Interesting, feeds right into something I was thinking about this morning... I was looking at guitars some of which were possibly capable of covering strat territory. On my way home I found myself wondering about the strat-a-like guitar by
www.prguitars.co.uk, which I do find quite sexy, but I concluded the wondering with "why, Andrew??!"
Anyway, Philly's post of an Ibanez Blazer in response to these PRS things really helped me get straight what I'd been feeling subconsciously earlier.
Long-ish post alert - but we do end up at PRS!! (But I am pretty much saying what others are, slightly more succinctly :lol: eg. Ian's post while I was typing)
In the early 80s, I was getting going and getting my first electric guitars. My first serious one was a Westone Thunder IA. About a year or so into using that in a rock band, it was obvious what I really wanted was "the" strat sound. The Westone with coil taps got me close enough for me to understand that, but not close enough to satisfy it. But I couldn't afford a Fender. Westone brought out the Concorde - tried one, it was closer, but still not there (and my band thought it looked vile :lol:).
Then things started mixing up a bit, and the Blazer came out - I came very close to getting one, I saw several local bands playing them, and they do achieve the "early 80s strat sound" people were using in those days. It still isn't "the" strat sound I was after... Then one of the Japanese Squiers arrived in my backwoods and I got it, and that was it.
Now, I suspect that this "the" strat sound is something imaginary in my head. But it will be in a lot of other strat-players' heads as well. The folk that don't particularly value that sound don't really seem to get or buy into strats (not helped by the ubiquitous cheap copies that have been around for years). The folk that do like that sound, that lust after it like I do, those folks end up being strat-players...
Rightly or wrongly, my experience as one of these old-git strat-players tells me that NOTHING sounds like an actual strat... if I want a strat, I'm getting a strat or a well built copy. And I'm afraid that I snort amusing snorting sounds at folks that make things like the above PRS strat-a-like. They're never going to convince the folks like me to get one!! Hell, it is so easy nowadays to get a decent strat with Fender written on it, what sane person who wants a strat is going to get a more expensive guitar that is a bit like but actually isn't a strat?!! This PRS isn't even pretty, it's a copy whose design has been fiddled with by someone's niece or nephew (which is a big advantage that the PRguitars strat-a-like has over them - it cleverly tips its hat to its inspiration, and then produces a tribute that is at the same time a) pretty, b) innovative in a way Fender can't be with its own shape, and c) doesn't take the p1ss).
Crazy stuff from PRS!
I'm probably never going to get a PRS, so they don't actually need to pay any attention to me what so ever. But...
The only PRSs I've been tempted by are the original and
beautiful "cross-between-a-strat-and-a-les-paul" things (don't know the model name) that they got famous with, and the Miras recently. Those offerings seem to have identities that say "PRS" to me. If I see a guitar that looks like them, I think "PRS copy". They've established a brand that I recognise and respect, even if I've decided not to partake.
These guitars in the op, however, make me go "er, strat?, nope, chuckle" and "er, les paul, nope, chuckle". If I was gonna buy a PRS, I want a PRS, not... whatever these things are :lol:
