$10K Private Stock... Inspiration or Frustration?

LAGreg

LAGreg

New Member
Joined
Dec 6, 2018
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2
Location
Los Angeles
Hello! New to the forum. I play an SE Custom 24 30th Anniversary which I love. I’ve been in the market for a higher end PRS and late last year I saw the Graveyard II and nearly fell off my chair. I looked it up and was crushed to see it was $10,000. Now look, I’ve got a job, but 10 Grand will never happen for me. Never. $2K-$3K sure. I could even do $5,000 if I sweet-talk my wife. But not $10,000. (Forget that there’s only 60 made.) I was no longer thrilled at the look of the guitar, I was depressed knowing I’d never own it. And a little angry to be honest. It just felt like a big tease - “Look at this great guitar you’ll never be able to buy!” Why do that?

So what’s your opinion? When PRS puts out any guitar at that price point does it motivate you or irritate you?
 
I appreciate the art, a lot. I probably wouldn’t buy a PS, because I would be too afraid to play it out, etc. I think it’s awesome that they have such talented artists though, and I love seeing their creations.

Easier said than done, but never let your happiness be based on something you don’t have, or can’t have. Doesn’t make the rest of the PRS line any less of a good thing.
 
Last year a GC near me had 5-6 used PS guitars. My wife saw them, liked a few of them, and we were considering getting one. First, let me say, I am a player first. A guitar needs to offer me something that I don't already have. LONG story short, we passed on all of them. Things got VERY serious where we narrowed it down to our favorite three. I went home and brought back three Core models from my own "collection." In the end, none of the PS guitars could beat my MC58, DC245 or SC245. Yeah, the workmanship was AWESOME, as were the materials. One of the three we wanted had Mammoth Ivory inlays!!! But these three guitars played and sounded just as good as the PS guitars we thought we wanted.

To answer your question, that experience really kind of squashed my "need" to get a PS. My wife summed it up very well:

"You going gig with one of these, or is it for bragging rights?"

And at that time, sonically, the PS guitars didn't give me anything that my Core models couldn't give. SO, it came down to bragging rights - even though none of the guitars would have been MY specs. At this point, it doesn't motivate or annoy me - it just is. Some day I might order my own - and it would be VERY different, like a PS S2, lol.
 
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Private Stocks are designed and built with that extra "secret mojo" that pays attention to details and offers wider variety of design options.

Essentially, PS are the sky's limit regards how you'd like to build a personalized guitar. That being said, in years past, I've owned several Private Stocks, but eventually realized that my level of playing could never justify owning such a work of art.

You could, in effect, watch eBay or Reverb, or various online retailers for used Private Stock guitars, where there may be more than one or 2 previous owners who needed to sell for whatever reason. I'd also put feelers out to your local guitar reps asking them to contact you when a PS arrives in the stores at the price point that fits your budget.

But truthfully, GAS is a cruel mistress that strikes when your eyes and ears see or hear something desirable. Sometimes you just gotta turn away and say "No!" before the desire takes hold. Yet, if the desire is strong enough, it'll take root, and...you're toast.

The reasonable solution is to calculate your budgeted "wants vs. needs." Can you afford the power ashtrays? Do you need the power ashtrays? Do you need a 4-barrel carb engine? Headers? Rollbar? Nitro-afterburner? You see what I'm saying...

There are many non-Private Stock guitars (read: production) that are out there in cyberspace that will equally turn heads and satiate your craving. My feeling is, do your research and locate as many online retailers that sell PRSi that have the design, build, pickups, DC resistance values (when the pickups break up at what guitar volume), electronics configuration, tint and finish that might suit your needs.

Honestly, it's a lot of research, but bookmarking the retailers and organizing them by region will make the job easier. If you've got the "bread," you'll find the guitar you're looking for.
 
LAGreg said:
Hello! New to the forum. I play an SE Custom 24 30th Anniversary which I love. I’ve been in the market for a higher end PRS and late last year I saw the Graveyard II and nearly fell off my chair. I looked it up and was crushed to see it was $10,000. Now look, I’ve got a job, but 10 Grand will never happen for me. Never. $2K-$3K sure. I could even do $5,000 if I sweet-talk my wife. But not $10,000. (Forget that there’s only 60 made.) I was no longer thrilled at the look of the guitar, I was depressed knowing I’d never own it. And a little angry to be honest. It just felt like a big tease - “Look at this great guitar you’ll never be able to buy!” Why do that?

So what’s your opinion? When PRS puts out any guitar at that price point does it motivate you or irritate you?
Click to expand...

I feel your pain. I have wanted a PRS doubleneck for a long time. But they only make them as Private Stock guitars and there is no way in hell I would ever spend that ridiculously large amount of money for a guitar. I don't like any of the body shapes of any of the other doublenecks that are out there on the market, so I've concluded that I'll just never own one.
 
That's why I bought the PS in my avatar used last year... It looked like it had never been touched when it arrived... I mean never!!!
I gig that sucker regularly now... It's a player and I play it a LOT! I don't see me ever forking out $10k+++ for a new one, though.
I just have a hard time justifying it. I had enough of a hard time justifying what I've bought the last few years.
 
I’ve managed to score a couple of used Private Stock each for less than I paid for my new 594.

They’re ginchy!

All my PRS guitars -new or used- have something unique in the way they sounded that tripped my trigger.

Used, they’re reachable. I’d love the last couple Dragons, but they’re not reachable to me.
 
Yep. Got a store card? No? Can you give me your number? Find what you're looking for? Any coupons? Need a bag? Anything else we can do for you? Have a great day, and thanks for shopping our store.

One dang reason I won't give retailers my business is when these questions aren't asked, but you'll note that IRL, this is exactly what is being said by decent retailers.

Yes, you can sense my frustration. Unfortunately, unless you have computer or phone, there's no way you can interact with people that doesn't seem like it's more like, "I don't know, but you can look it up online." Or, "Honey, my printer is low on magenta ink and its got a paper jam. Fix it for me, please?"

Yep. So you hop onto your Harley and go up the country, or like me, you know that coffee, bacon and eggs awaits you in the morning, so you turn off the boob tube, put on your radio, and go to bed.

Your choice, escape the madness, party til you keel over, or do the intelligent thing and get a decent night's sleep. Breakfast awaits tomorrow.
 
great and prescient comment.

CandidPicker said:
Yep. Got a store card? No? Can you give me your number? Find what you're looking for? Any coupons? Need a bag? Anything else we can do for you? Have a great day, and thanks for shopping our store.

One dang reason I won't give retailers my business is when these questions aren't asked, but you'll note that IRL, this is exactly what is being said by decent retailers.

Yes, you can sense my frustration. Unfortunately, unless you have computer or phone, there's no way you can interact with people that doesn't seem like it's more like, "I don't know, but you can look it up online." Or, "Honey, my printer is low on magenta ink and its got a paper jam. Fix it for me, please?"

Yep. So you hop onto your Harley and go up the country, or like me, you know that coffee, bacon and eggs awaits you in the morning, so you turn off the boob tube, put on your radio, and go to bed.

Your choice, escape the madness, party til you keel over, or do the intelligent thing and get a decent night's sleep. Breakfast awaits tomorrow.
Click to expand...
 
LAGreg said:
So what’s your opinion? When PRS puts out any guitar at that price point does it motivate you or irritate you?
Click to expand...

I get where you're coming from. It took me a good 6 months of consideration before I placed my order for a PS. For me it was quite clear cut that I wanted a PRS and I liked the shape and necks but needed some features that could only be had via PS such as stainless steel frets, different radius, pull up on the trem etc. I basically went with playability based options and went pretty barebones on the rest (other than a pretty quilt top). Came up a little above 10k. Needless to say the last guitar I buy in a long time.

To answer your question, it motivates me. Life's short, work even harder, buy some glorious fiddles and play 'em.
 
LAGreg said:
So what’s your opinion? When PRS puts out any guitar at that price point does it motivate you or irritate you?
Click to expand...

Most of my life, spending more than £1k on guitar has been impossible so most of my life a 'core' PRS has been out of reach. A core PRS was a 'dream' for many, many years. In other words, the majority of PRS guitars have always released at a price point out of reach. It has never irritated, its just the way it is. I now own 4 Core PRS because circumstances have changed - I could have spent all of that money on my 4 guitars on a single Private Stock but then I wouldn't have the 4 different instruments I have and probably to worried to take it out of its case. I have always wanted a Dragon guitar from the time I saw the first one in 'Guitarist' magazine and never has it irritated me to see these supremely crafted, high priced instruments.

To me, a lot of these Private Stock instruments are 'poster' guitars. Guitars I would have posters of on my wall, much like having a poster of a Ferrari or Lamborghini. They are instruments that I would love to be in a position to own but that is unlikely unless I win the lottery (I would need to buy tickets first though). There are a LOT of guitars that are out of my price range and some of those aren't as well crafted or as ornate as some of the Private Stock but these don't irritate me, its just the way things are. There are many people that aren't in a position to own a Core PRS, many that can't even justify spending any money on an instrument at all so I count myself lucky to have been in a position to buy the guitars I have, not be irritated that PRS make Private Stock guitars that I will never own.

EDIT: Incidentally, I live in the UK and Core PRS guitars, let alone Private Stock, cost more if you convert the UK price at the current exchange rate to Dollars. A $10k guitar in the US would probably be priced at £10k here and at the current exchange rate, that is the equivalent to $13k for us - basically a Core guitar more....

As I said, I am not irritated, not complaining etc, its just the way things are. I can't afford to spend $10k (which equates to ~£7.7k at current exchange rates) on a guitar anyway. At best I can buy the Graveyard T-Shirt... :D
 
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My S2 Singlecut is a better guitar than I thought I'd ever own. It plays like a dream and sounds incredible (BK pickups). I looked at core models for a while but decided they don't offer anything I don't already have. You say that you can afford a core model. Wouldn't that be more than good enough for you without sulking about not being able to afford a PS guitar ? Do you want to live in a castle and own your own jet ? Very sad.
 
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