Originally Posted by: maggior
The Les Paul was nice...a gorgeous looking guitar, but didn't wow me as I played it.

Its tough comparing PRSs with Les Pauls, as there are so many different models of each. I really think with Gibson, the build quality steps up at a certain price point. I went through the same process you are going through now. I tried the Les Paul Standard, but didn't like the feel of the guitar, and was really put off by all the "push-pull" tone and volume knobs... this pushed me in the direction of the Les Paul Traditional, and even then, I tried a few before settling on the one I bought, which you've heard on the solo I posted. It was exactly what I was looking for and plays like a dream.

Interestingly enough, I had a similar experience with the PRS guitars I tried at Guitar Center... I didn't find one "clean" sample that I would have considered buying... they all had significant chips or other markings. The PRS guitars I tried to me felt a little junky... I can't put my finger on it, just everything felt kind of cheezy compared to the Les Paul Traditional... but I think I only tried one PRS that was in the LP Traditional price bracket, so it wasn't nearly a fair comparison. The sound difference was quite noticeable for me too though... the PRSs seemed to sound a little darker, a bit muddy on the bridge pickup... just not a sound I was after. But again, to be fair to the PRS fans (Axe! :) ) I don't think the PRSs I tried were good examples. There was just something about them that pushed me towards the Gibson. BUT... Gibson had its lemons too... a standard and a "Traditional Pro" I tried felt junky too... I noticed with both guitars that knobs were not mounted properly... pointed out to the sales guy that if he expected me to fork out $2000 for a guitar, they were going to have to do better than that. He didn't care at all.

I was recording these guitars as I tried them in the store (huge advantage of having the BOSS JS10) and could listen back to each one. I will say that the guitar that I settled on really jumped out at me... it just oozed quality, and felt like a real, solid, professionally built instrument through and through.

I'd say take your time... don't be in any rush. Never feel pressured by the sales staff or the environment. Going with Sweetwater is not a bad idea... its how I bought my first LP Traditional that turned out to have a bum note on it. Even though the guitar looked and played great otherwise, I refused to settle for anything less that flawless at that price. So I sent it back, and was not charged anything at all. Sweetwater was very helpful. I dealt with AJ Becerra ("Be-sarah").. he was great, feel free to ask for him.

Good luck and hopefully the new guitar does the job and then some. PRS makes good guitars for sure... tons of great players swear by them, so I think you'll be happy (for me, I have to confess that while sounding great was my top priority, I've always wanted to own a true Les Paul, so definitely some strong bias in my choice).