Les Paul vs PRS

Jay should answer this one, I believe he owns a PRS if I'm not mistaken.

Personally, I love the Les Paul sound, but can't play them because they feel like a whale in my hands. Plus, they are unbelievably expensive these days. The PRS, which I understand is a beautifully crafted instrument, just doesn't quite have that instantly identifiable sound that a Les Paul has. When I hear songs on the radio, I can usually tell when someone is playing a Strat or a Telecaster or a Les Paul, but if it isn't instantly identifiable as one of those, I have no idea what they're playing.

As with most high-end instruments, I think it's a matter of personal preference. I'm with Charlie on the Les Paul neck feeling like a baseball bat, plus I don't care for the laquered neck. I'm a big PRS fan (although I don't own one - sorry CC). They're all hand-crafted in America. I don't think you'll find a guitar that's superior to a PRS and they have a wide variety of models. I've fallen in love with every one I've played.

You'll get much better quality with the PRS. Even custom Gibsons are known for wacky fretting, bad wood (no, heavier is not better, it means they used crappy wood), and other basic inconsistencies. Most of the people who end up buying them are too dazzled by the nice finish and prestige to notice these things. This doesn't mean all are bad, but it's inconsistent and you'd really need to look at each piece closely to make sure you don't get a shitty one.

Never played a PRS but I've heard about them as high-end, expensive guitars with a reputation of being worth the price. What I recall from a few decades ago was their Strat-body model starting around $1,000 (and back then you could get a Les Paul for a good bit less than that), but looking at the PRS website, they make a bunch of models (and that's just in the "solid body" category), and something comparable to a Les Paul would be this model:
http://www.prsguitars.com/sc245/index.html
(lotsa fun watching those videos)
From that page, here's a review of that model:
http://www.prsguitars.com/sc245/reviews/screview.pdf
To summarize it, list price is $3,560, and if you look at the "PRO" and "CON boxes at the bottom it only has one con, "EXPENSIVE."

I HAVE played a Les Paul, though it's been a while (I'm pretty faithful to stratocasters and copies), but it sure looks like the PRS is better.

While poking around I came across this little tour of the PRS factory showing a little of how a solid-body guitar is made:
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/science-channel/5088-assembly-line-prs-guitars-video.htm

III said:

I'm a big PRS fan (although I don't own one - sorry CC).

Click to expand...

Ah. I must have seen you mention how you like them somewheres and it got stuck in a dusty little corner of my brain.