Refinishing A PRS Custom 24 Part 2 | The Final Reveal

In our last article, Refinishing A PRS Custom 24 Part 1, we detailed the removal of the guitar's cloudy green lacquer and extensive prep work for the big refinish -- entirely in nitrocellulose lacquer -- by luthier Luca Quacquarella.

In my humble opinion, our Italian friend really outdid himself on this particular job.

The following pics were taken by Reggie Tan at Luca's workshop on the day he went to pick up his newly refinished PRS.

As always, click on the pictures to enlarge. Enjoy!

PRS Custom 24 refinished top. This guitar was finished entirely in nitrocellulose

Stunning flame maple top on this PRS Custom 24 Artist model

Artist models like this one also feature choice abalone mother of pearl bird inlays

Another view of the top and 'scraped' maple binding

Inlaid abalone PRS logo and Indian rosewood headstock veneer

Back and neck also refinished in nitrocellulose lacquer

A view of the back of the headstock. Note distinctive quarter sawn grain pattern

PRS's distinctive neck joint

Final view of the top. Note light shading of violet mixed in with blue on the edges

Happy owner, happy luthier! Luca (on the left) with Reggie

(Photographs of this PRS Custom 24 courtesy of Reggie Tan. All rights reserved)

Refinishing A PRS Custom 24 | Part 1

If you read my previous two posts about my good friend Reggie Tan's Music Man Luke guitar, what I didn't mention was that Reggie had also sent in his PRS Custom 24 for a refinish at the same time.

His PRS, built in 2004, had developed a strange cloudiness in the finish and the turquoise was slowly fading from the original blue to a faded green for some reason.

PRS Custom 24 in 2008 before the finish started to cloud

PRS uses both acrylic urethane and polyester in their guitar finishes, laying down the poly basecoat before spraying it over with the acrylic. The acrylic urethane is supposed to give the guitar the look and feel of nitrocellulose, without having to deal with the labor intensive application of nitro in a factory setting.

I strongly suspect that PRS's layering of the two kinds of finishes -- combined with Singapore's crazy humidity -- caused the finish to go cloudy over time. And unlike Reggie's Music Man Luke where the finish was literally flaking and falling off the body like potato chips, I have seen quite a number of PRS guitars with cloudy finishes. 

PRS Custom 24 before refinishing. Note cloudy, green finish

When Reggie mentioned he wanted to get his Music Man Luke refinished, I recommended Luca Quacquarella. 

Reggie wasn't familiar with Luca's work but meeting our Italian friend and seeing the quality of some of his other refinishing projects convinced Reggie enough to entrust both his Music Man Luke and his PRS to him.

Finish clouding is apparent. Could it be humidity?

I remember that Luca's initial reaction to being asked to refinish the PRS was one trepidation. 

He explained that with the guitar's carved top and tough polyester finish, it would take considerable time to strip the guitar down to bare wood. He also mentioned that he couldn't be certain if he could strip off the original turquoise stain entirely -- too much wood would need to be shaved off. Wood stain goes deep into the pores of the wood and now the turquoise had turned a sickly shade of green! To be fair, he asked for a couple of days to consider taking on the project.

Reggie had a specific finish in mind -- a transparent light blue stain to show off the flame maple in the center and a darker shade of blue on the outer edges, sprayed in a sunburst fashion.

Needless to say, Luca had his work cut out for him, if he agreed to take on the project.

The Big Refinish

The first major task was stripping the poly finish off the body's top and back, the headstock, as well as the back of the neck.

There was some discussion about just refinishing the guitar's top only. But given that the finish was also starting to get cloudy on the back, neck and headstock, a complete refinish of the entire guitar was decided.

A major overhaul. 

Even the clear finish on the neck and back weren't spared

Luca spent the most time sanding the finish off the carved top by hand, being careful not to flatten out the original contours. Once the poly finish was completely sanded off, the original turquoise stain was finally visible. Which tells me that the cloudy clear polyester topcoat was yellowing as well, causing the finish to take on the green hue. Yellow and blue equals green.

PRS body stripped revealing turquoise stain underneath

There was still a good amount of the original turquoise stain in the wood after he was done, but rather than try to take off more wood, he decided he would apply a blue stain over it. 

Again this was a close judgement call. Too many layers of stain and the top gets too dark.

Beautiful flame soaked up the original turquoise stain

Fortunately, the Custom 24 features an inlaid Paul Reed Smith logo in beautiful abalone on the headstock which meant one less thing to worry about. The headstock could just be stripped and clear coated, unlike the Music Man Luke where the logo had to be painstakingly recreated.

Stripped PRS headstock with inlaid Paul Reed Smith logo

After a couple of coats of stain, the guitar was allowed to dry thoroughly before applying pale blue clear lacquer. Luca is old school and very much a traditionalist when it come to guitar finishes.

He prefers to work with nitrocellulose instead of polyurethane, even though nitro is far more tedious to apply, requiring multiple coats with ample drying time and a thorough wet sanding between coats.

All nitrocellulose finish. Shades of things to come!

(Photo credits: Luca Quacquarella and Reggie Tan)

Stay tuned for Part 2 of Refinishing A PRS Custom 24 for a dose of serious guitar eye-candy! 

Warwick Thumb Bass SC | Single Cut-Away

For your perusal, this is the new Warwick Thumb Bass SC, Single Cut-Away.

Every once in a while, a new bass catches my attention and which I just have to feature here on The Guitar Column.  Okay, this is actually the first bass I'm featuring on TGC, but who's keeping track, right?  Let it be the first of many firsts..

The original groundbreaking small-bodied Warwick Thumb bass has been around since the mid-80's and has won its share of players and fans.  Its clear, hi-fidelity tone, active electronics and use of exotic woods like African wenge and bubinga really turned the bass world on its ear.  These basses were also precisely set-up out of the factory with low action, allowing even a guitar player like myself to fake some Stanley Clarke runs with minimal effort.

But a common gripe with the original Warwick Thumb bass was that the size of the small body and close positioning of the strap buttons made reaching for that low F on the 1st fret (or low C on a 5-string) something of a stretch.  Great for players 5'10" or taller with long arms, but not so good if you were a little guy.  

On the new Warwick Thumb Bass SC, the front strap-button is moved further up to around the location of the 13th fret, which helps with the instrument's overall balance and solves the stretching dilemma mentioned earlier. 

Oh yeah, and no surprise that all that extra wood attached to so much neck area is a great tone and sustain enhancer as well.  If you ask me, the Warwick Thumb SC actually bears a striking resemblance to Fodera's design.  Hope we won't be looking at another Gibson guitars vs PRS Single-Cut debacle.

The neck-through Thumb SC comes with Warwick's proprietary height-adjustable nut, 2-piece bridge, passive MEC pickups and active electronics, flame maple neck, tiger-stripe ebony fingerboard, American swamp ash body and a Bubinga Pommelé top.  The Warwick Thumb Bass SC is also available in fretless and 6-string versions. 



See http://www.warwick.de/ for more details.

PRS Torero SE | Poised To Capture the Shred Guitar Market?

PRS is set to release their first Floyd Rose-equipped guitar -- the Torero SE.

A lot of thought it seems has been put into the design of the neck, making it as shred-friendly as possible.  With a 24-fret ebony fingerboard sans fingerboard markers on a wide thin-carved neck, this axe is also the first production-model PRS to feature neck-thru construction.  The smooth carved heel-less neck design will no doubt facilitate effortless 16th note triplet runs in the stratospheric registers.

The solid mahogany body features a flame maple-top with binding,  EMG 81 and 85 active pickups in the neck and bridge positions respectively, a 3-way pickup selector, a single volume and tone control and of course the Floyd Rose 1000 bridge.

With a release slated for the first quarter of 2010, the PRS Torero SE will be available in Black Cherry and Gray Black finishes.

PRS Guitars Sweepstakes -- Win a PRS SE Custom 24 Signed by Orianthi!

PRS Guitars will be giving away a PRS SE Custom 24 in Whale Blue (retail value: US$1023), signed by Orianthi.

No purchase is necessary, but this one only applies to US Residents.

To enter, visit www.facebook.com/orianthi, click the “ENTRY” button and fill out the entry form in accordance with the on-screen instructions. Entries must be received between December 3, 12:01 a.m. PT and January 14, 2009, 2010 11:59 p.m. PT.

Be sure to read the complete contest rules at http://www.orianthi.com/sweepstakes/

Some customization ideas should you win this guitar:

• Bling it out with Swarovski crystals and a hot glue gun

• Create the first PRS 'relic' guitar. In my opinion PRS's don't carry the heavily relic'd look as well as Strats or Les Pauls, so proceed conservatively and with good taste

• Really go crazy and let your imagination fly with a thematic graphic that best suits your personality. Check out this hand-painted bass that came through Gary Brawer's repair shop!

Nine Inch Nails Selling Tour Gear On eBay!

After playing their last show at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles on 10th September, Nine Inch Nails have decided to auction their touring gear on eBay.

According to the band's website NIN.com:


"We've been going through the NIN touring and studio rigs and are getting rid of a large selection of gear and equipment the band is no longer in need of. It's being listed on eBay here.

We do not know which (if any) tour these items are from unless specified, nor can we get any items autographed, so please do not ask. Hundreds of items will be listed over the next several weeks such as guitars, keyboards, amplifiers, drums, staging, anvil cases, cables, rack/outboard gear, guitar effects, and pedal boards.

Check the eBay page regularly for new listings, or follow @nineinchnails on Twitter for updates. More information can be found in the descriptions of each item."

Some items listed are near mint and some are 'tour casualties' -- broken necks and all.

Pictured is a near mint one-off custom shop ESP USA with The Fragile album graphic and Trent Reznor's Roland GK midi-pickup equipped green PRS Custom 22 tour guitar!

Stay tuned!

Orianthi Plays Eddie Van Halen's Beat It Solo

Here's a vid of Orianthi Panagaris playing Eddie Van Halen's iconic solo from Beat It.

Following in the footsteps of Michael Jackson's previous touring guitar veteran Jennifer Batten, Orianthi was all set to embark on Jackson's This Is It comeback tour before the singer's untimely demise.





A PRS Guitars endorser since 2004, Australian-born Orianthi has drawn accolades from no less than Steve Vai and Carlos Santana.

On the PRS website, Carlos is quoted as saying, "It's not cute anymore. It's seriously ass-whupping. If I was going to pass the baton to somebody, she would be my first choice."


www.myspace.com/orianthi

Crystal Frets by Erich Stone

I recently received a comment from the folks at http://www.crystalfrets.com/.

The brainchild of artist Erich Stone, using quartz crystal for frets has to be one of the most radical innovations to have come along since Leo Fender's solidbody or Ned's all-graphite Steinberger.

And according to Stone, guitars customized with the quartz frets take on a 'hi-definition' tone.

And being crystal, these frets would probably be nearly impervious to wear.

But rather than being an aftermarket add-on, the company plans to launch their own line of guitars. Which makes sense. You'd need specialized skills and tools to install quartz frets into wood fingerboards.

I can just see Paul Reed Smith incorporating these quartz frets into one of their heavily-inlaid NAMM showpiece guitars.

Buddy Guy And Carlos Santana at Experience PRS 2009

Carlos Santana and Buddy Guy got together onstage for a surprise jam at the annual Experience PRS event in September.

Carlos was introducing his new 25th Anniversary Santana model as seen in this clip, while Buddy played an all-white, maple-neck PRS 305. The 305, as I mentioned in an earlier article, is a 25 1/2" scale instrument that is the nearest thing in the PRS line to a traditional Strat.

Buddy, a die-hard Stratocaster player, appears a little thrown off when he starts his solo. You can tell that he is playing licks that he would normally play on his Fender -- licks that would simply sing when executed with glassy Strat tones.

The 305 is obviously a lot more meaty sounding with a thick mid-range which he appears to be unaccustomed to. But he soon finds his footing by unleashing a few Santana-esque lines of his own. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

But I must say the Santana 25th Anniversary sounds pretty good. Carlos' mildly-overdriven-and-magically-on-the-verge-of-feedback tones are simply unctuous.

Also making its debut at Experience PRS was the Carlos Santana Abraxas SE model. A limited edition model, the Abraxas SE is a take on the Les Paul Junior-style, with a single soapbar pickup and a wrap-around bridge. The instrument is adorned with a graphic from the Abraxas album art and a peace-symbol inlay at the twelfth fret.

Beautiful.

As a side note, Buddy Guy's pic from this very same concert now appears on the PRS website on the model 305 page.

Could this be a sign of a burgeoning new relationship?

(Picture Source: http://www.prsguitars.com/)

Great Prices On PRS Guitars Here!

PRS Al DiMeola Signature Model

Now this is a beautiful instrument -- almost too beautiful to play. It should come with its own glass-case, halogen spotlight and velvet rope.

Al DiMeola has been playing various PRS's since the late '80s, alternating them with his mainstay axe, his famous black '59 Les Paul Standard with cream DiMarzio pickups. But this is the first time PRS has come out with an 'Al D' signature axe.

The Al DiMeola Prism features PRS's standard 25" scale length, a custom-shaped Peruvian mahogany neck and black Mexican rosewood fingerboard with abalone bird outline inlays with paua centers. The carved curly maple '9' top is coupled to a mahogany back. (Why not a '10' top we wonder -- this is after all Al's signature guitar. I guess those are saved for the Private Stock series)

The standard tremelo bridge and pickup covers for the humbuckers are nickel-plated. The pickup covers, interestingly, have a brushed texture giving a satin-matt finish. And as anyone who has owned a guitar with nickel hardware will tell you, nickel ages to a similar dull lustre if not wiped regularly.

A 3-way toggle switch, and a single volume and push/pull tone control for humbucker/coil-tap selection complete the setup.

Al originally suggested a 'tie-dye' finish which eventually evolved into the breath-taking Prism of colors on the final version.

And if you look closely at the Prism's various tints, several of PRS's primary colors are represented -- Vintage Yellow, Amber, Vintage Cherry, Purple, Royal Blue, Whale Blue and Emerald Green -- each blending into the next. Wow.

PRS Al DiMeola Prism And The Bird from 'Up'?

While watching the movie 'Up' I was quite taken by the colorful plumage on Kevin the Bird.

And I couldn't shake this feeling that I had recently seen that same color combination somewhere. It was all too familiar. Hmmm...

But seriously..

See my next post for an overview of the PRS Al DiMeola Prism.

Paul Reed Smith Guitars | A Question of Scale Lengths

There are two basic guitar scale lengths in general use -- the 25 1/2" 'Fender' scale and the 24 3/4" 'Gibson' scale.

Just to clarify, a guitar's scale length is determined by measuring the string's length immediately after the nut to the exact point that it goes over the bridge. The scale length determines the tension of the strings when they're tuned to pitch, affecting how the instrument feels in general. Shorter scale lengths give the strings a more pliable feel and vice versa.

PRS based their earlier guitars exclusively on a unique 25" scale -- somewhere between the traditional Fender and Gibson scales.

And they have always set out to make the most versatile guitar possible. Primarily humbucker-equipped, PRS's were also capable of sparkly Fender-type tones by putting the pickups in series or out of phase with the selector switch.

And by using a 25" scale, PRS originally hoped to create an instrument that was capable of being the best of both worlds.

PRS now uses several scale lengths on its various models -- 24 1/2", 25", 25 1/4" and 25 1/2". Note that with a 24 1/2" scale, the tension of the strings when tuned to pitch would be identical to a 25 1/2" scale guitar tuned down a half-step -- commonly referred to as Eb tuning. This is the scale featured on the PRS Santana model.

For some time now the company has seemed to resist going with the full 'Fender' 25 1/2" scale.

Until now.

The recent release of their 305 model marks the first instrument they've produced with a 25 1/2" scale. Featuring a host of other decidedly Stratocaster-like accoutrements -- three single-coil pickups, 5-way pickup selector switch, tremelo system, a maple neck and an alder body -- the 305 falls squarely in the 'super strat' category.

(Picture Source: www.prsguitars.com)



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