Any PRS Owners out there?

Hi All. This may seem a little off topic but all will become clear.

Having had to accept early retirement due to ill health my wife and I have decided to downshift to live in rural France. Money will be tight and I don't want to have to transport 8 guitars so am looking at pruning my collection. Current collection I've previously listed but for the record is :

Us deluxe strat (non S1)
Tokai LS 150
Tokai LS65
Yamaha MSG Standard
Tokai TTE55
Squier Jap strat
Yamaha Acoustic
Yamaha RB Bass

The last four I'll keep either because they wouldn't realise much cash or I'll use them.

Problem is I can't decide between either :

Selling the LS65 and replace the LS 150 pups with Bareknuckles and either replace the deluxe strat with the newer S1 model (or replace the pups on it). Pups are the only weak point on both guitars in my opinion... or :

Sell the deluxe strat; LS150; LS65 and MSG and replace with a S1 deluxe strat and something like a PRS CE22.

I have to admit despite having three LP types I've mostly played strats and while I enjoy humbucker drive I'd like it combined with a trem and the in between scale length (plus bucker equipped strats I consider just wrong).

The question - finally :wink: - any Tokai owners also with a PRS who can give me a few pointers on quality, sound, flexibility and that elsusive 'mojo'. Heard it said a few times that PRSs are technically excellent but a little souless?

Grateful for any help.

Cheers

Mark L

Mark
This might not be of much help but....

I'm not sure about the PRS CEs but I own a McCarty that I like a lot. I understand that the McCarty is far closer to a vintage Les Paul voicing than the Singlecut. On the plus side, the coil splits give (IMO) some nice singlecoil sounds (OK, so it's not quite a Strat) . On the negative side I miss the Les Paul's 4 controls and think that you lose flexibility with only a master tone and volume.

In terms of "Mojo" I don't really buy this. I own a Gibson Historic LP that has (in theory) all the mojo in the world but isn't a patch quality-wise on my McCarty or Tokai ES-120. (The Gibson's binding is starting to come undone - on a 7 year old guitar!).

If the posts I've read on this forum are any guide, I think you'd have to spend a lot more than you did on the LS-150 to get a better guitar. I'm currently enjoying my ES-120 (thanks Hutton) and would like to add a Love Rock to the collection just because I tend to leave the PRS & Gibson in the case. I'd be far happier letting a Tokai get bashed up in the corner of a French farmhouse than worrying about a high-value, double-10 top PRS!

(Plus you'd play the Tokai a lot more, which is probably the whole point of being into guitars in the first place!)

Anyway - enough of my yakkin'. I hope that your plans come to fruition and that the downshift and relocation give you plenty of time for the truly worthwhile things in life.

Regards
Brendan

Many thanks Brendan for the very useful reply and best wishes.

Perhaps 'mojo' wasn't the best word to use - I don't buy into that either. I just find some guitars easier to love than others regardless of price or any objective measures of quality which is why I'd mentioned the possiblity of PRS's being technically excellent but perhaps a little sterile. In motoring terms probably why I prefer my old Italian Alfa with its many faults to teutonic efficiency (apologies to H-J) :lol:

The loss of double tone and volume controls wouldn't worry me as my current Yam MSG has single volume and tone and coil splits as per the PRS (but not the trem).

For me the answer is obvious: keep all Tokais and buy another PRS copy from them...

Mark - Just to clarify, I wasn't criticising you for using the term "mojo" I was trying to say that even PRS guitars can have that elusive quality. I suppose it's all down to how the individual player gets on with any given guitar.

Thinking about what I wrote, I am fully aware of the double-standard I am using. As a former owner of two Love Rocks, I now own a Gibson Historic LP. It's a nice guitar, a bit nicer sounding than my last LS-60 (which I sold because I didn't like the cherry "clownburst" finish).

However, it is certainly not four times as nice, which was roughly the price difference. I just had to have a Gibson, having grown up listening to Jimmy Page and Billy Gibbons. Now I've got that out of my system I'm hoping to get hold of a Goldtop/Violin Finish Love Rock when I've scraped the funds together. Much as I like the PRS and Gibson, I love the idea that I don't feel as precious about the Tokais and just tend to get on and play them.

Cheers
Brendan

I've had all the guitars you've mentioned there. I had a PRS Santana III with a ten top - it was a step above my friends McArty in terms of fit and finish. The best constructed guitar I've ever seen quite easily. But I sold it because it had no 'mojo' as you put it. I would definitely go towards my ES-120 which was so much more 'alive'. I think it has something to do with the glassy finish on PRS's.
I also had a S1 deluxe strat and dont believe the hype. They have nowhere near the sparkle or cut of a 'true' single coil strat. I sold it as well because it just wasnt 'right'. Then I picked up an old beater Highway 1 - no finish at all (just bare alder), graphite saddles, locking schallers and it absolutely smokes!

You simply wont find a better quality guitar than a Tokai for anything close to the money - believe me, I've tried! Besides, you dont play the fit and finish do you? Change the pickups in the 150, hang onto the strat and play the bejesus out of them both.

Thanks All

Your replies are helping me come to a decision I was probably leaning towards which is to sell the surplus LS65 and put the money towards putting a set of Bareknuckles in the LS150 (Stormy Monday's?) and possibly also the strat (Irish Tour set?).

Glad to hear now that the samarium pups with S1 switching haven't cracked the noiseless pickups bug - i.e. they sound sterile - so I'll probably replace the vintage noiseless pups with normal single coils and live with the hum. Otherwise the deluxe strat is a much nicer guitar than US standards in terms of fit, finish and feel. Tried a Highway 1 and to be honest my old beat up Jap Squier felt ten times better.

Anyone experience of retrofitting Bareknuckle buckers or single coils? They get just about unanimous approval on Harmony Central.

I don't expect this helps much... but... TOTALLY off topic.... if you are looking for a house in France that needs a small amount of tarting up but basically good to go I have one for sale!!!

In Brittany.... I expect you're looking further south though aren't you?

If not, PM me!!!

EDIT..... back on topic..... I like the pickups in my LS150, I think they are really nice, smooth and well rounded sound but still able to get a nice bite out of it when you want....

Strat wise though I play a USA G&L Comanche, which is just f***ing superb, playability, sound, flexability etc are just unbeatable. True noiseless single coils as well, split coils so they are a genuine single coil tone but humcancelling and they are superbly powerful! You can also get a great blend of Tele/Strat tones from it.. I have never found such versatility on anything before..... Most other hum cancelling single coils are actually, technically humbuckers I believe, though lower output and somehow slightly diferent wiring though i don't knwo the technicality... anyway that is why they are not as bright and twangy as genuine sc's.....

Oooops, gone off topic again!!!

Further EDIT.... yes, I have fitted BKs to my Epi Les Paul and they are superb. Played many of Tims guitars at his stand at the Birmingham Music Live and no doubt will be at the London Guitar show too. They are very very good, pretty much the best pickups I have heard.... although, they weren't that succesful in my Epi, but I put that down to the guitar more than the pups. Its all very well changing the pups but with a second rate body and badly made neck joint the guitar won't ever really make the best use of them

Tim is very helpful and extremely knowledgable and his pickups really are the genuine article, the good reviews they get are well justified if you ask me!

Thanks Jamieh (weren't in Corfu in 1985 were you? - maybe not - long shot).

Always liked the sound of the G&L's but rather try new pups in the Strat which I like otherwise rather than search out an new axe. Unfortunately I find the LS150 pups a little wooly espec the neck amd IF I'm keeping it long term I wouldn't be happy with them.

As for the Epi the BK pups were wasted on it IMHO. I had an Epi Classic Birdseye that I liked initially but time and usage showed up its many inherent flaws until I just couldn't stick it anymore. More cheap materials than shoddy build.

Much to still think about though as my next batch of guitars will have to be keepers.

Cheers

Mark

Hello,

I'll chime in as a double Tokai (two MIJ LS70s as Diodatis) and '93 PRS CE24 owner I like the PRS a lot, but right now prefer to play the Tokais. Before I got GAS, the PRS was the only guitar I owned and used exclusively. 7 years later, ebay showed up and all of a sudden 1 guitar was not enough, and so on, etc., you know the story.

I can't really come any closer to defining 'mojo', but would say that I think the guitars I have now have it to varying degrees and some others I've let go had less or none of it.

In trying to define 'mojo', I came up with a list of attributes that could be used together in its place, almost in order of importance to how the word is used:

-- appearance - the guitar has to look the part. For me, it can't be an LP custom studded out with gold hardware (can't stand gold hardware!). A mojo appearance is sort of a working man's guitar appearance. It's got to look broken-in, even if it isn't. To me a tobacco sunburst LP has Mojo as soon as the paint dries.
-- sound - the guitar has to sound great with lots of sustain. The tone has to be rich and ring like a bell, but also provide tight, yet complex focused distortion tones.
-- responsiveness - the guitar has to repond easily to the way I play it. It should respond to subtle changes in picking style and allow lots of dynamic variation without touching the knobs on it or the amp.
-- feel - it has to feel right on my shoulder. It should be balanced and move easily when I move around to the music.

There are probably other attributes, but those are the ones that define 'mojo' for me.

As for my PRS CE24. It has a different look than I'm into now, but on the sound, responsiveness and feel scales it scores very high. I think the pretty top (mine's an emerald flame) detracts from the mojo a little.

That's my 2 cents for what it's worth.

-- Bill

mlivingstone said:

Thanks Jamieh (weren't in Corfu in 1985 were you? - maybe not - long shot).

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Nah... not me!!

mlivingstone said:

Always liked the sound of the G&L's but rather try new pups in the Strat which I like otherwise rather than search out an new axe. Unfortunately I find the LS150 pups a little wooly espec the neck amd IF I'm keeping it long term I wouldn't be happy with them.

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Yeh fair enough! The G&Ls are great, but people do tend to want that Fender logo!!

I haven't found the LS150 pups too wooly myself, but eaech to their own I guess!!

mlivingstone said:

As for the Epi the BK pups were wasted on it IMHO. I had an Epi Classic Birdseye that I liked initially but time and usage showed up its many inherent flaws until I just couldn't stick it anymore. More cheap materials than shoddy build.

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Totally agree... that's basically what I was saying about mine, the pups are great but the guitar doesn't do them justice.

I might wack em in a Tokai at some stage and see how much better they sound!