The "Official Silver Sky" Thread

For your viewing pleasure. Great information all the way through. About 2:10 he talks specifically to this point...


Yeah..Paul says Nickel is hard, but traditional Nickel frets are only about 20% Nickel and 60% copper. Zinc, another very soft metal, rounds out the formula. Jescar uses 62% copper, 18% Nickel, & 20% zinc. Compared to a stainless fret, it's not even in the same league in regards to hardness. Paul is first and foremost a salesman. Of course he is going to state it like he did.
 
Paul definitely doesn't use "traditional" nickel fret material, as he leads us to understand ("we have our fret wire made").

I still see no reason why Paul wouldn't offer SS in the higher end guitars if it was absolutely the better option.
 
Paul is first and foremost a salesman. Of course he is going to state it like he did.
He is a craftsman first. He only sells what he has been able to craft and believes in. He is an excellent salesman, but that is a means to the end. The end being to continue to be able to move the state of the art of guitar making forward.
 
I don't think anyone needs to be suspended. Not for generally annoying people. Heck, I'm sure I'd have gotten 20 votes a week for that many time, and I'm just trying to have fun, not be a PITA. :) (I know, but at least I'm trying! LOL) That said, I think Drew and I would be friends in real life. He says he's fun loving, laugh a lot guy, as am I. I don't have a problem with anyone sharing opinions, especially if they are well thought out, well presented and not "troll style" such as insults, or "they screwed up" or "this is stupid" etc. Once you cross that line, you're trolling. So, IMHO, a back and forth "discussion" can have differing opinions and even those on both sides might learn something from the exchange. Bashing troll posts, insulting the company or PRSh or things like that, over one option that it's what you prefer, and then doing it over and over... That's trolling.

I have a guitar with SS frets. I love that guitar. I feel a difference in bending. I completely disagree with 10's bending like 9's on SS frets because string bending differences are more about tension than the slickness of the frets. But I definitely feel a difference bending and notice the smoothness of the SS frets, but the tension is still string related. And, I'd like for PRS to put SS frets on some guitars. I've been at a live meet where someone asked Paul about this and he said what he always does.

That said, I have a 20 year old PRS with no fret wear at all, so whatever they use is clearly better than most others.

I think that this one thing, being SS frets vs. PRS frets which seem to last forever even though they aren't SS, is not and never will be the reason a REASONABLE person buys or doesn't buy a guitar. I can't imagine anyone picking up a guitar and going "this thing looks great, feels incredible, sounds great, fits me so well I fell in love with it the second I picked it up, and it plays phenomenally well. It's everything I wanted in this type guitar and more. But, I'm not buying it because it doesn't have SS frets." If you've ever had that discussion, even in your head, you may be thinking yourself out of what really matters.

No way man. I’ve never seen you post anything warranting a vote like that. Closest you got was saying something about “Nancy boys”, and it was clearly unintentional.

I’m not singling anyone out. There have been a few lately. I’m just saying: if your contributions are overwhelmingly/primarily negative there should be some circumstances.

But you’re probably right. This forum isn’t anywhere near as rich with trolls as some of the others.
 
The headstock shape is really growing on me. It’s almost like a modern iteration of the type. Conjures up a muscle car for some reason, sleek yet aggressive. The whole package looks pure class!

If I was in the infancy of my GAS journey, I would have seriously considered one. As it is, anymore new guitars and I won’t have time to play!
 
But you’re probably right. This forum isn’t anywhere near as rich with trolls as some of the others.

Right, but you’re correct that there have been a few lately. Old school “forum knowledge” says “don’t feed the trolls. Ignore them and they will go away.” I’d rather put them on the other team at the PRS dodgeball game. That would be WAY WAY more fun. :D
 
Yeah..Paul says Nickel is hard, but traditional Nickel frets are only about 20% Nickel and 60% copper. Zinc, another very soft metal, rounds out the formula. Jescar uses 62% copper, 18% Nickel, & 20% zinc. Compared to a stainless fret, it's not even in the same league in regards to hardness. Paul is first and foremost a salesman. Of course he is going to state it like he did.

I think there is some validity to that argument. I would even go so far as to say that Paul is a marketing genius, but he is also very passionate about guitars and the overall quality of the products bearing his name. If SS frets were better in every regard I'm sure he would be using them. I think it's probably a whole picture kind of thing with many factors involved. As a buyer, I tend to look at the entire package and overall quality and disregard what anyone says :)
 
If SS frets were better in every regard I'm sure he would be using them.

This.

This reminds me of an answer I saw to a question about a pedal I own - can't remember if it was on the manufacturer's web site, or if they had it in the manual.

The question was, "What replacement tube do you recommend to make the pedal sound better?"

The answer was, "If we thought something made it better, why wouldn't we use it?"
 
Right, but you’re correct that there have been a few lately. Old school “forum knowledge” says “don’t feed the trolls. Ignore them and they will go away.” I’d rather put them on the other team at the PRS dodgeball game. That would be WAY WAY more fun. :D

This is for general consumption, prompted by DTR's post.

The official forum rule is to report objectionable content. Members who respond in kind to trolls will suffer the same sanctions as the trolls.

Rule number one:

"1. General Forum Conduct and Etiquette

Our rules are simple: "If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything", "treat others as you wish to be treated", etc.

We're all here for the love of music and instruments. Please treat your fellow forum members with respect and with respect for their opinion, as different as it may be from your own. Any "trolling", personal attacks or unbecoming behavior is against forum rules and won't be tolerated (and it just makes you look bad). We won't agree on everything, but let's not focus on disagreements.

Be kind!"

And, it is true that if you stop responding to a troll, it will eventually leave. Trolls thrive on attention, getting people riled up and love angry responses. Stop answering the posts, or even referencing them, and the trolls lose interest.

A troll, once identified, should never receive a response to any post, even if the post is an apology or appears legit or makes a good point. They are only baiting you into thinking they are normal members. They are not.

Hit the report button.
Then, hit the ignore button.

We'll all have a more enjoyable forum.
 
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This is for general consumption, prompted by DTR's post.

The official forum rule is to report objectionable content. Members who respond in kind to trolls will suffer the same sanctions as the trolls.

Rule number one:

"1. General Forum Conduct and Etiquette

Our rules are simple: "If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything", "treat others as you wish to be treated", etc.

We're all here for the love of music and instruments. Please treat your fellow forum members with respect and with respect for their opinion, as different as it may be from your own. Any "trolling", personal attacks or unbecoming behavior is against forum rules and won't be tolerated (and it just makes you look bad). We won't agree on everything, but let's not focus on disagreements.

Be kind!"

And, it is true that if you stop responding to a troll, it will eventually leave. Trolls thrive on attention, getting people riled up and love angry responses. Stop answering the posts, or even referencing them, and the trolls lose interest.

A troll, once identified, should never receive a response to any post, even if the post is an apology or appears legit or makes a good point. They are only baiting you into thinking they are normal members. They are not.

Hit the report button.
Then, hit the ignore button.

We'll all have a more enjoyable forum.
Thanks! Solid and sensible advice, that I have already used to eliminate negative and rude behaviour!
 
If SS frets were better in every regard I'm sure he would be using them.

Not necessarily. As a business person, you ALWAYS have an eye on costs. If the wire is more expensive, and there is more labor to install, level, polish, then Paul not see it as worth the few extra guitar sales he might gain as a result of it. Business is about money. Paul makes the absolute best guitars he can to fit the price ranges he thinks he can sell them for, while still making a profit. To maintain that balance, sometimes you DON'T use the very best materials you can. Case in point. The CE uses the SE bridge because PRS had a target price point and that is what it took to get within that price point. Otherwise, if the CE was going to be the best guitar it could be, it would have the core bridge. So, it goes much deeper than what's the "best" material. Market demand is another key component. If the market was clammering for SS frets, and PRS saw sales drop because they didn't use them, you could sure as heck bet SS frets would be on PRS guitars quicker than you could blink. But, PRS doesn't currently deem the lack of SS frets as something that hurts sales enough to make a change. BUT...as Les said, apparently Paul is now looking into it. So, PRS does watch the market, as I suspect they would. They don't want to lose sales to Suhr and Music Man over something as simple as the frets that are on the guitars. While a lot of you think that fret material isn't important, others do. Some people can only afford one expensive guitar in their life and the subtle things will be more important to those folks than more fortunate people like us, who are generally more spoiled in life and can buy, trade, and sell guitars like they are candy.
 
This is for general consumption, prompted by DTR's post.

The official forum rule is to report objectionable content. Members who respond in kind to trolls will suffer the same sanctions as the trolls.

Rule number one:

"1. General Forum Conduct and Etiquette

Our rules are simple: "If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything", "treat others as you wish to be treated", etc.

We're all here for the love of music and instruments. Please treat your fellow forum members with respect and with respect for their opinion, as different as it may be from your own. Any "trolling", personal attacks or unbecoming behavior is against forum rules and won't be tolerated (and it just makes you look bad). We won't agree on everything, but let's not focus on disagreements.

Be kind!"

And, it is true that if you stop responding to a troll, it will eventually leave. Trolls thrive on attention, getting people riled up and love angry responses. Stop answering the posts, or even referencing them, and the trolls lose interest.

A troll, once identified, should never receive a response to any post, even if the post is an apology or appears legit or makes a good point. They are only baiting you into thinking they are normal members. They are not.

Hit the report button.
Then, hit the ignore button.

We'll all have a more enjoyable forum.

I agree with all of that. Certainly makes sense. But sometimes, there is nothing more rewarding than lighting a trouble maker up with a little red ball. So there's "squirt," there's "pie" and there's Dodgeball...
CeBruxZWoAA6RhZ.jpg


Ok, just kidding. I'll stop. Back to "pie" and "squirt." Can I at least abbreviate and say like "DB?" :D

Edit: Can someone with Photoshop skills please put a dodgeball in Psychos hand and send me the pic? :p
 
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So, having heard Paul asked this same question 10 years ago, and hearing him being asked it now, a couple things are clear.

1) He has now said more than once lately, that is is "considering" or "looking into it."
2) He hasn't done much actual research on it yet as he's also said several times that he wasn't sure exactly what it would entail or how much harder it actually was, and
3) He is obviously still happy enough with what he uses now, that he hasn't yet seriously looked into it. But,
4) He's been asked enough that he is acknowledging interest in checking it out.

So, for those who won't buy without SS frets, I'd say, "come back in a couple years." And any trolling prior to that (We'll say 1/1/2020) will result in "pie," "squirt," or "DB!" :D
 
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