Original 65 Deluxe Reverb

[skyboltone]

I was at my local GC today trying out some PRS guitars. They have this place called the Platinum Room. So I go to the counter and ask the guy there if I can play a CE-22 and a CE-24. So he hands me the 22, grabs the 24 and a guitar stand and cord and throws me in the Platinum room then walks away, closing the door behind him.

Wow.

So they got this original Blackface Deluxe Reverb in there ($3500) and I can't believe it right, Anyway, I slam the cord in that badboy tune up the CE-22 and put the amp with everything on 5. Bliss. The CE-22 has a bolt on maple neck with a pair of Dragon Two pickups. Single coil taps, master volume and tone control. This thing has balls to the wall. Kinda strat like but more you know? Kinda SG like too only chimy. Wow.

The CE-24 is completely different. Neck is alien. Not bad, just unfamiliar. Would take some getting used to. But the pups are tamesville compared to the Dragon IIs. More laid back. Takes more to make the Deluxe breakup. Smoother on top. Creamy kinda. Not as much pick attack or bass snarl when pushed. I love playing unencumbered at fret 20 but I've never done that before so how do I know. The heel hump on both guitars IS in the way but no worse than most guitars. With the 24 it's far less of an issue.

Had fun. Reassessed my need for a hog neck PRS exclusively. I wanna go back and play a McCarty and a Custom 22-24. Maybe through the Marshall lead 50 they got in there. Ear plugs. Guitars gotta have trem though. Otherwise I'd be in LP land looking to set up a single coil switch.

Dan

[billyz]

My McCarty is one of the sweetest most versatile guitars I have ever played.
It was made back when all the woods were chosen for tone . You could not even order a 10 top on them back then due to the Tone factor. If you need a trem try the Santana. The one I played was a tuning fork. It literally felt alive.

[CaseyJones]

Aww... ya had me at "65 Deluxe Reverb". Ya lost me instantly at "PRS"...

It's too bad real '50s Les Paul Juniors cost so damn much these days. It used to be a toss up between new PRS and used Les Paul Junior...

Pickups can be fixed. Easy fix in fact. Music store clerks look at me really funny (o.k., everyone looks at me funny the minute I start talkin'!) anyway... music shop clerks look at me funny when I take an electric into their acoustic guitar room. I can pretty much tell whether a guitar has "it" the moment I wrap my hand around the neck. I want three things, maybe four... the neck should feel great and the guitar should play "like buttah". BTW I got the attention span of a gnat so if the guitar isn't close to bein' in tune when I take it down off the wall I lose interest real quick. Those guys get paid to stand around, tune yer damn merchandise!!

This might even rate as my first priority, the guitar shouldn't feel like a stone hangin' around my neck. Leave the heavy ones for some metal pervert who is gonna use a length of chain fer a strap!

Last but not least the guitar should have a nice resonance. That's the vitnage guitar "old wood" thing, I can feel it vibrate through a couple of my ribs. Unplugged! That's what I want.

If the shop has good inventory I'll sort out a dozen "maybes" and pick "The One" from those.

[Buschman]

I play a CE24 and yes I did used to get lost on the long feeling neck. Give it some time. It is a workhorse of a guitar with all controls right at your fingertips. Throw the 5 way in the trash & wire it like a Mccarty. Some of us believe that the ce is more resonant with the maple neck and the lack of glue between the neck and body. I don't know about that but it is my main humbucker guitar. I like Mccarty pups in mine but am currently using wcr darkburst that belong to a friend of mine. I think the weaker pups give it a more soulful tone -I just never cared for hot pickups. THe Les Paul stays home. I recently got to see a clinic put on by David Grissom at GC. It was a promotion for his new signature DGT model. It was way cool being 20 feet from him and watching how he plays. He is sure one of a kind. I find there are 2 kinds of PRS players. The ones that stay home and hold n polish them, and the kind that take them out and try to wear them out. Wait till you hear it through an Express!

[skyboltone]

I play a CE24 and yes I did used to get lost on the long feeling neck. Give it some time. It is a workhorse of a guitar with all controls right at your fingertips. Throw the 5 way in the trash & wire it like a Mccarty. Some of us believe that the ce is more resonant with the maple neck and the lack of glue between the neck and body. I don't know about that but it is my main humbucker guitar. I like Mccarty pups in mine but am currently using wcr darkburst that belong to a friend of mine. I think the weaker pups give it a more soulful tone -I just never cared for hot pickups. THe Les Paul stays home. I recently got to see a clinic put on by David Grissom at GC. It was a promotion for his new signature DGT model. It was way cool being 20 feet from him and watching how he plays. He is sure one of a kind. I find there are 2 kinds of PRS players. The ones that stay home and hold n polish them, and the kind that take them out and try to wear them out. Wait till you hear it through an Express!

One definitely gets a variety of opinions on the 5 way switch bit. How is the McCarty wired? Isn't it wired like a LP?
Dan

[billyz]

The McCarty has a vol and tone and standard 3 way pickup selector but, the tone control pulls up to split the humbucker to a single coil.
I have never heard a humbucker split to single coil that I thought sounded like a good single coil. But the McCarty has a great single coil sound. I can get very good tele like tones from it. The McCarty pickups are not overwound and ever so slighty microphonic to really shine but not squeal.

So it actually has 6 positions.

[tejastubes]

Sold my McCarty Brazilian ltd edition and every other PRS I owned; custom 22 and sanatana III and my custom shop les paul after I played a Marchione. Huge gap. Way huge. Not even on the same planet.

Didn't know that I didn't even know how much those guitars didn't have it going on as well as distracted me while I was playing.

BTW, I have a 64 BF deluxe reverb and on 5 its amazing, but when I was playing with the wedding band most every weekend I could never turn it past 3. Usually on 2 1/2 ,,, Drag.

Joshua

[funkmeblue]

I have a ce 24 mapletop and a santana 3 and they both sound amazing through my all original 1966 deluxe reverb.

[sunnydaze]

I have a boatload of guitars including the CE 24, its nice, and you get used to the neck pretty quick. Mine's got the wrap around stop tail and HFS bridge pup and Vintage bass in the neck. I like the five way rotary switch and dig the different inner and out coil sounds. Mine has maple neck rosewood board and a solid mahogany body. One my favorites.

I also have a les paul, an Am. Std strat, a Wolfgang and Peavey HP Special, plus a few I built myself. Love em all.

I'd suggest you give the Peavey HP Special a try. I'll give this one a best buy rating. Probably the most versatile and comfortable guitar I own. Mine has an amber burst maple top, that I'm reasonably sure PRS would call a 10. Body is basswood. Comes with a asymetric birdseye maple neck with an oil finish. The asymetry is very subtle, hardly even notice, but the neck just fits in your hands great and looks amazing. Comes with two humbuckers and a floyd rose. The stock Peavey pups spec out almost identical to the Seymour Duncan JB and Jazz (seymour's favorite). You can pick up one these brank new for about 1,100 - 1,200. Worth a look.

Don't get me wrong, like I said I love 'em all. Kind of like a room full of girlfriends, and its great to pick one up that's been neglected for awhile and fall in love again.

michael

[Tubetwang]

Don't like the headstock on them.

I never pay more than 200$ for any guitar.

I've got tools here to shape them to me liking...

No cork sniffin' for me please, i'm a proletarian type when it comes to sound and playin'...i love Elmore James...Elmore had cheap guitars...

I've noticed a trickle down effect from Audiophile Hi-Fi to guitardom in the past 30 years...

I'm not knocking expensive guitars...i used to own them...i just think that they are less fun...

I like to experiment...play with mits on...play in the toilet...play on my back...cut the guitar...reshape it...sand it down...replace the neck...snad the neck...and i could not do that on an expensive guitar cuz...it would loose it's value...

Do not ask me how i know this...

Major Twang

[Wayne]

+1

Don't get me wrong - a piece of crap is a piece of crap, but with basic setup and a couple of tweaks most cheap guitars are playable. It's almost like a challenge to me - can I get whichever bargain bin guitar to play/feel good?

My daughter and I have nearly matching Epi SG's - hers is an entry level with a bolt-on, and mine (more than 2x the price) is a set neck. Neither is a super axe, but both play adequately when set up properly. Hers, the cheaper bolt-on, is much more resonant and sounds much better than mine. I think if you go to a store that has enough inventory that you can play 8 or 10 cheaper guitars you can find one that works, thereby saving hard earned $$ for more beer - or amp parts

W

[Mars Hall]

I just love the name of this thread! I'm with Casey Jones in that I play a possible electric purchase acoustically before plugging it in. It's how I bought my Gold top Lester. I had six to chose from, and wouldn't you know, I bought the one I played first. But it had the vibe and that resonance. What happens acoustically translates when you plug her in.

[Tubetwang]

Don't like the headstock on them.

I never pay more than 200$ for any guitar.

I've got tools here to shape them to me liking...

No cork sniffin' for me please, i'm a proletarian type when it comes to sound and playin'...i love Elmore James...Elmore had cheap guitars...

I've noticed a trickle down effect from Audiophile Hi-Fi to guitardom in the past 30 years...

I'm not knocking expensive guitars...i used to own them...i just think that they are less fun...

I like to experiment...play with mits on...play in the toilet...play on my back...cut the guitar...reshape it...sand it down...replace the neck...reshape the neck...and i would nwant to do that on an expensive guitar cuz...it would loose it's value...

Do not ask me how i know this...

Major Twang

[Bob-I]

I was at my local GC today trying out some PRS guitars. They have this place called the Platinum Room. So I go to the counter and ask the guy there if I can play a CE-22 and a CE-24.

The CE-22 has a bolt on maple neck with a pair of Dragon Two pickups. Single coil taps, master volume and tone control. This thing has balls to the wall. Kinda strat like but more you know? Kinda SG like too only chimy. Wow.

The CE-24 is completely different. Neck is alien. Not bad, just unfamiliar. Would take some getting used to. But the pups are tamesville compared to the Dragon IIs. More laid back. Takes more to make the Deluxe breakup. Smoother on top. Creamy kinda. Dan

I have a 24 fret standard and a 22 fret CE. You're right about the neck on the 24 being alien. It's thin but a different shape than most thin necks, plus it's set more to the left so I'd reach for a chord low on the neck and be a fret off everytime for the first month. Once you get used to it (or maybe it's my 6'6" frame) I love it.

The 22 has better harmonic balance. The 24 pushes the neck PU 2 frets away from it's harmonic node. I like the balance between the PU's not to mention the added drive. I don't have a coil tap switch on mine, and I don't want it. I get all the tone I want from the Dragon II's.

The 24 might as well be a single PU guitar. It has the 5 way rotary switch for all the inbetween positions, but I seldom use anything but the bridge. The remaining positions sound too funky for me.

Both of mine have the PRS vibrato, and I wouldn't have it any other way. It has the feel of a Fender trem, but far better stability. I can dive bomb and pull up without any tuning issues. I can also shimmer gently as as smooth as glass. These vibratos are among the best in the industry and no locking nut.

My only complaint, the 24 fret neck need constant truss rod adjustments. 1/8 turn and it's a different instrument. If the weather changes, 1/8 turn back to bring it home. I adjust the truss more often tha I change strings. Sad but true.

[skyboltone]

My only complaint, the 24 fret neck need constant truss rod adjustments. 1/8 turn and it's a different instrument. If the weather changes, 1/8 turn back to bring it home. I adjust the truss more often tha I change strings. Sad but true.

Hi Bob. I ended up with a McCarty. I couldn't be happier. The odd thing is that I had it set up for GHS David Gilmour Reds 10.5, 13, 17,30,40,50. When it arrived (from North Carolina) the setup was perfect, now the G string buzzes pretty bad from about 10 through 16 or so. I suspect a tiny bit of relief may help. You wouldn't think Frisco would be more humid than NC in summer now would you?