Well, new to me guitar day anyway. To balance the Fender-centric nature of my other electrics, here's my 1995 PRS McCarty:
I've been hankering after a full humbucking guitar as it's a tonal area that's not really covered by any of my other guitars but I've had rotten experiences with the Les Pauls I've played and didn't get on with the one I owned for a while. I've tried a few PRSs over the years but only the 24 fret or Tremonti models that friends owned and they did nothing for me. Having been listening to David Grissom quite a bit made me wonder if I'd dismissed all PRSs out of hand without trying the ones that might appeal to me. I knew I didn't want a DGT as I didn't want a trem but the rest of the specs sounded promising, which led me to think that a McCarty might be the one for me. I played one in a shop and liked it well enough but the staff there's attitude and customer service "technique" did them out of a sale, so I started looking on eBay and, when the instrument above came up at a good price, I pulled the trigger.
It arrived today and now that I've restrung it with 11s it's a fire-breathing, bona fide tone monster. Plugged into my Cornell Romany with the tone stack switched out it sounds incredible. From real Les Paul roar (though with less wool and more cut - no bad thing in my mind) to some lovely clean tones, all are very controllable with the volume and tone knobs. I begin to see why people praise PRS's versatility now, there really isn't a bad sound in it, it covers a huge range of tones and the best tones are absolutely killer. It also doesn't hurt that I think it's rather pretty too. The weight is very good which is the other thing that has always put me off Gibsons so I think I've plugged a gap in my arsenal.
The neck is exactly the right kind of chunky: it fills your hand without feeling awkward. I played a 1964 Gibson SG Junior last week and the neck on that was very narrow and incredibly thick - exactly the
wrong kind of chunky, so the fact the PRS immediately felt right really put my mind at ease.
It's in very good nick for a guitar that's 16 years old, there's one tiny ding on it and the rest of the finish is flawless. The hardware has tarnished nicely and I intend to keep it just like that. This is an absolute belter of a guitar and I'm really chuffed. I should also thank Twinfan for his evangelical enthusiasm for PRS which persuaded me that I must have missed something on previous dabblings with the brand and that I should give them another go! :)
