Just how big is PRS?

Sevenandaquarter

Sevenandaquarter

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Oct 25, 2019
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These are two of my favorite PRS-related videos:



They both got me thinking about how big PRS really is in the market and the best way to think about it.

We know Fender and Gibson are the two biggest companies, though I’d say that Fender is more popular than Gibson currently, though Gibson is the only manufacturer that is in the top three for both electric and acoustic instruments.

We know that electrics go Fender, Gibson, PRS, and acoustics go Martin, Gibson, Taylor, in some order.

So is that the best way to think about it? PRS and Taylor are about the same size? I truly feel like PRS is bigger than Taylor and is really in its own class. It’s either the biggest small company or the smallest big company. It’s definitely bigger than Music Man, Suhr, G&L, Anderson, Fano, etc. As a recent convert, you guys have no idea how cool it is that I actually got to tour the factory and I can actually talk to a person when I email PRS. I’ve even emailed the legendary Bev and she replied in like a day! All that, yet everyone in the world who knows guitars knows what PRS is.

I’m so happy that I finally got into PRS. I recently found out what Custom Shop Master Builders make and it’s just crazy if you think about how much Fender charges for the guitars those guys make.
 
My guess is that Taylor is the larger company at this point; they even own an ebony farm in Africa, and have a plant for manufacturing their cases in Mexico. You don’t do that without a lot of sales.

PRS is a wonderful company; go to their factory in the US, and it’s in a very nice, but not huge, industrial park building in Stevensville. I’ll relate a fun story about my trip there for the 30th Anniversary event:

In 2013 I ordered and received a Private Stock acoustic guitar. Two years later, in 2015 at the event, I got to meet the builders in the PS department. I was excited to meet them, and natch, pulled out my iPhone to show them a pic of my guitar.

One of the guys said, “I remember that one well. Are you Les?”

The builder remembered not only the guitar, but the name of the customer(!!). I was floored.

If that story doesn’t tell you something about PRS, well...
 
I do see parallels to Taylor though I don't know which one is bigger. Both still have the man running the show and both are conservationists. They are smart and they care about the important stuff. Just glad they are both around. Would that we had more companies like both of them.
 
toothace said:
In the Rick Beato interview( from January,), Paul talks about staying up late studying capacitors for a "new product"... what's he working on??
Click to expand...
Maybe the TCI stuff. That has a lot of use of capacitors to 'tune' the electronics, right?
 
LSchefman said:
My guess is that Taylor is the larger company at this point; they even own an ebony farm in Africa, and have a plant for manufacturing their cases in Mexico. You don’t do that without a lot of sales.

PRS is a wonderful company; go to their factory in the US, and it’s in a very nice, but not huge, industrial park building in Stevensville. I’ll relate a fun story about my trip there for the 30th Anniversary event:

In 2013 I ordered and received a Private Stock acoustic guitar. Two years later, in 2015 at the event, I got to meet the builders in the PS department. I was excited to meet them, and natch, pulled out my iPhone to show them a pic of my guitar.

One of the guys said, “I remember that one well. Are you Les?”

The builder remembered not only the guitar, but the name of the customer(!!). I was floored.

If that story doesn’t tell you something about PRS, well...
Click to expand...

(Somewhat similar story)
I think I may have mentioned this story when I first started here. My first PRS is a 97 Custom 22. After I'd had it for about a year, I called Customer Service with a question. (No, I don't remember the guys name. Wish I did). My Custom 22 is the natural flamed maple top one you've seen in a pic or two here. This was never listed as an available color on the PRS web site, brochures, etc. When I called, the guy asked for my serial number. When I gave it to him he immediately said "oh you got that one?" I remember at the time thinking "surely he couldn't look that up that fast because we hadn't been on the phone 30 seconds when he said that. I said "you remember my guitar?" He said "yes, that was one of the few unstained top Custom 22's we did. We only did a few and never even listed that as an available color. We sent two to the same store in Cincinnati and I checked out both before they left. Yes, I remember that one." And he was exactly right. And, he hadn't even asked me where I was from, or where I bought it. The store had two like that and the other one sold after the first time I saw them. I was shocked. He may have had the serial number list right there in front of him when I called, and it may have listed that spec. But he answered so quickly that it seemed he remembered my guitar just by the serial number and he knew exactly what it was. Needless to say, I was impressed.

My wife bought it for me for our 10th Anniversary (and my return to playing guitar after taking almost 10 years off after I broke my wrist). She bought me the natural one because she liked that it was a more limited availability model.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
DreamTheaterRules said:
(Somewhat similar story)
I think I may have mentioned this story when I first started here. My first PRS is a 97 Custom 22. After I'd had it for about a year, I called Customer Service with a question. (No, I don't remember the guys name. Wish I did). My Custom 22 is the natural flamed maple top one you've seen in a pic or two here. This was never listed as an available color on the PRS web site, brochures, etc. When I called, the guy asked for my serial number. When I gave it to him he immediately said "oh you got that one?" I remember at the time thinking "surely he couldn't look that up that fast because we hadn't been on the phone 30 seconds when he said that. I said "you remember my guitar?" He said "yes, that was one of the few unstained top Custom 22's we did. We only did a few and never even listed that as an available color. We sent two to the same store in Cincinnati and I checked out both before they left. Yes, I remember that one." And he was exactly right. And, he hadn't even asked me where I was from, or where I bought it. The store had two like that and the other one sold after the first time I saw them. I was shocked. He may have had the serial number list right there in front of him when I called, and it may have listed that spec. But he answered so quickly that it seemed he remembered my guitar just by the serial number and he knew exactly what it was. Needless to say, I was impressed.

My wife bought it for me for our 10th Anniversary (and my return to playing guitar after taking almost 10 years off after I broke my wrist). She bought me the natural one because she liked that it was a more limited availability model.
Click to expand...

Cool story. Reminds me of this.

When I did my PS build, I stuck around until the next day so I could do the tour. We were able to go into the room where Eric does final testing on the PS. I saw a PS in the rack, so I asked Eric if the finish was a particular color (I’m leaving details out because I don’t think I’ve ever asked the owner of the guitar if I could say it was his publicly). Eric looked at it and said, “Yeah, I guess you could call it that. I’m not sure what it’s actually listed as.” I said, “I think I know where that one’s going.” He looked at me and said, “Mystery owner?” I was floored that he knew that w/o looking anything up.
 
It might have been a total fluke, but it meant a lot to me that they cared enough about what they were building to actually remember my guitar. Again, not thinking he could have looked it up as quickly as he replied.
 
I was having a conversation today, with my 11 year old son. We were discussing endangered species and prohibited items.

We got to talking about Rosewood and I was telling him about the conservation work that PRS does. Which he thought was very cool.

I’m so stoked that he’s interested in these sorts of things and the cool chats we have.
 
Sevenandaquarter said:
Dude I’m waiting for the Santana prototype
Click to expand...

Not the proto, but it is #1 of the production model.


anbj9He.jpg

yvH9uVA.jpg
 
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