PRS Paul Reed Smith Wood Library Custom 24-08 Artist Grade Guitar, Satin Charcoal Cherry Burst, Artist Flame Top, Flame Maple Neck, African Blackwood Board, Swamp Ash Back

Music Store Live is proud to offer up another Wood Library exclusive run from our friends over at PRS. We took a little trip over to Maryland and while there we hand-selected the tops, backs, necks, fretboards, hardware, etc... basically every single detail of the guitar was precisely calculated for the perfect aesthetics, playability, and tone.

If you were a fan of the PRS 408 or if you ever felt like the Custom 24 needed even more versatility than it already had, then this guitar has your name all over it! PRS's new Custom 24-08 is a hybrid of the flagship Custom 24 model with some of the pickup combinations offered in the 408 so that you can literally achieve any combination of humbucking and/or single-coil modes out of the 85/15 pickups in this beauty.

The Artist Grade flame maple top is no joke! The figuring is tight and really pops. The stained back and flame maple neck complement the front of the guitar wonderfully and the swamp ash body has some killer figuring as well. From top to bottom, and from front to back, there's no shortage of eye candy built into this guitar. The satin finish on the body and the neck looks beautiful, and also feels absolutely amazing! 

While they say looks can be deceiving... That's not the case here. This guitar looks beautiful and has the playability and tone to back that up all day and all night. The combination of the maple neck, African Blackwood fretboard, and swamp ash body is going to make this guitar sound a bit snappier and brighter than one with mahogany and rosewood, for example. According to Paul Reed Smith, African Blackwood is very similar in tonality to Brazilian rosewood but without all of the restrictions on the wood. The John Mayer Super Eagle Private Stock guitars came with African Blackwood and that was my first experience with it. Since then we've used it on several Wood Library runs and we absolutely love the way that it sounds (and the way that it looks as well). The high mids and treble frequencies are enhanced with the combination of the neck woods. The Blackwood's got that top-end shimmer and sparkle to it that other rosewoods (and even ebony) miss out on. It also has nice warmth to it, like rosewood, while still being snappy. Of course, the flame maple neck and swamp ash body will also add some more brightness to the tone compared to a mahogany neck and body, for example. It all pairs together wonderfully for a sound that is crisp, defined, and extremely articulate without being piercing or overly bright.

The result is a guitar that will never sound muddy and can cut through any mix like a hot knife through room temperature butter. That bit of extra treble is really nice! We usually feel it's easier to dial back brightness (with the tone knob) than it is to try to add more brightness into a dark sounding guitar. So, without being overly harsh or shrill in the top end, you can notice the difference in these tonewoods compared to a regular Custom 24-08. We think the upgrades in tonewoods here really cements this as the perfect, versatile, swiss army knife PRS guitar. The single-coil tones really sizzle, spank, and twang and the humbucker sounds really cut, growl, and punch.

This guitar features some Artist Package and some Private Stock specs while coming in below the cost of a normal Artist Package 24-08. The hand-selected artist-grade flame maple tops, swamp ash bodies, African blackwood fretboards and flame maple necks (stained to match the top) won't be found on other standard Custom 24-08s and help make this a truly special guitar.

We fly all the way across the country several times a year to do this so that we are personally going out there and choosing the very best of the wood selection that PRS has to offer. We pour a lot of passion into each design that we come up with together with the wonderful team over at PRS. The goal is always to design instruments that are not only unique and look beautiful, but also sound absolutely phenomenal.

Our in-house guitar tech will inspect, test, set up, and clean all of our instruments on site prior to shipping. All of our instruments are guaranteed to be fully functional upon arrival.

Music Store Live is one of PRS's top independent dealers and is one of only a select few PRS Signature Dealers. If you still haven't found what you're looking for, we are more than happy to help you custom order your next Paul Reed Smith instrument. Our PRS experts can help guide you in purchasing a new SE, S2, CORE, Artist Package, or even your very own Private Stock guitar or bass. Message us for details!