PRS SC245 vs Gibson Les Paul

[MikeyTheCat]

While I like the idea of the MM, LPJ and of course Juniors they just seemed poorly made by choice rather than necessity. I just came up during a different time and have different demands.

 

[Deus Vult]

While I like the idea of the MM, LPJ and of course Juniors they just seemed poorly made by choice rather than necessity. I just came up during a different time and have different demands.

no worries, just some friendly razzing. I do think the amount of time spend hunting is inversely proportional to the price tag when it comes to gibsons.

 

[MikeyTheCat]

No worries Fenn. While the SEs didn't catch my fancy they seemed to be very playable, I just wanted something American and not so PRS. So an S2 was what grabbed me. The lower price Gibsons on the other hand sounded fine for the most part but just seemed to be made intentionally shoddy, and I just can't bear to buy something made that way. And if one more salesman told me "what do you expect for $500, $600, $700, $1000?" I was going to take up the bagpipes.

 

[StratGT]

For the record...I do like PRS guitars despite my complaining about them. One day I'll pick up a Custom 22 CE Bolt-On...I'll change the pickups if it has the Prs HFS pickups in it.

 

[Garhel]

For the record...I do like PRS guitars despite my complaining about them. One day I'll pick up a Custom 22 CE Bolt-On...I'll change the pickups if it has the Prs HFS pickups in it.

Despite having more guitars than I need, my week in/week out gigging guitar is a Custom 24, just plays great week in/week out and now sounds great.
But - it didn't take long for me to work out the HFS/VB pick-up combination weren't for me. Not so much the HFS, I thought in the bridge that worked very well for more modern, gainy rock sounds, but the VB just made the guitar sound dead.
I can see where people might get the "sterile" thing from if that's what they've played, although quite often I think that is pre-determined by some before they've ever even played one!
I swapped them out for some Bareknuckle Mules, and it went from a great playing, superbly built, but distinctly average sounding guitar to a fantastic sounding guitar...
I wouldn't buy another PRS with the VB/HFS combo in it...

 

[jimmer_5]

i think PRS does have its own client base, even if it is smaller than a company like Gibson. And I think that proportionately, there are far more Gibsons and Fenders for sale than PRS- at least around here. I do agree though that PRS do seem to have lower resale value (yay for me!).

One of the guys I jam with was playing my SC this weekend and I jokingly said "PRS makes guitars that look and feel amazing, but sound pretty boring".

The common complaint is that a PRS sounds "sterile". Even the fanboys on the PRS forum agree- though several of them are complete apologists in that they think sterile is a synonym for modern. I read a post the other day that said something like:

The 57/08s are based off PAFs. But they aren't PAFs. But they retain what I like the best about PAFs. In fact, I think they're better.

It is very interesting to me how PRS guys don't seem to stray from the brand whereas Gibson guys have no problem slapping Duncans, Wizz or Throbaks in their LPs.

I feel like this is a case of "different strokes for different folks". I think sometimes in the guitar community, we latch onto terms that are tough to define. What does sterile actually imply? Too clean and precise?

I am not some big PRS apologist, but I own two, and I don;t find them to be sterile at all. I love the 57/08's in my SC58 - they are part of the reason I bought the guitar. I find them fat, clear, and just aggressive enough for high gain playing. I can understand that not everyone would like them, but they are in no way "cold" or "sterile" sounding (in my opinion).

Perhaps a Les Paul is more "primal" and "raw" in sound, but if that's the defining characteristic, then a '56 reissue with P90's or a Junior would be the ideal choice (as opposed to a '58/'59 with PAF humbuckers)

Don't get me wrong, I love both Gibson and PRS guitars (two custom shop Les Pauls, two PRS), but I have never understood the "sterile" label that people throw around when discussing PRS.