PRS 'Wood Library' Rosewood Neck 513 Limited Edition - A limited run of only 15 guitars that have been commissioned for the UK with hand picked woods from the PRS Private Stock 'wood library' - Furthermore note the tiger eye finish, which is normally only available on Private Stock models - So all in all, a very attractive package that delivers a guitar that is easy on the eye coupled with superior tones and playing performance

The new V12 finish is the result of a 12 year process that allows PRS to blend the traditional nitro finish with the modern acrylic finishes - The finish should enhance the look, feel and sound of the guitar with out hindering its natural resonance, so with this in mind, the V12 finish is ultra thin, yet still clear and hard, to ensure that special PRS glass like finish is every bit as good as it has has been

Regular 513 spec includes:-
One piece hand selected 'wood library' ribbon mahogany body
Hand selected 'wood library' solid Rosewood neck with a 25 1/4" scale length
Hand selected 'wood library' 22 fret rosewood fingerboard with pearloid 513 inlays
The headstock features a '513' engraved truss rod cover as well as the gold PRS signature logo
Hybrid gold and nickel hardware throughout including a set of PRS 14:1 ratio locking tuners plus the PRS patented modern fulcrum tremelo system, incorporating a set of 6 machined brass bridge saddles and a solid/milled brass tremelo block

The easy to use integrated electronics package delivers 13 modern + vintage tones via the 5 proprietary pickups - The 5 way switch is a regular pick-up selector, whilst the 3 way 'mode' switch allows you to select between single coil, clear /vintage humbucking and modern heavy humbucking modes - For more info on the playing and tonal performance see below - click here and click here to see a couple of you tube demo clips of the 513

513 Performance characteristics
The latest tweak to the PRS 513 sees the neck receive the popular 'pattern regular' profile, so with a 42mm top nut width, it has a feel and vibe about it that will be familar to Fender based players - It still retains a comfortable amount of depth to enrich tone and sustain, yet not feel chunky - A guitar should feel comfortable and 'at home' the second you pick it up and play it, so the neck is paramount to that experience, hence PRS spend a lot of time on their neck profiles to deliver the ultimate playing exerience - The 25 1/4" scale length helps to further emphasize the Fender characteristics that the 513 can deliver, along with classic humbucking tones - Think Hendrix, to Larry Carlton to Santana or Van Halen, all in one guitar and that will give you a good indication of the versatility that the 513 delivers - Strung and a set up with a set of 10's, string bending and controlled vibrato are effortless, due in part to the 10" fingerboard radius + medium jumbo frets, so no choking when ripping into some of those big blues bends

The combination of the PRS tremelo system and locking tuners ensures trouble free tuning for all but excessive use of the trem arm - The tremelo itself has a nice, smooth, positive feel about it for both up and down movement

The guitar is worth its selling price alone, just on the tonal options that are possible from a 513 - The single coil tones that are available on the 513 are amazingly Strat-like, more akin to the warmer and darker tones found on a rosewood fingerboard 60's Strat, with crystal clear sparkling highs - Are they exact DNA replicas of a Fender Strat tone? - Probably not, just different and I mean different in a good way as there is not a definitive Strat tone anyway - Different Fender production periods have produced guitars with a slightly different flavour, but think Stevie Ray Vaughan and/or Dave Gilmour and you are getting pretty close to the tones available on a 513 - Move the 3 way 'mode' switch to the middle position and the 2 pairs of single coil pick-ups that are perched next to the neck and bridge are now wired to deliver two vintage based humbucker voices - The tone leans more towards the vibe of a semi acoustic 335 style in that they have more clarity and less moody mids than is found on a Les Paul - Rich, warm and fat in the neck position with a tad more bite and sustain in the bridge position with excellent articulation - Even playing chords around or above the 12 fret area, you have great string separation with a piano like chime - Remember that with the 'mode' switch set in position 2 or 3, hence humbucking tones, the 5 way pick-up selector switch still allows you to obtain the classic 'out of phase' tones on position 2 and 4, whilst position 3 on its own always delivers just the middle single coil pick-up - Finally when you move the 3 way 'mode' switch to position 3, the humbuckers now become hotter with more windings - This is the screaming modern humbucking option, often prefered by contemporary or modern guitarist - Whilst you can use this tone on clean amp settings, it can sound a touch hard, yet add the overdrive on your amp or pedal and screaming lead tones, full of rich harmonics become appararent - This is not a jack of all trades, master of none, it is a very flexabile proffesional tool which should give any guitarists years of pleasure - On either of the tonal positions that you select on the mode switch, you'll find the volume and tone pots very efffective and linear, in that if you back off on the volume pot the tone will stay nice and clear and not go all mushy on you - This is very useful on overdriven amp settings, giving you different levels of expression as it allows an overdriven amp setting to clean up - All controlled via you and the guitar - Endless options, limited only by your imagination