Monday, April 24, 2006


More PRS Lust
That would be a Swamp Ash Special in Blue Matteo with rosewood fretboard and Paul Reed Smith bird inlays. I love this guitar in a natural finish to show off the grain of the wood but this is just the prettiest dang blue I've seen. Looks like an ocean. Should I get it? I'm leaning hard toward "yes."
The SAS is an interesting guitar. Here's the PRS page on it. The upper and lower pickups (bass and treble) are fairly PRS-usual but there's a third pickup in the middle ("Seymour Duncan Vintage Rails" pickup) and the electronics allow the player to pick and choose amongst which pickups will be in use. My understanding is that this allows the SAS to switch between a more Fender sound and a more Gibson sound as desired. I ain't that good. Another year or so and I'll have a much better understanding of it all.
I'll tell you this though: Holly certainly sounds as sweet and clear as fresh spring water. I figure a Swamp Ash Special should have its own charm. Also, "Swamp Ash Special" - how cool is that? Sounds like something John Fogerty should be playing. Or singing about.

UPDATE: Oh yes. It will be mine. Possibly as soon as Thursday. And one thing I forgot to note - yes, that is a tremelo bridge. And to clarify something, my guitar hero (and PRS addict) friend 'splained it to me a little bit. One of the pickups gives the guitar a Stratocaster sound (not a generic "Fender" sound) and the other gives it a Les Paul sound (not a generic "Gibson" sound). It seems a lot of owners use their Swamp Ash Specials for gigging just because of the versatility. Neat. Unnh. I mean "Cool!"

No comments: