PRS just with quality standards that you wouldn't believe. About 2 or 3 years ago I was in the market for a PRS custom as well (22 or 24 model), and played about 10 of them across NYC. Not a single one would I call a true "pleasure" to play. Ever since they gave up on hand-building their guitars the standards have DROPPED, but the price hasn't. If you are still going to get a PRS, check the market for used ones from the early '90s.

Carvin on the other hand still hand builds their guitars, and sells them only out of the factory. You never see a single markup. You can customize your guitar to just about anything you want (including adding a flying-V headstock 😉 ), and even if you don't see a feature you want to add, simply call them up and they will be more than willing to listen to your idea. For about $2,000 less than a PRS, you'll be easily 10x happier. I bought the DC-200 model with active electronics, and still get blown away by the comfort, playability, tone, and quality every time I pick it up.

The best part is you can try the guitar you custom built at home (even gig with it) for 10 days and still send it back for a refund (less the shipping). If nothing else, delay your purchase by about a week and send away for carvin's free factory DVD (down at the bottom of the page). I already own two carvins (their cobalt accoustic) and was still amazed to see the process on the DVD. It's a full 3 hours of just impressiveness 😉 .

I'll admit, an instrument is a very personal thing, so you need to get what makes you happy, but just keep Carvin in mind!

Originalgrunge, thanks for your advise!!

However, i read your message after i went and played loads of guitars and bought a prs signature model. It is truly a beautiful guitar, black which is nice and understated, something i like. The playability is superb.
I tried other guitars, which were more expensive and they didn't play anywhere near as well!
I will definitely keep your suggestion in mind though when the time comes for my next outing!

Micah 😉

Ooo, great to hear! Their signature model is one of their nicest models, so cheers to that purchase!

originalgrunge wrote:

Woah! Before you get your Paul Reed Smith, take a moment to browse www.carvin.com.

originalgrunge,

Do I know you from the Carvin Forums, or maybe the Carvin Museum site? Your username rings a bell with me-- I used to post on those sites (mostly on the Bass forums) under the name "Bruiser."

I am a fan of Carvin instruments; I have two Bolt basses, one fretted and one fretless. And I've had a couple of Carvin bass amps, and a couple of their vocal mic's, too. Great stuff.

I haven't been around either of those forums for a while, though. The heavy-handed moderators at the Carvin site took a lot of the fun out of the place (like when the Lounge disappeared), and for some reason my username and password quit working at the Carvin Museum, so I quit posting there.

But I do like the instruments.

Ed

Haha, no I havn't been around those forums for about 3 or 4 years (since my purchase of the DC-200). My name actually has nothing to do with music, since I don't actually enjoy the style. (Original Grunge actually was the caption on a Pig-pen t-shirt from the charlie brown comics).

I am a fan of carvin quality as well. My cobalt accoustic gets better and better as the years go by, and can still out play guitars that retail for twice as much. My electric is showing signs of age and weather, so that needs plenty of work to get into shape again, but if I ever invest again It'd definitly be carvin.

Micah,
Just wanted to say congratulations on your purchase -- I hope you enjoy every minute with your new purchase 😉