Truly new guitar - PRS 513 Mahogany

The first guitar acquisition of the new year is in, and--a rare event around here--it's a legitimately new guitar (vs. most of the used ones I pick up on ebay, Craigslist, various forums, etc. And what is it, you ask? Why, it's a new PRS 513 Mahogany in Vintage Natural finish with 10-top and bird inlays! The 513 was originally introduced a couple years ago with a Brazilian rosewood neck... very cool, but expensive for my tastes. With the introduction of the newer 513 model with the mahogany neck, the cost is a little more in-line the other PRSi I've got around here.

So what's the big deal with the 513? There are actually quite a few differences vs. other PRS models... slightly longer scale length, different neck profile & heel, different bird inlays, even different frets. But the biggest difference is in the electronics: At first glance, the 513 appears to have 5 single coil pickups in a 2-1-2 configuration with two blade switches, a 5-way and a 3-way. The 5-way blade does the standard Strat-style switching: neck, neck + middle, middle, middle + bridge, bridge. The 3-way blade switches the neck & bridge pickup pairs between 3 "modes": heavy humbucking, clear humbucking, and single coil. Add it all up... 5 pickups + 13 sounds = 513. Or 18. Depends on how creative you are at math. ;)

Sounds complicated on paper, eh? But how does it sound in real life? Actually, truly unique and extremely versatile sums it up pretty well. The single coil modes deliver sufficient spank & twang for funk and country music, the clear humbucking modes are a bit smoother for jazz and blues, and the heavy humbucking modes deliver straight-ahead rock tones. So far I've used the 513 for a rock band rehearsal and a jazz band rehearsal, and it felt right at home (tonally) at both.

Of course, here are the obligatory pictures... check out that killer flame top and the abstract bird inlays...





--B