How Did You Afford Your First New PRS?

I really had to save up for my first custom 24. Ever since the ad with the whale blue custom (aka Patient X in Sergio's words) started showing up in magazines I wanted one. The guitarshop I used to go to was the first in the land of wooden shoes and windmills to have a PRS in his shop (emerald green from Germany). There was no distributor yet. By the time I had saved enough money there was a distributor over here and you could order the specs you wanted. I made a downpayment., whale blue. 10 top, birds. wide thin neck. Manufacturing and shipping would take 6 months then.
One day I got a call from the shop, my guitar was in. He immediately warned me that it was the wrong one. Distributor send a amber Signature. A PRS is a PRS was their explanation . I said I was willing to accept it if they took care of the price difference. They didn't, so I told them I wouldn't buy it. Lots of phonecalls were made but eventually my blue custom arrived. Been with me eversince. And it wasn't the last argument I had with the distributor regarding PRS guitars I wanted to buy :D
 
I sold a Martin OM-28V, and a couple other guitars to buy my P22. I've sold quite a few other lesser guitars in the course of paying for my other 3 core PRSi, and I've used 0% Sweetwater credit and some not 0% credit to buy them. Never took more than about 6 months to pay one off.
 
i played a rickenbacker semi-hollow for years and years, it was my only guitar. sometimes i didn’t have an amp because people liked to steal parts of my ‘rack’, which was basically an ada mp-1 with no footswitches into a stereo receiver. poor me! at some point in the very late 1990s i got a house with a garage and ebayed the rick in anticipation of finally getting a proper amplifier. i got a black 1980 les paul deluxe pro (from an ad off harmony central) that didn’t wow me — i don’t know, it was clunky somehow. and i really wanted the goldtop anyway. so i sold the gibson and replaced it with a 1997 gold top custom 22 (also from a harmony central guy) which continues to wow.

this was slightly pre-9/11, and i think the prs was $890, $970 shipped across the nation.
 
Oct 1990 I saw a dragon in GC Plano where I was training for a new job. I decided that PRS would be my next guitar. I could have bought it with my per diem for working away from home for 3 months, but put the bulk of that towards the down payment on our first house - with a 12% mortgage.

Two years later, interest rates came down which could have freed up some money, but we bought our ‘last’ house with the same mortgage payment. I was pretty good at my job, but put extra money on the house and in education funds for our daughters.

Late 1994, my 80s employer bribed me to return and develop a new product for them. The package was heavily biased to a delivery bonus. First quarter the new product was on the market they had their best sales ever and it was time to pay up....so in 1996 I used some of that to buy a CU22 with dragon pickups - I figured I could manage without the bling.
 
In 1997, I quit my job to move to the company where I'm at now. At the previous company, we got all our vacation awarded on Jan. 1. When I quit, I hadn't used any, so I got three weeks' pay in one check. That turned into my Larrivee acoustic - and set off a light bulb. The company where I'm at now paid bonuses yearly - some good, some okay, some really really good. So I started socking those away, along with any money I got for birthdays or Christmas. In 2004, I went to buy good monitors for setting up my recording stuff. The store had a gorgeous CU24 in Violin Amber Burst. I put my monitors in the car and stood outside for about 10 minutes, knowing that if I went back in, I'd probably buy the CU24.

I did.
 
I was 19 and living at home with my mother (no rent), and I had a small stack of guitars from another three-lettered company that a previous band had a small deal with from our record label (nothing free, but I could buy at cost).

I sold all of them, took some other gear, and all my money from delivering meat (first job I ever got fired from) and all my money from detailing cars (first job I ever quit in a dramatic fashion) and threw it all to Park Ave. Guitars for my first CE24.

That was my prized possession and the only PRS I had for I think eighteen years?
 
Prior to living in the states, I grew up in a 3rd world country. I played on and gigged with cheap guitars. In my late teens in the 90's, I saw a PRS ad in a guitar magazine and I really liked it! However, being poor in a 3rd world country... I couldn't afford it. I've been living in the US for almost 12 years. Life is better, but still not wealthy enough to afford a Core. A few years back, I chanced on a used Singlecut SE at GC. I took it home. But... it didn't meet my expectations. I got discouraged with the PRS hype and returned it. Then, I learned about the S2 line. I found a used one on Reverb at a good price and took a chance. I loved it! After customization work, it is now my Darth Paul!

Actually, I still wouldn't have been able to afford it if I didn't sell all my cheap beginner guitars that I accumulated along the years.
 
Last edited:
I was a 19-year-old college student. I lived at home and also worked a low paying job about 30 hours a week. This was 1998. I found pretty much the exact CU24 I wanted at a local retailer. I had saved about 2/3 the cash and I convinced my dad to co-sign on a store credit card, my first credit card ever, to cover the rest. It was one of of those interest-free for 6 months deals. I was very disciplined with my spending and paid it off no problem, despite rear-ending a brand new Corvette almost immediately after buying the guitar. :oops:
 
I was recently divorced and lost pretty much everything. I was living and working in a downtown metro area - sharing a house with 2 good friends from college (surprise!). I had no garage and was constantly worried something was going to happen to my tricked-out VW bug (which I built myself). It was too stressful to keep so I sold it and just walked to work. When I needed to go grocery shopping, I just took the city bus.

Before I got to the bank, I walked past my buddy's (@Russ) guitar shop. That a dangerous game. After a more than few swigs of wine from the home-brew shop next door, I threw-down for a semi-hollow CU22 with trem and factory McCarty Switching - in Vintage Yellow.

I was able to keep it for a few months before reality set-in and I had to sell it. It was my first sale on eBay (1999). I got $1,500 for it. I still haven't seen another like it.
 
First of all...great thread, Serg.
Late 80`s, working next to a music store...parents signed for a loan on a Hagstrom...I paid that off, and a used Cu24 shows up next door. I knew the owner and he let me carry a small line of credit...like layaway, and made small payments til it was mine...first one, around 800.00, I think. Plus traded in the Hagstrom... MANY trades and purchases later...here we are.

Additionally, There are quite a few people here with pretty nice collections,..but I'd bet one of my Core Swampies most of them are over 40 and have worked alot to have the collection they do! It's all about priorities, and saving your a$$ off, if you want it that badly!!!
 
Last edited:
First of all...great thread, Serg.
Late 80`s, working next to a music store...parents signed for a loan on a Hagstrom...I paid that off, and a used Cu24 shows up next door. I knew the owner and he let me carry a small line of credit...like layaway, and made small payments til it was mine...first one, around 800.00, I think. Plus traded in the Hagstrom... MANY trades and purchases later...here we are.

old school.

young-man-in-full-punk-outfit-of-boots-bondage-trousers-studded-and-picture-id143959266
 
I opened the case and there it was! My 10th Wedding Anniversary present from my wife. After my injury-forced hiatus from playing for almost 10 years, and selling all my guitars except my Ibanez Artist and keeping that only because it was my high school graduation present, I had told my wife for several years that I just couldn't stand not playing guitar. I went to a doctor to ask what I could do to reduce the pain and gain back some motion. I had broken my left wrist right in the joint so I had lost range of motion, and it hurt if I held it in any kind of bend position.

After months of stretching and exercises, I was getting to where I could play at least for a little while without pain. 30 minutes tops. But that was better than nothing. When my wife asked what I wanted for my 10th anniversary, I told her I wanted to start playing guitar again and would like a nice guitar. I went to the local music store and for the first time in person, saw a PRS guitar. When the guy handed it to me, I knew the price and knew it was WAY over what she could spend, but I wanted to try it. I played it for literally 60 seconds tops and handed it back to him. He looked at me in surprise and said "don't like it?" I said "it's the greatest guitar I've ever felt in my life, but I can't afford it so I need to put it down before I fall in love with it."

Two weeks later I went to the store again with my wife. I figured she'd maybe want to spend as much as $1000, so I showed her some high end Ibanez guitars I liked. After showing her my favorite of those, she said "So that's the best?" And I said "no, it's not the best. That one over there is the best, but we can't afford that." She insisted that I show her the "best" I was talking about. They had 5 identical Custom 22's on the wall, each a different color. She recognized the beauty of the guitar as soon as she looked at it, but when I played it and gushed about how well it was made and how incredible it felt, I almost felt guilty even showing it to her.

When our anniversary day came, it was pretty easy to recognize that it was a guitar that was wrapped up. But I couldn't speak for over 3 minutes after I opened the case. She was only working part time back then. I figured I was going to blow her away with the diamond ring I bought her. I didn't expect that she was going to spend even more than I did. After a couple minutes she said "well aren't you going to say anything?" I could never justify buying something so expensive for myself, and I was the one that made all the money. I was just blown away by what she had done. She said she had saved for 3 years, not even knowing what I wanted but wanted to make it something great. She did!
 
I opened the case and there it was! My 10th Wedding Anniversary present from my wife. After my injury-forced hiatus from playing for almost 10 years, and selling all my guitars except my Ibanez Artist and keeping that only because it was my high school graduation present, I had told my wife for several years that I just couldn't stand not playing guitar. I went to a doctor to ask what I could do to reduce the pain and gain back some motion. I had broken my left wrist right in the joint so I had lost range of motion, and it hurt if I held it in any kind of bend position.

After months of stretching and exercises, I was getting to where I could play at least for a little while without pain. 30 minutes tops. But that was better than nothing. When my wife asked what I wanted for my 10th anniversary, I told her I wanted to start playing guitar again and would like a nice guitar. I went to the local music store and for the first time in person, saw a PRS guitar. When the guy handed it to me, I knew the price and knew it was WAY over what she could spend, but I wanted to try it. I played it for literally 60 seconds tops and handed it back to him. He looked at me in surprise and said "don't like it?" I said "it's the greatest guitar I've ever felt in my life, but I can't afford it so I need to put it down before I fall in love with it."

Two weeks later I went to the store again with my wife. I figured she'd maybe want to spend as much as $1000, so I showed her some high end Ibanez guitars I liked. After showing her my favorite of those, she said "So that's the best?" And I said "no, it's not the best. That one over there is the best, but we can't afford that." She insisted that I show her the "best" I was talking about. They had 5 identical Custom 22's on the wall, each a different color. She recognized the beauty of the guitar as soon as she looked at it, but when I played it and gushed about how well it was made and how incredible it felt, I almost felt guilty even showing it to her.

When our anniversary day came, it was pretty easy to recognize that it was a guitar that was wrapped up. But I couldn't speak for over 3 minutes after I opened the case. She was only working part time back then. I figured I was going to blow her away with the diamond ring I bought her. I didn't expect that she was going to spend even more than I did. After a couple minutes she said "well aren't you going to say anything?" I could never justify buying something so expensive for myself, and I was the one that made all the money. I was just blown away by what she had done. She said she had saved for 3 years, not even knowing what I wanted but wanted to make it something great. She did!
Dayum... she got a sister?:cool:
 
Sometime last year, I started setting aside a bit of cash from each pay period into a separate account, with the goal of having enough set aside around Q1 2020 for a core. I spent the time doing research and trying to decide on a model and color (and practicing!). Once I had set enough aside, I started logging specific instruments and looking for decent deals. Then one day I found one that ticked all the boxes for me. Then I pounced.

Planning...
 
Back
Top