For a couple of years now I've fancied owning a PRS custom 22 with a couple of modifications, those being a much larger radius (16") neck and an additional middle pickup.
The usual price of a standard Custom 22 is about £3.3K. I enquired about buying the slightly modified version and to my horror was quoted an eye-watering £8.5K!
Talk about having your leg lifted..............................
So I decided to have something made by a top luthier and settled on Rob Hodgson in Belper. (find him on Facebook).
Rob made everything to my own specifications even down to the custom pickup windings that I asked for. He involved me every step of the way. Nothing was too much trouble for him.
The spec is similar to a PRS.
One piece mahogany body with bookmatched flame maple top, Mahogany neck with Nigerian ebony fingerboard and ziricote vaneered headstock.
Custom splittable low power humbuckers plus a middle single coil. Custom switching. Gotoh hardware.
So far so good and it plays like a dream.
Here's a few pictures and I'll try to post a couple of sound files over the next few days.
And by the way, nowhere near the price of a standard Custom 22.
Cheers,
Pete