Fun GC Vela conversation

[Aahzz]

So I'm amp shopping. As such, I took Daisy, my black solid body Vela, into the local GC with me yesterday and was playing some amps. There was a gentleman in there who has talked to me at great length on previous occasion, generally against my own introvert nature, but is friendly enough. Anyway, he spots Daisy as I'm traversing to the used room to see if there's anything to plug into in there. "Nice PRS" he says. I say "Thanks". He proceeds to say "I can tell that one is really old". "Nope, I say, she's a 2019". He apparently didn't quite hear that right because he says "Yep, knew it was older because they never use that brass barrel bridge any more". I mention that it's still on the new Velas as well, he says "I didn't know that, thought they stopped making the Violas after they brought them out in 2003". I casually mentioned (wrongly, I was off by 2 years) that they came out around 2015, he said he didn't know that, but he was a collector with a bunch of PRSes and knew a lot about them. I was amused, and went on my way to play some other amps...just thought y'all might be as tickled as I was by the font of PRS knowledge.

 

[Ovibos]

“Well, this is one of the post-factory models.”

 

[RickP]

You should have said “it’s a Private Stock, I had them custom build the brass parts!”

Fun story

 

[Alnus Rubra]

Smells like one of those Ol’factory stories!

 

[shimmilou]

But, can you get hearing aids from aural sex?

 

[Boogie]

Are you sure you didn’t pull into the BS Center? Like the time I had a bar patron insist my DGT was a knock-off and how I was supporting the Chinese forgery industry. Pretty sure that was the BS Bar & Grill.

 

[bodia]

Great story. I love tales like this.

 

[]-[@n$0Ma☩!©]

"Yep, knew it was older because they never use that brass barrel bridge any more".

If a sales dood wants to impress me, just hand me a Vela with this bridge. Look close.

 

[jak3af3r]

If a sales dood wants to impress me, just hand me a Vela with this bridge. Look close.

That's wild.

 

[dmatthews]

Smells like one of those Ol’factory stories!

Are you Nostrildamus?

 

[SinSir]

If a sales dood wants to impress me, just hand me a Vela with this bridge. Look close.

What barrels are those?

 

[Deleted member 5962]

This is why pictures are so nice. Not just pictures like
< this one, which are certainly VERY nice, but nice to bring some "reality" to conversations. If I guy starts telling me about all the fish he caught, and how big they were, when he pulls out his phone and says here are a few pics, you can't really doubt the story. Some people are prone to exaggeration, but some just suffer from delusions of grandeur.

One time I told a guy "nice guitar" and he had an SE Custom 24. He said thanks and asked me if I knew what it was. I said yes. He said "it was pretty expensive, but worth it." Everything is relative, and even after hanging out here for 10 years, I'm not jaded to the reality that even $1000 is an expensive guitar to "most" people, so I could see someone thinking $600-$700 was expensive. Maybe. But it soon became apparent that was not what he meant. He proceeded to tell me about how they were hand made in Maryland, and how he'd owned Gibsons and Fenders and Gretch and etc., and this was the nicest one he'd ever owned. He went on, but when he said "yeah, these PRS guitars run from $3000 on up" I knew then that he was trying to convince me his was a USA core model.

At that point, I said " yes, I'm very familiar with Paul Reed Smiths. They are my favorite brand." He asked if I played, I said yes, and he asked if I had one. I said I had 5 of the USA made core models. He said "what is a core model?" I said "that's the made in the USA models like you were talking about." I told him that I had the USA model of the Custom 24, and 4 other ones and I told him what each one was. He then said, "well then you know just how nice these PRS guitars are if you have one like this"... still apparently thinking I didn't know what the SE on the headstock meant. I told him that I thought they were the best production guitars made, and then I said "but these imported models are very good as well. Best in their price range in my opinion." He then told me it was a made in USA model. I told him (nicely) that the SE's had never been made in America. At first, he either didn't believe me, or was trying to keep a bs story going... not sure which. I said "well it's written right on the back of the headstock."

there's another funny part to this story that happened after that, but this post is too long already, so maybe later...

 

[Deleted member 5962]

actually, the funny part to that story, was really what went with my first paragraph, about pictures. So I might as well...

So, a few minutes later, we're an isle over from this guy and I hear him say "some guy was just trying to tell me he has 5 of these guitars, and they're all the expensive ones. Like I'm going to believe that $hlt." I opened my photo's and quickly went to the gear. I walked around the corner and said "want to see my Custom 24?" "Yeah, let's see it." (Thank you! Now for the fun!) I pulled up the guitar pictures. By the time I was done, he'd seen most of my 17 guitars, and pictures of Bogner, multiple Mesa, Vox, Fender and of course PRS amps as well. Just had to make sure he knew I wasn't BS'ing him.

 

[]-[@n$0Ma☩!©]

What barrels are those?

They are from the original Vela bridge design. I took that photo at the NAMM show when the Vela was unveiled.

The Vela shown in that photo was displayed inside the private sales area of the PRS booth and I was invited inside to take a look. I stood in line behind several other folks who were 'oooh'ing and ahhh'ing' whilst taking numerous photographs. I didn't notice the 8.5 x 11 piece of paper on the wall (or the small print upon it) that prohibited photos of the Vela. I sure as hell noticed the next day.

By the time I got around to posting my daily NAMM photos (which I did every year for those who enjoyed seeing the new gear), numerous photos of that Vela were already online; to include PRS dealer FaceBook pages. I thought nothing of posting my photos and was excited to share the new PRS with die-hard fans (like me). Needless to say, a storm was brewing as I slept that night.

I awoke the next day to a voicemail from Jack Higginbotham, COO of PRS Guitars. My photo (shown above), amongst the many photos that were taken, got the attention of John Woodland (Mastery Bridges). I guess someone reposted my photo on TGP and it was passed to Woodland from there. While other photos posted online clearly showed the Vela, it was the detailed photo I took of the bridge that started the fire. The Mastery folks felt as though the Vela saddle design was too close to theirs. Naturally, I took down my photo and rushed back into the NAMM show to speak with Paul. Let the record show that Jack was quite friendly about it when I returned his phone call.

When I got back to the PRS booth inside the NAMM show, I pulled Paul Smith and Jim Cullen aside to discuss. Paul understood the nuances that created the situation and graciously accepted my apology. That isn't to say he was okay with it. Clearly it was not a happy situation. But he understood how everything unfolded and took it (paraphrasing his words) as a valuable business lesson. Jim Cullen, on the other hand, blamed me (to my face) for "busting [his] product release". I felt just awful about the whole situation and left with a heavy heart.

It is fair to say that this was the moment I realized there is little value in being an industry 'insider'. I haven't been to a NAMM show since then. I've mostly avoided using contacts and back-channels to get my guitars upgraded or repaired. There is no doubt I am a happier person for it. You want to stay a happy PRS owner/player? My advise to you is to be a run-of-the-mill, every day, customer. If you ever get invited to 'the inner circle', talk as little as possible, remember that you are a customer and not the official spokesperson of official PRS forum (even if you're the moderator), leave before you are asked to move along, and for the love of god... do NOT post detailed photos of new products online.

In the end, the Vela bridge design was altered; presumably to avoid further comparison (or complications that may arise from that comparison) with the Mastery bridge design.