Quick update on the PRS DGT

Well, its has been a while since my initial post on the Paul Reed Smith DGT, and I promised a more complete sonic evaluation after a live gig. I've had a few live shows since then, and the DGT delivered overall, but with some important points of note:

The DGT Pickups
These are really interesting and took some getting used to. As expected, the split humbucker tones are decent, but still sound like split humbuckers. These are credible for some stratty or even more tele-like tones, but definitely usable, but come with the predictable considerable drop in output level when operating in single coil mode.

Moving away from the split aspects of these pickups, the DGT pups in general are incredibly warm. I might even go so far as to say they approach dark. They are still fairly articulate, but not as tight in the low end as I had hoped. When playing the guitar alone/without band through my live rig, the guitar is noticeably warm. My rig is already very warm, so this level of warmth/bordering on darkness was considerable and immediately noticeable. The interesting thing is that when playing with the band, that seemingly overly warm tone still managed to cut through the mix but in an incredibly smooth way; especially in the lower mids. I attribute this primarily to the quality and sonic characteristics of my Pure Sixty-Four based rig, but the pickups remained articulate though some muddiness did enter the picture with higher drive settings on the lower strings when palm-muting. This guitar sticks out among all of my others as clearly the warmest, but there's something still desirable about that; so much so that I haven't went running for new pickups just yet. I'll have to give it some more time before I make a final determination. You should also know that I replaced the stock PRS 11s with D'Addario XL 10.5s.

A couple of final sonic notes: 1) PRS, probably due to DG's preferences, installed a treble retention circuit on the bridge volume, but not on the neck. This is easily added, but kind of a bummer it didn't come that way. 2) The impact of the volume pots when operating both pickups together is dramatic; you go from full volume to almost off within a very short rotation. This makes intricate on-the-fly adjustments while playing live a little dicey. I've never really like that LP-like dual volume thing anyway and may end up wiring the guitar for master volume.

The PRS Bridge
Another piece of information that I feel compelled to report on is the bridge, and even right out of the case and eventually with new strings I have experienced some issues with the bridge not returning to perfect tuning even after just subtle vibrato. I took some advice from PRS and oiled the knife edges on the tremolo, and while there was some improvement, its not what I would expect it to be. Because I have need for occasional drop tuning and because I wasn't ready to block the tremolo permanently or semi-permanently, I removed a Tremol-No from my Charvel and installed it on the PRS (note: if you will be doing the same, then get the large clamp type; the pin will work with some persuasion, but its probably not worth the effort - I just happened to have the pin version available). The Tremol-No allows me to play as if the tremolo is blocked, free or 'dive bomb' only (which isn't really practical in the true sense with the PRS trem), which is nice, but the trem is still not returning perfectly, resulting in some tuning instability. The Tremol-No may be further complicating the issue, but I haven't yet taken the time to bring the issue to final resolution. I'm not big on actually playing with tremolos that aren't of the Floyd Rose variety, so I may just end up blocking this one like I have done with my Strats.

Conclusions
The PRS DGT is a special guitar for sure. Its neck (read below) is in my opinion the perfect neck in profile and scale length, the unique DGT electronics/switching are overall versatile and useful, and the pickups, while incredibly warm, are pleasant to play through and listen to. This guitar is a really neat flavoring to the modern PRS and in my opinion is a very versatile, work-horse of an instrument with possibly the most unique neck (and my personal favorite) available on a PRS today.