Quite some time ago, maybe late '90s or early '00s, there was an article in Bob Taylor's newsletter about how much manufacturers pay for hard cases - it was surprisingly costly, The article went on to discuss how much trouble they are to deal with (warranty returns on the cases, etc), and how they're basically the bane of many guitar manufacturers' existence.
This was, if memory serves, in the context of explaining why Taylor (who made their own cases) was moving their case manufacturing to their own plant in Mexico; it was to keep from raising the price of their guitars substantially..
Granted, Bob Taylor wants to be like Henry Ford, who made his own steel, hated buying from parts manufacturers, and even burned wooden pallets to make into charcoal and sold it.
So Taylor makes their own cases, bought an ebony company in Africa, etc. And granted, an acoustic guitar case is usually heavier-built than an electric guitar case.
But the discussion seemed to make common sense.
Hence, the problem isn't that a Silver Sky ought to come with a case at that price. It's that it can't come with a case at that price, given PRS' manufacturing processes and quality, and offer enough of a profit margin. The price would have to go up. A PRS costs more to make than a Fender.
I'd guess that the $200 or so they now charge for the case would be the amount of the price increase, maybe a little less.
That's probably why they offer a very nice hard case as an accessory. If you're a hard case kind of person (I certainly am), the solution is to simply buy the hard case, or a different hard case, and call it part of the price of owning the guitar. Don't need a hard case? Great! Save a few bucks and use the included gig bag.
