Ice cream

BrianC

BrianC

more toys than talent
Joined
Apr 26, 2012
Messages
1,407
Location
Naperville IL
I spent time on a few other forums this morning. Came across some very interesting and cool guitars that were non-PRS. This led me to my following chain of thought :

if I were an ice cream maker and in my heart believe the chocolate was the best flavor and crafted perfect chocolate ice cream but the market was crying for a rocky road I might ponder what I should do.
Continue to make what I believe is the best and only that. Or should I try to expand my market share and give the customers what they are asking for. In doing so try to make the best rocky road the market has ever seen.

The analogy is based on road worn relicted guitars. There is a huge market out there for them based on what I see from other manufacturers and also from what I see and read in the forums.

over and over I see a younger demographic of player embracing beat up vintage guitars or relicted New guitars as they turn their nose up to guitars that are too pretty.

why not give the market what they want? Why not try something new? Why not do a limited run?

yes I know the relic thing gets bashed to death on most forums but who wouldn’t want a limited run Casper!!!!
 
No thanks. I'm not interested in buying a relic'ed guitar. For those who are, more power to them - different strokes and all (whatchoo talkin' 'bout, Willis?).

Every nick, scratch, and sticker on Casper tells a story - Frankie's story. Not mine. I'm not interested in paying a premium for a Rory Gallagher Strat - an extra grand for basically no finish? Nope.

As I understand in, one of the appeals of a relic guitar is supposed to be the 'played in' feel. My PRS have that aspect built in - the way the necks are carved, they already have that comfort built in.

A guitar gets its relic status by being a beloved, well-played instrument. You can copy the look, but you can't fake the love or the experience. Or the journey. Those scars are earned honestly.

PRSh said it best at one of the early Experience events. Write your own story - they'll sell you the pen and the paper.
 
From a manufacturing standpoint, it's way more difficult to make consistently perfect instruments like PRS does.

On a relic if you accidentally drop a tool on it, it becomes part of the "vibe."

I get the market analogy but if I have to pay PRS prices, I kind of want PRS perfection.
 
I get the "vintage" or "relic look" and think they are kind of cool from a visual perspective. Kind of like throwback jerseys or old school logos. If someone wanted to give me a Custom Shop Gilmour or SRV Strat where every detail was laser measured for accuracy, I would gladly accept it. But to alter manufacturing processes where a line of guitars has missing/sanded paint or finish and random scratches just to gain a small slice of the market is probably not a good business decision.
 
Y'all know my position and it hasn't changed. You want a worn in, hard miles, through the fire guitar - earn it. Wear that sucker in, put some hard miles on it, pay the price for those scars. Then you have my respect.
 
I mean, PRS has made a handful of reliced guitars so it’s not like they’ve completely ignored the trend. But I think there’s two points they’d have to consider.

1) Is there enough demand? Do people want a beat up PRS? Historically speaking, the answer seems to be no.

We’ve all seen what a ding on a PRS will do to its resale value. Compared to other brands , every scratch and ding on a PRS makes it extremely less valuable to the majority of PRS customers.

2) What would a reliced PRS even look like? Is it gonna look like an old PRS, warts and all, or is it supposed to look like an idealized old Gibson or Fender?

In order for it to look like an “authentic”, old PRS that’s seen a lot of action and time, it would have to include certain idiosyncrasies that customers have yet to find desirable.

Like: darker stain spots under the bridge and pickup rings while the maple top is practically completely faded and washed out. Hello blue guitars!

What about an otherwise beautiful PRS that has huge white spots covering it from finish blushing? We’ve all seen those... and we’ll see even more of them over the years. Hell, you probably have one safely stored in a case that’s slowly doing that as you’re reading this (sorry).

Same thing with V12 finish pops along your fretboard edge, that flake, and turn into razor blades. Surely a legit PRS relic would have to include some of those. :p

How about a couple two inch long cracks in the back of the body, parallel to the neck from where the neck joint got stressed?

And no PRS relic would be complete without the top horn of the headstock chipped off. They could rub some drywall dust in there to seal the deal... ;)


Honestly, the guitars that will probably age in the way most relic owners find aesthetically pleasing are only being made now. Get yourself a 2020 PRS with the CAB finish, some canned air, some brown shoe polish, and go at it!
 
Trigger-Willie_Nelson.jpg
 
I think the market for relics is for guitars that copy ones that are way old.

Based on age, once the market for relic'd Kramer and Jackson copies starts to pick up then PRS should ramp up their tooling.
 
I don’t think there is a very big market for reliced PRS. A good relic job drives the price up, which is where many companies get better profit per unit. PRS start out at a high enough price point that I just don’t see many people ponying up with an extra grand for a reliced 594 hollow body, for example.

That said, I would overpay for Casper, keep it a while, probably lend it to a couple of mates for a while and eventually get it to the archives.

And it must be said @jfb relic is boss.
 
veinbuster said:
I just don’t see many people ponying up with an extra grand for a reliced 594 hollow body, for example.
Click to expand...

And I’d think an extra $1000 would be relatively cheap for the amount of work that would be expected of PRS.

When I did my horror show DOAD relic Bernie, it really opened my eyes as to exactly how much effort it can take to do a relic guitar.

Not all of it is haphazardly taking a belt sander and a sock filled with coins and bolts to your guitar finish, and the best details actually take a lot of effort.

.... except for finish checking, that sh!t’s easy. Just turn a can of compressed air upside down and shoot your nitro with it.
 
I've bought a couple of PRS that had some honest road wear, and Sergio is right, I got them at CHEAP prices. They were cool guitars. One I sold, and one I still have.
 
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