Fast forward a couple weeks; I'd seen the last 5 Dead and Company shows and was just floored at the tones and guitar acrobatics that Mayer was throwing down with his prototype PRS SS. Total fan boy at this point. I know I'll never play a Dumble, and most PRS stuff is out of my comfort / price range, but I figured I could get an SE or a Core and get a similar instrument to what JM was playing. GAS ensued, and I found this gem on Reverb, a stock 2019 with plastic still on the pickguard. I don't know that it had ever been played until I got it.
I guess it's technically a Strat in the loose sense of the word, but I feel like most Strats are plinky and thin, which is not a bad thing, especially into a fuzz or a tweed amp (sorta mandatory for my rigs). This guitar is bassy and full, without any harsh ice picky tones. Just real glassy and powerful. The frets are tiny, vintage style, which it turns out I love because I'm not pressing notes out of tune with my stupid meat hooks. I don't really notice the radius while playing, have no problem getting full minor third bends anywhere on the neck. I doubt I'll ever use the trem. I like how it is fully decked from the factory and even when bending notes, it never lifts off the body. The 3 per side headstock is a lil trippy because its not symmetric like a Gibson and the 3rd string tuner is "farther away" than the 4th, but once I'm tuned up, it no longer matters.
I've got an Alembic blaster and a Mannmade string tree on the way to make it more like the prototype JM was playing, which are a nod to Garcia's Alligator Strat, but even in it's stock form it slayed in my setup at our beach gig this weekend.
Need to work on my Mayer O face.
Oh, and I remember reading complaints about it coming with a gig bag instead of a hard case, but this bag is freaking DOPE!
