OK, bit more of an update after playing it for a while last night.
The setup out of the box is perfect - it plays soooooo slickly. It's right up there with my Modern Eagle for build quality and playability. I completely agree with Guitarist magazine giving it 5 stars for both those areas. The only negative was that the pickups were a little sloppy in the rings. I added some foam underneath to stabilise them, but I'll probably try and find some stronger springs instead. Not bad if that's the only negative on the entire guitar!
Tonally, it seems to like a little bit of time to warm up. Not sure if that's just me getting used to the guitar, but it seems a little brittle at first then really warms up and sings. People say a similar thing about rosewood neck guitars, so maybe it's a paduak thing?
The coil splits are the best I've heard/played, hotter pickups overall really help with this. Having the flexibility of two tone and two volume controls is something I’ve been missing, and with the splits as well it makes a seriously versatile guitar for live use. I put it through my gigging pedalboard last night and the cleaner tones with chorus and delay sound fabulous. I’ve swapped my overdrive back to my BB Preamp as that seems to work really well with this guitar, into the lead channel it gives this big singing tone that sustains for days. Really, really nice. Top fret access isn’t quite as good as my ’65 SG, but it’s not far off even for a singlecut design. Other than in DC, I don’t tend to be playing too much up at the 22nd fret so it’s not an issue.
At this point, for purely live use, I’d say the PR Guitar is going to be better than my Modern Eagle :o That’s some achievement as I love my ME, but I don’t take it everywhere for fear of it being nicked/damaged etc. The SCR is going to be a very fine substitute, and much more easily replaced should the worst happen!
So, all things considered, this is one seriously impressive guitar and an absolute steal for the price I paid. Ok, the shape is a little unusual, but once it’s strapped on you don’t notice it and it’s very comfortable. It feels quite 'flat' to play, like an SG or a Tele, so it suits me very well.
Tone trumps all, and this thing has it going on. I like. Lots.
