Paul Reed Smith Guitars

This is from PRS:

“Incorporating the highly acclaimed 1957/2008™ pickups and
finished in never before offered PRS proprietary nitro-cellulose burst colors,
the Sunburst 245 makes its debut at NAMM 2009.  The guitars feature custom grade curly maple
tops, wide/fat mahogany necks, mahogany backs, 22-fret East Indian Rosewood
fretboards and abalone bird inlays.  The
Sunburst 245 features a 24-1/2” scale length with single-cutaway body, stoptail
bridge and vintage style tuners.”

“The PRS team wanted to make a guitar using 1957/2008™ pickups but with a
totally new PRS style sunburst,” said Paul Smith. “The finish team developed
new burst colors that really bring the curly tops to life and the
nitro-cellulose gives a new look, sound and feel to PRS.”

This is from an online review:

“Paul Reed Smith has spent more than two decades building
the kind of guitars many of us dream of owning. From concept and design to fit
and finish, PRS has a reputation as one of the best in the business and has
attracted legions of fans who love their instruments. Their Sunburst 245 is no
exception. The Sunburst simply reeks of class as soon as the case is opened. It
features an extra-thick mahogany back, a figured maple top, a 22-fret mahogany
neck built to a 24.5-inch scale and wide/fat neck profile, and a rosewood
fingerboard with bird inlays. It also ships stock with a PRS hardtail
bridge/tailpiece, vintage-style tuners, and two 57/08 humbucking pickups which
give the guitar excellent tone and clarity. The 245 is finished in nitrocellulose,
which is the finest finish for a guitar, and it is also outfitted with two
volume and tone controls as well as a three-way toggle switch on the upper bout
of the body, which is where the pickup switch truly belongs on a guitar of this
type.”

This is from me:

2009 PRS Sunburst 245.  This should not be confused with the PRS SC
245, which is a completely different guitar. 
The 2009 PRS Retail Price for the Sunburst 245 was $5,521, which is
about $1,500 more than the price for the SC 245.

The selling points for these guitars were the pickups (which
are great), the custom sunburst finishes (which are beautiful), and the
nitro-cellulose lacquer finish.  The
nitro finish is much thinner than the standard PRS poly finishes.  It is thought that the thick poly finish can
muffle the natural resonation of the guitar’s wood, whereas the thin nitro
finish will allow the wood to do its thing. 
All I will say about this is that I prefer the sound and feel of this
guitar to any of the many PRS guitars I have owned and played over the
years.  The downside is that the nitro
finish is not nearly as durable as the heavy poly finishes.  These guitars are not only supposed to sound
vintage, but with regular playing, they will apparently begin to look vintage
as well.  I understand the nitro finishes are much easier to repair if you need to fix a finish problem.

This guitar is in excellent used condition.  I have owned it for a few months and have
played it in my smoke free guitar studio. 
The frets are barely broken in. 
The only flaw I can find is a small dent on the top, which is a little
larger than the head of a ballpoint pen. 
You can see it in the close-up photo with the black arrows pointing to
it.  I caused this dent the day the
guitar arrived when my screwdriver covered with cotton cloth slipped as I was
adjusting the action.  I have not noticed
this little dent even once since that first day, but I definitely wanted to
point it out.  If you plan to play this
guitar, this flaw should not be an issue, since it will surely suffer worse
wounds.  If you are looking for a guitar
you are going to lock up in a vault for collection purposes, you might want to
pass on this one.  The guitar plays and
sounds beautiful.  No issues at all in
those regards.  According to my bathroom
scale, the guitar weighs 8 pounds even. 
It feels much lighter than the Gibson Les Pauls I have played over the
years.  This guitar is right at the top
of all of the nice guitars I have owned during my lifetime.  I am selling this solely for financial
reasons.  Original deluxe hard case and
all the case candy (hang tags, warranty card, stickers, instructions, tools,
case keys, etc.) are included.

If you are looking for a nice Les Paul, and you are not seriously considering this guitar, you are making a big mistake.  If this auction ends with no bids, this is probably the last time you will ever see this one.