fallibleletters
New Member
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2018
- Messages
- 17
Hey guys I'm new to this forum and came here to ask this very question. I recently acquired a guitar for a cheap price as a random PRS that the previous owner said was a refinished S2 standard. I'm not an expert but this looks like a custom 24 and not an S2. This thing has been brutalized and I don't think it has many original parts left. I looked up the serial on the headstock and it pointed toward a 2003 Custom 24 set neck. My current concern is how to discern whether or not this instrument is a knockoff PRS or the real deal. An old acquaintance showed pictures of this instrument to his friend who apparently knows Paul and here's why he thought it was a knockoff.
"Hey, I talked to and showed photos to my buddy who's a prs expert, he has owned dozens and dozens and is close personal friends paul reed smith himself. You should take that guitar back if you can. He's confident it's a fake. A pretty good fake, but almost definitely a fake. The logo is off, the tuners shouldn't be angled. Also, no one replaces pickups or hardware on a prs, and no one refinishes them badly. I'm sorry for the bad news my man. I'm sure prs will be telling you the same thing when they get back to you though."
"The logo is tilted and he said the color is wrong. But it's also a matter of, nobody in their right mind destroys a prs like that one has been. No one replaces prs phase II locking tuners for a $35 set of grovers."
So the main points seem to be that the tuners shouldn't be angled and that the logo is off. Aside from that it seems like he's saying it has to be fake because nobody would mess up an official PRS this badly (which is fair). The tuners are currently set at an angle but the original screw holes can be seen and the previous tuners seemed to be installed straight.
Sorry this is so long-winded, I've linked an imgur album of a few shots of it and if anyone can help it would be greatly appreciated.
https://imgur.com/a/dW6DV
EDIT: https://imgur.com/a/xVHMN
Heard back from PRS and even though the overwhelming majority here said it was fake, it's real. Completely mangled condition, I'm not claiming to have a minty PRS just that the body is legit.
"Hey, I talked to and showed photos to my buddy who's a prs expert, he has owned dozens and dozens and is close personal friends paul reed smith himself. You should take that guitar back if you can. He's confident it's a fake. A pretty good fake, but almost definitely a fake. The logo is off, the tuners shouldn't be angled. Also, no one replaces pickups or hardware on a prs, and no one refinishes them badly. I'm sorry for the bad news my man. I'm sure prs will be telling you the same thing when they get back to you though."
"The logo is tilted and he said the color is wrong. But it's also a matter of, nobody in their right mind destroys a prs like that one has been. No one replaces prs phase II locking tuners for a $35 set of grovers."
So the main points seem to be that the tuners shouldn't be angled and that the logo is off. Aside from that it seems like he's saying it has to be fake because nobody would mess up an official PRS this badly (which is fair). The tuners are currently set at an angle but the original screw holes can be seen and the previous tuners seemed to be installed straight.
Sorry this is so long-winded, I've linked an imgur album of a few shots of it and if anyone can help it would be greatly appreciated.
https://imgur.com/a/dW6DV
EDIT: https://imgur.com/a/xVHMN
Heard back from PRS and even though the overwhelming majority here said it was fake, it's real. Completely mangled condition, I'm not claiming to have a minty PRS just that the body is legit.
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