What's with the Love or Hate thing in regards to PRS Guitars?.....

[Frantic_Rock]

Re: What's with the Love or Hate thing in regards to PRS Guitars?.....

PRS is on my list of guitars to seriouslyu check out. I have never played one, but I love Santana and Al Di meola, and the PRS is very very attractive to me.

If I can ever get one at an affordable price, I will get it. I like the ones with the trems, not the stop tails... I was looking at a CE on ebay with Jazz/JB in it for 450, but the seller would not ship to canada.

 

[b3john]

Re: What's with the Love or Hate thing in regards to PRS Guitars?.....

PRS guitars are like BMW cars:

Gratuitous Beemer joke:

Q. What's the difference beween a BMW and a rose.

A. The rose has the prick on the outside.

:lmao:

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: What's with the Love or Hate thing in regards to PRS Guitars?.....

They do make one of the prettiest maple necks that I've ever seen on a guitar:

 

[John_L]

Re: What's with the Love or Hate thing in regards to PRS Guitars?.....

^ and they would all be better off playing Les Pauls -- ESPECIALLY the dude that rallies BMWs

Actually I would say that PRS' are more like Audis while Gibson are more like BMW. Audi stylish and modern and very reliable and packed with innovation. Just like PRS.
BMW old fashioned popular with 'the herd' and prone to breakdown and hold hardly any value. Just like Gibson with the sneeze and it breaks head stock. Although if we carry this on we'll have to compare Fender with Ford, Ibanez with Toyota and Yamaha with Nissan.

 

[some_dude]

Re: What's with the Love or Hate thing in regards to PRS Guitars?.....

Actually I would say that PRS' are more like Audis while Gibson are more like BMW. Audi stylish and modern and very reliable and packed with innovation. Just like PRS.
BMW old fashioned popular with 'the herd' and prone to breakdown and hold hardly any value. Just like Gibson with the sneeze and it breaks head stock. Although if we carry this on we'll have to compare Fender with Ford, Ibanez with Toyota and Yamaha with Nissan.

The only flaw in that argument is that Gibson tends to hold value while PRS takes a relative **** kicking in the aftermarket.

 

[NecroPolo]

Re: What's with the Love or Hate thing in regards to PRS Guitars?.....

I am pretty neutral towards PRS.

They look nice and I have a respect for their craftmanship but the ones I've tried (Tremonti, Santana, Swamp Ash, different SEs) had no songs in them. At least, not for me.

I don't know, some crap guitars have great songs, some perfect ones have none. You feel when you touch them. That's like chicks who are anatomically perfect so they should be cool with everyone but personally just don't move you.

 

[Jessie's ghost]

Re: What's with the Love or Hate thing in regards to PRS Guitars?.....

The only flaw in that argument is that Gibson tends to hold value while PRS takes a relative **** kicking in the aftermarket.

And the "breaks if you sneeze headstock" argument. It breaks if you drop it. So don't drop it. To use your car metaphor, your Porsche will break if you crash it into a bridge column. So don't crash it into a bridge column.

 

[Metalblaze]

Re: What's with the Love or Hate thing in regards to PRS Guitars?.....

I don't know much about them but I would choose any Gibson against them anytime. At least visually which is equally important for me.

 

[b3john]

Re: What's with the Love or Hate thing in regards to PRS Guitars?.....

I guess I've always equated guys who buy Beemers to guys who buy PRS guitars: "Hey, look at me, I've arrived! Look at me! I'm a winner! Look at me! Don't ignore me!" The most insecure people you'll ever meet! :lmao:

They do make one of the prettiest maple necks that I've ever seen on a guitar:

Which only explains why PRS guitars are known as "art guitars"... Probably would look nice framed on the wall of your mother's living room.

Hey, if that's what floats your boat. Glad I don't have to play one.

 

[Jessie's ghost]

Re: What's with the Love or Hate thing in regards to PRS Guitars?.....

Actually I would say that PRS' are more like Audis while Gibson are more like BMW. Audi stylish and modern and very reliable and packed with innovation. Just like PRS.
BMW old fashioned popular with 'the herd' and prone to breakdown and hold hardly any value. Just like Gibson with the sneeze and it breaks head stock. Although if we carry this on we'll have to compare Fender with Ford, Ibanez with Toyota and Yamaha with Nissan.

Gee, I guess this game can sting a little when the shoe's on the other foot, no?

 

[John_L]

Re: What's with the Love or Hate thing in regards to PRS Guitars?.....

The only flaw in that argument is that Gibson tends to hold value while PRS takes a relative **** kicking in the aftermarket.

Not in the UK a PRS Custom 24 new from Peach Guitars (my local dealer) is £1999-£2100 depending on spec a Les Paul Standard is £2300. A 2008 used Custom 24 10 top is £1800 while a 2008 LP standard (with no head break damage) is £795. That is a huge depreciation.

 

[John_L]

Re: What's with the Love or Hate thing in regards to PRS Guitars?.....

And the "breaks if you sneeze headstock" argument. It breaks if you drop it. So don't drop it. To use your car metaphor, your Porsche will break if you crash it into a bridge column. So don't crash it into a bridge column.

With a Les Paul you have to buy an aftermarket case (Hiscox are the best) as it'll break in the Gibson case. You have to be careful when you gig it as if you tap a mic stand on stage it'll break. If you put it on a stand too heavily it'll break. Or even if you lay the guitar on a bed it'll break. All causes of headbreak which I've seen.

 

[Jessie's ghost]

Re: What's with the Love or Hate thing in regards to PRS Guitars?.....

With a Les Paul you have to buy an aftermarket case (Hiscox are the best) as it'll break in the Gibson case. You have to be careful when you gig it as if you tap a mic stand on stage it'll break. If you put it on a stand too heavily it'll break. Or even if you lay the guitar on a bed it'll break. All causes of headbreak which I've seen.

I get the feeling that you're downplaying the culpability of the user in each of these cases.

For example, why would putting a Gibson in a stand "too heavily" break the headstock, unless it were a poor stand design for a guitar like that and the user in question were just not being careful? I never use stands that put pressure on the neck anywhere near the headstock -- Gibson or otherwise.

In the case of the bed, why would anyone put a guitar like that down on a surface where there would be an pressure on the tip of the headstock? You hang the headstock over the edge so the pressure is on the neck proper.

To be honest, I'd rather have a fragile guitar that looks and sounds the way I want, than something else that's more durable. I might have to shell out for a repair one day, but all those other days would be worth it.

 

[John_L]

Re: What's with the Love or Hate thing in regards to PRS Guitars?.....

The real problem with Les Pauls these days is that they don't sound like Les Pauls which is why so many people are disappointed. Once you start chambering you are cutting away tone so people try and compensate with heavy strings which compounds the design flaw. It's just a shame that the input of Les Paul has been ignored by Gibson.

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: What's with the Love or Hate thing in regards to PRS Guitars?.....

We'll have to compare Fender with Ford

I'll accept that revision! :laughing:

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: What's with the Love or Hate thing in regards to PRS Guitars?.....

With a Les Paul you have to buy an aftermarket case (Hiscox are the best) as it'll break in the Gibson case. You have to be careful when you gig it as if you tap a mic stand on stage it'll break. If you put it on a stand too heavily it'll break. Or even if you lay the guitar on a bed it'll break. All causes of headbreak which I've seen.

Seriously? Back when I was just learning to play guitar in university I used to keep my guitar (an Epi Dot) leaning up against the wall in the corner of my room (no cash for a stand). I often times wouldn't take the guitar cable out of it when I was done practicing . . . It got tripped over and sent the guitar crashing down to the thinly carpeted floor many times before I ended up getting a stand. (Makes me wince to think that I could have been so careless with my guitar.) That jazzbox never developed any kind of break in the headstock. Unless Gibson makes their cheaper Epiphone guitars stronger than their good instruments I bet you would have to REALLY crack a headstock off of a mic stand to do much damage . . .

 

[aleclee]

Re: What's with the Love or Hate thing in regards to PRS Guitars?.....

And the "breaks if you sneeze headstock" argument. It breaks if you drop it. So don't drop it. To use your car metaphor, your Porsche will break if you crash it into a bridge column. So don't crash it into a bridge column.

I'd more likely use the Ford Pinto analogy: It's a known issue that would cost little to address but the company keeps shipping units with the issue.

 

[infrared72]

Re: What's with the Love or Hate thing in regards to PRS Guitars?.....

At one point a few years ago I had a bad urge for an early 90's Paul Reed Smtih EG. The second hand market for these has gone up considerably as they're really nice instruments. The new SE/EG models were nice also, but there was something I really liked about those early EG's. Somewhere here I have an old circa 1992-1993 advertisement from Guitar World (or one of the other guitar mags) that had the whole spread of PRS EG's from that production run. They had great classic looking finishes - 3 color sunburst, and a creamy/vanilla white color. After the initial models in '92 and '93, I think they did a see through black finish, a seafoam green, and a sparkly gold. I started playing guitar in 1989, so I remember drooling over those early EG models.

I really wish I had the financial resources in the early 90's to purchase one new. A lot of the 90's PRS EG's that I've seen on Ebay and other places haven't held up well or they've been modified a little too far from stock with pickup changes and such. I seem to recall the Lindy Fralin domino pickups were a special run he did just for PRS, and I don't believe those are available anymore. Aside from the 90's EG - I really like their gold top David Grissom model - that is a really nice instrument. I don't care for the rotary pickup selectors that showed up on some of their guitars - I think those are kinda silly.

So I'm a fan of PRS, though I'm not a huge fan of all the super fancy finish options. Some of their models seem more like collector items, but again that may be just because I'm not into those over the top quilted finishes. For an instrument that's going to get played, I can't see spending that kind of coin when it will probably pickup some dings and such over time.

 

[some_dude]

Re: What's with the Love or Hate thing in regards to PRS Guitars?.....

With a Les Paul you have to buy an aftermarket case (Hiscox are the best) as it'll break in the Gibson case. You have to be careful when you gig it as if you tap a mic stand on stage it'll break. If you put it on a stand too heavily it'll break. Or even if you lay the guitar on a bed it'll break. All causes of headbreak which I've seen.

The real problem with Les Pauls these days is that they don't sound like Les Pauls which is why so many people are disappointed. Once you start chambering you are cutting away tone so people try and compensate with heavy strings which compounds the design flaw. It's just a shame that the input of Les Paul has been ignored by Gibson.

I don't really dislike PRS so much as I dislike PRS owners who sh*t on everything that isn't PRS.

- Some dude back on page 3....

 

[Jessie's ghost]

Re: What's with the Love or Hate thing in regards to PRS Guitars?.....

I'd more likely use the Ford Pinto analogy: It's a known issue that would cost little to address but the company keeps shipping units with the issue.

It's not even remotely the same thing. The Pinto was a safety issue -- a matter of life and death. What's at stake with a guitar neck? An unpleasant repair bill.

No one would choose to have the unsafe fuel tank in the case of the Pinto. In the case of the guitar, some players prefer one design over another for a variety of reasons. Certainly a well-executed laminated neck with a scarf joint or volute is stronger and more stable than the one-piece Gibson neck. This is one of the reasons I like that design feature, but in different kinds of guitars.

For some guitars, I like the feel and sound of a one-piece neck. Go ahead and tell me that it doesn't make any difference. I don't care. When I pick up a guitar to play, it's about my hands and my ears -- not yours. When you're choosing or playing a guitar, it can be about your hands and your ears. Just don't claim that what's best for one of us is automatically best for the other.

The funny thing about the Gibson neck's history is that, for a while in the 70's, they tried departing from the one-piece in favor of a stronger design. But then, you may say, "the vintage weenies whined, so Gibson changed it back." That's your negative spin on the reality that the people buying the guitars -- Gibson's customers -- chose the one-piece neck, and Gibson listened to them.

Maybe PRS owners & fans go back and forth over issues like these. I don't know, and it's not really my business, because I'm not one of them. I may have opinions about them, but I realize they don't matter, because I'm not PRS's customer. So I don't bag on them in every conceivable thread in the forum.

Shoe, foot, something…