If there was one change you could make a on Silver Sky, what would it be?

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.
Yeah, I get that, but don’t really buy that it’s that much more costly for them than it is for others… and even if I conceded that, I’ve bought lower and higher cost PRS guitars that came with cases. My assumption is that John Mayer likes gig bags, and so it came with a gig bag. It’s a nice bag, to be fair.

Still, if I had one vote, that would be it. Being as I had an old Strat case laying around, it’s a moot point for me, but I thought I’d toss it out there as my “one thing.” :)

Great observations on Bob Taylor. I have to say I admire his commitment to doing what he believes is best for Taylor and the industry. Like Paul, he’s succeeded by following his own compass. You have to like that sort of willingness to lay your own tracks down.
 
I’d change the radius, switch to 59/09s, shorten the scale to 594, and make it a singlecut with a carved maple top and rosewood neck.
@CandidPicker now see? THIS would be a build project thread! Even though he forgot the tuners. :D:D:D

But I'm thinking you'd definitely need your safety goggles for this project. And gloves, soldering iron, glue, a saw... and a protractor. And beer.
 
That's four things. This is what you do now that you're no longer responsible for the Holy Hand Grenade Of Antioch?
I thought there was an unwritten rule that allowed him to break all existing rules because... well, just because he's 11top! He and Sergio are the only two covered by this special rule.
 
The price, so I could buy one on the cheap, so the wife won't freak out that I spent so much money on a stupid guitar. (her words, not mine)
If you need me to talk to her, I'll assure her that the Silver Sky is one of the smartest guitars I've ever owned, and an outstanding bargain on the price/intelligence scale.
 
The Newer models have a lower output set of pickups , the only thing I think this review had wrong is the older ones have the bigger neck I believe ( more shoulders )
So has PRS in any way acknowledged that they tweaked the pickups in the Silver Sky over time? AFAIK, they are still called the same name "635JM", and I don't recall anyone from PRS posting here about that tweak. I know the rosewood neck got tweaked (rolled off shoulders), while the maple neck more closely resembles the original RW neck, shoulder-wise.

And they switched to the nitro finish a couple of years ago.

Just curious.
 
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