Guitar Setup Advice (yes its misc & meaningless)

apologies in advance for this but:

[HUGE RANT}i really hate PRS's.

sorry man. nothing personal, honest, but i had to let this rant out!

i'm sure they're very well made and that (and yes i've even played a few) but to me they are absolutely baby-boomer dentists' guitars. they are the £5k carbon road bike of the guitar world. i can't think of anyone i like who plays one, and i can name you a lot of people i think are utterly utterly god-fucking-awful who do. it's not that i'm inherantly prejudiced... okay i am inherantly prejudiced, but still the facts seem to back me up there.

and claiming they're good enough for carlos? good as he briefly once was, to my ears he's always had pretty bad honky nasal tone (whatever he's playing). and he stopped being any good at all a long long time ago. probably around the time, when was it? oh yeah, around teh time he started using PRS's. also (coincidence) around the time his tone went from being idiosyncratic and recognisable to completely fucking hornet in a matchbox "diddly-diddly-diddly-diddly-wheeeee!" terrble. maybe he started sucking before he picked up a PRS but he's undoubtedly sucked horribly the entire he's had one in his hairy-knuckled hands. he does make some excellent faces though.

To my eyes they're just the worst combination of bland, flashy, tasteless and boring. they're got no personality or identity in either looks or sound. The shape is horrible generic and derivative, the ridiculously figured tops and vile colours showy, tacky and tasteless (as are the bird inlays).I can identify the tone of a strat, tele, 335, les paul and a lot of times at least the family of amp though which it was played on most recordings. but i defy ANYONE to hear a recording of a PRS in a song and identify it as such. unless it's a santana, nickelback, linkin' park or dave navarro solo record (see!? see!? LOOK at that list!): http://www.prsguitars.com/artists/

i really don't judge anyone for wanting one or playing one. really honestly really i don't. well... let's just say i don't judge their character or worth as a person or anything of that kind. but if i'm brutally honest i think if someone tells me they love PRS's i think i do make certain assumptions about their tastes and influences in the musical equipment area and then extrapoloate that into the musical world in general (is this wrong?) and those judgements would tend to lead me towards the conclusion that anyone who owns a PRS is likely to have very different tastes in music to me. Beyond that even i imagine that they might also have very different ideas about what it is that makes music good/bad/whatever.

Now i look like a total guitar snob but i'm honestly not. Well maybe i'm an inverted guitar snob. i really think that to a large extent what gear you use doesn't matter. I'll really use whatever. i like what i like but i'm really no snob about cheap/expensive/japanese/american/uk boutique or mass produced. I've tried lots of things over the years. i've got vintage stuff, new stuff, cheap stuff and some really nice bits. i use all of it and if i find i've no use for something anymore i sell it or give it away.

oh i don't know. i just hate them okay?! they just remind of horrible music played by horrible musos and horrible tasteless americans in horrible advets in horrible guitar magazines. that and rich middle aged guys who buy them to go with their Matchless amp, B&O stereo and Smeg fridge. just the power of association i guess.

and while i'm at it that tele is hideous! what's the point in an otherwise classic looking tele with two hideous plastic covered (active?) humbuckers, naff looking black plastic knobs and revolting chunky black tuners and pegs? It looks like '52 chevvy with blacked out windows, fake exhaust, plastic spoiler and a max power sticker.

[HUGE RANT/]

It is true that PRS are generally played by the most awful musicians. Notable exceptions:

Steve Austin from Today Is The Day

Dave from Botch/Minus The Bear (although I'm not sure about this)

PRSes are like Ferraris in that they are theoretically cool, but in practise are going to be owned by people that pretty much epitomise lame.

Also, that tele is horrid. Teles should be teles, not shitty dual humbucker monstrosities. If you want that, buy an SG - they are great guitars, played by some of the best for the last 40 years.

Point in fact: who is better, Tony Iommi, Pete Townsend, et al or Nickelback?