The PRS "21 Rules Of Tone"

[Twinfan]

Some interesting videos here.  Make of it what you will, but as the Monkees say "I'm A Believer"...

http://www.prsguitars.com/rulesoftone/

[Tellboy]

Whatever you think of PRS you got to admire Paul's total enthusiasm and knowledge. Pity Henry Juszkiewicz is not so focused on his products  :(

[Twinfan]

The difference between a businessman and a guitar builder I guess!

[Loomer]

Or a decent bloke and a complete tw@t, more like...

[Stevepage]

It's a shame you can't get the hardware to upgrade older guitars like my CE22. They only sell the hardware to US citizens  :(

[Philly Q]

It's a shame you can't get the hardware to upgrade older guitars like my CE22. They only sell the hardware to US citizens  :(

You can get it on eBay sometimes.  If you have, like, 8 billion quid to spare....

[WezV]

i agree with almost everything he says.  :)

in fact there were some things he was saying which i know i have said to people before in tonal discussions.  the rubber analogy is one i have used loads of times


only thing i dont quite agree with is the idea of a guitar as purely subtracting potential string energy.  I think there is a certain amount of body/neck vibration fed back into the string which is also an important part of tone.


 but its a simplified analogy for the general PRS buying public, it does help to make his principals  of energy transference between string and guitar clear and i guess that is what the rules are mostly about

the things paul seems to be focusing is anything that can act as a buffer between component parts. so things like glue joins and plating become all important

[Twinfan]

Yep, he's worked on all that stuff for years.  He's also obsessed with stuff 'ringing', be it a neck blank or a nut.

I've got to say, if my Sigs are anything to go by, he's completely on the money.

[Frank]

Would I make myself unpopular if I dared to suggest that tone comes from your fingers, not from  a guitar ... or even from your pickups?

Form an orderly queue to stone me to death.

[gordiji]

everything prs says is reasonable and generally accepted as true.a well made guitar,thoughtfully put together and using
quality components can't 'worsen' ones tone.
but the fingers.......listen to the tones hendrix gets out of bog standard strats.(and nice old amps)
then there's amps, pedals & venue/ambient & musical style.
even the sustain argument carries limited weight for me in that unless you play your guitar clean in a drawn out style it's pretty irrelevent (within reason).as long as the guitar isn't completely dead its fine.in fact old strings undo just about
all the effort to get good tone.

[Twinfan]

To each his own  :)

[Afghan Dave]

Forgive me (this really is not a dig at Twinfan!) but it just seems like a "puff" piece to make PRS owners feel smug and happy with their purchase and doesn't really say much that isn't commonly accepted.  :?

[Twinfan]

True Dave, as I say "to each his own".  It just shows to me how obsessed the boss is with making his product the best it can be.

[Afghan Dave]

I'd feel just the same... I love it when things reaffirm the feeling that I've made the right choice.

At business school one of the few areas I wanted to spend more time on was "post purchase evaluation" and how it solidifies brand loyalty.

In my opinion, not enough companies do this kind of thing!

One day I'd love be in the position to watch Luca di Montezemolo talk about the ethos behind my new Ferrari!

[WezV]

Forgive me (this really is not a dig at Twinfan!) but it just seems like a "puff" piece to make PRS owners feel smug and happy with their purchase and doesn't really say much that isn't commonly accepted.  :?

i would agree, but it does seem like PRS have spent quite a while making these small tweaks to hardware and spec... some of which seem counter intuitive on the surface.  i just dont think they would bother if he didnt think it would make some tonal difference.

Paul reed smith is one of the most genuine and friendly guitar builders i have ever met (briefly).   I would actually go so far to say i trust him not to mislead us, i dont think you could get the guy to say something about guitars he did not truly believe