Tuesday's G.A.S. field trip - auditioned a PRS Starla

Having the day off work Tuesday, guitar-player Dave and I took a road trip to check out the new Guitar Center as well as check in at Sam Ash. While neither of us bought anything, there was a rather intriguing Ibanez at Guitar Center (a semi-hollowbody EX-series ?? with real Duncan pickups and Grover locking tunes for $200--clearly priced at less than the sum of its parts). And Sam Ash had a new vintage mahogany Paul Reed Smith Starla in stock, so I jammed around on it for about 20 minutes to see if it would be purchase-worthy.

The Starla is one of the guitars introduced at this year's PRS Experience. It's one of the more vintage PRS designs, following in the footsteps of the Mira last year. Some specs are similar, such as the solid mahogany body with set mahogany neck and pickguard-mounted electronics. But the Starla comes with a few unique features... Starla pickups, a Bigsby vibrato with tune-o-matic bridge, and 24.5" scale neck (compared to 25" on most PRSi). At first glance, it's definitely inspired by Gretsch guitars in the same way that the Mira appears to be inspired by some of the Gibson SG/Les Paul DC designs. Some folks would say the Starla is the Ugly Duckling of the PRS lineup, but based on how much I love my Mira (last year's Ugly Duckling), I knew I had to check a Starla out in person...

Initial impressions were quite positive: The 24.5" scale makes for slightly easier chording & string bending. Tonally, the Starla definitely is Gretsch-derived... it was the brightest, sparkliest sounding PRS I've ever played, which contributed to great clarity for both chords and lead lines. Granted, it's no shredder... the neck is chunky, the Bigsby bridge is "quirky" (was a bit hard to keep in tune, though it could've just been old strings, or perhaps I've been spoiled by the relative tuning stability of the PRS trem and locking tuners on other PRSi), and the pickups are on the vintage/low output end of the spectrum. As always, attention to detail (finish & setup) were top notch, and I was surprised by how much I appreciated the subtlety of the simpler vintage mahogany finish.

Overall, the Starla's got a lot of "vibe"... if I was trapped on a desert island, it wouldn't be the one guitar I'd take. But if I was locked in a studio with 10 other guitars, it would be cool addition to the collection... it's probably one I'll keep an eye open for on the used market (that is, once a few more Starla's reach the used market).

--B