After breathing a sigh of relief
that there wasn’t some obscurely
amazing brand of guitars I’d
somehow been oblivious to all
these years, I had to chuckle at
my friend’s innocence.
But wait—it gets funnier.
I clicked the link and up
popped a series of pictures of
a beat-up 1989 PRS CE as
bright and gaudy as Thomas
Magnum’s Ferrari—only after
it’d been tagged by a bunch of
Sharpie-wielding ’80s artists,
including Julian Lennon, the
Vixen vixens, the guys from
House of Lords, Henry Lee
Summer, and the ax-wielders
of Molly Hatchet. Needless
to say, the more affordable
bolt-on model bedecked with
celebrity autographs of yesteryear
wasn’t quite a rare find of
the sort dreamt about by your
average guitar collector. But
under the scribbles and blinding
red finish I could still see
that there was a (hopefully)
nice vintage PRS guitar looking
for a new home.
The CE after the “off the
frame” customization.
I’ve always appreciated older
PRSes, because they remind
me of my early guitar-playing
days, when PRS hit the scene
with its innovative, Gibson-meets-
Fender hybrid design.
Nostalgia factor notwithstanding,
I also had a soft spot
for older PRS instruments.
Though I didn’t think of them
as better or worse than current
models, the fact that they’re
from a very different period of
the company’s history—way
before it became the third-biggest
player in the industry—intrigued me. And when no
one placed the $750 minimum
bid, how could I say no when I
called and was offered the guitar
for $600?
The Hour of Reckoning
When the guitar finally arrived,
it was both better and worse
than I had expected: Most of
the time, getting the original
case with a 24-year-old guitar
is pretty cool. But opening the
CE’s unleashed a stench indicating
that, at some point, it
had been used as a cat’s litter
box. On top of that, the guitar
had seen better days—the frets
and nut were worn down, the
tremolo was out of balance and
missing its arm, the finish was
worn off in spots, and the body
had a bunch of dings and dents,
probably from a bunch of Less
Than Zero-type moments back
in the day.
On the plus side, it was all-original.
It still had the coveted
Standard Treble Standard Bass
humbuckers. It still had the
1-piece MannMade tremolo
bridge. It still had Phase I
“winged” tuners with the D- and
G-string units that share a
mounting screw. And it still had
the 24-fret, Indian-rosewood-topped
maple neck with the
shorter neck heel. Typical of
well-played guitars, it had a
wonderful, broken-in feel and a
balanced, snappy acoustic tone,
thanks to its aged alder body.
Despite needing some TLC, the
guitar was very resonant and
comfortable to play, weighing in
at 7 pounds, 6 ounces. Plugged
in, the guitar sounded really
nice, too, though signal-cutout
and grounding issues made it
clear the electronics needed
some help.
Having assessed the pros
and cons of my new find, I
faced a big dilemma: Should
I stay grounded in PRS history
and keep the guitar in its
original condition or keep the
best of the old and upgrade
the stuff that could be better?
Certain PRS enthusiasts would
say this early CE represents
the company’s “golden era”
and that changing its original
components would amount
to blasphemy. Others take the
position that PRS has pretty
much only gotten better over
the years and that current-production
guitars incorporate
decades of innovation and
refinement.
Truth be told, I hadn’t kept
up with the company’s major
design and hardware changes
over the last 10 years. I’ve
always tended to believe that
most well-established manufacturers’
truly groundbreaking
ideas came out with the initial
designs of flagship models. In
my somewhat jaded view, subsequent
“innovations” are more
often than not spawned in the
name of cost cutting or creating
marketing buzzwords. Either
way, such measures don’t usually
improve the tone or playability
of an instrument. I’m sure I’m
not the only one who thinks
this way, either.
I did some research to
help me with my decision
and found the folks at PRS
formally established the PRS
Technical Center (PTC) in
2009 at the Stevensville,
Maryland, factory to expand
the capabilities of the in-house
team tasked with providing
warranty-fulfillment services. I
reached out to Shawn Nuthall,
who’s been with PRS for 11
years and is manager of the
PTC, to learn more about
the center. According to him,
the PTC was formed at the
direction of Paul Smith and in
response to demand from PRS
owners who wanted custom
work. Staffed by a committed,
seasoned team of five
PRS employees whose average
tenure with the company is
12 years, the PTC still provides
owners of PRS guitars
with warranty work, but it
also fields requests for repairs,
custom work, and restorations.
The PTC also offers retrofits
of older PRS guitars with the
latest hardware and
design updates found
on current-production
guitars. Shawn shared
his position that current
PRS guitars reflect
the “golden era” for
the company and that
I should consider having
the PTC team
undertake a full “off
the frame” restoration
of my ’89 CE—a bold
proposition to prove
out a bold claim.
LEFT: The autographs from members of Vixen, Molly Hatchet, and other ’80s bands ... MIDDLE: ... even spilled over to the rear of the CE. RIGHT: The guitar also came with its original PRS Phase I “winged tuners.”
I was intrigued.
Could there really be
some sort of guitar
alchemy going on here, or
was it merely marketing hype?
There was only one way to find
out. I packed the guitar into its
original litter-box case and sent
it to Stevensville with mixed
emotions and an air freshener.
When my Magnum P.I.
PRS arrived at the company’s
current home, the PTC team
assessed it and then, over the
phone, Shawn walked me
through what the job would
entail. Off the frame restoration
is exactly what it sounds
like: It calls for taking the
guitar down to bare wood
and rebuilding it with current
production components and
techniques, along with a few
proprietary artist tweaks. The
only original components that
would remain would be the
wood, tuner housings, neck
plate, and single-action truss
rod. In deference to the ’80s
artists who had autographed
the guitar, we discussed the
pros and cons of refinishing it
but decided it needed a full-on
makeover. All the PTC team
needed was my approval, my
selection of current-production
PRS pickups and finish, and
three weeks to work on it. I
gave a hesitant “yes,” gave them
my finish and pickup preferences,
and waited.
Stripping, Buffing,
and Refinishing
As the before and after pictures
here show, the PTC team’s work
reflects both their expertise and
their commitment to perfection.
The first step was stripping the
guitar of the nitro finish on the
neck and removing the acrylic
finish from the 3-piece alder
body. Indentations in the body
and neck were then sanded out,
the frets were removed, and the
Indian rosewood fingerboard
was re-profiled. The neck was
then refretted with medium jumbo
standard nickel-silver
fretwire made specifically for
PRS. (It’s similar in size to 6150
Dunlop fretwire.) The original
Delrin nut was replaced with
PRS’ current composite nut,
which was designed and perfected
through a series of trial
and error to maximize sustain
and tuning stability.
LEFT: A PRS Technical Center luthier removes the worn original frets. RIGHT: The back of the headstock gets its finish removed.
PRS finishes have apparently
evolved over the years, as well.
Current methods call for maple
necks to receive a proprietary
finish that seals the wood from
the inside out, resulting in a
very natural, bare-wood feel
that does not get “gummy” like
nitro can after long periods of
playing. The body received the
company’s new V12 hybrid finish,
which purportedly retains
the hardness of acrylic and the
dipped-in-glass look PRS guitars
are known for. However,
like nitro, it’s very thin, which
allows the guitar to breathe and
resonate. I was told that there
has been a continued emphasis
on reducing the thickness of
the finish over the years and
that V12 is actually thinner
than the base coat used on
PRS guitars like mine from the
’80s. Given that my guitar has
a 3-piece body, the PTC team
recommended I get an opaque
finish. I chose frost blue metallic,
a welcome update to the
PRS color palette that has a
subtle glow.
LEFT: PRS is meticulous about instrument and worker safety. RIGHT: Sadly, the signatures had to come off for the greater good.
Hardware Upgrades
The Schaller-manufactured
original locking tuners were
truly innovative in the ’80s, but
obviously the guitar-building
universe has learned a lot since
then. PTC rebuilt my Phase I
tuners using components from
current-production PRS Phase
II and III tuners, including
mass-reducing hollow buttons,
grommets that are countersunk
into the headstock, unplated
brass tuner shafts (PRS has
determined that removing plating
from hardware that has
contact with the strings results
in clearer, more open tones),
and string-release mechanisms
that are much easier to use
than the original wing design.
Current PRS tuners feature
an open-back housing (which
the company says is purely
cosmetic) with a smaller footprint
than the original Phase
I tuners. Among other things,
this eliminates the need for the
shared mounting screw for the
D- and G-string units. In lieu
of putting extra holes in my
guitar, the folks at PTC rebuilt
the tuners on my guitar, putting
the guts of current machines
into the Phase I housings.
My CE’s original MannMade
USA Vibrato, which PRS
used from 1985 until the early
1990s, is highly regarded by
many PRS enthusiasts. The
unit was constructed from a
1-piece brass casting with either
nickel or gold plating, and it
won many fans quickly with its
smooth action and tuning stability.
Unfortunately, over time
and with heavy use, the knife
edge begins to dig in and tuning
stability begins to suffer. My
guitar apparently saw its fair
share of whammy dive-bombs
over the years, so I decided to
replace the MannMade unit
with the current-production
tremolo, which comprises a
milled-brass bridge and plate
screwed together. The bridge
unit is still nickel plated, but
the plating has been removed
from the parts of the bridge
saddles that come into contact
with the strings because PRS
says that bare brass offers more
favorable tonal characteristics
than plated brass. The brass
saddle-height and intonation
screws are unplated for the same
reason. These tweaks are representative
of PRS’ commitment
to refining an established design
for the sake of tonal improvement,
not cost cutting.
Changing pickups was by far
the most trying decision for me,
because the original Standard
Treble and Standard Bass units
sounded great and are coveted
by many PRS aficionados. To
my ears, they definitely had
a vintage vibe, with a touch
more compression and output
than other vintage pickups I’ve
used over the years. The extra
compression was particularly
nice when paired with a good
overdriven tube amp. Back in
the ’80s, they were Paul Smith’s
best interpretation of a classic
humbucking alnico pickup,
and they were known for their
upper-midrange response and
pronounced bite.
The final fretwork is exemplary—they’re perfectly seated and the ends are immaculately dressed.
But there’s a saying at PRS
that goes something like this,
“There are three levels of
hearing: What humans hear,
what dogs hear, and what Paul
Reed Smith hears.” Since the
early ’90s, Smith and his team
have been challenging themselves
to create the ultimate
vintage-PAF-style humbucker.
These R&D efforts were augmented
in 1994, when PRS
brought in veteran Gibson
executive Ted McCarty as a
consultant to offer insights on
the guitar designs and pickups
of golden-era Gibson electrics
from the late 1950s and early
’60s. Combined with input
from big-name artists and the
same sorts of materials used to
manufacture original Gibson
PAF humbuckers, these insights
led to a series of vintage-style
PRS pickups, culminating in
2008 with the 57/08 humbucker—which Paul Smith feels is
the best PAF-style humbucker.
Since then, PRS has also added
models such as the 59/09 and
53/10, which offer slightly different
tonal responses.
Even PRS knobs and wiring
have been improved over the
past 23 years. My CE’s original
black speed knobs were replaced
with the company’s current
11-sided, tapered “lampshade”
knobs, which are easier to
manipulate and aesthetically in
keeping with the guitar’s new
color scheme. Likewise, the
original, industrial-sized chrome
pickup selector switch and
black pickup covers were also
replaced with crème current-production
parts that complement
the overall aesthetics. The
guitar was completely rewired,
and the PTC crew even provided
a pleasant little surprise
by augmenting the original
3-way switch with a push-pull
coil-splitting function on the
tone knob, which provides three
additional sounds I really like.
The Other Hour of
Reckoning
As of press time, I’ve had my
CE back for a month and I’m
very pleased with the results—there’s a substantial improvement
in tone, playability, and
aesthetics. My only regrets are
losing the character and signatures
of yesteryear. When I got
the guitar, it had a great broken-in
feel and it just reeked a late-
’80s vibe that brought back a lot
of memories. I can’t complain
about that loss of character too
much, though, because the PTC
gave my CE a vast improvement
in all aspects. The re-fret and
leveling of the fretboard took
away some of that broken-in
feel—but hey, it’s my turn to
break it in. The neck feels amazing,
too—the finish is natural
feeling and plays fast. The guitar
just rings like a bell.
It would be challenging to
identify exactly what yielded
such significant improvements to
the tonal response and playability—I’m not sure if it’s the finish,
the pickups, the exposed-brass
string-contact points, or just the
whole package together—but I’ll
share some thoughts.
First off, although changing
pickups was the most difficult
decision, it’s the one I’ve been
the happiest with. The original
pickups were cool in a band
setting—they were hotter and
more compressed than the
57/08s, and they cut through
well—although they weren’t as
appealing when playing unaccompanied.
In the past, some
players have been critical of
PRS pickups because they felt
they were lifeless and/or too
hot. Personally, I wasn’t crazy
about the pickups in a McCarty
I owned. But the 57/08s change
all that in my book. To my ears,
they’re warmer than the originals,
but just as capable of cutting
through a band mix while
also maintaining a pleasing,
balanced tone that’s a lot of fun
when you’re playing by yourself.
They have amazing clarity,
they’re very dynamic when
you adjust the volume knob,
they have the right amount of
high-end bite that you expect
from an authentic-sounding
PAF-style pickup, and
they’re equally surefooted
with clean or overdriven
tones—I noticed a big
difference in string-to-string
definition. And
the natural overtones are
plentiful and glorious.
The split tones are
useable, albeit not very
Fender-ish—which is
often what players are
going for when they
decide to split coils. They
also come with the usual volume
drop, and the tone knob’s tapered
shape takes additional effort to
pull out—although I’m sure I’ll
become more adept at it over
time. The new PRS 408 pickup
system does the split-tones-and-stable-volume thing more
convincingly, but the 57/08s are
some of the best vintage-sounding
humbuckers I’ve encountered
in a long time—and I’ve had my
share of great-sounding Lindy
Fralin, Gibson, Wolfetone, Suhr,
Peter Florance Voodoo, Seymour
Duncan, and DiMarzio pickups.
LEFT: The completed guitar features new PRS 57/08 pickups, exposed-brass
string-contact points, and tapered knobs. RIGHT: The tuners now feature modern PRS parts
in the original Phase I housings.
My experience with the new
bridge tells me that the 1- vs.
2-piece trem debate will likely
continue for hardcore PRS fans.
All I can say is that, to me, the
new 2-piece unit is very stable
and neutral sounding—it’s set
up perfectly, with just a touch
of float, it stays in tune with
slight trem moves and dive-bombs
alike, and it does not
rob the guitar of any sustain.
I hate to gush, but after a
long hiatus, I am squarely back
on the PRS bandwagon. In my
opinion, Paul Reed Smith and
his team remain as committed
to innovation and improvements
to their offerings as they
were 25+ years ago. I want to
extend a special thanks to the
PTC team—Shawn Nuthall,
Scott Bloomfield, Dave
Meredith, Len Johnson, and
James Zimmers—for a job well
done. Oh, and to any of you
guys who signed this thing way
back when—you’re welcome to
come autograph it again!
