New guitar - PRS Custom 22

Friday was a good day (in the words of Ice Cube)... I had the day off work and FedEx delivered a new (to me, at least) guitar. My latest acquisition is a 2000 Paul Reed Smith Custom 22. This particular CU22 is finished in tasty vintage yellow with 10-top flame and bird inlays (of course). Options include the wide-fat neck profile, fixed bridge, and ebony tuning keys. The guitar is stock (for now) from an electronics standpoint with covered Dragon II pickups and the 5-way rotary switch--though before plugging the guitar in the thought had already crossed my mind of swapping the Dragon II's for something new to me, such as RP's or #10's. Anyway, this is the first "normal" CU22 I've owned; the only other CU22 I've owned is the semi-hollowbody, which is pretty different from a construction standpoint even if not all that different visually.

So far I'm digging the CU22, even though it has a rather different feel & tone from the CU24's I've got... The neck is shorter & thicker, giving the guitar a "stiffer" feel. The Dragon II's are a bit lower output and darker/warmer than the HFS/Vintage Bass pair. Overall, this gives the CU22 more of a vintage vibe, while the CU24 has a slightly more modern vibe. Again, it's not a night & day difference, but it is noticeable, and I could see how folks could develop a slight preference for one or the other. For my style of playing/music (coming from an Ibanez-centric background), the CU24 is probably more up my alley, but I can tell already that the CU22 will get its fair share of attention.

Of course, here are a couple obligatory pictures of the CU22...

What's next? Hard to say... I'm still on the lookout for a PRS Singlecut Satin Trem or McCarty Korina, or perhaps a non-PRS configured with HSS pickups or mini-buckers. But realistically, the rack is full again, so before I do too much more guitar shopping I'll probably need to sell a couple of the guitars I've got, and looking around, none of them are screaming "sell me!"

--B

P.S.--Updated... I just found a thread on The Gear Page where someone was asking about the difference between CU22's and CU24's, and found the following visual, which shows the difference in construction between the two: