I believe an individual should be able to buy whatever for whatever reason they choose (as long as it's not illegal). Not everyone buys a limited edition for "I have one of these special things, you don't." Some will buy fully or partially as an investment. Some of these "limited editions" are very pricey, and supply and demand will in part determine the future value. I realize that some will look down their noses at those who buy a guitar "as an investment." For those who would criticize investment as a valid reason, I ask "do you think a Dragon feels, plays, or sounds better because it has a fancy, expensive inlay?"
And finally, if there is no intent to "close the run," why do you think they set a finite number on them at original offer?
For the record, I do NOT, nor ever have owned a Dragon 1.
I don't disagree with you on much of what you say - at all. Especially that everyone should do whatever it is they want to do. No rules.
But for those who got a Dragon as an investment, at least with the early ones, they've done
extremely well with that investment. I think it'd be pretty sour to insist that PRS could never, ever use that inlay design on any other instrument, ever. And if you were to agree, fine, the "never ever, even 300 years from now, position might be a little extreme," at what point would you say PRS would once again have the right to use the design they own?
Moreover, that Dragon run was indeed limited, and hasn't been repeated in the same form in the 20-odd years since the guitar was introduced.
So I'm not understanding one part about the issue. Are you saying that after 20 years plus, PRS has no right to use that inlay design on other guitars, ever? Or are you saying it's too soon to use the design on a different instrument, or what?
I personally think there's a difference between an inlay, and a whole model run. The Dragon I was, to me, a one-shot thing, and that thing has long been over. You can't make a new Dragon I, all you can do is make some version thats a copy of it, at best, and that version would merely be a PS with a classic inlay, but can't somehow become a Dragon I -- unless the owner falsifies it.
Obviously you disagree, so there's no point in my trying to convince you. But I'm interested in your take on it, and where you'd draw the line.
As to the exclusivity thing, well, a limited run is
certainly all about exclusivity. Whether that turns out to be for the purpose of
saying, "I have one, you don't" -- or whether it's merely the exclusivity that drives up the price, the result is the same. The owner has one, the others don't, and the only way they can get an original is to buy it from a current owner, at that owner's price.
So either way, the end product - whether it's to be an investment, or whether it's for the sheer ability to say you have one of very few - isn't much different.
However, I didn't say there's anything wrong with that. It's just not a thing I personally care to do. I'm not postulating rules for anyone else, never have, never will. And I hope my wife and kids outlive me and make some dough on my guitars, or better yet, keep them, but I'll be ashes by then, and it's certainly not going to be something I will be able to foresee or control.
I have one major ambivalence here, in that I bought a couple of limited run instruments instead of just ordering something similar, which I could have just as easily done.
I did buy them because I loved in the CU24's case, the tone I heard; and in the 20th PS, I loved the concept before hearing the guitar, and thought, "that has to be awesome and right up my alley."
But in the end, they are limited runs, too, so obviously there's something beyond merely playing the guitars in all this that honesty forces me to admit, "Sure, I considered the idea that not many of these are around, and beyond that, I thought that was kind of interesting and cool."
Not exactly a very good reason for me to buy a guitar (I speak only for myself, this is not a prescription for other people, and you have every right to have whatever reason you like to do whatever you want in the guitar realm), so the guitar's playability and tone still have to be paramount, but it's certainly a factor of some kind.
I just don't have a lot of emotion tied up in that.
). Its the same guitar spec, but a different inlay. I think private stock will do a dragon is you pay, but not to the limited edition original art. 
