Musings on Potential Models

[horax]

With the (what I deem as) massive success with the Silver Sky, will we ever see PRS do their version of a Telecaster?

I LOVE telecasters! Can't live without them...but I'd love to see PRS do their take on one.
I'm thinking a set neck style would be the way to go.

Maybe I'm off base, but PRS seems to do things nobody else can, and they appear to be able to do what other people do BETTER...hence the musings....

 

[toothace]

It's called a Vela

 

[horax]

I do'nt think so.
The Vela is great, and sound is similar, but hte look is WAY off....

 

[shinksma]

It's called a Vela

I do'nt think so.
The Vela is great, and sound is similar, but hte look is WAY off....

Indeed, the Vela does not look like a Tele.

But when the Vela first came out, the comparisons were common, due to the bridge construction, single coil neck pup, and overall "tone".

And I certainly feel my RL Vela is the guitar that gets me that country or country-rock vibe faster than any other PRSi. Though the SAS and 305 can get there almost as quickly, but in a strat-like way instead.

I doubt PRS will ever come out with a model that "looks" like a Tele in the same way the Silver Sky "looks" like a Strat (unless some famous Tele player decides to ring up PRSh and work a Mayer-esque deal...). But I could see them riffing on the Vela, maybe coming out with a bolt-on maple fretboard variant. That would be interesting...

 

[Deleted member 5962]

With the (what I deem as) massive success with the Silver Sky, will we ever see PRS do their version of a Telecaster?

I LOVE telecasters! Can't live without them...but I'd love to see PRS do their take on one.
I'm thinking a set neck style would be the way to go.

Maybe I'm off base, but PRS seems to do things nobody else can, and they appear to be able to do what other people do BETTER...hence the musings....

With all due respect, I A) don't think PRS will ever do a Tele" and B) don't know why people keep saying or asking this. PRS didn't just suddenly decide to "DO" a strat. This was a specific artist with whom they already had a relationship, who needed his new official go to guitar to have his specific needs and some of his specific updates, and then PRS added some of their own. So while looking at they pickguard area may make you think "another strat copy" the guitar as a whole is not a market focus shift for PRS where they are now going after all the F customers.

Besides, we all know that if PRS decides to do another "kinda like" guitar, it will be their version of a Flying V! Michael Schenker Black and White version, baby!!!

 

[garrettb]

Yeah, it's not like the Silver Sky was the first time PRS dipped their toes in the Strat water. It took them 28 years of trying to finally find success.

In my experience Tele players are, as a group, the most conservative. I think it would be an even tougher nut to crack.

 

[RaySachs]

Yeah, it's not like the Silver Sky was the first time PRS dipped their toes in the Strat water. It took them 28 years of trying to finally find success.

In my experience Tele players are, as a group, the most conservative. I think it would be an even tougher nut to crack.

Well, given how UN-tough the Strat market appears to have been to crack, even if the Tele market is a bit tougher, it seems they could still sell a bunch of 'em. Teles and Strats are instruments that I'm personally happy to leave to Fender. Not that I don't think PRS has done a great job with the Silver Sky or that they wouldn't do an equally great job with a "T-type", but I've always been ecstatically happy with Fender's stuff on those two models, even the $600-1000 MIM models. I've played a lot of Strats over the years (MIA and MIM) and I love my current MIM Robert Cray more than any of 'em. I like 'em so much the way they are, warts and all, that I'd never see myself spending upwards of $2000 for a more perfect specimen, whether from PRS or Suhr, or Fender Custom Shop.

But obviously, based on the Silver Sky, there are a LOT of folks who don't feel like I do about it and are willing to spend the bigger bucks. I suspect there'd be plenty of a market for a tele, particularly if someone who HAS been in Fender's endorser circle decides to look elsewhere for a sig guitar. Maybe a Brad Paisley or Richie Kotzen type or someone who doesn't have a sig model yet but is worthy of one... Brent Mason is already in the PRS family - he could surely do a tele, although it might not look that much like a tele...

-Ray

 

[horax]

Brad Paisley actually does have a signature MIM Fender model that came out last year.
He usually plays Bill Crook custom T's, though.

 

[RaySachs]

Brad Paisley actually does have a signature MIM Fender model that came out last year.
He usually plays Bill Crook custom T's, though.

Oh yeah, I know. So does Richie Kotzen. I'm just thinking if Fender can be as tough to work with as Mayer found them to be, maybe one of those guys (or someone completely different) would be looking for another partner for a signature model at some point.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

I like 'em so much the way they are, warts and all, that I'd never see myself spending upwards of $2000 for a more perfect specimen, whether from PRS or Suhr, or Fender Custom Shop.

Paul is not a big "warts" guy. He's more of a "this can be improved and made better, and I'm going to improve it and make it better" guy.

 

[RaySachs]

Paul is not a big "warts" guy. He's more of a "this can be improved and made better, and I'm going to improve it and make it better" guy.

I fully get that, which is why I think a tele might be another good project for PRS if they can come up with a rationale, or a signature artist, to do it with. I wasn't saying liking Fenders instrument "warts and all" was anyone's feeling other than mine, just explaining that why I'm personally not in the market for a Silver Sky and wouldn't be for a high end tele, whether from PRS or another maker or from Fender's custom shop. But obviously there IS a market for his approach in the strat world, and I strongly suspect there would be in the tele world too. But if they do a tele type model, I gotta wonder how the PRS headstock would look if it was REALLY skinny?!?!?!

-Ray

 

[toothace]

I don't see it happening unless an artist goes to Paul like Mayer did and asks him to make one...

 

[garrettb]

Well, given how UN-tough the Strat market appears to have been to crack, even if the Tele market is a bit tougher, it seems they could still sell a bunch of 'em. Teles and Strats are instruments that I'm personally happy to leave to Fender. Not that I don't think PRS has done a great job with the Silver Sky or that they wouldn't do an equally great job with a "T-type", but I've always been ecstatically happy with Fender's stuff on those two models, even the $600-1000 MIM models. I've played a lot of Strats over the years (MIA and MIM) and I love my current MIM Robert Cray more than any of 'em. I like 'em so much the way they are, warts and all, that I'd never see myself spending upwards of $2000 for a more perfect specimen, whether from PRS or Suhr, or Fender Custom Shop.

But obviously, based on the Silver Sky, there are a LOT of folks who don't feel like I do about it and are willing to spend the bigger bucks. I suspect there'd be plenty of a market for a tele, particularly if someone who HAS been in Fender's endorser circle decides to look elsewhere for a sig guitar. Maybe a Brad Paisley or Richie Kotzen type or someone who doesn't have a sig model yet but is worthy of one... Brent Mason is already in the PRS family - he could surely do a tele, although it might not look that much like a tele...

-Ray

I wasn't kidding when I said it took them 28 years to break through in the Strat market.

They released the EG in 1990. They've already sold more Silver Sky models than the entire six-year run of EG models.

 

[bodia]

Besides, we all know that if PRS decides to do another "kinda like" guitar, it will be their version of a Flying V! Michael Schenker Black and White version, baby!!!

I would so be all over a Schenker V!

 

[RaySachs]

I wasn't kidding when I said it took them 28 years to break through in the Strat market.

They released the EG in 1990. They've already sold more Silver Sky models than the entire six-year run of EG models.

I was not aware of THAT model. All they'd have had to do was straighten out those two front pickups and they'd have been golden!

 

[Deleted member 5962]

I would so be all over a Schenker V!

There would multiple forum members spontaneously breaking into Lights Out and Mother Mary!

 

[Steve's addiction]

How bout an S2 hollow body hardtail

 

[bodia]

There would multiple forum members spontaneously breaking into Lights Out and Mother Mary!

I'd be all over Capt. Nemo and Rock Your Nights Away!

 

[Johnny Rigs]

I think PRS nailed it with the Vela offset body shape. I don’t want Paul wasting time on Tele shapes that have been done before, I want him to expand this great shape they already have.

So I’d love to see some variations on the Vela shape. Namely, a Core model to start, to add both the carves and the tops. I think a Vela shape with a Paul’s Guitar or 408 pickup/switching layout would be pretty cool. Like mentioned earlier, how about adding the Vela to the Bolt-On neck line and get some maple in there? How about expanding the S2 line with a dual-humbucker pickup layout?

There so much cool to that shape, it’s boundaries haven’t nearly been explored enough.

 

[garrettb]

I think PRS nailed it with the Vela offset body shape. I don’t want Paul wasting time on Tele shapes that have been done before, I want him to expand this great shape they already have.

So I’d love to see some variations on the Vela shape. Namely, a Core model to start, to add both the carves and the tops. I think a Vela shape with a Paul’s Guitar or 408 pickup/switching layout would be pretty cool. Like mentioned earlier, how about adding the Vela to the Bolt-On neck line and get some maple in there? How about expanding the S2 line with a dual-humbucker pickup layout?

There so much cool to that shape, it’s boundaries haven’t nearly been explored enough.

It could've been interesting had Joe Knaggs stayed. His Choptank shape looks cool. I would've liked to see how it turned out with input from Paul. It could make for a nice Tele-esque platform.

They did do the Vernon Reid Vela, but it's definitely on the extreme side. Narrow 408's would rule in a Vela!

Here's one going through PS right now and it appears to have a bevel and a shallow carve similar to the original Starla.