The PRS SE DGT is a pretty fascinating guitar because it isn't simply a PRS with David Grissom's name on the headstock. Grissom has been deeply involved with the DGT design from the beginning, and the whole idea behind this guitar was to take the things he knows and loves about vintage guitars and combine them with the precision, playability, and reliability that PRS is known for. The result is a guitar that feels familiar almost immediately, but has plenty of personality of its own.
And in Grissom Gold Top, it's hard not to love the way it looks. The understated Gold Top finish gives the guitar a distinctly vintage flavor, while the PRS body shape, clean lines, and signature appointments keep it from becoming just another retro recreation.
The DGT is built on the McCarty platform, with a mahogany body and maple top, and the SE version features a shallow violin carve on the top. The 25" scale length sits right between the traditional Gibson and Fender worlds, which is one of the things that makes PRS guitars so comfortable for players coming from either direction.
The DGT neck carve is one of the most important parts of the recipe. It's a shape David Grissom specifically wanted, and it's paired with a 10" radius rosewood fingerboard and 22 jumbo frets. It's a very player-focused neck — substantial enough to feel like a real guitar in your hands, but designed for the kind of bending, vibrato, rhythm work, and lead playing Grissom is known for.
Then we get to the electronics, where the DGT really separates itself from a typical two-humbucker PRS.
The guitar uses a pair of PRS DGT "S" humbuckers, voiced specifically for this model. They're vintage-inspired without being overly polite, giving the guitar plenty of articulation and harmonic character. But the real magic is in the control layout: instead of one shared volume control, you get individual volume controls for each pickup, along with a push-pull master Tone control that coil-taps the humbuckers.
That means you can blend the pickups in ways you simply can't with a conventional Les Paul-style control layout, and the push-pull Tone opens up convincing single-coil-inspired sounds when you need them. PRS clearly didn't want this to be a guitar where you find one great sound and leave everything alone — there is a lot of tonal control here without making the guitar complicated to operate.
The hardware is equally well thought out. The PRS patented tremolo gives you vibrato capability while retaining the tuning stability PRS is famous for, and the PRS-designed tuners keep the headstock clean and straightforward. Nickel hardware completes the vintage-meets-modern look.
The Gold Top DGT is one of those guitars that makes more sense the longer you play it. It has the visual appeal of a classic, the comfortable feel of a modern PRS, and a control layout that was clearly designed by somebody who actually uses the volume knobs and pickup selector while playing.
If you're a David Grissom fan, this is obviously a very cool opportunity. But you don't have to know a single Grissom lick to appreciate what he and PRS came up with here. It's simply a really well-conceived player's guitar — versatile, comfortable, distinctive, and loaded with vintage-inspired tones.
