PRS - Fashionable again?

impmann

With the rise in number of wanted adverts for PRS guitars, and the recent hike in sale prices on eBay of Maryland's finest, does this mean that they've become fashionable? Does this mean that men that smell gently of beard oil, wearing jeans so skinny that pipe cleaners become fearful are going to be wielding them at the next organic festival? Or does it mean that finally the vision of Chad playing his 10 top has been expunged from our minds?

Or is it that folks are finally waking up to the fact that they probably are the world's best made production guitars?

tony99

again?

danishbacon

Who's Chad?

dazzajl

Nope. Not fashionable now and I don’t think they ever will be. 

Fashion is for young people, PRS are not. 

impmann

danishbacon said:

Who's Chad?

Nickelback.

Lebarque

No

Whitecat

I dunno, young people seem to love the SEs and the more well-heeled love the Core + higher stuff. Prices are getting out to lunch now on the latter, but so is Fender Custom and other boutique stuff that used to be a little less painful, so meh. 

Me, I’ve gotten bored by them. Have had seven or eight over the past decade and am now down to two keepers + one for sale. Hopefully if they are suddenly “cool” it will move faster and I can buy a Knaggs.  

Funkfingers

Electric guitars are machines for making music and, occasionally, killing fascists. If a guitar of any make or model does what you need, that is all that matters. 

Maynehead

Nope, I still walk briskly by the PRS section in the guitar shop with a look of scorn on my face...

Sassafras

Don't see why not. They're very good guitars even though a lot of them are a bit too fancy for my tastes.

meltedbuzzbox

I assume the price rises has part to do with the exchange rate, the lack of new sales driving up used prices and the usual ebay chances.

Not sure about them being fashionable past, present or future

Fishboy7

and bargains on the used maket, usually 

timhulio

Admittedly I don't work in guitar marketing, so I may be missing something, but can't PRS just give some of their guitars to cool bands? Then they photograph said bands using the gear and the brand will become fashionable through magical advertising osmosis. Did they ever try this? 

Musicwolf

I like my PRS's.  I've got three at present out of a total of five that I've owned.

I think that they were fashionable briefly in the late 80's / early 90's when they first entered the market, then the company grew and they lost their niche status.

They'll never really become fashionable in the same way as Fender, Gibson, Rickenbacker etc as they weren't around for the formative years of Rock and/or Roll or for the guitar's heyday of the 60s / early 70's.

The important thing is that I like them.  If I gave a toss about what other people thought / liked then I wouldn't write the songs that I do and I certainly wouldn't sing them

Haych

impmann said:

Or is it that folks are finally waking up to the fact that they probably are the world's best made production guitars?

I cannot disagree with the sentiment of the above statement at all.  I've owned a few in the past 20+ years and they have all been extremely well made guitars.  

That said, I'd still rather play a half decent Strat.  

dazzajl

timhulio said:

Admittedly I don't work in guitar marketing, so I may be missing something, but can't PRS just give some of their guitars to cool bands? Then they photograph said bands using the gear and the brand will become fashionable through magical advertising osmosis. Did they ever try this? 

I think because they are inherently uncool guitars, that would just take the bands cool away, not add to the brand coolness. 

Seems to me the whole PRS ethos is to appeal to a more discerning than fashion conscious market. 

PonchoGreg

timhulio said:

Admittedly I don't work in guitar marketing, so I may be missing something, but can't PRS just give some of their guitars to cool bands? Then they photograph said bands using the gear and the brand will become fashionable through magical advertising osmosis. Did they ever try this? 

Isn't that what happened in the late 90s / early 00s? They were all over MTV with new metal, incubus, etc, no?

sweepy

I find PRS are the Audi of the guitar world, beautifully crafted but uninspiring for me . Strats, Telecasters etc are more like old Ferrari’s, quirky, might cause you a bit of pain but are rewarding 

Philly_Q

If they are fashionable then maybe I should sell some of mine before the wind changes direction..

Jalapeno

PonchoGreg said:

timhulio said:

Admittedly I don't work in guitar marketing, so I may be missing something, but can't PRS just give some of their guitars to cool bands? Then they photograph said bands using the gear and the brand will become fashionable through magical advertising osmosis. Did they ever try this? 

Isn't that what happened in the late 90s / early 00s? They were all over MTV with new metal, incubus, etc, no?

I might be under a misapprehension, but I thought PRS didn't undertake that sort of thing.

Strangefan

Just be safe in the knowledge most people on this forum are not their main demographic.