u/bignasty002

I’m absolutely loving this 2016 Custom 24 and surprised how quick I acclimated to the rotary tone switch! Neck is thinner than my 1996 McCarty I had to sell years ago, but I’m not trying to get all nostalgic and remember that this guitar fits my playing style so much better today than when I started out - so in reality this guitar is all around perfect for me from a playability standpoint.

With that said, the top was a huge consideration when purchasing because I wanted to LOVE it through and through. The flashy finishes and bursts are awesome in their own right and I totally get why people buy them, but I wanted something a bit more unique and not something you run into all the time. I had a semi-hollow SE Custom 22 from the mid 2000’s run in the natural finish and absolutely loved it (massively underrated IMO) but had a hard time looking at it everyday after a while. That’s said, this 10 top is in a different universe, comparatively, but I still get a hint of that dislike factor because of the one I used to have. I’ve seen stains on other models fade, bleed, darken and lighten, so I was wondering if this one will potentially darken over time. Not a lot, but enough to give it a little more character.

TLDR; Will a natural finish on a 2016 Custom 24 darken at all over time? Love it as is, but curiously optimistic that it can/will. The picture was taken in the dark with a flash, so it’s actually slightly lighter than that in person. Thanks!

Had to post this one. I had gotten myself into this TOAN chasing funk over the past year valuing all of the wrong things about playing guitar and buying a few based on number of dollar signs and looks. I decided I was going to trading in one of my previous impulse purchases and impulsively just buy something like I always do and find something wrong with it a month later. But lo and behold - there was the is S2 ugly duckling hanging on the wall I couldn’t stop looking at. Now I’ve spent enough time at Guitar Center to know they can get pretty creative hiding serious damage on used gear, but this was different. One gnarly chip and another not nearly as bad, but I couldn’t find anything else structurally wrong. Even the top isn’t “stunning” but it has this weird holographic kind of effect at that changes the pattern from different angles I’ve never really seen before. I ended up playing everything in the store and couldn’t stop going back to it for 2 hours. It was everything I could ask for and more and fortunately it took somebody else’s ability to look past the fact that this was a PRS and put their own touch on it. Made the trade and was able to haggle a bit on the trade and it’s the best $800 I’ve ever spent. I don’t even care that Guitar Center won the trade AGAIN - and that’s how it should be. ***For anyone wondering, the trade was an older semi-hollow SE natural grain that sounded absolutely unbelievable, but the one aesthetic hangup I have is natural finishes. Sue me…

TLDR; It’s battered and beaten, but it plays and sounds literally perfect to me and I had forgotten that that’s all that matters at the end of the day. Almost positive every imperfection makes me love it more. Not sure what Seymour Duncan’s are in it because the string job was actually really clean and I just can’t stop playing it.