PRS - Fashionable again?

guitarfishbay

I like them, the neck shapes work for me and they balance classic and modern design elements well for my taste. 

I think the fact they offer a good range of solid colour models at reasonable prices (S2 range) has helped the image for those that struggled with the blingier stuff.  

professorben

I loved my PRS guitars and had to sell/selling them to fund something quite different but much needed. 

Well built, great sounding instruments, they get some hate usually from the kind of guy that plays telecasters and bashes out Stones covers all day. 

But as a great looking (subjective) great playing (undeniable) and great sounding (subjective) it’s hard to go wrong with a s/h Core model. 

guitarfishbay

Jalapeno said:

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.

Loads of Nu Metal era bands used PRS at some point.  Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, POD, Hoobastank etc

BloodEagle

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? 

The problem with that scheme, I am going to speculate, is that no cool (either genuinelly cool, or NME not-really-cool-at-all level) band would be seen dead using any PRS guitars. The uncoolness of the brand has been left to grow unchecked for so long it will probably never be fully brought under control

guitarfishbay

BloodEagle 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? 

The problem with that scheme, I am going to speculate, is that no cool (either genuinelly cool, or NME not really cool at all level) band would be seen dead using any PRS guitars

Mark Holcomb seems cool.  Periphery have a huge following among people who buy musical equipment in modern metal/prog/djent genres, across the board (guitars, bass, drums, any recording equipment)

professorben

guitarfishbay said:

BloodEagle 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? 

The problem with that scheme, I am going to speculate, is that no cool (either genuinelly cool, or NME not really cool at all level) band would be seen dead using any PRS guitars

Mark Holcomb seems cool.  Periphery have a huge following among people who buy musical equipment in modern metal/prog/djent genres, across the board (guitars, bass, drums, any recording equipment)

No indi band would play PRS, but there’s a whole genre of technical metal and prog bands out there using PRS, Periphery as mentioned, SIKTH, Intervals, Opeth, Karnivool etc.  

These guys are way cool. 

dazzajl

professorben said:

I loved my PRS guitars and had to sell/selling them to fund something quite different but much needed. 

Well built, great sounding instruments, they get some hate usually from the kind of guy that plays telecasters and bashes out Stones covers all day. 

But as a great looking (subjective) great playing (undeniable) and great sounding (subjective) it’s hard to go wrong with a s/h Core model. 

You’re going down the quality argument there and no one could deny the quality of PRS guitars is unrivalled by any large manufacturers. Duesenberg run then pretty close I guess but there is no mind blowing SE type range there. 

But quality isn’t cool. Quality is M&S, cool is Superdry. I think most people here don’t quite fit in either camp. 

wrinkleygit

I’ve enjoyed the ones I’ve owned, now l have remembered how good Eggles can be & the world seems a much better place.

Whitecat

professorben said:

guitarfishbay said:

BloodEagle 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? 

The problem with that scheme, I am going to speculate, is that no cool (either genuinelly cool, or NME not really cool at all level) band would be seen dead using any PRS guitars

Mark Holcomb seems cool.  Periphery have a huge following among people who buy musical equipment in modern metal/prog/djent genres, across the board (guitars, bass, drums, any recording equipment)

No indi band would play PRS, but there’s a whole genre of technical metal and prog bands out there using PRS, Periphery as mentioned, SIKTH, Intervals, Opeth, Karnivool etc.  

These guys are way cool. 

Dave Knudson from Minus The Bear was a pretty heavy PRS endorser (MTB broke up end of last year iirc). That's pretty proper indie cred, early millennium Seattle scene and everything...

Garthy

sweepy said:

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 

I can find greater parallels with Fender and Ford than old Ferrari’s. 

SquireJapan

I do keep seeing some nicely "well played" PRS guitars popping up used - as a result they're starting to look like a bargain for someone who wants quality but doesn't mind (or might even be seeking out) the fact they're well used.

I picked up 10 top Custom 24 for a £1k the other year - for what I paid it's an amazing guitar. 

I'd guess that's what's starting to make them more popular ... maybe 

guitarfishbay

There you go.  Punk band plays PRS with neck pickup removed and stickers added.



Hipster with excellently groomed beard plays PRS and uses Boss pedals.






[I like both of these bands before anyone gets too upset!]

57Deluxe

Sassafras said:

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

PRS are the Victoria's Secret of the Guitar world...

StefB

It's a perennial debate.  Tom Anderson, Suhr, Knaggs etc, even Fender Custom Shop, are no more fashionable in mainstream modern music than PRS due largely to their purchase cost and non-1950s styling.  I don't see may Fano, Asher or Echopark guitars on TV either.

They are all 'better' in pretty much every modern way then every other brand and model they seek to improve upon, but young, trendy, 'fashionable' bands can't afford them for starters and the visual message of these bands is usually based around a vintage look so Fender, Gibson, Gretsch and, more often than not, '70s style Teles with at least one Wide Range humbucker and the '70s Deluxe type scratchplate.

The guitarists stood at the back in their touring bands that can actually play probably do use guitars from one the US boutique brands though for the same reason that I do in my function band - they work without fail, stay in tune, are impeccably built, usually quite light in weight and can cover 99% of top 40s covers styles with the flick of a switch or the twist of a pot.

See you again with the same answer next time this old chestnut crops up..

RaymondLin

57Deluxe said:

Sassafras said:

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

PRS are the Victoria's Secret of the Guitar world...

Used to be fashionable?

vasselmeyer

sweepy said:

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 

Damn it. I've got an Audi AND a PRS. Mind you, I've also got a naturally reliced Tele so I'm not sure where that leaves me.

ICBM

impmann said:

danishbacon said:

Who's Chad?

Nickelback.

He looks even more like the Nicolas Cage of guitar there than usual...

dazzajl

StefB said:

It's a perennial debate.  Tom Anderson, Suhr, Knaggs etc, even Fender Custom Shop, are no more fashionable in mainstream modern music than PRS due largely to their purchase cost and non-1950s styling.  I don't see may Fano, Asher or Echopark guitars on TV either.

They are all 'better' in pretty much every modern way then every other brand and model they seek to improve upon, but young, trendy, 'fashionable' bands can't afford them for starters and the visual message of these bands is usually based around a vintage look so Fender, Gibson, Gretsch and, more often than not, '70s style Teles with at least one Wide Range humbucker and the '70s Deluxe type scratchplate.

The guitarists stood at the back in their touring bands that can actually play probably do use guitars from one the US boutique brands though for the same reason that I do in my function band - they work without fail, stay in tune, are impeccably built, usually quite light in weight and can cover 99% of top 40s covers styles with the flick of a switch or the twist of a pot.

See you again with the same answer next time this old chestnut crops up..

All you’ve done there is elaborate on why they’re not cool. Cool can’t be defined, it’s not in the specs or the quality. 

There are many superlatives that can be applied to PRS but the further this thread goes, Cool becomes further from them. 

professorben

dazzajl said:

professorben said:

I loved my PRS guitars and had to sell/selling them to fund something quite different but much needed. 

Well built, great sounding instruments, they get some hate usually from the kind of guy that plays telecasters and bashes out Stones covers all day. 

But as a great looking (subjective) great playing (undeniable) and great sounding (subjective) it’s hard to go wrong with a s/h Core model. 

You’re going down the quality argument there and no one could deny the quality of PRS guitars is unrivalled by any large manufacturers. Duesenberg run then pretty close I guess but there is no mind blowing SE type range there. 

But quality isn’t cool. Quality is M&S, cool is Superdry. I think most people here don’t quite fit in either camp. 

In a way I suppose. 
“This isn’t just any production line electric guitar....” etc. 

But the point I'm making is that ‘cool’ is such an intangible and subjective thing. 

I dont think a Tele is cool, I think they look boring and tbh very uncool, Keith Richards plays a Tele ffs!!! How uncool do you wanna get?

its all subjective.

Playability is not subjective, it’s a quality argument sure, but quality is cool.
Only in the world of music can you seem to get away with poor quality being lauded as cool.

How many olympic skiers use ski’s made from old pallets?

“But this guy uses these old pawnshop guitars that barely stay in tune!!!”
”Awww doood, that’s sooooo cooool” 

It’s a music thing for some reason, perhaps it stems from a lot of musicians not having money when we are young (therefore cool) and having it when we are older (inherently uncool)

According to PRS own warranty card data, the most common occupation for a PRS owner is in the engineering fields. 

Which makes sense, decent income, appreciate a well designed well built thing. 

Doctors, Dentists and Blues Lawyers apparently are quite few. 

dazzajl

professorben said:

dazzajl said:

professorben said:

I loved my PRS guitars and had to sell/selling them to fund something quite different but much needed. 

Well built, great sounding instruments, they get some hate usually from the kind of guy that plays telecasters and bashes out Stones covers all day. 

But as a great looking (subjective) great playing (undeniable) and great sounding (subjective) it’s hard to go wrong with a s/h Core model. 

You’re going down the quality argument there and no one could deny the quality of PRS guitars is unrivalled by any large manufacturers. Duesenberg run then pretty close I guess but there is no mind blowing SE type range there. 

But quality isn’t cool. Quality is M&S, cool is Superdry. I think most people here don’t quite fit in either camp. 

In a way I suppose. 
“This isn’t just any production line electric guitar....” etc. 

But the point I'm making is that ‘cool’ is such an intangible and subjective thing. 

I dont think a Tele is cool, I think they look boring and tbh very uncool, Keith Richards plays a Tele ffs!!! How uncool do you wanna get?

its all subjective.

Playability is not subjective, it’s a quality argument sure, but quality is cool.
Only in the world of music can you seem to get away with poor quality being lauded as cool.

How many olympic skiers use ski’s made from old pallets?

“But this guy uses these old pawnshop guitars that barely stay in tune!!!”
”Awww doood, that’s sooooo cooool” 

It’s a music thing for some reason, perhaps it stems from a lot of musicians not having money when we are young (therefore cool) and having it when we are older (inherently uncool)

According to PRS own warranty card data, the most common occupation for a PRS owner is in the engineering fields. 

Which makes sense, decent income, appreciate a well designed well built thing. 

Doctors, Dentists and Blues Lawyers apparently are quite few. 

Jack White thrashing away on a guitar that looks like it was dragged behind the tour bus till he bleeds all over it is cool. 

Carlos Santana playing faultlessly on an equally faultless PRS is not cool. 

And that’s just fine with me. I’m not a PRS fan, just never got on with one but I’d definitely rather see or hear Carlos over Jack. 

Facts are that PRS are uncool. And so am I. And you know what? I’m cool with that