why the love or less hate for pre factory or old PRS's compared to new ones

guitars4you

DefaultM said:

I'm assuming someone bought it of their own free will at £2k so not sure what your point is? It's not as if it's still sat in his shop at an over inflated price.

I think he also appears on FB at times - but I can't recall his FB name - I only know his real name

richardhomer

Slightly off-topic, what a dealer sells something for is the business of the dealer in my view. If someone willingly bought something, the price was right - if it wasn't, it would still be for sale.

It isn't the moral duty of a dealer to surpress prices....

On to the actual subject - PRS has always built guitars to an exceptionally high standard. Hard to go wrong with one from any era, so long as you actually like the actual instrument.

sunshinewelly

Did not mean to open up a can of worms and to be fair to mark the prices at his site seem very reasonable. Been tempted by a couple of custom shop strats there. Seeing the description in the recent classified just peeved me off. Always found the classifieds here to be the most accurate out of all the usual suspects. 

Strat54

sunshinewelly said:

Did not mean to open up a can of worms and to be fair to mark the prices at his site seem very reasonable. Been tempted by a couple of custom shop strats there. Seeing the description in the recent classified just peeved me off. Always found the classifieds here to be the most accurate out of all the usual suspects. 

Funnily enough the guitar you refer to was mine and I bought it from Mark sometime ago for a very very reasonable price!

For what its worth, I do think 99.9% of the time Mark's used guitars are priced very fairly but this blue one did raise my eyebrow at the time. Had it been a 1991 then it would have been a good price.
 You ask me what I think it should have been Mark, well based on the price of your non 10 '97 at £1699 and your lovely 2014 non-10 at £1999 which has a great top then I'd say £1849. 

Funkfingers

Whitecat said:

"Pre-factory" is a bullshit term that idiots and chancers use to try to inflate the value of their older guitars. 

In the case of the Singlecut model, the term "pre-lawsuit" is often wheeled out for the same reason. Smith himself has debunked this nonsense. Production from immediately after the Gibson suit had failed used bodies and necks fabricated prior to the enforced cessation. The guitars are, therefore, EXACTLY THE SAME pre- and post-lawsuit.

Only with later specification changes could the post-lawsuit guitars be claimed to be different. Smith would ague that they changed for the better.

professorben

Honestly the Gear world is rife with this sort of stuff, anywhere there is a change in the production or ownership of a company, people will put some kind of point of interest or desirability. 

Pre CBS
Pre Norlin
Pre Factory
Post Yamaha Ownership
Kalamazoo not Nashville
FX8 Mk1 not 2
Post Henry J
Pre Bono etc etc. 

Sometimes there ARE differences. 

Sometimes not so much more than a natural evolution of a design or process. 

timmysoft

I don't really like the modern PRS guitars, i always prefer the older ones. There are always exceptions, but most of the ones i've played built in the last 10 years have been pretty lacking in character, the 90's and early 2000 models i've owned were far better "players" instruments and i feel a lot of the "upgrades" weren't needed. My main guitar is a PRS MiraX from 2009, it feels more like PRS guitars used to feel, it sounds good but above all, it just has something that other PRS guitars i've tried of late don't.

Funkfingers

timmysoft said:

I don't really like the modern PRS guitars, i always prefer the older ones. 

I agree.

I have a 1993 Custom. For his fiftieth birthday, my musical collaborator bought himself a 2013 Custom. They look slightly different. They feel different in the hands. The pickups and control circuitry are different. Examining the 2013 model, I can see where improvements have been introduced. When it comes to just plugging in and wailing, I prefer the older model.

professorben

timmysoft said:

I don't really like the modern PRS guitars, i always prefer the older ones. There are always exceptions, but most of the ones i've played built in the last 10 years have been pretty lacking in character, the 90's and early 2000 models i've owned were far better "players" instruments and i feel a lot of the "upgrades" weren't needed. My main guitar is a PRS MiraX from 2009, it feels more like PRS guitars used to feel, it sounds good but above all, it just has something that other PRS guitars i've tried of late don't.

I feel exactly the same way. 

I just dont like the modern guitars.

bacchanalian

Hopefully, if PRS is reading this, he will introduce a range of guitars that replicate the older ones with different degrees of ageing. All the fans of old ones can buy new ones that look old for three times the price.  Do you think that would catch on?

Funkfingers

Private Stock!

guitars4you

bacchanalian said:

Hopefully, if PRS is reading this, he will introduce a range of guitars that replicate the older ones with different degrees of ageing. All the fans of old ones can buy new ones that look old for three times the price.  Do you think that would catch on?

I recall him been asked about this at the Experience seminar and he said no way - He added 'that the reason we fit strings to a guitar is so that you can play them - So please play them and they will age naturally'

As far as used guitars go I find that sometimes even a minor graze can often be a big negative to  a potential buyer on a PRS - yet on a Fender or Gibson it is generally not seen as a negative at all and in fact it is often see as part of the character of a used guitar

bacchanalian

guitars4you said:

bacchanalian said:

Hopefully, if PRS is reading this, he will introduce a range of guitars that replicate the older ones with different degrees of ageing. All the fans of old ones can buy new ones that look old for three times the price.  Do you think that would catch on?

I recall him been asked about this at the Experience seminar and he said no way - He added 'that the reason we fit strings to a guitar is so that you can play them - So please play them and they will age naturally'

As far as used guitars go I find that sometimes even a minor graze can often be a big negative to  a potential buyer on a PRS - yet on a Fender or Gibson it is generally not seen as a negative at all and in fact it is often see as part of the character of a used guitar

I was highlighting what an unlikely success story the Custom Shop stuff has been.  I love my CS tele. I cannot imagine taking a belt sander to a PRS

guitars4you

bacchanalian said:

guitars4you said:

bacchanalian said:

Hopefully, if PRS is reading this, he will introduce a range of guitars that replicate the older ones with different degrees of ageing. All the fans of old ones can buy new ones that look old for three times the price.  Do you think that would catch on?

I recall him been asked about this at the Experience seminar and he said no way - He added 'that the reason we fit strings to a guitar is so that you can play them - So please play them and they will age naturally'

As far as used guitars go I find that sometimes even a minor graze can often be a big negative to  a potential buyer on a PRS - yet on a Fender or Gibson it is generally not seen as a negative at all and in fact it is often see as part of the character of a used guitar

I was highlighting what an unlikely success story the Custom Shop stuff has been.  I love my CS tele. I cannot imagine taking a belt sander to a PRS

just remembered, that sometime around 5-8 years ago PRS did a run of Custom 24's based on pre-92 models - can't remember if Private Stock or not (think they were) and only saw them on a few other dealers sites so never actually saw one in the flesh - can anyone else pass comment/update me on this

Sassafras

I've heard he's bringing out a True Historic PRS for 2018 and 2019 and 2020 etc.....

Strat54

professorben said:

timmysoft said:

I don't really like the modern PRS guitars, i always prefer the older ones. There are always exceptions, but most of the ones i've played built in the last 10 years have been pretty lacking in character, the 90's and early 2000 models i've owned were far better "players" instruments and i feel a lot of the "upgrades" weren't needed. My main guitar is a PRS MiraX from 2009, it feels more like PRS guitars used to feel, it sounds good but above all, it just has something that other PRS guitars i've tried of late don't.

I feel exactly the same way. 

I just dont like the modern guitars.

Character is what you play into a guitar...its all part of the ageing process.

Strat54

PRS made a run of aged DGT gold tops for Peach a couple of years back.

guitars4you

Strat54 said:

PRS made a run of aged DGT gold tops for Peach a couple of years back.

I remember those - John had the commissioned for him on an exclusive basis - sold a few and eventually sold them all - again I never saw one in the flesh 

I'm sure they were Private Stock, but can you recall a run of pre-92 CU24's

also the 'aged' RH2010 finishes - not strictly an aged top coat, but an aged under top coat approach

Strat54

guitars4you said:

bacchanalian said:

guitars4you said:

bacchanalian said:

Hopefully, if PRS is reading this, he will introduce a range of guitars that replicate the older ones with different degrees of ageing. All the fans of old ones can buy new ones that look old for three times the price.  Do you think that would catch on?

I recall him been asked about this at the Experience seminar and he said no way - He added 'that the reason we fit strings to a guitar is so that you can play them - So please play them and they will age naturally'

As far as used guitars go I find that sometimes even a minor graze can often be a big negative to  a potential buyer on a PRS - yet on a Fender or Gibson it is generally not seen as a negative at all and in fact it is often see as part of the character of a used guitar

I was highlighting what an unlikely success story the Custom Shop stuff has been.  I love my CS tele. I cannot imagine taking a belt sander to a PRS

just remembered, that sometime around 5-8 years ago PRS did a run of Custom 24's based on pre-92 models - can't remember if Private Stock or not (think they were) and only saw them on a few other dealers sites so never actually saw one in the flesh - can anyone else pass comment/update me on this

Yeah they did some Vint Yellow Private Stock that were identical in every respect to a 1986 Custom with old school birds, short heel and Milcom. Then there was a run called the Throwbacks in 2011...
https://reverb-res.cloudinary.com/image/upload/s--An9B6lWH--/a_exif,c_limit,e_unsharp_mask:80,f_auto,fl_progressive,g_south,h_1600,q_80,w_1600/v1387243261/dyfrqtp8sirvpeqnkwe0.jpg

Strat54

guitars4you said:

Strat54 said:

PRS made a run of aged DGT gold tops for Peach a couple of years back.

I remember those - John had the commissioned for him on an exclusive basis - sold a few and eventually sold them all - again I never saw one in the flesh 

I'm sure they were Private Stock, but can you recall a run of pre-92 CU24's

also the 'aged' RH2010 finishes - not strictly an aged top coat, but an aged under top coat approach

Yeah, took him a while to sell all of those. I remember the RH2010 ones...you had one...nice!

http://desafinados.es/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/prs4.jpg

Aged DGT

http://images.peachguitars.com/1/1444489928_6009.jpg