Gee, I'd love to try a 20th Ann. PS, but...

[greiswig]

But I live in Oregon. Nearest PS dealer to me is 250 miles away and hasn't responded to my requests to find when they might have one, what finish they might get, etc.

How do you guys find out about and try these instruments? How do you find one with the finish you want without making a custom order? Or do you just have to risk thousands of dollars and buy one and hope your confirmation bias lets you like it no matter what? ;-)

 

[CantankerousCarl]

I found out about the PS20th via this forum. Visited the website. Lusted. Found out that Les ordered one. Never thought I would have a shot at one. Saw one on Brian's Guitars web site. Called. Bought. Kinda a gamble I suppose on such a big-ticket item, but the cards of sonic awesomeness were stacked in the PS20th's favor. So I felt pretty confident that it would be amazing. Which it is.

Risk-wise, although guitars are pretty lousy investments, I didn't feel too worried based upon my track record with PRS, and given the limited nature of the release, I felt pretty confident that I would be able to recoup a good portion of the price should I decide to sell someday. WHICH I WILL NOT

Sweetwater has two - one in Northern Lights (with a really nice top, although Les' is much nicer) and a brownish one, some Tiger Eye or something. If you have the scratch, you could always have it shipped and try it via them if there are no dealers within driving distance of you that have one.

Assume you've seen the list, but in case you have not, scroll down on the page for the dealers who actually got them. I believe 20 were domestic, and 20 were earmarked for EMEA and APAC.
http://www.prsguitars.com/20thanniversaryprivatestock/

Hope that helps!

 

[veinbuster]

I've travelled fairly long distances to see and try something in person.
Some dealers will ship you a guitar to try and as long as you return it quickly and in good condition only charge you the shipping - which might be steep because they will need it fully insured. A Private Stock is a big investment, so I don't mind spending a bit to see something that I believe could be a good fit, but I'm not sure.

It is much easier to find something with the current state of the Internet than it was when I was first looking for a PRS 20 years ago.

 

[László]

How do you guys find out about and try these instruments? How do you find one with the finish you want without making a custom order? Or do you just have to risk thousands of dollars and buy one and hope your confirmation bias lets you like it no matter what? ;-)

I found out about it via the PRS website, that I visit fairly frequently to see what's up.

I liked the spec of the guitar as soon as I saw it - it was truly well-suited to my tastes and musical needs. I wan't concerned about the color, or the top, etc. When I called Jack Gretz (Northeast Music Center), my dealer, he told me that he was getting one in, so I asked him to reserve it for me.

I have a PS acoustic, and two other PS built electric guitars. My experience with all of them is that they've been outstanding - well, actually amazing - musical instruments (there's my confirmation bias showing for ya ). But truly, they've been incredible guitars, and I use them in my work on a daily basis. I do think they are worth the extra dough over Core models. And I'm talking about tone and feel alone, not looks.

I didn't feel the slightest bit apprehensive about ordering it.

As to color, if memory serves, it might have been possible to get a different color since the guitar hadn't shipped from PRS -- but I didn't really care about color very much. I told him I'd be happy with whatever color he had planned to get in stock. He said he had Northern Lights coming, and it'd look like the one on the PRS site. That was fine with me. There were 3 other colors available - the color Carl got, and two others that I don't remember.

As I said, however, I was neutral on the color.

As to the guitar itself, it's one of the most amazing guitars I've ever played. The sustain is incredible - truly incredible - and the tone is fantastic. So I'm very happy I got it.

Some dealers will let you have a guitar 24 hours on approval. Talk to some of the dealers, to find out their policies on it.

I probably wouldn't be too excited about dealing with a store that didn't respond to me after I expressed interest in a very expensive guitar!

 

[Jimi D]

My god that's a beautiful guitar!

 

[justmund]

One has popped up in Aus already, in Sage Smokeburst. Is at Sky Music if you to peep it

 

[CantankerousCarl]

Looks like someone snagged the Sweetwater Northern Lights one in the hours since I posted...was it you greiswig?

 

[Snoopygore71]

Got one question in respect to this, are the 408's splittable?

 

[justmund]

Got one question in respect to this, are the 408's splittable?

Apparently not, Les said they might split in pos 2 & 4 though.

Uhh Les/Carl, can you uhh respectively pull your uhh knobs to uhh see what happens?

 

[bodia]

Apparently not, Les said they might split in pos 2 & 4 though.

Uhh Les/Carl, can you uhh respectively pull your uhh knobs to uhh see what happens?

Pull your knobs....tee hee

 

[Snoopygore71]

Heh knobs..

 

[Snoopygore71]

Sky Music is between work and home....

 

[justmund]

Pull your knobs....tee hee

There was no way I could make it sound not dirty, so I just ran with it...

Sky Music is between work and home....

Do it!!!

 

[László]

As far as I can tell, the coil splits are positions 2 and 4, in combination with the middle pickup.

But I'm not gonna talk about knob-pulling in polite company.

 

[RedGuitars]

I'd 'settle' for a 10th anniversary of PS...

http://www.guitarmaverick.com/prs-1...ivate-stock-preowned-raspberry-burst-sc-trem/

 

[greiswig]

Looks like someone snagged the Sweetwater Northern Lights one in the hours since I posted...was it you greiswig?

Alas, no.

 

[Snoopygore71]

There was no way I could make it sound not dirty, so I just ran with it...



Do it!!!

As far as I can tell, the coil splits are positions 2 and 4, in combination with the middle pickup.

But I'm not gonna talk about knob-pulling in polite company.

Well, went and checked the one in store, the gent in the store goes smell the nitro. What a fantastic guitar, acoustically it sung and plugged in is tremendous. Played a Santana and another PS as well. Must admit no pennies to spare for this and the AUD has taken a beating as well, but you know this is a great base for a PS spec when the time comes...

 

[László]

Well, went and checked the one in store, the gent in the store goes smell the nitro. What a fantastic guitar, acoustically it sung and plugged in is tremendous.

Yup, those are my thoughts about the one I have...the thing sings.

 

[Snoopygore71]

Did not pick up on the smaller scale neck initially, and am I correct that the tone pot sits a bit closer?? The 5 way appears to be more up the body as well!! Les or Carl??

 

[László]

Did not pick up on the smaller scale neck initially, and am I correct that the tone pot sits a bit closer?? The 5 way appears to be more up the body as well!! Les or Carl??

Yes, you are correct, sir!

The control layout is designed to be more like the original Golden Eagle that Paul made for Howard Leese back in the pre-factory days, when he was making guitars in a small shop. One difference is that Leese ordered his with two tone controls. And of course, there are other significant differences, too, as you can see.