I ordered this guitar since I thought it would be a good complement to my other PRS (bolt-on, from 1995, USA). I did some research and it looked promising. Once received, I admired the beauty of it and it was playable straight out of the box. The color is just a beauty and the neck super-smooth. I don't like 0.09 set of strings, so I changed them to 0.10's and adjusted the truss rod accordingly, very slightly, since PRS are VERY sensitive. Very low string action was possible. I played for a couple of days without plugging it in (no amp at home), and it was a pure joy.
My expactations had now risen since I ordered it; how would it behave when plugged in to my Kemper stage in the my homestudio? well, as it would turn out, it excelled! The TC-I pickups sound great- much higher output than my other PRS (it has HSS with coil split). Pickups are very responsive and sound fat and full in humbucker mode, clear, but never hard. When trying the coil splits, the sound was even more impressive: great single coil sounds emerged and could also be paired with the other pickup as h/s. Very versatile and great sounds all over no matter what amp I tried! Clean, crunch hi-gain- just superb! And the sustain went on for hours...
I cannot reccomend this guitar highly enough. If you like its color, then go for it, nothing to loose, if you have a grand to spare. My first PRS may just be my second PRS now? And the SE, well, if SE is This good now, should I sell my old 335 to buy a USA made PRS and go full throttle in??
+ Looks, playability, versatility, TC-I pickups.
- ??
Ps. After some more weeks... The trem was not as smooth as my older PRS's, I thought it had something to do with spring tension,. But after trying taking off one of the springs (super tight fit) snd adjusting, the problem was still there: not smooth and not returning to the zero position?? Finally,I noticed that the cut out for the the tremolo block was not centered, causing the treble side of the block to jam slightly by the wood. On the bass side there was lots of space, but not enough on the treble side. A mistake made by hand from or a fawlty template at the factory? PRS is better than this, it should have been cleared out from the production line! Well, I took out a rambo knife and started to cut off some wood, not wanting to take the tremolo off completely. After 10 minutes or so, I finally got the trem loose, and what a difference! Now, it plays beautifully, smooth and returns to zero every time, in tune. So if you experience the same problem, you know what to do. Or return it to Thomann. I took one star off from build quality due to this.
