How NON PRS players sometimes feel

It’s all so old and tired. People rambling nonsensical garbage. I find it best to stand back and clap loudly and slowly. Oh yes, please, tell me how the guitars are lifeless and have no soul or mojo too! Piss off, you unoriginal genious!
 
It's actually far, far worse in other places. I'm a fan of 6th generation Ford Mustangs and hung out on a forum dedicated to that car for a few years as it was a really good place to pick up info on those new (at the time) cars. The V8 bigotry over there was just unbelievable, which is just silly when the turbo 4 cylinder version of the car (which I bought and enjoy the hell out of) puts out over 300 horses and torques. The mighty V8s of the previous generation couldn't do that! I could have afforded the V8 GT, but it just wasn't the right choice for me. To a certain crowd over there though, that was just self-emasculation and you would never ever convince them otherwise.
I have a V6, and am President of the NY chapter of Mustang 6 Association. We dont allow the engine size bigotry on our pages. People quickly get banned for that. Which in hindsight is bigotry in itself. Yes the v8 snobs can be quite brutal when it comes to 6's and Eco's. But we do the same thing when it comes to G's F's and a few other brands. Its not in me to do that stuff though. I've played lower end guitars most of my life, and have always been content with what i had. I have also amazed people, who thought those lower end pieces were supposed to sound terrible, when infact they dont. It really is a matter of perspective.

Even in the PRS arena, the asian made SE line is believed to be an inferior product. But, 99% of the time, they are not.
 
It’s all so old and tired. People rambling nonsensical garbage. I find it best to stand back and clap loudly and slowly. Oh yes, please, tell me how the guitars are lifeless and have no soul or mojo too! Piss off, you unoriginal genious!

It’s just a matter of education Vaughn, some of us are better educated!:D
 
I got my first PRS when social media was still chatting in the lunch room. I quickly found out how many guitar players were in the company and every one of them lusted after a PRS after seeing mine. The hard core strat guy met me to drive 6 hours to no where Pennsylvania to see Paul at a music store. He never bought a PRS, but he continues to admire them. Within a year 3 other people in the office bought one.
 
It’s all so old and tired. People rambling nonsensical garbage. I find it best to stand back and clap loudly and slowly. Oh yes, please, tell me how the guitars are lifeless and have no soul or mojo too! Piss off, you unoriginal genious!

This reminds me of my old mindset. Then when Dad tossled my hair and said, "Not bad, young 'un," it made me feel better inside.

Nowadays, my mindset is fast-becoming like my old man, who doesn't miss a chance to mess up my hair. I've since learned to add images to my scrapbook for just this reason.

Then, I graduated school, and almost never saw Dad for quite a while. Miss those times...
 
I got my first PRS when social media was still chatting in the lunch room. I quickly found out how many guitar players were in the company and every one of them lusted after a PRS after seeing mine. The hard core strat guy met me to drive 6 hours to no where Pennsylvania to see Paul at a music store. He never bought a PRS, but he continues to admire them. Within a year 3 other people in the office bought one.
And isn’t this the point we’re all trying to get to, in the end? A hard core Strat guy is happy with his Strat, and why shouldn’t he be? Great guitar, and he likes it. But he doesn’t demonize you liking what you like, nor do you with him. A great example of the right way.
 
And isn’t this the point we’re all trying to get to, in the end? A hard core Strat guy is happy with his Strat, and why shouldn’t he be? Great guitar, and he likes it. But he doesn’t demonize you liking what you like, nor do you with him. A great example of the right way.

(Mild Digression: Consider this folks...we have a local college team whose coach is recovering from intestinal surgery, not cancerous, just a preventive treatment for the future. We wish him nothing but a quick recovery so that he can coach his team again. The team got beat pretty badly a couple days ago by a team that defeated them in tournament play last year. To any Connecticut fans who may be reading this, we wish Geno well, and that hope his team will make good use of their practice time so they can do better this season. )

Back on track: A decent player (and a good role model) will not disparage another player (or his choice of gear) even though he may be head and shoulders above the other player in ability or talent. Nor should a terrible player criticize a better one. That was the way it used to be some years ago, when respect was a key facet among players, either in sports, cinema, or music.

What happened to that, folks? TBH, if I were to react too quickly or emotionally, would that not cloud my judgment? All of us could be better people and players if we didn't wear our hearts on our sleeves, were more patient, and yup, tried harder rather than set ourselves up for failure.

The Strat guy might thoroughly enjoy his Strat, but may tire of the guitar because he has not explored its use in additional ways. That does not mean he would give up guitar, or in Geno's case, stop coaching his team. We never stop learning, but often we fail because we don't learn from our mistakes.
 
Yes the v8 snobs can be quite brutal when it comes to 6's and Eco's. But we do the same thing when it comes to G's F's and a few other brands. Its not in me to do that stuff though. I've played lower end guitars most of my life, and have always been content with what i had. I have also amazed people, who thought those lower end pieces were supposed to sound terrible, when infact they dont. It really is a matter of perspective.

Even in the PRS arena, the asian made SE line is believed to be an inferior product. But, 99% of the time, they are not.

Really, there's no good reason to knock someone else's thing because it's not what you prefer. As for our (presumed) favorite guitar company, I own a number of core instruments and a small handful of SE's. I'm also pretty tempted by both the CE24 semi-hollow and the new S2 594 slimline. And darned if I'm not enjoying the SE Custom I just pulled out of the closet.
 
I live maybe 90 miles from the factory and work in downtown Washington, DC , also known as lawyer land. Many attorneys have display cases with fancy instruments, often with autographs on them. Most of them are actually not PRSi, but unplayed or mint vintage. There is a female blues singer in Baltimore who has won best of Baltimore many times. She likes my sound, but won’t use me cause I play a lawyer’s guitar. It’s actually an SE 24. Another harp player in DC wouldn’t even talk to me. He figured I was a stuck up snob because I only play PRS for the blues. He thanked me for playing with him with him last Wednesday, and told me I sounded great. The prejudice against PRS this close to the factory is unbelievable. On the other hand , all of the African American musicians I play with like the way my PRS sound and look. I’m an old white guy, so go figure.
 
this ain't so bad.


I was on another PRS group and someone posted how their friend commented to them that PRS is the "Nickleback of guitars"

Someone posted this in the thread, which was one of the most well worded replies I have heard recently to that kind of comment...............

"I think, historically, he’s kinda right. I am a PRS fan but I’m fortunate in that I am able to afford one. I see players every. single. day. that are light years better than I. Because PRSi were so expensive for so long, they got this unfortunate blues-lawyer reputation...which is not deserved, but comes with the territory. The marketing early on was very, fine brandy, cigar, and a PRS strewn across a leather couch style. I’m grateful that that company is expanding the S2 series, and that the SE series is of good quality, because it gets the brand into the hands of young musicians that don’t have their corporate attorney or CEO job yet. We, as a community, just need to not fall into the tired “cool bruh, but get a core” camp because, guess what? Musicians better than most of us do much more with much less and may covet a core PRS but might never afford one...all while making some of the most kick-ass or beautiful music. I’m excited for the affordable options to proliferate so folks can see what we were carrying on about all this time...very well designed tone-monsters."

This was my reply to this comment over there......

"One of the most to the point, and eloquently put takes on PRS snobbery I have heard in a while.

I am no where near the musical level that my PRS is capable of producing. But I LOVE owning it. Even though I see players with Mexican Strats playing circles around me."


But, I kind of LIKE having my "Nickleback" guitar. I work hard as h*ll to be able to get "SOME" of the things I want out of life. PRS guitars just happen to be one of them. I am allowed to enjoy it!
 
Yeah, I wear sweats during the winter, and basketball shorts during the summer, and work from my basement. If anything , I’m a Doctor of pornhub

What? Pornhub is awarding degrees now?

{Casi1 runs off to search for the ‘degree’ link on their home page... I’m sure glad they moved that search box to the top part of the home page}

Okay I’m back. I can’t unsee what I saw.

Anywhoo. I’ve found that guitar players are very opinionated. Some search for reasons to not like something without even trying it. The folks I know who feel a certain way about PRS guitars haven’t moved past their first impression of seeing one in the 1980s. It was ornate, it wasn’t a ‘working mans’ guitar, it cost too much, it was too fancy, don't like the colors, don’t like how dainty they are, don’t like the small shape, don’t like Carlos, etc. And that was that. A lot of haters still say these same things today. To each their own. One day, maybe, they will actually give the guitars a chance, but until then there are enough guitars (and guitar makers) to appease everyone.

As for me, I wanted an easy guitar to learn to play on. I wanted one that fit me. By easy, I mean that I wanted one where the frets wouldn’t stab me and the trem did what it was supposed to do. That’s how I ended up with my first PRS. Then I slipped down the PRS slope while drinking the koolaid (they really should make a koolaid glass pitcher with Paul’s smiling face on it).
 
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It’s very entertaining to me to load-in, spot the guitarists in the room, mingle, small talk, play, smile, and repeat the small talk after a break...especially if I take the SE One or SE245 which makes people double-take for some reason. I’ll ask something like, “how’s the mix right here?” or, “am I taking off heads on this side?”. Then we’re having fun up there and they realize we aren’t uptight. Not sure the impression was because of the guitars, but it quickly didn’t matter if it was.
 
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