Welcome to The Guitaristas my name is Colin and I'm a guitar addict and I post in-depth reviews accompanied with lots of waffle and nonsense every Friday at 12 noon GMT.
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I have two Eastman. They are the finest guitars I own, which includes 70’s , 80’s, 90’s Fenders and Gibsons. The second Eastman is a T46 hollow body. The sound and playability is unmatched. I searched for over a year to find a 330 that was under five grand. Played several that I loved but was unwilling to pay eight to ten grand for them. Tried the T46 through a vox and it was magic. I love my Eastman and would say try one ,find out. Cheers!
I love your work, Colin, but I'm sorry to say that a) that ain't a REAL Les Paul Standard - it'a all silk purse but no knickers (looks good but sounds shit) & b) if you played a couple of mine mate, you'd wet yr pants with excitement. No comparison. That said, I'm biased as I have binned off all my guitars except R9s & an R0. I'm sad & stuck in da past. Peace
I've been playing for over 60 years. I had the privilege of working through out the '70s, and just retired a few years ago. I've played pretty much every guitar brand you can think of at one time or another. I really wanted to like PRS guitars, but I just can't. And it really is a lack of "mojo", whatever that is. It's something that players have never really been able to put their finger on, but it's a real thing. I call PRS a "left-brain" guitar, because it seems to appeal to more technical, math oriented players, were Fenders appeal to more emotionally based players, "right-brain". That's probably BS, but it works for me.
My friend has one of these. I played it and loved it. It felt and sounded great. Is it really better than the Epiphone though? ABSOLUTELY YES! I had a very nice Epiphone Les Paul that I bought to try to stop beating on my Gibson. I liked the Epiphone, but I didn't play it much. The Gibson just feels and sounds so much better. Unfortunately the Epiphone was stolen. My1986 Gibson Les Paul custom SG threeTim Shaw pickups gold hardware cream or ivory color that changed to yellow over the years has been my main since 1989. My next guitar just maybe the Les Paul tribute. It played so well for me.
Good job we all have different views but i don't worry about the headstock my epiphone worn casino has a horrible big headstock but its a fantastic most used guitar but needs tuning more than the pointy ones 😅
Another great watch col but I must disagree with the headstock shapes I have a 85 ibanez rg and it's the only guitar that never needs tuning and sounds fantastic hsh setup great 5 piece neck also recently bought the prs satin and it plays and sounds better than the Gibson junior I've got so really a guitar is how it sounds and feels to me maybe pointy headstock means reliability in tuning
Interesting vid Colin. You did get some fab sounds out of that guitar, P90s are superb pups generally, but like you PRS just do not do it for me either. I have played some, they are well made and are certainly not bad guitars at all in anyway but they do not make me want to play on, they just dont inspire me in any way. We are all different and have our likes and dislikes in how a guitar sounds but there is more to it as you have just shown. For me often its the necks but its definitely how they sit with you and give that all important "feel" in their playing. Great playing mate really enjoyed the vid, thank you.
I'm not a big PRS fan either. And I agree that history has a lot to do with it. If the brand developed along side Gibson and Fender in the 1950s and 1960s, we'd probably feel somewhat different about them.
I have about 30 guitars but I haven't got a PRS , but I have tried a few from time to time but I just can't get excited about them even the dearest one's the quality is great but like you I've got grey hair & don't associate them with the guitarist's I grew up with me be a mental thing . Good review as usual though.
Great video, I have bought one of these off the back of your review 👍 where did you get the replacement vibrato bar from as would like to get one myself ?
I have a PRS Soapbar II SE. It does indeed sound fantastic and play really well. Mine is also super light, 6 pounds exactly. I like the look. Pointy guitars, I love ‘em. My favorite headstock is the six-on-a-side Jackson headstock. On the other hand I really dislike the look of the Epiphone Coronet headstock. To each their own. :-) Keep on rockiin’ Collin!
The pointy headstocks are often to improve the break angle at the nut and improve tuning stability which was always an issue for me as a les paul player... til i began using the "string butler" on the gigging guitars
I have 2 PRS guitars and SE and a core model and I must say I think the Se outshines the core .The core model I have doesn’t work for me,and I have problems with static noise ,very disappointed with that guitar.
I've had very good experience w/ PRS guitars. Of course, each person has their own likes, dislikes & criteria. I happen to love the nearly straight string pull through the nut.
I’m 73 years old and my heroes ,as yours, didn’t have PRS to play. That being said, I own one along with a Les Paul, Gretsch, Strat and 335. I find the PRS to be quite comfortable and reach for it often. It’s clearly a personal thing. While I don’t like the headstock shape either, the body shape is just fine. My question to you is, since the PRS shape is really a derivative of the Strat shape, do you dislike them as well?
The reason why the 80’s had to have pointy headstocks was to solve a very common problem… drummers. So when the drummer would mess up the guitarist could take care of it. (This is a joke and should by no means be taken for a fact or insult. Thank you.)
I'm primarily a Strat player, but have a Tele, a Les Paul and a PRS SE standard 24 in my collection. I mostly play standing and have found no adverse playability issues with any of them. My Les Paul has P90s and gets played more often than PRS, even though the PRS is a much better guitar than the Les Paul in terms of sound and feel. The only difference is that I like the look and, dare I say it, the fact that in my eyes, the LP has much more mojo!
I used to have the same guitar in a different color. Was one of my favorite guitars when I had it. But to each their own, I truly believe guitars do in fact have their own mojo or just how it correlates with the player. Probably just me but I find the guitars with the most mojo are the ugly beat up ones.
Great review. I bought my kid this guitar for his first electric guitar and he absolutely loves it. This video has helped me to know that I can set it up for him myself. Thanks
100% with you on that spiky headstock. It's hideous and clashes with, hell, ruins the often beautiful/cool-looking PRS bodies. Can't think of another major guitar brand that sticks with one headstock design for every model (I know there was one retro Santana variation but it's no better). Also, not crazy about those bird inlays, which is what you usually get. Oh, well.
Hi Colin, glad you're well, that fat chin vertical sight, never thought about it, cleaver one. When I started playing an Sg, my initial thought: it's an odd left shift, but when realizing, where your hand lands, as a natural first grip, right in the middle of the fretboard, the light weight and the effortless fret access, was "the" game changer (Mojo) for me. Cheers.
The Soapbar II guitars aren't made today. I love wrap around bridges. I think they have more resonance than a Tune-O-Matic bridge and stop bar tailpiece most of the time (not always). Thank you for showing how different guitars fit the body. I could see it over the years of watching others play, but your demonstration, one after another, made it very clear. I've got a Donner Tele Thinline copy and love it. Maybe it's time to try an SG like guitar. I don't want to spend the money on a Gibson or Epiphone.
It’s silly to say PRS don’t have mojo because at the moment they are technically the oldest guitar builders. Fender is just a brand and so is Gibson. The people who started those companies are dead and gone. It’s like being sentimental about Disney when Walt is long gone and Mickey is just a corporate symbol.
I am in to my fifth Les Paulish guitar but Lp will simply not catch on me so it hangs on the wall most of the time. A Standard ’50s P90 clone, it is nice! I think that the design is way outdated, heavy, clumsy, stiff action/tuning issues if not knowing about what to do. A hell of a lot of Rosie for nothing better that one will get from other in my mind better designs. As younger that I named Lp "the Fat Lady"..my granpa a 100% Gibson guy did not like that. But there are this modern feauture atleast on all of mine, they want straight neck low action there is a sweet spot down there that I give but then it will be aquard kind of walking on hard flat feel to it and I do prefer more of flexibility.
