PRS - Fashionable again?

TTBZ

Ironically having said that, my only decent guitar right now is a Gibson, I’ve just wanted a nice PRS pretty muchfor as long as I can remember  

Dan_Halen

guitargeek62 said:

Grumpyrocker said:

Dan_Halen said:

Maybe they’re missing a trick by not going at the market who want the guitar that plays like a PRS but looks a bit more old school.

I guess that's what the McCarty models are for. They have quite a vintage vibe.

Yep, the McCarty 594 variants are amazing too - I played a couple last weekend (DC and SC) finally and now genuinely wouldn’t be looking anywhere else for those LP tones of yester-year. To be fair, I’ve been a fanboi of PRS for years now, but even so I was bloody impressed by them!

@Dan_Halen - what is it you’d change about PRS designs to make them more “vintage” looking?

Good question really. Didn’t really have anything specific in mind and suggesting they should do it, more thinking out loud. It was a ‘maybe’. I love mine :-)

Maybe more of the traditional finishes, tobacco, lemon, gold etc. These seem to be the ones that help people make the leap and get most love or acceptance from those who like things less flashy. I know they do these already but most shops I see PRS stocked it’s weird colours, purple or green bursts etc. Their more flashy modern stuff.

Maybe they could be less shiny? There’s something about a super shiny, new looking guitar. It’s a bit like a pair of new bright white trainers... when everyone can see you’ve got brand new trainers and feel the need to comment. The current R8s and 9s have that new but not new look (VOS is it?). Like a well looked after old guitar. Maybe something like that?

Not saying they should do any of these things - merely some musings. Seems a bit churlish of me to tell a very successful company they’re maybe doing it wrong. 

dazzajl

7 pages and a 180 something replies and I’m still no closer to believing PRS are now, or have ever been, cool or fashionable. 

This thread has made me want to go and play some though. It would take an awful lot for me to get past the birds but I’d love to believe there is at least one I could really fall for out there. 

Philly_Q

dazzajl said:

7 pages and a 180 something replies and I’m still no closer to believing PRS are now, or have ever been, cool or fashionable. 

This thread has made me want to go and play some though. It would take an awful lot for me to get past the birds but I’d love to believe there is at least one I could really fall for out there. 

OK, one more post.  Cool is entirely subjective.  Fashionable is, by its very nature, fleeting.

Lots of PRS guitars don't have birds, birds are easily avoided.  Go and try some. 

You can always wear sunglasses or a balaclava or something if you're embarrassed.  But you shouldn't be - let's face it, there will always be people in a guitar shop who'll sneer at you, but none of them will be cool or fashionable.

guitargeek62

@Dan_Halen fair enough, that’s pretty much what I thought but just wanted to check! I know what you mean about the finishes over the last couple of years, they’ve gone a bit more adventurous but I don’t think that’s a bad thing - many other brands have done the same to add a bit more life into the lineups. 

That said, they’ve also done runs using nitro finishes that broke away from the dipped-in-glass look (Sunburst series, early DGTs, ME1s, satin models, others too probably), and even the odd run of lightly relic’d guitars too (RH2010s were pretty cool), but I don’t think PRS have ever had any ambition to produce a regular relic/VOS model so we’ll probably have to wait a while longer for that.

There was that shop in the states recently that did a good attempt at relicing a Silver Sky though, that’s something I’d like to see more of. I could also see it working on their 594 range, and even a 1985 reissue model - were they ever to do another.

Grumpyrocker

TTBZ said:

I never got the “dentist guitar” thing, most of the bands I associate with PRS are younger metal, prog and pop punk/punk rock styles. Fender and Gibson are for the dad rock blues lawyer dentist types.

Yes same. Perhaps because the first time I really noticed a band using lots of PRS guitars it was Opeth. Progressive death metal hardly brings to mind dentists and old farts. 

Dan_Halen

dazzajl said:

7 pages and a 180 something replies and I’m still no closer to believing PRS are now, or have ever been, cool or fashionable. 

This thread has made me want to go and play some though. It would take an awful lot for me to get past the birds but I’d love to believe there is at least one I could really fall for out there. 

Get one without the birds then. Duh!

BGG

Well I had a dep gig last night playing classic rock covers, used my Studio 22 and SC250 through my Brunetti Pleximan and they sounded incredible. And way better than any of the many Les Pauls I’ve owned ... just saying

ICBM

Dan_Halen said:

dazzajl said:

This thread has made me want to go and play some though. It would take an awful lot for me to get past the birds but I’d love to believe there is at least one I could really fall for out there. 

Get one without the birds then. Duh!

+1

I owned five of them, all US models, two with flame tops - actually three, but one was black so you could only see it round the edge... and no birds.

Philly_Q

ICBM said:

I owned five of them, all US models, two with flame tops - actually three, but one was black so you could only see it round the edge... and no birds.

My McCarty's like that.  The back and sides are black too, it's certainly not blingy.  Although I have toyed with the idea of putting gold hardware on it.

Whitecat

The “dentist” jibe is/was mainly due to their price, surely. 

They are even more expensive now in relative terms, but back in the day, they were still not cheap, and back then they didn’t have an import line or even a cheaper US model other than the CE eventually. It was full-carve full-fat or nothing, so you were far less likely to see them at your local in the hands of the Friday night band. 

The expansion of lower-priced models, the proliferation of cheap credit in the millennium and later and the subsequent effect of overpopulating a used market meant that suddenly anyone could get one, of some flavour...

Strat54

Fashionable? Maybe, but by posting the following video in a forum I can kill that off again the blink of an eye.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWJHTtjuPcM

meltedbuzzbox

Strat54 said:

Fashionable? Maybe, but by posting the following video in a forum I can kill that off again the blink of an eye.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWJHTtjuPcM

Bonermassive has that effect

CHRISB50

skullfunkerry said:

This thread is making me GAS for this:

https://www.peachguitars.com/brands/mark-holcomb-prs-se/prs-se-2017-mark-holcomb-signature.htm

A good friend of mine has me of those and it’s lovely. 

freakboy1610

skullfunkerry said:

This thread is making me GAS for this:

https://www.peachguitars.com/brands/mark-holcomb-prs-se/prs-se-2017-mark-holcomb-signature.htm

I've got one of those. It's very nice!

skullfunkerry

CHRISB50 said:

skullfunkerry said:

This thread is making me GAS for this:

https://www.peachguitars.com/brands/mark-holcomb-prs-se/prs-se-2017-mark-holcomb-signature.htm

A good friend of mine has me of those and it’s lovely. 

freakboy1610 said:

skullfunkerry said:

This thread is making me GAS for this:

https://www.peachguitars.com/brands/mark-holcomb-prs-se/prs-se-2017-mark-holcomb-signature.htm

I've got one of those. It's very nice!

You're not helping, chaps!

TINMAN82

In answer to the original question, for those that follow various guitar channels and artists on social media/ YouTube, there is definitely more buzz around PRS at the moment. Think it probably started with the silver sky but it’s moved on from that.

I may or may not be posting a new (old) PRS guitar day soon...

crunchman

TINMAN82 said:

In answer to the original question, for those that follow various guitar channels and artists on social media/ YouTube, there is definitely more buzz around PRS at the moment. Think it probably started with the silver sky but it’s moved on from that.

I may or may not be posting a new (old) PRS guitar day soon...

Maybe people are looking for something other than Gibson following the Agnesi video.

theimageofall

I’ve just bought one of the SE 245 zebrawood’s second hand and it plays amazingly after a set up. First PRS after being a Gibson Les Paul Player for a looong time and I’m impressed.

I hope it doesn’t open the PRS floodgates as some of them aren’t cheap...!

richardhomer

I found this Tim Pierce video interesting:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tqI2TJvCxJI