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Is that right? Following the goings on via the PRS official forum they always seem to be on recruitment drives for staff rather than laying folk off. I always suspected the moves in the SE range are more likely to do with CITES, using maple boards to avoid rosewood issues and spalted tops using (relatively considered) gash woods previously overlooked in traditional guitar construction.
edit: 2009, sorry - http://www.stardem.com/news/article_90b19ef0-bb9b-59a9-9a13-d132fe332897.html
they also got an expansion grant a couple years ago, partly to take on more people - https://open.maryland.gov/2015/04/marylands-prs-guitars-plans-expansion-new-hires/
Personally if I ran PRS. I’d investigate the thinner type top they did on the new CE. I’d put together a US build S2 singlecut with that type of top. Less fancy wood. More solid colours. Jumbo fret it & get it out there for £1500. The new range doesn’t have anything in it I’d want. So it’s cheaper to buy used & mod it.
Im a bit curious as to who guitarmakers think we are. I’m 48. I grew up on Kramer, Ibanez etc. I like guitars with jumbo fretwire. Yet no one seems to offer it as stock? I see gear rundowns on the internet. There’s very often references to a tech putting bigger frets in at a players request.
So so why don’t the guitar makers do it in the first place?
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View my feedback at www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/1201922
View my feedback at www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/1201922
They have had a lot of love for recent stuff like Vela/594 S2.
new amps etc.
but guitars are a tough market being number 3 in a condensing market overall guitar sales are declining your only option is to steal sales from your competitors. Hence 594 strategy targeting Gibson custom shop and the R8/r9 customer.
if anything this may be a consolidation year let everything settle a bit. The current idea of products on an annual refresh 2018 models is not a great one for guitars. Although it's how a lot of markets have gone. Before you have got the new models into full production you are behind the scenes ready the next years ideas.
As for stainlesd frets i see PRS asked on a number of interviews. Why not and his answer was pretty honest that they have no experience of it as a material how it sounds is it good how do you integrate it into the current range. Does it really make a difference. He feels the wire they use is good and does a great job.(would say that) I don't think you would want to offer two options as a business so you are either in or out and what does that do to your current customer base.
i reckon maybe they will pick one model say custom 24 and do custom 24 SS to test the water.
They have had a lot of love for recent stuff like Vela/594 S2.
new amps etc.
but guitars are a tough market being number 3 in a condensing market overall guitar sales are declining your only option is to steal sales from your competitors. Hence 594 strategy targeting Gibson custom shop and the R8/r9 customer.
if anything this may be a consolidation year let everything settle a bit. The current idea of products on an annual refresh 2018 models is not a great one for guitars. Although it's how a lot of markets have gone. Before you have got the new models into full production you are behind the scenes ready the next years ideas.
As for stainlesd frets i see PRS asked on a number of interviews. Why not and his answer was pretty honest that they have no experience of it as a material how it sounds is it good how do you integrate it into the current range. Does it really make a difference. He feels the wire they use is good and does a great job.(would say that) I don't think you would want to offer two options as a business so you are either in or out and what does that do to your current customer base.
i reckon maybe they will pick one model say custom 24 and do custom 24 SS to test the water.
Years ago a Squier or an Epiphone was something the hobbyist guitar player would have to start learning with, and you'd tolerate it until you'd saved enough to buy a 'proper' US made model. Nowadays Far Eastern and Mexican made guitars are so good, there really isn't much need for the average hobbyist/bedroom player to trade up to the more expensive ranges.
I currently have a MiM Classic Player Strat. It's great, and I can't see any reason to trade up to a US made model. For PRS, the guitars coming out of World Guitars in Korea are generally fantastic. If I had a higher end SE with the better pickups, there's no way I could justify spending > double the money on a core line.
i think we will probably see a big condensing of US production over the next 5 years. Fender. Have done stuff like keep mim bodies multiple pieces. But those things only last so long before your competition passes you by.
i think PRS are aligned to take some market share on the way down from the big two.
hopefully it's all cyclical as demand and competition has given us a golden era for the last decade. I think guitar might get like synth was for a while till dance music and technology collided.
I am hoping teenagers over over the next few years will move away from ghetto rapper bullshit, and making loops on an ipad and pickup guitars. Currently not much new to engage the youth counter culture.
hey ho
Acoustic guitar sales are the real growth area - the grant I mentioned PRS receiving above was meant to go towards building "an affordable US acoustic model" - it was a 3-year plan, which makes spring 2018 the end of that timeline. Will we see something announced at NAMM? If it's being pushed back is there a chance they will miss out on most of that growth?
Apparently 2017 was a less than stellar year for guitar sales - brexit, trump effect et al - however, prs were their best performer.
Another well-known UK retailer said on Facebook a little while ago that he could stay in business just selling Gibson, but that there was no chance of doing same with PRS.