How Did You Afford Your First New PRS?

sergiodeblanc

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There have been a lot of threads about expense and PRS lately, I think it might be time to candidly share how we made it happen for ourselves.

Maybe this will give hope, or at least a little insight to those of us that are struggling to make it happen, or think that we’re all wealthy.

Whether you are wealthy, if you maxed out your credit cards, waited for a relative to die, or sold bodily fluids... No Judgement! Just be honest, and tell a little bit about where you were in life, and how you did it.
 
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My first PRS was a 1990 CE bought in 1994. I maxed out a credit card to get it.

My last beautiful batch was bought from selling my Grandfather's vintage Strat I was left after he passed. It was a 1963 custom color, black, with a late 50s single ply guard, all original. That got me a nice chunk of sexy, near mint, used pieces. Tbe rest were bought on credit.

Before the wife left I had 19 Core and S2 guitars.
 
Robbed an old lady....

A.k.a. my wife.

Naa, I saved a little here and there for like 8 months...for an SE.

Second SE (CR Sig) I sold my first.

Financed my SS thru an online retailer for 12 months at 0% interest.

Being on a fixed income is ZERO fun! Especially after earning the kind of income I have for most of my adult life. As much as I would LOVE to have a stable of beautiful PRSi I have had to accept...it's just not a responsible option for me in the foreseeable future.

Doesn't matter though...I still love them! Just like the 911 turbo I've always wanted...it just ain't gonna happen. But hey, at least I can love and appreciate what they are, lust over all the ones I see, and hang out with my buddies on here any time I like. So that makes it a little better.
 
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I was 37. Just got married a few months before and still has some savings from years of living by myself in a small 2 bed terraced house and never going anywhere on holiday. Our plan was to not hang around before trying for kids so I knew I wouldn't have savings for very much longer - so I told the wife whilst I still had the chance I was going to buy a nice guitar.

Glad I did as two children and a house move later I have very little spare money for guitars. Though somehow I've still managed to buy two more USA made guitar since (sadly not PRSs).
 
Oh, and where I was in life...

I'm a teacher with no kids. My wife and I believed in living life and mot over saving. We traveled a lot and she encouraged me to have the instruments I wanted. I always wanted PRS. So she suggested I sell all the Jacksons, Music Mans, and mid range stuff I had to ho PRS. So there was also a lot of selling g other guitars.

All have left from my old stash is two Ibanez from when I was a teen and my Masterbuilt Warwick FNA Jazzman bass.
 
My PRS journey started in '97. The Villa Park, IL GC used to be a fairly common stop on the way home from work. I fell in love with all of the shiny PRS that were hanging on the wall. It was at a time where you had to ask some one to get one down for you to play. I was always to afraid to try one. One day, I finally worked up the stones to ask the guy for a McCarty. Love at first touch! This was at a time where, financially, I could only afford to have one guitar at a time. I went home and talked to the wife about it. She gave me her blessing, so I packed up my Ernie Ball Van Halen (Hot Pink!), and headed back to GC. I don't remember how much I got for the EB-EVH, or how much was left. Whatever it was, went on a credit card. I don't recall the specific color, but it may have been Angry Larry. It was that shade of red/purple. Sadly, I had to sell that guitar a couple years later to settle up with the taxman. Haven't had that issue since then! I was without a PRS in my life until 2007 when I picked up a used 2004 Cu24. Sorry, Sergio, it was blue! That one is long gone.
 
I was recently divorced, living in the house which had been foreclosed, and needed a guitar to do a musical called “Once Upon This Island”. The guitar needed to be cheap enough so I could pay for it with gig money from the show. An SE Singlecut with 2 P90’s popped up on eBay for under 250. I bid, won, went and got it 2 days before show opening. I restrung it and took it to the show with about 2 hours of playing time on it. After the show ended, it dawned on me that this guitar stayed in tune better and sounded better than an LP Custom I had from that litigious company that is now trying to put Heritage out of business. Happily, circumstances have improved greatly since then, and I know I have too many now. I still have the first one and it still slays me when I pull it out to play. It only took me 50 years of playing to get a PRS, and I live all of 90 miles from the factory!
 
I'm the kind of person who doesn't like debt, so I spent a lot of time saving. My job was reasonably well-paying when I started my PRS journey and I could put away $100/month without issue and as time has gone on I can save more now.

I started out buying SEs, then moved up to S2s. Unless I find a WL axe that catches my attention, I'm skipping the Core line and saving for Private Stock. At this point, I don't need a new guitar, so I might as well focus on getting exactly what I want.
 
My first PRS is a SE Custom 24, that i bought for $300 on ebay. I got the money by working a decent amount of overtime. My second PRS a SE245 was funded by a Lost Funds check i got from the State. (That also paid for my amp). My latest PRS, a SE A55E, was partially funded by trading off 3 other guitars, and partially funded by my wife who had some extra cash and a soft spot in her heart.
 
My first PRS is a SE Custom 24, that i bought for $300 on ebay. I got the money by working a decent amount of overtime. My second PRS a SE245 was funded by a Lost Funds check i got from the State. (That also paid for my amp). My latest PRS, a SE A55E, was partially funded by trading off 3 other guitars, and partially funded by my wife who had some extra cash and a soft spot in her heart.
If she’ll help you buy a guitar, don’t ever let her go.
 
Gigging. Although I play regularly, it isn’t my primary income source. It does, however, allow me to earn enough money to get some of the equipment I couldn’t otherwise afford. My first was the grey/black 513 in my avatar. There’s something about getting an item that you had to work many extra hours to attain that makes it a bit more special.
 
It was 2003 and I had just picked up a LP Classic copper top. My wife and I were at Chamber of Commerce dinner and there were four couples at our table. Bob (an attorney) and his wife were at our table and Bob and I always talk guitars which we were doing.

I went to the rest room and my wife asked Bob to find out what guitar I was lusting for. When I got back the conversation steered towards guitar lust. I mentioned that I was kind of wanting a McCarty and he told my wife.

My wife tracked down a used 2000 McCarty in California and asked her cousin to go check it out since he lived there close.

She had it shipped to her office and brought it home. She asked me to get a guitar out of her car when I got home. I thought she was bringing me a guitar to work on as that happened sometimes, people would bring her a guitar for me to fix or setup or whatever. It was odd that she hadn't given me a heads up prior but I really didn't give it much thought.

So I bring it in the house and open up the case to find this beautiful McCarty and my first thought was who the hell do you know that owns a prs and my second thought was why wouldn't you take a prs to a dealer to be worked on???

I was informed that it was mine and I was floored, blindsided, shocked, stoked.............

It has gone through several mods and it is a guitar I'll pass down to my son.

It has
Locking klusons (mann)
Prs adjustable bridge
Locking bridge posts
5909 bridge
8515 neck
Push pulls vol and tone
Rosewood PU rings
Rosewood back plate

LP classic is gone
 
My first was a 2006 SE custom I bought used in 2012 for $300. I knew nothing about guitars then but it felt right to me. Still have it - it’s been to hell and back and still plays like a champ.

I saved for a bit and bought a S2 Standard 24 Satin. Eventually an American Professional Strat and LP Studio followed. Kept that lineup for two years.

These days hard work lead to a work promotion so I have a little more flexibility in my entertainment funds, so I bought a Silver Sky. Liked it so much, I sold my Strat, LP, and S2 and recently bought a CE24, with some money left over to put toward a semi-hollow of some variety (594?) probably later this year.

It’s my #1 hobby, so I don’t mind investing a bit in things I really want, while also being reasonable enough to know a private stock just doesn’t make financial sense...yet...
 
I bought my CU24 last year. It was my gift to myself for finishing pipefitting school. It actually came 6 months earlier than I expected and I was hoping to have a chunk of money to put towards it as sweetwater said they wouldnt charge me until it shipped. Well that didnt happen so i ended up financing the whole thing for 4 years. That was the only thing that let me afford it at the time.
 
For me it was a nice combination of cash, credit, a dealer end of year clearance sale, and not having kids at the time so having a decent chunk of disposable income. My 1st new PRS was my 1st PRS and it was a 2005 model purchased on Dec 31 2006. The dealer wanted it gone and priced it at $1899. My wife got pinkeye later that day from checking out guitars, and we drove directly from the store all the way to LA from Phoenix to see Chavez at Spaceland.
 
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