Your ideal PRS?

[Sifu Ben]

Regardless though, I've played dozens and dozens and I've never played a single one that made I'd even take for free (other than to sell on  :lol:) so obviously for me, I just think they're ludicrously priced.

Now you're just being provoking. Even the most ardent PRS detractor can't claim they're anything but well made instruments that play very well.
 Overpriced compared to what? A VOS Gibson? A Gretsch? A Rickenbacker? An Ibanez J Custom? A US Jackson? What other high spec US made carved top mahogany guitar are you going to get for noticeably less money?
 If you don't like figured tops, get a solid colour  :roll:

[nfe]

I wouldn't say they're not well made no, I just don't think they're well enough made for the cost, I haven't played a Mira in fairness, as I've not been in a guitar shop since I stopped working for one and that was a couple months before Miras hit the UK.

As for Overpriced compared to what... Well, better guitars, basically. 

If someone else plays one and thinks it's the bestestest guitar he's ever touched, that's great. I'm simply saying that I don't like them at all and as many chances as I've given them to impress me I've just always thought "Jesus, how much? Pfft!"

Now, as I say, go back to the threads intention, everyone's happy  :)

[Twinfan]

They're not well made ENOUGH?  What do you think they need to improve???????  I can't fault the build quality of my three PRSi in any way.  There's not one thing wrong with them.  How could they be any better?  They couldn't be.

Tell us what's a better guitar please?

Tell me it's not a Caparison  :roll:

[sambo]

^What's the finish on the one with Zebras? Whale Blue or Blue Matteo or something else?

It's an Artist II custom ordered in Royal Blue without the clear 'binding'.  It has a set of AIV Mules on it.

Looks stunning, and bet it sounds it too.


Philly- did you say you better get some better pictures up?! Do you mean... you don't, do you? You bought one!? :o

[nfe]

They're not well made ENOUGH?  What do you think they need to improve???????  I can't fault the build quality of my three PRSi in any way.  There's not one thing wrong with them.  How could they be any better?  They couldn't be.

Tell us what's a better guitar please?

Tell me it's not a Caparison  :roll:

I was one of the "anti-Caparison in THAT thread  :lol: 

In terms of comparably priced high end guitars, Parker, Suhr, Tyler, Anderson, McNaught, Fender Custom Shop... Not that I don't think these are overpriced in some cases, by I think they all make damn better guitars.

[Twinfan]

I have an (overpriced) Fender Custom Shop Tele.  It's of comparable quality to my PRSi.  No better as they're both superbly made.  I just can't see how a US-made PRS isn't well built enough?  Exactly what is it that could be improved?

I'm not being annoyingly defensive here by the way, far from it.  I'm genuinely curious as to what you think could be bettered on most PRSi!

( PS I've played a few Suhrs/Andersons/Tylers and high end Vigiers come to that, and they've all been of equal quality to PRS and the Fender Custom Shop so I agree with you there  :) )

[nfe]

I just typed a big reply, hit post, realised I wasn't logged in, lost the whole thing as it routed me to whatever page. Booo.

I'm about to go watch a film with my missus so I shall summarise what I said thus;

Generally they're like Mandy from Hollyoaks, every part of her is very pretty, but the whole just isn't sexy.

[Philly Q]

Philly- did you say you better get some better pictures up?! Do you mean... you don't, do you? You bought one!? :o

 :D Oh yes, that was nearly 3 months ago now!  I didn't do a thread about it or anything (basically because I was embarrassed about dropping £1,600 on yet another guitar...  :oops: ), but I have mentioned it several times around the place.

****

As for the PRS build quality thing, I 've never played a Tyler, Suhr or Anderson so I can't comment, but I have played Parkers and I've owned lots of Gibsons, Hamers, a couple of relatively high-end Fenders, an EB/Music Man... anyway, I have guitars I like as much as my PRS guitars, but I've never owned anything any better.  The thing they have more than anything else is incredible resonance, I haven't found anything else to match except real old vintage guitars.

Paul Reed Smith himself is a guy who absolutely loves guitars and seems to devote his entire life to tinkering with tiny details to improve the tone, yet people talk about him as if he's some corporate fat cat who spends his time rolling around in yachts and limos lighting fat cigars with $100 bills....  :roll:

I can understand people not liking them, but I suspect anyone who says they're not good guitars is completely blinkered by the whole "rich lawyer's guitar" thing.  (And as for that, so $%&#ing what anyway?  Why be sneery about someone with a bit of money wanting to play guitar?  I don't see anyone getting sniffy about postmen or brickies playing guitar....  )

[Jazz Rock]

I tried a McCarty through a DSL in a shop a few years ago. I don't think my playing has sounded so nice since. Outof my league unfortunately  :(

[gwEm]

My only problem with PRS is that they look so distinctly uncool. I cant help but associate them with lawyers playing "old white guy blues" as its known as on HC and then theres nu-metal :oops:

i'm with you _tom_, but i do think they play really nicely and sound even better though. i like the vibe, just not any of their body shapes. maybe if a new model comes out in the future.

[AndyR]

I find they leave me a bit cold when I try them. I'd love to like PRS, but I've just never played one that "speaks" to me. A while back I came close with a soap-bar beast, probably the model that Sambo posted earlier. But there was something about it that made it just not worth the money to me - and I did buy a Gibson Explorer later that day, slightly cheaper, but in the same ballpark...

I do remember trying a PRS years ago, probably 20 or so... Sorry I'm not up on the PRS model names, but I guess it was a Custom. I could see how it was a successful cross between a strat and a les paul and ended up a "new design", classic and elegant, and pretty much seemed to have the best bits of both worlds - it was a guitar I might have bought at the time except I was a poor bast@rd then. The thing for me was, although it had "mastered" the cross between strat and les paul, and it was easier to play, it just didn't have the "soul" of either (as you'd expect), and I couldn't seem to find any soul of its own.

Recently I've been thinking about "why not PRS" for me, and I suspect I've probably got something in common with tom and gwem, but possibly for different reasons (?) - it was tom's "uncool" that made me remember something I tried to post a while back but couldn't get it right.

I'm after little chunks of "rock and roll" to play and prance around with in my living room... all the chunks I'm after pre-date the existance of PRS - none of my idols/heroes played PRS when they were "cool", and then when/if they switched, all their "best" creativity seemed to have left them (eg Ted Nugent's music/songwriting, about the same time he switched to PRS, went right down the toilet for me... some might say that's where it started :lol:, but I thought he was utterly brilliant for a while!). As musicians, by the time they picked up PRSs, they were mostly far better and more accomplished than when they were playing Strats, SGs, Birdlands, wotever... but I'm afraid they'd lost their rock n roll spark for me.

I've got a lot of respect for Mr PRS himself, he's actually managed to build a brand of "classics" in my opinion - and I'm with the PRS clan on here on the quality, I've never found a fault on any one I've tried... but they're just not the "classics" I want...

[Twinfan]

Great post Andy - I'm kinda with you in some ways.  I don't like the Custom series because a thin body with mahogany/maple just doesn't do it for me.

The McCarty series however is something I should have tried years ago but I just saw them as a variation on the Custom.  The extra body thickness really works for me, as does the double cutaway design with simplified controls.  It's the Les Paul I always wanted.

I think they're really getting their act together now and producing great instruments at a good price, such as the Mira for example.  For gigging, all PRS guitars are superb as they're rock solid, stay in tune, and are really easy and comfortable to play.  Kinda like a BMW car I guess, it does everything superbly.

However my Relic Tele completely blows away all my PRSi away for 'vibe'  :oops:

[HTH AMPS]

All those mega-expensive guitars like the Tylers, Suhrs etc... that PRS compete with all are of similar quality from what I've seen/played and they do all play like buttah.

However, thats just the problem for me - I like guitars to fight back a little (or a lot in the case of my Les Paul std, ha ha).

Last time I played a PRS (custom24) was at Doug Blackmachine's place and his own scaloped-board Tele just blew it away, just in a different league.  So for my money, if I had PRS money to spend, it would go on a Blackmachine Tele (non scaloped though).

[badgermark]

I'm undecided on them. Looks mean a lot to me when it comes to guitars, I have to like them aesthetically. The shapes don't do much for me, the Mira is the only one i kinda like the look of. So if you gave me two grand to pick a guitar I'd consider a PRS, no question. Just haven't found one I've gotten the 'vibes' from, unlike my cheaper collection i have right now, I wouldn't swap my mustang copy for a spanking new top end PRS. Madness? Pah I don't care.

[AndyR]

That reminds me, I forgot to add - although I've not tried one - the look of the Mira does hold some appeal for me... seems there's a lot of us in that position...

(In fact, the reason I haven't tried one is just in case I find out I like it!!)