PRS guitar prices go up again.

[Dirty_Boogie]

The Market Is Out Of Control And There Is No Denying That. When People Stop Buying Then The Prices Will Adjust. The Problem With The Used Side Is People Ask Insane Prices Just To See If They Can Get It And The Mindset Shifts To That Being The Real Market When It Isn't Reality. Over Time It Shifts Things And That Is Where We Are Right Now. In Between Reality And Fantasy With The Decline In Prices Coming At Us Quicker Than Most People Want To Admit or Realize. Markets Always Work Themselves Out Over Time And That Time Of Adjustment Is Upon Us. Look At What Is Happening With The Dollar And Its De-Dollarization Around The World Right Now By Many Countries Walking Away From The Dollar And Going With Their Own Currency For International Trade. There Is A Massive Financial Shift Happening And It Will Effect Everything (And It Should). Everything Will Be Put Back In Order Soon Enough With Pricing.

Shift key works.

 

[Warmart]

Shift key works.

But it could break at ANY time, and he'll know much sooner than most.

 

[dogrocketp]

I run a small business, and we’ve managed to hang on while many of our competitors have closed or sold to larger conglomerates. Some of the supplier prices have gotten out of control. Here’s the dilemma…….do you look for lower cost suppliers, sometimes running the risk of lowering product quality? I’ve seen that start a downward spiral that may not stop. Our solution has been to re-examine every facet. In the end we’ve been forced to lower our margins and cut out the suppliers who we feel have been egregious in their price increases. We also had to increase our prices when the work force went back to pay off the borrowed money that enabled us to survive. We cannot and will not compromise on the quality of our product. I believe PRS has done the same.
That doesn’t mean I’m happy with the cost of goods I have to pay. What it does mean is that I understand the financial mess we’re in. Sometimes the truth hurts. I live in Maryland and have been privileged to know a number of PRS employees. We’re all trying to survive the consequences of Covid. I’m not willing to complain because that doesn’t solve the problem. I’m also not willing to point fingers at a person, group of people, or one country. This is an international problem that needs to be worked out. There aren’t easy solutions.

 

[aphantomvaper]

Shift key works.

Don't harsh it, he is onto something smart I've realized. Circumvention of analysis.

 

[Sonic Blue 55]

20 years ago I paid $1,800 and $4,500 for custom order acoustic guitars.
Today those guitars would be $7,500 and $17,000 from the same luthiers.

 

[helmi]

20 years ago I paid $1,800 and $4,500 for custom order acoustic guitars.
Today those guitars would be $7,500 and $17,000 from the same luthiers.

Precisely. so thats a little over a 300% increase on the electric, and almost a 400% increase on the acoustic. have your, or anybody else’s wages gone up that much over the same period of time? mine hasnt. In the last 50 years, the rate of wage increases compared to the rate of inflation is KNOWHERE even close. thats what has killed the American family economically in the last 50 yrs!

 

[Sonic Blue 55]

Precisely. so thats a little over a 300% increase on the electric, and almost a 400% increase on the acoustic. have your, or anybody else’s wages gone up that much over the same period of time? mine hasnt. In the last 50 years, the rate of wage increases compared to the rate of inflation is KNOWHERE even close. thats what has killed the American family economically in the last 50 yrs!

My last year teaching I made $88,000 gross.
6 years later in retirement I make almost $64,000 gross. After taxes and such, it's in the low 50k
I'm set with a house paid off, plenty of amps and guitars.

 

[ruger9]

Precisely. so thats a little over a 300% increase on the electric, and almost a 400% increase on the acoustic. have your, or anybody else’s wages gone up that much over the same period of time? mine hasnt. In the last 50 years, the rate of wage increases compared to the rate of inflation is KNOWHERE even close. thats what has killed the American family economically in the last 50 yrs!

100%. But raising wages arbitrarily only causes more inflation. The inflation itself must be restrained then reduced. Hmm, I thought we voted for representatives to do this kind of work for us? (instead they do the opposite). CUTTING (government) SPENDING might help... I know that is a foreign concept to the corrupt, greedy, grifting politicians running the country...

Sorry. I just think the whole thing is criminal. People need to actually go to prison. Now back to your regularly scheduled thread...

 

[Drew]

I have been of the thought that the SS was already pricing itself out of the market. I love my PRS guitars but I could never pay what they wanted for the SS when I honestly feel that there are some others out there doing a Strat better. I have a Suhr Classic Pro that is probably the best built Strat I have ever picked up and played. I don't feel like the SS is on par with this guitar. The price of the Suhr has gone up a lot in the past 5 years and I got mine before they went nuts on the price but I still feel that it is a better built guitar and hard to beat for the money when you look at the build and the quality of them. PRS can't be beat for their 594, DGT, P22, CU24... etc.. They are the king of that arena. When you get into the bolt on world there is a lot of really good competition.

PRS strategy has always been of the mind that you will pay more for their guitars but you'll get a better product than the competitions. My own opinion is this holds true for the SS. It's one of the best strats, period. Holds it's own even compared to Fender CS stuff. I've never heard a Suhr S type that sounded good at all and I think Suhrs in general are very overrated.

 

[JasonE]

PRS strategy has always been of the mind that you will pay more for their guitars but you'll get a better product than the competitions. My own opinion is this holds true for the SS. It's one of the best strats, period. Holds it's own even compared to Fender CS stuff. I've never heard a Suhr S type that sounded good at all and I think Suhrs in general are very overrated.

I am a Suhr owner as well as a PRS owner. Two of my Suhr guitars are custom builds. They are definitely on par with my PRS guitars. For reference all of my PRS guitars are core and artist pack guitar, many are one offs. I also have an experience guitar that I believe was built by the private stock team. I have had many people mistake my Suhr carve top standard for a PRS. My third Suhr is a Classic Pro, which is an HSS strat. If I had to get rid of all but one of my strats, that is the guitar that would stay. I am not sure what you didn't like about the Suhrs you have played or what models they were but from my experience, they are keeping up with everyone else at the top tier for the stuff they make. My custom built set neck modern carve top is definitely a competitor for the PRS CU24. The build, sound and feel are all on par.

 

[Bogner]

I am a Suhr owner as well as a PRS owner. Two of my Suhr guitars are custom builds. They are definitely on par with my PRS guitars. For reference all of my PRS guitars are core and artist pack guitar, many are one offs. I also have an experience guitar that I believe was built by the private stock team. I have had many people mistake my Suhr carve top standard for a PRS. My third Suhr is a Classic Pro, which is an HSS strat. If I had to get rid of all but one of my strats, that is the guitar that would stay. I am not sure what you didn't like about the Suhrs you have played or what models they were but from my experience, they are keeping up with everyone else at the top tier for the stuff they make. My custom built set neck modern carve top is definitely a competitor for the PRS CU24. The build, sound and feel are all on par.

There Are A Few Companies On Par With PRS From A Quality, Fit And Finish Standpoint. I Love PRS But They Aren't The Only Company Making An Exceptional Product.

 

[RonHal]

Today's prices reflect the loss of purchasing power of the currency. Remember deficits don't matter. Now they do.
If the price of an item goes up, is it more valuable?

 

[DreamTheaterRules]

The market doesn’t change until buyers put their wallets away.

Agree. I put mine away when this insanity started, and it won't come back out til it's over. As I've said often here (sorry) multiple amps I sold 5-8 years ago, now selling for 50% or more, more than I sold for... and they are all 5-8 years older amps! I had interest in revisiting several, but no interest at all at current prices.

There are several market inflaters that will be coming to an end soon. We'll see if that cools down the economy. But dumping billions of dollars into the economy was bound to cause this. I went to a restaurant yesterday and had an item that was $6.99 last summer, and it was $9.49. As I've sarcastically said before, that's only 8% inflation if you're a high ranking democrat. Actual MATH says that's about a 35% increase in one year.

 

[DreamTheaterRules]

This is a very good point that honestly puts the guitar industry in a much different situation than most other industries during covid. Booming in record numbers while the others were going bust.

Actually, "luxury items" were mostly booming during covid. Dump billions of cash into the economy, and shut down many places people would normally spend that money and... boats and campers had records sales during covid, as people spent their govt. cash on luxury items that allowed them to still have a vacation. Hotels shut down? We'll camp instead. My friend that's a boat dealer sold his years allotment of new boats before summer even hit in 21! Campers were the same way.

 

[JasonE]

Actually, "luxury items" were mostly booming during covid. Dump billions of cash into the economy, and shut down many places people would normally spend that money and... boats and campers had records sales during covid, as people spent their govt. cash on luxury items that allowed them to still have a vacation. Hotels shut down? We'll camp instead. My friend that's a boat dealer sold his years allotment of new boats before summer even hit in 21! Campers were the same way.

Motorcycle sales went through the roof too. All have the Harley dealers in my area were looking for used bikes to buy so they had something to sell. Sales went up and the factory shut down for a couple of months so there was a shortage of new bikes.

 

[Rosewoodsteel]

So...We Can Expect Price Drops When The "Supply Chain" And "Inflation" Issues Are Resolved? The Funny Thing About Pricing Is It Only Works One Way.

Yep. I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for someone to replace the money in my retirement account that inflation robbed from me.

 

[Rod/]

I feel I am now priced out of a new Core. My wife and I both work and make good money. I just have got to a point where its too much.

I am glad I had the chance to buy when I did, I have an amazing collection. I would not have it if I had waited. I do not feel that it is just a matter of keeping up with inflation. Supply and Demand have driven prices way up.

The last two I bought were used.

I bought my core DGT new and that was a lot of $$ to justify in my head.
i have to say though that it was totally worth it and that guitar gets lots of play time in my duo and full band situations… amazing piece…. But I wanted a few more cores I could rotate in the mix and bought my P22 and Custom 22 used. Price of both together was far less than the 1 DGT and they’re both amazing guitars in their own right. So if you can’t justify or afford a new core, there’s always fine used core PRS’s for around the price of a new S2. And the S2’s are a great USA built line as well…

 

[Sonic Blue 55]

I paid about $1,700 for my McCarty gold top double cut with soap bar P90s about 5 years ago.
There is one on reverb now for $2,800.

 

[Slow Dog Noodle]

Hopefully if you were really jonesing for a PRS you used your extra cash in 2020 or 2021 to get one. I was fortunate to get a couple of cores in that period, before prices went up. It might be best to wait at the moment until inflation is tamed. Either prices will go down again, or they'll stay the same but they'll throw in some more frets for free.

Or sell some old gear at the inflated price and cut into that price hike. I would think there's a lot of used gear out there too, from pandemic aspirers who had cash to splash out and lost interest before they could nail smoke on the water.

 

[Rod/]

Motorcycle sales went through the roof too. All have the Harley dealers in my area were looking for used bikes to buy so they had something to sell. Sales went up and the factory shut down for a couple of months so there was a shortage of new bikes.

Wow…I had no idea……
Harleys were already very high priced except for their bargain priced Electra Glide and Softail Standards. (They‘ve always been my 2 favorites from their entire line) having put on over 75000 miles on an Electra Glide Standard and riding cross country a few times.. No, I don’t want a Radio and GPS!