PRS 408 Review WiredGuitarist June 23, 2016 Articles, PRS Guitar Reviews, Reviews, Uncategorized I thought it would be a good idea to follow up our PRS 513 review with a PRS 408 review! Both of these guitars are rather recent additions to the PRS lineup and are sometimes overlooked due to their cryptic numbered names. Now, however, you’re going to learn all about the PRS 408! Think of this as a companion review to the 513 review, because there are definitely some similarities, but I’m going to highlight the differences as well. Let’s dive in! Features: The full specs of this PRS 408 are as follows: Carved Figured Maple Top Trampas Green Finish Mahogany Body & Neck Rosewood Fretboard w/ PRS Bird Inlays Pattern Thin Neck Profile PRS Tremolo & Phase III Locking Tuners 25” Scale Length w/ 22 Frets. 408 Treble & Bass Pickups 1 Volume, 1 Tone, 3-Way Blade, & 2 Coil Split Mini Toggles The Pattern Thin neck profile is definitely a shredder’s neck, without being too skewed in the Ibanez direction to turn off more traditional players. As always, the PRS hardware is well-made, and the carved top is exceptionally comfortable. Compared to the 513, the PRS 408 retains the traditional 25” scale length, which I very much enjoy, especially for down-tuning. The placement of the electronics is very comfortable as well, which is obviously important when you’re dealing with 5 controls. Tone: The tone of this guitar will be enjoyable to any player. It’s extremely versatile and suitable to many genres in all positions, and this is for a few reasons. 408 stands for 4 pickups, 8 sounds, and this is accomplished through some unique pickup design and wiring schematics. The bridge pickup is slightly wider than a normal humbucker, the neck pickup is slightly narrower, and the tone overall is between a covered and uncovered pickup. This lends some extra chime to the next, and fatness to the bridge. Additionally, the split positions are designed to be as authentic to single coil tone as possible, and also not have any volume drop when switching from the humbuckers. This leaves the split sounds extremely muscular, and are much more in a P90 direction that a strat pickup, which is a welcome change of pace! Like the 513, the lack of the two frets does make a difference, and it’s one that I personally enjoy. You can read more about this in our Custom 22 review, but the short version is that placing a neck pickup under the 24th fret harmonic gives it a very fluid and organic tone: one that some players are very married to. I’m not in the camp that would consider the tone of 24 fret guitars “bad,” but seeing “22 frets” on a spec list is a welcome sight for me. I really found myself enjoying playing any genre on this guitar, and wouldn’t say it’s lacking in any one department. Build Quality: The more PRS guitars I review, the higher my risk of sounding extremely redundant is (read through some of my other PRS reviews to see if I’m plagiarizing myself!), as their output is so consistent. Check out any of my other reviews on their guitars, or this look at a Private Stock guitar of the month to see just how crazy they can get. PRS are always a good way to go for a USA instrument, and they outperform many flavor of the month “boutique” luthiers on literally every front. PRS’ finish process is very in-depth, which results in great tops with 3d qualities. Alignment, fretwork, wiring, and basically everything else that goes into building a guitar is done without flaws. Final Verdict: Like the 513 (and CU24, and CE24…), the PRS 408 is an awesome guitar. The 408 is definitely more targeted at modern players. I could easily recommend this to anone, given that the neck is suitable for modern guitarists, and the pickups not only sound fantastic for almost any genre, but look cool as well! If you need 24 frets, don’t get this guitar. External of that…well, you need to try one immediately. On the off chance that somehow this guitar isn’t jumping out at you, check out our guide to PRS models to find one that’s more your style. We upload new articles daily so if you liked this one, make sure to check out some more! We are also authorized PRS dealers and can help you pick the best Paul Reed Smith for your needs. This article was written by Kyle Karich, our editor located in Florida.
