First PRS?

ICBM

You will get almost any American PRS in mint condition or very close to it for under two grand secondhand. If it's more than that it's either a ridiculously fancy model that you don't need, a Hollowbody, or overpriced. With some of the models you could probably buy two, or a new one, with that budget.

SimpleSimon

You beat me to it, agree its probably a Mira X, no belly contour and covered pickups

fretfinder

Nearly a punch up above about whether to buy at distance untried or trial several models against each other before buying! Personally if I try a guitar in a shop for 5 minutes or an hour, I'll know if I like it up to a point, but I couldn't tell you if I'll really bond with it and it will be a keeper. With me that happens after a period of at least weeks and probably months, after I've noodled with it on the sofa, tweaked the set up, done a few gigs with it, and possibly even changed the pickups. A case in point is my McCarty which I loved the look and feel of but which alway sounded indifferent - installing a set of BKP Mules transformed it into now a fantastic sounding guitar and it's going nowhere unless I ever get desparate for the money. Having said that, my favourite Strat is a Relic bought at distance unseen and I've changed absolutely nothing on it.

SimpleSimon

ICBM said:

You will get almost any American PRS in mint condition or very close to it for under two grand secondhand. If it's more than that it's either a ridiculously fancy model that you don't need, a Hollowbody, or overpriced. With some of the models you could probably buy two, or a new one, with that budget.

Thats good to hear, the hunt is on

ICBM

You could actually do a lot worse than the "sale" currently on at Guitar Guitar.

http://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/clearance/?brandname=PRS

Not great bargains compared to secondhand street prices on most of them, but not really overpriced either. Despite what I said in the other thread! - it's more that they're advertising them as if they're the deal of the century, whereas actually they're just reasonable prices.

SimpleSimon

The bargains have gone... Plus ive had a recent bad experience with GG, fair to say i wont be a Customer again in the future!

Moltisanti

lots of negativity about GG of late, they offered me £900 for a custom Suhr Modern which was £2700 new...i walked out.

ICBM

Sorry. I wouldn't normally recommend them either, I just thought the "sale" on PRSs was worth mentioning.

Sporky

I like this one. But the back and sides should be black.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/130961419542

http://i962.photobucket.com/albums/ae101/sporky_mcguffin/MININT-SES6DNU/My Pictures/tremontisilver-blue.jpg

close2u

There's a Mira for sale up in the North East for approx £800 on Preloved.

Kebabkid

As has been said, you're in a strong position here with both your budget, which incidentally, you could get away with spending just £1000-1200 and still landing a goodie, plus the resale value for PRS guitars has fallen so there are bargains to be had.

Re:buying via post - personally, I couldn't do it and given the price level, I think you owe it to yourself to try many and compare before you buy.

On a different note, I happen to think the Gibson 339s are a good bet and worthy alternative. They don't have fancy inlays etc but they're pretty versatile, play really well and prices are good. I reckon these could be a modern day classic and may even appreciate or hold their value in the future.

crunchman

Kebabkid said:

On a different note, I happen to think the Gibson 339s are a good bet and worthy alternative. They don't have fancy inlays etc but they're pretty versatile, play really well and prices are good. I reckon these could be a modern day classic and may even appreciate or hold their value in the future.

If anyone is planning on buying a 339 then check it over carefully.  Mine had some cosmetic issues that you shouldn't get on a guitar at that price - or half that price for that matter.  Cosmetics I can live with but after I'd had it a few months I started getting problems with one of the volume pots - it turned out that they had just wrapped the wire on the tags of the pot at the factory but never actually bothered to solder it!

Kebabkid

crunchman said:

Kebabkid said:

On a different note, I happen to think the Gibson 339s are a good bet and worthy alternative. They don't have fancy inlays etc but they're pretty versatile, play really well and prices are good. I reckon these could be a modern day classic and may even appreciate or hold their value in the future.

If anyone is planning on buying a 339 then check it over carefully.  Mine had some cosmetic issues that you shouldn't get on a guitar at that price - or half that price for that matter.  Cosmetics I can live with but after I'd had it a few months I started getting problems with one of the volume pots - it turned out that they had just wrapped the wire on the tags of the pot at the factory but never actually bothered to solder it!

Oooh.not good Crunchman.

Two of my friends have 339s and to date, they're absolutely fine

crunchman

It is a good guitar, and it plays fine and sounds stunning.  Like I said above I can live with the finish issues that are cosmetic but the volume pot was taking the mickey.

On the old MR forum I did start quite a large thread about this one after they published a glowing review of a 339 without any mention of QC issues - it even got someone from the MR staff involved.  I pointed out that magazine reviews might not be very representative as any distributor with a brain would cherry pick the best guitar in the batch for the review.  I might have suggested that they should get a bunch of them rather than just one, or go into a shop and pick a guitar off the wall at random.

Sorry to hijack the PRS thread with a Gibson story.

Kebabkid

Not at all Crunchman and it's good to hear this stuff.

You make a good point about trying a bunch of the same guitars to get a true overview.

Cheers

redrighthand

I've only ever seen a couple of PRSs I liked the look of.

One was a Mira X in Teal on the music radar forum for a great price that I should have bought. :-/

Another was a seafoam green / maple necked beauty on eBay.

Can't really be doing with all them birds and flames on most of them.

However every time I see one it takes me back to my 16 yr old self eyeing the PRS selection high up on the walls of Marcus Music in Belfast, in the days when just buying a set of strings felt expensive. And I get a mild inclination to buy one, just to close that circle.

guitargeek62

Buy this, now. 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=251337155071&ssPageName=ADME:B:WNA:GB:3160

ICBM

Hideous. Looks like it's been dipped in caramel.

Adam_MD

I really like that.

fretfinder

ICBM said:

Hideous. Looks like it's been dipped in caramel.

Personally I think 'hideous' is a little harsh. But as they say, one man's meat is another man's poison, or en Francais - Vive la difference!