The Very First PRS in the UK.......(Chandler)

Strat54

For those like me who had a were regulars at Chandler of Kew back in the 1990's this 1986 PRS might be familiar to you.This was the first PRS into the UK and after a brief period with Terry Britten it remained as the shop 'demo'. Crazy price, I think I offered Paula £3500 for it when they were closing down. Now for sale with TFOA who like to offer nice guitars at speculative prices.
The guitar was featured in Tony Bacon's The Ultimate Guitar and Paul Trynka's The Electric Guitar books. 

https://reverb.com/item/34555241-prs-custom-24-vintage-yellow-1986-terry-britten

https://images.reverb.com/image/upload/s--903LWwoQ--/f_auto,t_supersize/v1594216474/w0xskd8tk29e7dxwowfw.jpg

Bridgehouse

Holy £11.5k Batman!

RaymondLin

The BRZ board on that don't look like others that ive seen, its very pale. 

Strangefan

RaymondLin said:

The BRZ board on that don't look like others that ive seen, its very pale. 

Then it must be destroyed! We cant have a slightly pale baz board now can we! 

RaymondLin

Strangefan said:

RaymondLin said:

The BRZ board on that don't look like others that ive seen, its very pale. 

Then it must be destroyed! We cant have a slightly pale baz board now can we! 

Huh? How dramatic.

It's just an observation pal, not a criticism. 

artiebear

A very speculative price indeed. Nice to see Terry's name mentioned there. That takes me back a long long time ago, those were the days, great writer and producer.

Strangefan

RaymondLin said:

Strangefan said:

RaymondLin said:

The BRZ board on that don't look like others that ive seen, its very pale. 

Then it must be destroyed! We cant have a slightly pale baz board now can we! 

Huh? How dramatic.

It's just an observation pal, not a criticism. 

Chill your beans princess.

crunchman

RaymondLin said:

The BRZ board on that don't look like others that ive seen, its very pale. 

I had a 1990 PRS Ltd Edition with a Brazilian board that was a similar colour.

RaymondLin

crunchman said:

RaymondLin said:

The BRZ board on that don't look like others that ive seen, its very pale. 

I had a 1990 PRS Ltd Edition with a Brazilian board that was a similar colour.

It's just that i thought the trend was dark boards back then.

artiebear

My PRS Signature from the late 80's has that same Kind of board. Quite red with darker streaks. Wish I had kept that one.

guitargeek62

RaymondLin said:

crunchman said:

RaymondLin said:

The BRZ board on that don't look like others that ive seen, its very pale. 

I had a 1990 PRS Ltd Edition with a Brazilian board that was a similar colour.

It's just that i thought the trend was dark boards back then.

It varies - my '87 is nice and dark, almost black in places. I've seen a lot of 80s PRS' with the lighter boards though.

Back to OP - this is an insane price for an '86. While it's a great top, and an interesting quirk of history, I wouldn't have paid extra for it! As far as a collectors instrument goes, this one should max out at £4-5k.

FelineGuitars

i remember serving Terry when i spent a summer at Chandlers, and i remember Doug's own goldtop PRS  from '89 being rather special

Strat54

I played the guitar many times as me and Doug thrashed out deals on his little calculator. 
I notice its cheaper on their website today.
@guitargeek62 ; is correct its a £4k guitar. I was tempted when they were closing purely out of nostalgia. 

https://www.tfoa.eu/en/prs-custom-24-vintage-yellow-1986-terry-britten.html

stonevibe

I laughed when I read the price. Jog on!

DrJazzTap

I used to drool over that guitar! 

jeztone2

Is this the one that Guitarist mag reviewed in 86’ and said it was overrated? 

Strat54

jeztone2 said:

Is this the one that Guitarist mag reviewed in 86’ and said it was overrated? 

No, from memory that one had a quilt top and birds. I seem to remember its being photographed in front of an Ford Cab at the time lol. 

Gassage

I remember this too. There was also a Gold Top from the same year Doug had IIRC.

prowla

Strangefan said:

RaymondLin said:

Strangefan said:

RaymondLin said:

The BRZ board on that don't look like others that ive seen, its very pale. 

Then it must be destroyed! We cant have a slightly pale baz board now can we! 

Huh? How dramatic.

It's just an observation pal, not a criticism. 

Chill your beans princess.

(I thought it was funny!)

stonevibe

I think its often 'rose tinted glasses' with some of these '80s PRS models and the obsession over Brazilian Rosewood and being 'non' factory.

They are certainly well made guitars with nice woods, but they aren't worth this kind of money to me, even with the 'special story' and hand-written provenance that means very little to anyone, but guitar geeks like us.

Nice guitars and worth £3-4k tops in my world and even then I would want specific things for that valuation.

For me the consistency of PRS makes it hard to warrant these hyped up prices on '80s models. It isn't like PRS has ever had a Norlin or CBS takeover to destroy their QC and reputation.

If anything, they are better now then they were back then.

We could argue about older pickups, Brazilian Rosewood and Mann Made bridges. But essentially they are still very well made guitars today.

Strat54

I agree, the new ones are great guitars BUT there's something quite different going on with these early ones. They have quite a 'hand-crafted' feel to them and don't feel clinical or dare I say it sterile.They have a real vintage vibe going on. Then again those T&B pickups aren't to everyone's taste. The price here is purely speculative, you can actually buy the '86 guitars for £4-5k and there's always plenty for sale.