PRS Custom 24 Artist Package Review

Paul Reed Smith is a company known for their obscenely high quality craftsmanship and supreme guitars. From the cheaper entry-level models all the way up to the super unique private stock guitars, PRS is really a step above most production guitar companies. Today, I decided to do a review on the gorgeous PRS Custom 24 Artist Package that we have in stock in our shop right now. I’m excited, so let’s get moving!

Features:

–  Artist Grade Flamed Maple Top

–  Slate Blue Finish

–  Select Mahogany Body 

– East Indian Rosewood Neck

–  Brazilian Rosewood Fretboard 

–  Green Ripple Outline/Green Abalone Center Artist Bird Inlays

–  Pattern Regular Neck Profile

–  Phase III Locking Tuners

–  PRS Stoptail Bridge

–  25” Scale Length w/ 24 Frets.

–  PRS 85/15 Pickups

–  1 Volume, 1 Push/Pull Tone, 5-Way Toggle Pickup Switch

Where do I even start? I suppose with the top because that’s the first thing you’ll notice about this guitar.

The Slate Blue finished, Artist Grade Flamed top is insane. The figuring is so intricate that the top almost looks 3D. When I first looked at this guitar, I just could’t stop staring at the top. I don’t even really need to say any more about it. I’ll just throw some pictures up down below and you’ll see for yourself.

The neck features East Indian Rosewood and the fretboard is Brazilian Rosewood. Talk about gorgeous? It’s really rare to see two different types of exotic rosewood on one guitar. It’s probably the most unique feature on the guitar.

 Overall, everything from the woods chosen to the golden hardware was handpicked to look absolutely stunning together.

(This guitar is in fact based off of the production model Custom 24. We have a review of one of those as well. Check it out here!)

Now for the pictures I promised:

Tone :

“Yeah, we get it. It’s ridiculously perfect looking, but how does it sound?”

Calm down, I’m getting there…

The “Select” wood choices mean that the luthiers at PRS went through tons of different cuts of mahogany, rosewood, and maple to select the highest quality they could find. These woods offer not only the most spectacular looks, but the most rich and responsive sounds.

The overall tonal characteristics of this guitar are very warm and full in the low-mids, and complex and smooth in the high end. There’s nothing quite like these super high-end PRS guitars.

The pickups chosen for this build are the PRS 85/15 set.

The bridge pickup is paired really well with the thick Mahogany body. It’s quite bright and articulate with a ton of harmonic character, which helps it cut through the mix.

The neck pickup is my favorite on this guitar though. It’s super smooth and helps create some of the most perfect blues tones I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing with. It sounds like a super fat, vintage Strat pickup.

The 5-way switch offers a ton of tonal versatility as well:

Position One: Bridge humbucker
Position Two: Bridge humbucker with neck singlecoil, in parallel
Position Three: Bridge and neck humbuckers
Position Four: Neck singlecoil with bridge singlecoil, in parallel
Position Five: Neck humbucker

Build Quality :

Seriously? It’s an Artist Package PRS. This is probably the most Obscenely high-end guitar that I’ve ever played.

The Artist Package PRS guitars are almost at the top of food chain (right under the PRS Private Stock models).

This guitar is flawless. The frets are literally perfect. The materials used in PRS frets are quite a bit above the quality seen in most Nickel frets. Not to mention the actual fret job is the smoothest you’ll ever see.

The guitar came from PRS perfectly set up in tune and it doesn’t budge. The neck wood is of such a high caliber of quality and does not want to budge on it’s own. The tuners, nut, and bridge reinforce the neck even further with excellent materials and construction.

I could go on and on…

Final Verdict :

This guitar is not cheap. Many people would say that the price is hard to justify. I would argue that with this:

This guitar is something very special. PRS builds these guitars with one intent, to make the perfect guitar. It’s really hard to find any evidence that they have failed in their efforts.

If you’re looking for something of this caliber, this particular specimen is a fine choice. It’s for sure the nicest guitar I have ever played and it saddens me that someday, someone will purchase this and we will have to send it off.  Be sure to check it out in our shop!

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 Zac Buras, our editor located in Louisiana.