Just got back from a holiday in Oxfordshire and while I was away I went to Birmingham and had a look around a couple of guitar shops as I've been toying with the idea of getting a mahogany guitar that will work as a good backup guitar and also give a slightly different tonal option. My current guitars are a Jackson SL3 Soloist with a Holydiver bridge and Trilogy Suites for the neck and middle and a Yamaha Pacifica 112 with a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge and Hotrails for the neck and middle. I was toying with spending something in the £3-400 bracket and as such I was considering an Ibanez ART, Cort Zenox and Cort M series. I didn't see the need for a trem on this one. However, I called in at Fair Deal Music in Birmingham and saw a beautiful second hand PRS SE Custom 24 on the wall so decided to give it a try. It was in mint condition, the neck was a lot easier to play than I anticipated and the trem was an absolute joy to use, being really smooth in its action. Suffice to say, I fell in love with it and struck a deal at £350, which seemed pretty good to me. I've just got back this afternoon and it's already hanging proudly on the wall with a set of Schaller straplocks to be fitted this evening with a new set of strings and a slight lowering of the action. Needless to say I'm very happy and will make sure that there are some songs in the set that require this guitar as it's far too nice to just be a backup. I have no immediate plans to change the pickups as the stock items seem pretty good to me but you never know. Stock, the guitar seems every bit as versatile as people often say.
