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

NelsonP

Funny. One of my favourite guitar related memories is spending the day in Denmark St in the late 80s, trying to find a new guitar. Got to 4pm and nothing. So we hotfooted it down to Chandlers. We got there just as the store was closing but managed to persuade them to let us in with our sob stories of desperately trying to find the right guitar.

I was treated to what I can only describe as a guitar lock in. I told them my budget but they let me play virually every guitar in the store. They were pulling them off the walls for me, including guitars way above my budget 'just for fun', like a PRS very similar to the one above and a floral JEM. I recall both of them being otherworldly.

I left the store at about 6.30pm, way after closing time, clutching a brand new Ibanez RG, which I still own.

That kind of store no longer exists. What a day.

Moleman

I well remember Paul Reed Smith promoting his guitars on the Chandlers stand at The Guitarist Show at The Barbican in (I think) October, 1987. 

Paul was doing a great job of personally demonstrating his guitars to a group of show attendees who were also trying the guitars and lapping it up. Paul was very engaging but also kind of loud talking and a little bit full of himself. I recall players asking whether the tremolo bridge and locking machine heads were available separately and Paul told them in the nicest way possible, “If you want the tremolo and you want the locking heads then you gotta buy a guitar...”. 

Doug Chandler was manning the stand also (wearing a skinny tie). In addition to about four PRS guitars in the original colours, Chandlers also had some Mesa-Boogie Studio 22 combos plus some of the first RAT pedals in the UK. 

For a callow teenager it was all more than a little bit overawing! I can’t recall the exact price of the PRS Customs on the stand but they did have a single Jackson Soloist (non more black, HSS pickups and black chrome Kahler at £1600 - equivalent to £4,500 or so today)!

Strangefan

Strat54 said:

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. 

Come on now! The words Clinical and sterile are what someone who can't play a guitar properly would use to describe  a guitar, anyone who canj play properly with passion and feel can make any guitar sing.

. Just because a guitar is old and well played does not give it mojo, all that rubbish is just made up to justify buying a hugely over priced guitar most cant play to its full potential. 

NelsonP

Here's the 1988 Chandler's price list 

Moleman

That would put the Custom at around £3,500 in 2020 prices.

RaymondLin

Moleman said:

That would put the Custom at around £3,500 in 2020 prices.

Bang on I think, that's how much they are now.

RaymondLin

Ooooh, it says Metal Finish !!! That's what my SC58 is!!!

artiebear

NelsonP said:

Here's the 1988 Chandler's price list 

That very same price list was in my signature case all those years ago.I must admit, I had forgotten what a jump in price the sig model was back then.

FelineGuitars

Gassage said:

 There was also a Gold Top from the same year Doug had IIRC.

I remember that guitar when I was there in 1994. It was freaking amazing, and the pre-factory guitars did feel different . 

That Goldtop was divine, and some other of the other early ones that would come in were equally lovely.
Jerry Hall playing Doug's Goldtop in this pic......



The necks on these pre factory guitars were more hand shaped and the edges a bit more rolled.

Strat54

Great ad @FelineGuitars - I wonder if Doug still has that one? 
@Moleman I remember that show well, Paul was a larger than life character....I'd have been about 18 then. 

FelineGuitars

Moleman said:

I well remember Paul Reed Smith promoting his guitars on the Chandlers stand at The Guitarist Show at The Barbican in (I think) October, 1987. 

Paul was doing a great job of personally demonstrating his guitars to a group of show attendees who were also trying the guitars and lapping it up. Paul was very engaging but also kind of loud talking and a little bit full of himself. I recall players asking whether the tremolo bridge and locking machine heads were available separately and Paul told them in the nicest way possible, “If you want the tremolo and you want the locking heads then you gotta buy a guitar...”. 

Doug Chandler was manning the stand also (wearing a skinny tie). In addition to about four PRS guitars in the original colours, Chandlers also had some Mesa-Boogie Studio 22 combos plus some of the first RAT pedals in the UK. 

For a callow teenager it was all more than a little bit overawing! I can’t recall the exact price of the PRS Customs on the stand but they did have a single Jackson Soloist (non more black, HSS pickups and black chrome Kahler at £1600 - equivalent to £4,500 or so today)!

I was in the next room showing a guitar I was in the midst of working on (a poor take on Steve Vai's swiss cheese strat he used on Yankee Rose video). I still have the little PRS pin badge that Paul gave me that weekend.

guitargeek62

stonevibe said:

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.

Agreed, I only bought my ‘87 for very simple reasons:

1) It’s a birth-year guitar;
2) It was cheap as chips (i.e. ⅓ usual value), as it had been heavily played and quite modded over the years;
3) I like the vibe of old & used guitars; and
4) I enjoy project guitars, so restoring & making this one playable again looked fun (it was).

If all else was equal, I’d have a new one over an old one any day of the week. Had my one been for sale at usual prices I’d have ignored it completely and likely gone out and bought a 594 instead as they represent the pinnacle of PRS’ models to date imo.

Whistler

Moleman said:

Chandlers also had some Mesa-Boogie Studio 22 combos

I bought my Mesa Boogie Studio 22+ from Chandlers in '89 and it has been my main amp ever since. It was certainly a shop with a great atmosphere.

richardhomer

Whistler said:

Moleman said:

Chandlers also had some Mesa-Boogie Studio 22 combos

I bought my Mesa Boogie Studio 22+ from Chandlers in '89 and it has been my main amp ever since. It was certainly a shop with a great atmosphere.

That looks like new!

NelsonP

Whistler said:

Moleman said:

Chandlers also had some Mesa-Boogie Studio 22 combos

I bought my Mesa Boogie Studio 22+ from Chandlers in '89 and it has been my main amp ever since. It was certainly a shop with a great atmosphere.

Great amps those. I have the .50 Caliber which is it's big brother.....

normula1

My Studio 22+ is an 89 too

Strat54

I bought my Studio 22+ there in 1989. Had it for about ten years.....can't remember where or who I sold it too. A sunny Richmond afternoon in Chandlers was always a great day, interesting customers, stock and staff. Doug was always so laid back, friendly and quietly amusing. I'm going to start a campaign to bring back music shops with pegboard wall coverings and posters.

Z28

https://www.tfoa.eu/en/prs-custom-24-vintage-yellow-1986-terry-britten.html
This shop is local to me. The guitar's slightly cheaper on their website.. but still pricey though...