guitar shortage

[HANGAR18]

I was chatting with the folks at PRS Maryland and was told that there is a 6 -8 month back order on all PRS guitars. I was told that the reason for this oddity was simply that demand is greatly exceeding supply. I guess everybody but me knows about this. it is probably most important for those people who are "pondering" a purchase. Don't wait too long or you will be waiting longer than you were anticipating.

The backlog only pertains to special orders. There are a BOATLOAD of brand new PRS guitars just waiting to be purchased from many different retailers. I was recently looking at the inventory of Wild West Guitars, but there are many others to choose from like Guitar Sanctuary, Chuck Levin's, Sam Ash, Righteous Guitars, Wildwood, Willcut, of course Sweetwarer and so on.

Here is a PRS Dealer Search page:
https://www.prsguitars.com/dealers/

 

[Deleted member 5962]

With all due respect, one down side of the pull method is that there are many models I’ve never seen. I have a Platinum GC, Sam Ash and two local chain PRS dealers within an hour of me, and I’ve never seen a DC3 or I’d probably own one. Only a couple 305s. No Santanas in probably the last 10 years. But I can find several of any model Taylor I could want.

And regarding Taylor, I haven’t read much about this, but they’ve been very careful to praise the new V bracing but also say it doesn’t render the other models as 2nd tier in any way. That said, they’d be wise to issue a significant price reduction on all the non V models so dealers aren’t stuck with them as the new ones come out. I bought my 614 from a top 5 dealer in the country and he normally stocks several hundred Taylors. I’d HATE to be stuck with that many and a new significantly better series of every model be introduced at the same price. They need to do rebates or something to the dealers on that stock.

 

[dcm_guitar]

Still waiting on my 24-08; ordered it last November.

 

[Boogie]

I suppose I could set some of mine free.

Wha wha WHAT??!! Snap out of it, Pete!

 

[veinbuster]

Wha wha WHAT??!! Snap out of it, Pete!

Well 6 months later and holding steady. Must have been something I ate.

 

[You-S4-It]

I suppose I could set some of mine free.

Free bird!
...figuratively and literally.

 

[garrett]

With the SS, I totally understand your view. I would rather wait & get a well made guitar vs one with "start up" problems.

With respect to all the other PRS guitars, I would argue that a mix of both approaches might be best, depending on the demand for each model. I see no harm in building high volume models that have been in production for a number of years to a forecast. There are marketing folks out there that would tell you that if you don't have the product when an end customer wants it, they might decide to buy something else instead (or not buy at all).

The catch there is it means they would have to ensure sophisticated inventory management and internal build ordering processes. It's a layer of operational, staff, and warehouse complexity that would add to their overhead.

Right now they build the suckers and they're out the door posthaste. There isn't much stock sitting around gathering dust.

FWIW, I've followed PRS a long time and they've pretty much always had a 6 month+ back order. Maybe that wasn't the case during the recession, but I wasn't buying guitars then.

In recent years, they've improved greatly when it comes to delivering new product. It used to be that they'd announce something at NAMM and you wouldn't see them at all anywhere for MONTHS. Now they have great trust in their dealer network and take orders and start building ahead of public release. This way they at least have some inventory to sell. But those orders are dealer-driven (PRS is a dealer focused business), so your favorite dealer may not have what you want, but there most likely will be SOMETHING available in the particular model.

Regardless of what we all think, fact is PRS is knocking it out of the park as a manufacturing business. Their success is undeniable.

 

[bodia]

The catch there is it means they would have to ensure sophisticated inventory management and internal build ordering processes. It's a layer of operational, staff, and warehouse complexity that would add to their overhead.

Right now they build the suckers and they're out the door posthaste. There isn't much stock sitting around gathering dust.

FWIW, I've followed PRS a long time and they've pretty much always had a 6 month+ back order. Maybe that wasn't the case during the recession, but I wasn't buying guitars then.

In recent years, they've improved greatly when it comes to delivering new product. It used to be that they'd announce something at NAMM and you wouldn't see them at all anywhere for MONTHS. Now they have great trust in their dealer network and take orders and start building ahead of public release. This way they at least have some inventory to sell. But those orders are dealer-driven (PRS is a dealer focused business), so your favorite dealer may not have what you want, but there most likely will be SOMETHING available in the particular model.

Regardless of what we all think, fact is PRS is knocking it out of the park as a manufacturing business. Their success is undeniable.

Well said!

 

[django49]

With a pair of custom orders (placed over a year ago) in the oven----One about to be shipped after a turn at Guitar Summit 2018 last weekend, the other getting close to its date in the paint booth----I should see whether any of my birds are prepared to take flight. One of these days.....

 

[WA Paul]

With a pair of custom orders (placed over a year ago) in the oven----One about to be shipped after a turn at Guitar Summit 2018 last weekend, the other getting close to its date in the paint booth----I should see whether any of my birds are prepared to take flight. One of these days.....

Hmm, I think I’ve lived that movie! 2 builds received, 1 to go!