30 years on

[g.wizz]

I am somewhat surprised, a bit shocked actually when some new forum
Members say that they just discovered PRS guitars although they played many brands
for many years. now i don't know if by "discovered" that they played a PRS guitar for the first time
Or they just new that such a brand existed.
For me, my discovery was in 1986 when i read the first artical about the CU24 in Guitarplayer and i was hooked
Then i fell in love with the instrument when i first played it in 2008 (i live in the Middle East) and PRS
was more rare than a unicorn
So i wonder why in the States in particular many guitar players still unaware of this great
Brand with it's many models that covers nearly all the styles of music.
I'm merely conveying my thoughts that maybe someone would share his insight on this subject
Thanks.

 

[Huggy Love]

Well, let's face it, these are pricey guitars not made in the same volume as Fender, Gibson and the more affordable brands like Ibanez & Epiphone that line the walls of most music shops. It's simple math. These are (in my opinion) the sports cars of guitars and not everybody knows what an Aston Martin of an Alfa Romeo looks like.

Most on this forum and many guitar players know PRS, I personally knew about them even before Carlos Santana & Ted Nugent were promoting them because I used to play in the college bars around Georgetown in Wash DC. There was a baddass guitar player from one of the other bands that worked the circuit who had a prototype in the early 80's, it had a Gibson style tune-o-matic bridge setup, no birds, black, can't recall what the headstock looked like, it was a long time ago. I think his name was Mike, but I could be wrong, anyway, he could play his azz off, that I do remember.

 

[CVS]

Just my opinion but I think PRS's move into the SE and S2 lines was a good one. This has helped / will continue to help get them a bigger audience / market for their guitars and increase brand awareness. Eventually, many of today's SE buyers may trade up to the S2 or to the core models. AT a minimum, PRS now has many more people taking a look at their products.

I could never understand why Fender would take brand names like "Stratocaster" and "Telecaster" and use them on low end guitars and well as high end guitars. To be this dilutes the image of the brand and confuses many people IMHO. PRS by going the the SE and S2 route has done a much better job at protecting the image of their "core" & "custom" guitars and people understand the differences between the 3 lines / brands.

 

[AP515]

It's all about exposure. I hadn't heard about them until I saw one in 2006. I don't read the guitar magazines much, I played in a little cover band. I wasn't super involved in the music world and so it wasn't until I went looking for a new guitar that I put myself in a place where I could gain that exposure. There's probably a guy like me out there right now wondering what those birds are on the fretboard of a guitar hanging on a wall.

 

[Brad737]

I have to wear an ID badge at work, and have mine on a PRS Guitars lanyard. I've lost count of how many people who play guitar who ask me about them, who have never heard of PRS.

 

[gush]

I played my first prs in the early 90s and I knew a guitar player who used one during that time. I didn't care for the guitar I played but knowing now that I don't care for the HFS that must of beenthe pickup that guitar had. I was swayed by the McCarty and got one in 2004ish. Now all I play is prs.

I have found that most people that don't play music aren't aware of prs but when they see one they know it's something special.

 

[frederico]

I used to get Guitarist Magazine in the early 90s ,Neville Martin was the editor he played a PRS and he did a review of them so thats how I first heard of PRS.I had never played one until mine arrived in January this year. I bought it on the internet unseen and unplayed but I knew it was going to be a killer guitar and it is.Lisbon and Oporto would be the only places where guitar dealers would stock PRS.I have never seen one in the music shops in Faro.

 

[solacematt]

I was aware of PRS guitars before I even played guitar because I used to buy guitar magazines for the articles on my favorite bands, haha. Before I played though I thought that PRS were just same really expensive brand because I only saw Daniel Johns from Silverchair and Ross Childress from Collective Soul and of course Alex Lifeson of Rush playing them. Then once I started playing I noticed Mike Einziger of Inclbus used them...and the Mark Tremonti blew the door open on PRS and they became a lot more well known and used. I honestly think that PRS has more to thank to Mark Tremonti using them in Creed then any other artist. After he started using them A LOT of other bands started using them.

 

[frederico]

This is a great and interesting forum..

 

[markintime]

I have to wear an ID badge at work, and have mine on a PRS Guitars lanyard. I've lost count of how many people who play guitar who ask me about them, who have never heard of PRS.

I need one of those! Where did you find it? I looked in the store and don't see it anywhere.

 

[dogrocketp]

The georgetown bar circuit guitar player would be Mike Ault. Great guy, and great player. If you said you didn't like him I'd never trust you. I just never got around to playing PRS, until I got a divorce and bought an SE to replace an expensive electric that had to go bye bye. I bought it without playing it because it was a cheap used guitar that had a good reputation for quality. It was better than a LP I suffered with for 20 years. Now, It's mostly PRS except for archtop and acoustic. That'll change in time as well. I just find that they're made better, and the necks are more in tune. That's SE and Core.

 

[Huggy Love]

The georgetown bar circuit guitar player would be Mike Ault. Great guy, and great player. If you said you didn't like him I'd never trust you. I just never got around to playing PRS, until I got a divorce and bought an SE to replace an expensive electric that had to go bye bye. I bought it without playing it because it was a cheap used guitar that had a good reputation for quality. It was better than a LP I suffered with for 20 years. Now, It's mostly PRS except for archtop and acoustic. That'll change in time as well. I just find that they're made better, and the necks are more in tune. That's SE and Core.

Really? Wow I remember him the same way, real nice guy. *If it's the same person* he might even remember the only short haired lead guitar player working the college bars (I was in the Army at the time), we were in competing bands but even though the bands hated each other, all the guitarmen liked each other and would smoke & joke down by the Key bridge before gigs. Half the clubs were named after cigarettes, Pall Mall, Winston, etc., and every band was rocking the AC/DC, Billy Squier, Van Halen, Journey power rock/pop thing. What a time it was!!!

Archtop? Acoustic? PRS has that covered too. My HB is the only PRS and only working guitar I have right now, that'll change as well.

Interesting follow-up, thanks Dog.

 

[vchizzle]

I've been thinking about this a bit. For someone to have not heard of PRS by now, it has to be someone who isn't actively involved in looking at, reading about or shopping for guitars. That means no forums, no guitar mags, rarely browsing online retail sites, never watching live performances of music on TV. PRS is very "out there". Even if I have zero interest in a band performance, I'll leave it on TV for a minute to see what brands of guitars are used.

I need one of those! Where did you find it? I looked in the store and don't see it anywhere.

I've got a bunch of them just hanging around. PM your address to me and I'll send one out to ya.

 

[HANGAR18]

By the time 1985 rolled around, I was a drummer in a couple of different garage bands, and my favorite one had two guys who played Gibson Les Pauls with Marshall half stacks.
My guitar education started with the lead guitar player who let me strap the guitar on and showed me how to play a few little riffs.
I was in the military during the 1990's so I had no idea what the rest of the world was doing and discovered country music radio stations.
I discovered PRS guitars as a result of discovering early Nickelback, and then later discovering that Ted Nugent also recommended them as well.
Since then, every single PRS artist there has ever been (with the exception of Carlos Santana) I had never heard of until I discovered them on the PRS web site.
(Yes, that's right. I had never heard of Mark Tremonti or Alter Bridge until I learned about them on the PRS guitars web site. Creed? Yes, I've always liked Creed, but never knew who played guitar in that band.)
Funny, huh?

 

[aristotle]

I dunno... I first picked up the guitar in the late 70's (I'm 50). Played in a couple of coverbands in the DC / Baltimore area in the early to mid 80s. I had my dad's old (it seemed old at the time) '73 Norlin SG, and a Univox. I loved playing, but it just never occurred to explore beyond my SG. It had a Bigsby and couldn't hold tune, but I figured that only girly-men couldn't deal with that. Life and career ensued, and music took a back seat and although my driver's license has always said Maryland on it, I didn't know anything about PRS. I think I had vaguely heard of PRS, but it was just one of those "other guys" (not Gibson or Fender).

About 6 years ago, I was asked by some VC backed startup to come up with a system design for a guitar that did an in-guitar model of several varieties of vintage Les Pauls through several varieties of vintage Marshalls. And around that time, I also reconnected with some of my old music buddies and we started to play out again. The VC project was a fool's errand, but it did get me onto the guitar and amp forums, and the next thing I knew, I had a bunch of flavors of LP's and Marshalls...which I made quick use of in the coverband stuff.

About 4 years ago, I was buying strings at a guitar center and noticed this dusty looking guitar on severe clearance that had weird looking pickups. I played it, it sounded and felt great, and was relatively cheap, so I made an impulse buy (it was a 25th McCarty narrowfield, and I think that they really goofed on the price). That was neat, but I still didn't know anything about PRS. It was just some weird guitar that I found that I played to the exclustion of my old SG and the LP's that I had picked up for work. A few months later, I had a meeting at the PRS factory for work (on something entirely non-music related) and met Mr. Smith in person. Clearly he had a passion for what he did, which is really what prompted me to see what PRS was all about. Next thing I knew.... Oh well....

But if it weren't for the in-person meeting, I don't know that I'd have known about PRS as anything other than the maker of my skinny pickup guitar.

 

[HANGAR18]

About 4 years ago, I was buying strings at a guitar center and noticed this dusty looking guitar on severe clearance that had weird looking pickups. I played it, it sounded and felt great, and was relatively cheap, so I made an impulse buy (it was a 25th McCarty narrowfield, and I think that they really goofed on the price).

Those are REALLY NEAT! They only made them for just one year too. I really like mine and I especially like how versatile it is.

 

[vchizzle]

I don't know, I guess I was always obsessive about stuff I'm interested in. Even at an early age before playing guitar when I was reading Hit Parader, Circus, etc., I quickly moved to Guitar For the Practicing Musician and Guitar World as soon as I got pulled in by George Lynch and Slash. There wasn't enough reading material out there so I started focusing on the player rather than the band itself. It wasn't that long after Appetite For Destruction came out that I got my first guitar, a National LP copy. I had a thirst for information so I was reading every rag I could find with something of interest. I was aware of plenty brands that weren't as huge because of it. I remember when brands like Hamer started running ads and were coming on to the scene. I was always pretty aware of PRS in the early 90's. Dave Navarro, Chris Haskett and Lifeson were the ones early on that made me aware of PRS.