I received the PRS Johnny Hiland guitar this afternoon and I'm absolutely thrilled with it! I remember very much liking these guitars when I demo'd them a few years ago and I was sure it would work out. Still I didn't expect it to be as great as I'm finding it to be. It's a fusion of all of the things I like dig about Strat's and the traits I love in my '88 PRS CE24. The pickups are fantastic! They're very much like low output PAF's - bright but full sounding, and great overtones. The bridge pickup response to volume pot settings is very cool - goes from Tele twang to a great old-school bridge PAF rock tone. The guitar has spank and twang!! This makes for one of the best full output bridge humbucker clean tones I've ever used.

I spent a good bit of time setting it up this evening. The previous owner had it set up for 10's - I play 9 gauge strings so a setup was necessary. The nut was never cut for 10's but it's been strung with 10's for long enough that the nut really needs to be properly cut for 9's again. The trem doesn't hold tuning perfectly and the nut is the culprit. For the way I use a trem it's not really an issue but I want it resolved. I'll take it into Mike Lull's shop and have him install a bone nut and do a full setup when time allows.

It's just day one and I know I'll be high on this guitar for a bit. It's different enough from my Strat and my CE24 that it won't sit idle. It's such a great match for me that it wouldn't surprise me if it eventually becomes my #1.

I took a few pics with the guitar hanging in my music room. The light is terrible in this room so the pics aren't that great. They do show the guitar pretty well though. It's a looker!