If the Gold Top version of the PRS SE DGT has a vintage, understated attitude, the McCarty Tobacco Sunburst version turns up the visual appeal a notch. The flame maple top gives this DGT a beautiful three-dimensional look, while the Tobacco Sunburst finish lets the figuring come through without making the guitar look overly flashy. It's a great combination of classic PRS aesthetics and the vintage-inspired character that David Grissom wanted from the DGT.
The DGT — short for David Grissom Trem — is based on the PRS McCarty platform, but there's considerably more going on here than simply putting a signature on an existing design. Grissom and PRS spent years refining the details, from the neck shape and frets to the pickups and control layout. The result is a guitar that feels like it was designed by someone who actually spends a lot of time playing guitars.
The mahogany body and carved maple top give the DGT a familiar foundation, with the McCarty Tobacco Sunburst version adding a flame maple veneer over the top. The shallow violin carve feels comfortable against your body, and the DGT neck profile is one of the defining features of the guitar. The mahogany neck and 10" radius rosewood fingerboard make for a very natural playing experience, while the 22-fret, 25" scale-length design hits that sweet spot that PRS has made its own.
The electronics are where the DGT really earns its reputation as a player's guitar. You get a pair of PRS DGT "S" humbuckers, designed specifically for the SE DGT to deliver a vintage-inspired voice with plenty of clarity and attitude. They're equally happy handling clean rhythm work or a pushed amp, with the kind of dynamic response that makes the guitar react to your picking rather than simply throwing the same sound back at you.
And then there's the control layout — something I think is one of the coolest things about the DGT. Instead of one volume control for both pickups, you get individual volume controls, allowing you to blend the two pickups and balance their output right from the guitar. The push/pull master Tone control adds coil-tapped sounds, giving you another set of single-coil-inspired textures when you want to lighten things up. The three-way toggle keeps everything intuitive and easy to operate while you're actually playing.
The hardware is equally well suited to a working player's guitar. The PRS patented tremolo gives you expressive vibrato without turning the instrument into a tuning-stability nightmare, while PRS-designed tuners and nickel hardware keep things simple and reliable.
And this McCarty Tobacco Sunburst version gets Birds fingerboard inlays, which look particularly good against the rosewood fingerboard and tie the whole guitar together.
The Gold Top DGT has its own undeniable charm, but there's something especially good about this one. The flame maple, McCarty Tobacco Sunburst, Birds, and vintage-inspired DGT design give it a classic look, while the pickup and control configuration makes it a remarkably versatile modern player's guitar.
If you're a David Grissom fan, you already know why the DGT exists. If you're not, that's okay — play one. You may find yourself becoming a DGT fan pretty quickly.
