I respect the heck out of PRS. I really do. I wouldn't own 2 if I didn't. However, a clear coat flaking defect is far from a cosmetic flaw. If the clear coat flaked from your car, is it just cosmetic? No. It makes the car more vulnerable to environmental damage. Wood isn't meant to be left hanging in the breeze. At the very least it needs to be sealed with an oil of some sort. Otherwise, it dries or absorbs moisture at will. Thus, leading to more permanent damage down the road. So, I think in this case, the flaking issue is a "defect" that can be detrimental to the longevity of the instrument if not corrected. Some guitars have had the entire finish come off the neck since the V12 has been used. By the letter of the law, PRS can do nothing about this and this is perfectly fine. However, I think this comes down to an issue of whats right and whats wrong. If PRS is hiding behind their warranty in cases like this, does it lessen the integrity of the company in some peoples eyes? I'm sure it does. From a purely business standpoint, its unwise to hide behind a warranty rather than doing what is the right thing to do in these cases. I own a business. Sometimes you spend a little money to make a little later on. If PRS came to the rescue of some of these folks, then it probably leads to an instrument sale down the road.
Then again, to use your analogy, how many car companies extend their warranties on any part of their cars for non-safety reasons (a) past three to five years, and/or (b) to someone who isn't the original owner?
In both cases, zero that I know of.
As I said, people can disagree about what is or isn't reasonable, but PRS doesn't "hide" behind their warranty to the original owner, ever. They do exactly what the warranty says they're going to do. And that's the right thing to do so everyone knows where they stand.
The original owner
who paid a premium buck and bought the guitar from a PRS dealer gets a great amount of service and protection. Others have to handle their own repairs. What's unfair about that?
And what's fair to the person who bought the guitar at a premium to have that warranty, if it isn't necessary to buy new to get that warranty? That would really suck, as far as I'm concerned.
You talk about something being a "defect" think for a moment -- Any warranty claim is by definition only about a defect! Otherwise it's wear and tear which is NOT covered by warranties!
If you think they are "hiding" behind a warranty - backwards thinking, as far as I'm concerned because the warranty expressly does not extend to anyone but the original owner - there isn't anything I can say that will convince you otherwise, we'll simply disagree.
The point is, to whom is PRS' responsibility to repair owed? The original owner. Who else? Anyone who comes along and buys the guitar years down the road? And where does one draw the line? Where would you draw the line on used instruments if it was your business? Not the finish? How about the electronics? The bridge? The knobs and tuning machines? And would you leave it open-ended for whoever owns it 100 years from now?
Since a warranty is only about defects, what defects would you include, and what defects would you exclude? And why would you include some and not others? It all comes down to splitting hairs.
You can't reasonably expect a company to have an open-ended policy with no clear guidelines. And for guidelines to make any sense, they have to be followed uniformly. To not do that would be unfair to everyone.
PRS draws the line at original owners. That's reasonable because it's a lifetime warranty.
It would be unfair to the original owners, who paid for the privilege of a great warranty, and it would be unfair to everyone else who'd be scratching their heads as to where they stand, this one getting a break, that one not getting a break, people arguing over who got screwed, etc.
As to whether the finish is merely cosmetic, how many acoustic instruments do you know of that are unfinished on the inside that last hundreds of years? Answer: many. There are violins whose neck finishes wore off 300 years ago that are being played in concerts. And some players sand the finish off their necks. The guitars still last.
It's not like the guitar can't be easily fixed, or that it's going to rot.
And in any case, it's certainly not anything like a personal safety issue.
