SteveB

heh, I somehow missed that. Looks like somebody merged me in though, so alls good.

So since I was gonna be sitting in front of the big ole TV during the game, I figured I might as well pull out the soldering iron and install the WB Gregwinds I bought some ungodly number of months ago and hadn't gotten around to installing yet. They went into my #1 PRS CE-24. At the same time I also converted it to a 3 way toggle and push pull tone verses the PRS rotary, which ended up requiring pulling out the old Dremel and doing some woodwork to thin out the top a bit so the shaft would go out. I installed with the split on the neck only. Scratched up the top just a bit around the nut ring for the toggle, but after a bit of application of my favorite refinishing tool ( black sharpie ) it looks fine. These pickups are good. Really good. I was surprised how strong the single coil sound was from the neck pup. Neck is clear and not muddy, bridge sounds great, easy to get harmonics, hot enough but its the first bridge HB I've had that I actually like clean. Easy to pull pinch harmonics with. They respond great to the volume control. When I put them in I decided to leave the PRS standard bright cap out, because I get annoyed with the extraneous brightness when the pickups are turned down really low. These pickups don't need the bright cap. In all, very pleased. Best pickups I've had in that guitar yet.

slip with the screwdriver did ya?

Transparent blood red finish, ebony board no inlays, black hardware, floyd rose... yup, that'd work.

ok, gotta give em props for putting some more modern versions of Robin Trowers stuff from "20th Century Blues" on the playist.

"I tried to run away. Run away and hide. But Jesus came and found me, and touched me deep inside. He's just like a mountie, he always gets his man...." Explain to me again why christians don't like gay marriage?

Shakira's version of Black and Black is pretty bad. Shakira looks alot better than Brian Johnson though. Band is pretty good. Hamer Newport wielding guitar player. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip8_aGOGAOM

This guy definately found some of the worst. http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/getback/1...ver-songnothing why do the Pussycat Dolls even bother singing? Shouldn't they just strip and get it over with?

They must have just got it in and it's still on police hold.

+1 on positive vibes...

Used to be Hamer would beat PRS on pricing both used and new, now not so much if you are talking current models, although PRS still seems to hold value better. Hamer is way cheaper though when you start trying to customize your order, as PRS can't do that with the volume they produce and you have to go Private Stock then. Its definately true though that pretty much every Hamer is a "custom shop" piece with that level of attention to detail, which PRS, Gibson, and Fender can't do under normal circumstances. From that standpoint, Hamer probably should be charging more.

If you heard me play, you'd know there is no reason to ask that...

sure 'nuf. Good eye.

ya want Mojo? Plenty of it here:

yeah, I was wondering about the Tri-Mode as well. I have a Sansamp Tri-A.C. but I've never gotten a decent sound out of that in front of the amp.

Thanks for the info. I saw an older used BK Butler around and was wondering if it was gainier or less gainy than the TK. I like the tubeking, but I'd like to find a bit heavier sounding version or simlar. and big +1 to the crappy AC jack on the TK. Who thought that was acceptable? The new BlackStar HT-Dual looks interesting. I wonder also what the new version of the Ibanez TK sounds like, the TK999HT or whatever. You need sunglasses to look at that thing though.

similar? different? same thing different box?

+1. PRS is making enough guitars that some lemons are gonna get through,but to claim that basically every guitar made has no "mojo", whateverthehellthatmeans, is just showing ignorance. I would expect Hamer guitars to be consistently excellent, given that they really are made one at a time and Hamer isn't shooting for over 1000 guitars to be made in a month. Hamer really should be charging more for what they do now. PRS and Hamer are two different types of operations... Hamer is closer to the PRS Private Stock department. Hamer tried the mass manufacturing thing and decided they didn't like it.. kudos to them! What I find interesting in that pic is that rework percentage of 3.07%.... thats pretty damn low for the volume.

That guy has some kind of agenda, being that I've never seen a Private Stock that looked just like some "line" guitar, they all have custom appointments of one kind or other, private stock reserved colors, etc. I think the Private Stock program got diluted a bit when dealers started ordering them for "store stock" rather than just customer custom orders. PRS guitars are also pretty damn consistent.... if his defintion of "gunk" is what most of the guitars off the PRS line are coming out as, than I'm fine with the gunk. Its fine to love Hamers... but you don't need to resort to denigrating other companies or taking as gospel the words of obviously disgruntled ex employees to make that point. I've never gotten the concept that because someone thinks that one brand is best for them, that other brands therefore have to be crap because it's apparently illegal for there to be more than one decent brand out there. Hell musta froze over.... The funny part is that its a Jackson fan talking about Mojo...

Nearly every PRS neck has a 10" radius... I wouldn't call that exactly flat. I like the width of the wide/thin wide/fat though. Hamers are generally 14" radius, so they are actually flatter.

a guitar is worth whatever a particular player finds it to be worth. A musician binds to a particular guitar, then to him that guitar is worth much more than it might be to someone else. Its kinda like Harry Potter... the wand and the magician have to be matched to each other or neither works as it should. A guitar has exactly as much mojo as a player puts into it. We should all be glad we have so many choices at "reasonable" prices. Priced any good quality cellos lately? Or saxaphones?

So, the Mojo machine broke down and PRS never repaired it?

I love pre-dinged PRS's. Immediately makes it easy to treat it like a tool instead of some work of art. My #1 PRS got a couple of new dings on the headstock when I moved into this house... courtesy of a low ceiling and a ceiling fan.

there is a law of diminishing returns as prices get higher for guitars anyway, no matter who manufactures them. Most of my PRS's have cost me less than $1500. I paid about $1400 for a brand new Mira. What would the equivalent Hamer cost, if they made one just like that? Private stock PRS is stupid money of course, Hamer is much more reasonable when it comes to more customized work, although PRS will build pretty much anything if you pony up. the uber-swank PRS's don't do much for me, but the garden variety guitars are perfect. Hamer doesn't exactly sell a "street" 24 fret, assymetrical double cut, trem equipped guitar these days, and the normal PRS design balances perfect and the necks feel great to me. Can't ask for much more than that. PRS is also a pretty decent company, so I don't have problems supporting them. Paul Reed Smith is just as excited about building excellent guitars as Jol. The company has also been one of the few to continue to push guitar technology in new directions, whether its something like the 513 or the new MVC stuff. It's nice to see them trying new stuff. It's also nice that they don't just keep making swank guitars, but that they are willing to introduce new guitars like the Mira. Yeah, I like PRS obviously, they are "my" guitar brand as much as Mesa is "my" amp brand. In both cases it's because the companies produce what works and feels good for me. I like Hamer too, they make fantastic guitars, but I'm not so much into "better Gibsons". Someday I'll probably grab a NewPort or a Duotone though.