Paul Reed Smith ups the ante, again

[stubhead]

I saw these in the new "Premier Guitar" and 'bout plotzed my Pampers:

http://wildwestguitars.com/Private%20Stock/prod2_93_standard.html

It's the second and third one that got me. Everybody's doing the "fade" finish where it starts out one color and ends up another, and I think it was PRS that started that too. But this new one that they call "Dragon's Breath" is a burst up at the top bouts and along the sides - but they don't close the burst over the bottom end. That amber one is gorgeous, but the third one that goes from dark purple to almost violent pink - whoo-wee! I got my magazine yesterday, and they already sold it for $9,536.00. Not bad for $7.50 worth of varnish & dye on a $3,000 guitar... :icon_thumright:

As soon as I saw them my brain started making a 7/8 quilty Strat that goes from a navy or even midnight blue and washes out to the bluejeans blue... somebody needs to tell my brain about the state of my wallet. :sad1: It's easy to bash companies for the feature/price thing, but you got to admit, PRS, Gibson and Carvin do come up with some purdy wall-hangings.

ROWF.

 

[bagman67]

That's sure a purty axe.


In Carvin's defense, their most spectacular work costs only half to one-third what PRS and The Big G are charging.  And QC is more consistent as well.

 

[Pelagaard]

The terracotta burst about 14 down is really nice too.

 

[greywolf]

They do make pretty if overpriced guitars .  I saw a spectacular light blule hollowbody and GC they wanted $14K for .. 4K maybe ..14  not a chance

 

[SustainerPlayer]

I had some fish that looked like that.

 

[Maka491]

I could never understand justifying so much money for a guitar that is not a vintage like a 50s Fender etc, but I can respect that there is a market for this kind of thing.

Nice finishes though.

 

[Cagey]

I could never understand justifying so much money for vintage guitars. Most of them are nearly junk, verging on unplayable. Why anyone would want one of those when they could have something with better tuners, bridges, frets, pickups, wood, finishes, etc. and will actually stay in tune for more than 30 seconds is beyond me. Maybe if you had a museum and wanted to show what people used to have to put up with and the history of how things progressed, then it would make a little sense. But, past that?

 

[Jumble Jumble]

Even 20 years old seems to be enough for a guitar to be considered "vintage" now, which means my 1994 Strat is nearly there. That's ridiculous.

My Dad said to me "that must be getting to be worth something now", so I said, "well, let's see: it's been refinished on both the body and neck, it has new tuners, new pickups, new pickguard, new trem block, new saddles, new trem arm, new pots, new switch, new knobs, new jack plate, new wires, new strap buttons - figure I can sell it as 'lightly modded'?"

 

[Ddbltrbl]

At $14,000 this one has achieved terminal velocity putting it way out of my reach! But that "Tiger Shark" stain is definitely outta sight!!  :guitarplayer2:

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

Even if the Dragon's Breath is just a dye job that doesn't have the burst extended, it's still stunning.  I like tear drop bursts too.  Anything could be dissected past enjoyment if you let it. 

Their price is about 5 times out of the realm of my enjoyment or what I'd spend on an expensive guitar, and nothing I'd see being played at my favorite dive.  But, those aren't for the average man, and most likely showcase pieces for the brand.

 

[erogenousjones17]

I must be some kind of Philistine, because I don't see anything spectacular about the Dragon's Breath technique. Don't get me wrong: those are all stunning finishes; I just don't get the fuss over having a darker (or lighter) smudge near the bridge versus a traditional burst.  :dontknow:

Now excuse me while I go hide under the kitchen table.

 

[Maka491]

Cagey,

I have a friend who used to work at the UKs biggest PRS dealer (World Guitars) and he swears that most guitars over 8,000 GBP were sold to wealthy people who didn't even see the guitar in a long time. They would call up, pay for it in advance and have it delivered to their storage facility along with other expensive PRS's in their collection and that was that. They would not even make the trip to check it out for themselves or even play the darn thing!

I find that to be unreasonable, to say the least. What is the value of an item when you dont enjoy it in its whole entirety?

Joe Bonamassa recently-ish bought a real and completely original '59 Burst which he paid 6 figures for. It currently goes on tour with him, gets played, and stands right there on the same rack with the £2,000 guitars. In an interview he said, "Whats the point of spending all that money if I won't enjoy it?"

As for the quality, I dont really know much about PRS. I have tried out the cheaper, made in Korea models and for the price of those, the quality was OK. Not great, but a good basic guitar (the Koreans are gettings better as it seems), but I can't imagine spending all that money for something that looks pretty, despite PRS trying to convince us we are buying into an elite club of 'Private Stock' guitars.

Rant over. LOL  :icon_biggrin:

 

[stubhead]

The "fade" finish that just turns from one color to another looks unfinished to me, maybe I don't like them was because the first I saw was Al DiMeola's. And besides he being a twit, it combined some really jarring contrasts that just weren't well-blended. And, on a regular burst that rounds the bottom, you also can't do it with too big a contrast between colors, because you run out of room to make the blending smooth. But with the "Dragon's Breath", despite the asinine name, it looks to me as though you could combine some really different shades and intensities - and you don't have to make it blend back in at the bottom. The dark purple/violent pink just wouldn't work as a burst - it would look like a pink spot on a purple guitar. And the more red!/no more red! one that tonar did recently - it was circumscribed by the fact that bursts have to close. This just seems to me an attractive way to open up more contrasts. There's been a number of the "blue jean" finishes here, at PRS, Carvin & Gibby picked 'em up quick. I can already SEE the thing....

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

On the Custom 24 Apricot, 3rd from bottom, is the fretboard and headstock blackwashed?

 

[bagman67]

On the Custom 24 Apricot, 3rd from bottom, is the fretboard and headstock blackwashed?

Nope - the angle for that shot just has the flame on the headstock and fingerboard looking very silvery-black striated.  If you click on the photo to the dedicated page for that axe, and click on the photo on that page, and then advance through the resulting slideshow, you'll see it's just plain (ha!) maple, with no stain.


Bagman