Review: Paul Reed Smith SC245

Recently I started playing a new SC245 Goldtop guitar from Paul Reed Smith.







This guitar is blowing my mind. I already had a high opinion of PRS guitars, but this guitar set the bar even higher.



The body is constructed of nothing but the best mahogany and maple. The wood grain visible on the back and neck is gorgeous. The neck on mine is the wide-thin PRS neck, which I find more comfortable than the wide-fat (Wide-Thin is somewhat like a 1960's Les Paul Neck, while Wide-Fat is more like a 1950's Les Paul Neck). The 24 1/2 inch scale make playing this guitar incredibly smooth. The tuners and bridge do a great job at keeping the guitar in tune. I got about 20 minutes into our set without having to make a single tuning adjustment.



The pickups were designed specifically for this model, the SC245. They are very full and smooth... and slightly hotter than I had expected.



I've owned my fair share of guitars over the last 5 years, but there is something special about this one. It's become my instant favorite... It looks amazing, it's tons of fun to play, and it sounds fantastic.



As a guitar company, Paul Reed Smith has made HUGE strides over the last 5 years. They've proven they can do more than modern rock guitars. This guitar has the kind of vintage appointments that I never would have dreamed that PRS could do.... and the beauty of it is, they do it with all the attention to detail and obsession with quality that they've always had.




If you are a Les Paul player, I challenge you to take your Les Paul into a guitar shop, and compare it to a few Paul Reed Smith guitars. That's how I got hooked. I played a few PRSes, and after about an hour I said, "I'm selling my Les Paul."



Incidentally, my friend Evan Milby had a similar experience on Revolve a couple weeks ago. I let him use my Mira for his worship set.







You know what he said to me afterwards?



"I'm selling my Les Paul."



And he did. He bought a Mira of his own the next week!



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Review: Paul Reed Smith Mira

Paul Reed Smith recently turned to a new page, creating a model called the Mira. This guitar is a departure from the more modern look of the CUSTOMs and CEs that PRS is known for... It does not feature the usual maple top or binding, but it has features that most PRSes do not, namely a pickguard and coil tap switch.




I've had the opportunity to play the Mira for 3 shows now, and these are my thoughts...



When I first picked this guitar up, I was struck by how light it is. The body is slightly thinner than I'm used to, but it is VERY comfortable. The beveled edges of the body remind me somewhat of a strat, but the body style SCREAMS les paul junior. Ironically enough, I find that the sound of the guitar falls somewhere between those two guitars. The pickups are uncovered, and have plenty of bite. There is a roundness to the tone that harkens back to a strat, and when the coil tap is engaged you can actually get some pretty stratty tones. When you engage the humbuckers, it's full-bodied rock and roll. More classic rock than modern (which is exactly what I love about it).



I find that most PRS guitars have an almost vocal-like quality to them. Mid-range riffs sing out as clear as day, and solos are clear and full. No ice-pick tone here. The Mira is no exception. The riff at the beginning of our song, "The Show", is a perfect example. This guitar carves out that riff with beautiful fullness and clarity. The riff at the beginning of "California" is another example of the range in which PRS guitars show their worth. They have virtually unmatched clarity in this range...



The tuners are PRS's newer locking tuners, which are wonderful. There are no tricks here. No confusing nuts or bolts like the old-school PRS locking tuners... just a screw that tightens down to make contact with the string. In addition to locking the string, this also helps with sustain... which this axe has no shortage of.



The Mira is the most affordable of all the US-made PRS models. I've gotta say, this is a LOT of guitar for $1500. PRS makes nearly all their parts in house... so the attention to detail is incredible. The Mira features all the attention to detail of the more expensive models. All you have to do is strap one on, and strike a G chord. The Mira sings.



This is the kind of guitar that makes it fun to play guitar again. Everything just works.... I can stop thinking about the tuners, the height of the pickups, or the action... and just play. How much is that feeling worth?





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