Whoa, back to posting after a long hiatus...
I have become a PRS man pretty hardcore (I own a custom 24). Really love pretty much everything about them. There is still plenty of room in my heart (just not in my wallet) for plenty more guitars, but I think PRS is the brand that gets me as close as I want to my ideal guitar without going
custom shop (though the custom shop
fender strat i will be getting soon is half the price of a custom 24...)
Enough of that, on to the question. In terms of build quality, a custom and a standard should and usually are pretty much the same high-end guitar. You pay extra for a custom because of the flame/quilt maple top, where as the standard is mahog. The tone is different, whether you detect it much is really up to your ear. Some people swear by mahog body tone, some need to have the maple top. Both axes are really sweet, i just prefer the look and tone of my custom. [/quote]
