Sunday, October 5, 2008

Paul Reed Smith SC245 Goldtop

Last week I got a new Paul Reed Smith SC245 Goldtop guitar! I used it for its first show in Minneapolis this weekend.







This guitar is blowing my mind. I already had a high opinion of PRS guitars, but this guitar set the bar even higher.

The body is constructed of nothing but the best mahogany and maple. The wood grain visible on the back and neck is gorgeous. The neck on mine is the wide-thin PRS neck, which I find more comfortable than the wide-fat (Wide-Thin is somewhat like a 1960's Les Paul Neck, while Wide-Fat is more like a 1950's Les Paul Neck). The 24 1/2 inch scale make playing this guitar incredibly smooth. The tuners and bridge do a great job at keeping the guitar in tune. I got about 20 minutes into our set without having to make a single tuning adjustment.

The pickups were designed specifically for this model, the SC245. They are very full and smooth... and slightly hotter than I had expected.

I've owned my fair share of guitars over the last 5 years, but there is something special about this one. It's become my instant favorite... It looks amazing, it's tons of fun to play, and it sounds fantastic.

As a guitar company, Paul Reed Smith has made HUGE strides over the last 5 years. They've proven they can do more than modern rock guitars. This guitar has the kind of vintage appointments that I never would have dreamed that PRS could do.... and the beauty of it is, they do it with all the attention to detail and obsession with quality that they've always had.

If you are a Les Paul player, I challenge you to take your Les Paul into a guitar shop, and compare it to a few Paul Reed Smith guitars. That's how I got hooked. I played a few PRSes, and after about an hour I said, "I'm selling my Les Paul."

Incidentally, my friend Evan Milby had a similar experience on Revolve a couple weeks ago. I let him use my Mira for his worship set.



You know what he said to me afterwards?

"I'm selling my Les Paul."

And he did. He bought a Mira of his own this week!

j.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those pics are awesome!!!!!! I can't wait until I finally get guitar lessons.. You guys are gonna be so awesome at Revolve!!!!!!!! I'm physched! It's on my 14th BDay! YAY! Seeing Hawk is the best BDay ever! Why haven't you been checkin' email, or at least responding?
Anyways, YAY! First comment!

Anonymous said...

Dude that goldtop is gorgeous! If still around I'd love to see it when you get out here on the Revolve Tour. I should have my LP in a week or so.