New "Ugly" Guitar Day!

Transparent black is my least favorite finish, no matter what the guitar. No idea why companies opt for this finish.

The finish is great for an understated guitar, especially a working guitar where the player's music needs no external propping up by glitz. It also lets some grain show through for just a bit of subtle highlights.

Is it cheaper to produce than other transparent colors?

no
 
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To each his own bro. I have an artist package single cut in trans black and it is beautiful. My old McRosie was also trans black. Understated....sure....but definitely not "cheap" looking.
 
I dig it man. Reminds me of a silver burst minus the sparkle. Congrats on getting a cool guitar by flushing out the unused.
 
I may end up sending it in to the PTC... it has the "delamination" issue on the fret ends where the rosewood shrinkage causes the "fret pop" in the clear coat. I emailed customer service and heard back from Matt - he said it could be fixed, but I want to make sure it's under warranty (which it should be).


Has anyone had this issue on their S2? I know the V12 finish had some issues initially, but the S2 finish isn't V12.


If it's just an aesthetic thing, I may opt to live with it as I don't really want to be without the guitar for a couple months, but if it's something that will get worse over time I should probably bite the bullet and have it repaired (provided it's covered). I'm sure it's from the guitar hanging on the wall since mid-2013 in the store.


If this was a Core I'd send it back without hesitation, since I got this to be a "beater" anyway it's making me wonder if I want to go through the hassle of sending it in. Even though I have other guitars to play, it'll still suck to have to pack this one up and go through the hassle of sending it in, waiting on the fix and then getting it back...shipping companies always worry me when I'm either shipping a guitar or waiting on one coming to me! Also, I've heard some guys that sent their guitar in for finish issues have gotten them back in a month or so and then I've heard some have taken 4 months!


I saw it when I was getting the guitar and wasn't too concerned with it at the time, but I emailed a picture of it to customer service yesterday and Matt responded right away, so I'm just waiting to hear back to make sure it's warranty-covered and then I'll have to decide if I want to go on and send it in or not. Jeez, not really something you want to have to mess with on a "new" guitar.
 
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I may end up sending it in to the PTC... it has the "delamination" issue on the fret ends where the rosewood shrinkage causes the "fret pop" in the clear coat. I emailed customer service and heard back from Matt - he said it could be fixed, but I want to make sure it's under warranty (which it should be).

I'd be surprised if it is from a dimensional change in the fretboard. PRS dries all of the wood at the Stevensville factory the same way - whether it is to be an S2, a core, artist or even a PS. Only the figuring of the wood is different. But, as I think about it, it could be from the store's lack of humidity control....

I'm sure it's from the guitar hanging on the wall since mid-2013 in the store.

I think this is it...

Hopefully, since it is new, you'll get a free fix. PTC is the best - do it.
 
Matt from PRS told me from the picture I sent that it was "fret pop" from the rosewood shrinking, but I don't doubt that the shrinking was from the store's lack of humidity control. I have plenty of PRSi at home and haven't had this issue in my controlled environment at home.
 
If it's just an aesthetic thing...but if it's something that will get worse over time ...
So what I was told, after I returned a (non-PRS) cheap guitar that had "fret poppage", is that it probably had finished drying, but hadn't finished shrinking, and that a burst of temperature transient (hot-to-cold or cold-to-hot) "released" the frets, and that if I otherwise liked the guitar, I shouldn't have returned it, because it's a standard procedure to file the frets down -- I even had a local store offer to do it for free, even though I didn't buy it from them, just because I was a regular customer -- and that likely it wouldn't have happened again. But this guitar wasn't finished over the frets, so I don't know anything about that.
 
Dusty,

yeah - after 25+ years of playing guitar, I've seen exposed frets on plenty of guitars due to humidity drying up (Ohio winters tend to dry the air!) but never on any of my PRS guitars...of course this is the first "new old stock" one I've ever bought that has been hanging on a store wall for 2 years!


I'm mainly just worried about the clear coat flaking off eventually and that leading to a much bigger problem down the road. The frets currently feel just fine (of course it's the end of August so there's plenty of humidity in the air).


Right now I'm pretty much 50/50 on whether I'll have it fixed or not...I loathe shipping anything out, but I think I may still have a box or two from some of my Core guitars I could use! It's just a PITA kind of thing that you expect on a cheaper guitar but not a PRS (even a cheaper PRS! :proud: )
 
Transparent black is my least favorite finish, no matter what the guitar. No idea why companies opt for this finish.

Haha. "I have no idea why guitar companies even make a color that I don't personally like".

Trans black is my favorite. I'm currently on the hunt for one.
 
I kind of hate traditional finishes, like the classic tri-color sunset burst finish or tobacco, but at least I understand why guitar companies make them.

Yeah, sorry, I guess my point was, from people more knowledgeable than me is that they probably had finished popping. Sorry I couldn't help you more the the clearcoat aspect of your issue (the important one).
 
It's on it's way back to PRS. It is covered by warranty and after talking to Matt some more, I figured better to be without it for awhile and have it fixed than maybe have it get worse.

Funny how since it's the most recent acquisition that I hesitated- if it was one of my Cores I'd have immediately sent it in!


Luckily I have others I can play- if it was my only one I'd probably go crazy!
 
"Good Trade!"

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The guitar is due to arrive back at PRS today...been thinking about having a kill switch put in while it's there, but at $50 I think I'll just do it myself when I get it back - it's not hard to do and cheaper if you DIY, plus I have a wider selection of switch types if I do it.


In the two guitars that I've put a kill switch in, I've used a toggle switch. Anybody use one of the momentary type "buttons" for a kill switch? I always thought I'd prefer the toggle so it's more like doing it with a Les Paul 3-way toggle with one of the volumes rolled off, but wondered if anybody thought the button type was better or not. I'd like to try a button but haven't came across a guitar that had that type except a Jackson Scott Ian model at Guitar Center years ago, but the button was broke and didn't do anything!
 
So today I ended up trading an LTD Strat, a Bugera G5 amp head & 112 cab, a Samson USB mic, and a cheap Bedell acoustic for a brand new, old stock (2013) S2 Custom 24 with possibly the most bland looking top I've ever seen on a PRS! The bland looks are probably the reason it never had sold yet. I figured it'd make a good "beater". I got a guitar that I'll use and got rid of some stuff that I wasn't using, and my dealer got rid of a new guitar that had been sitting for too long.


There is hardly any flame at all, but there is a fairly good amount of mineral streaking (I think that's what it's called) in the top, and the rosewood fretboard has a nice lighter color to it.


Before I made the deal, I worked in two new DiMarzio PAF 36th Anniversary pickups (the pre-aged version) and two new CTS push/pull pots so I can split each pickup individually and we swapped everything out for the stock stuff and then strung it up with some NYXL 11-49's.


Well, after spending a couple hours with this guitar I can safely say the the PAF 36th Ann. pickups are fantastic! I didn't really have much experience with DiMarzio's before these, having used the various PRS pickups in most of my guitars but I think the S2 pickups are definitely a place where they cut costs. This has pretty much confirmed that I will probably try other pickups in my other S2 guitars as well.



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It's its the ugliest guitar I own, but it plays great and sound fantastic!

Got rid of a McRosie because of mineral streaking.
 
Update:

Matt called today and said it'd be easier/quicker to just build me a new guitar instead of repairing the "fret pop" in the clear coat so I'm getting a new Custom 24 in Whale Blue instead of going with Elephant Gray (which would be the equivalent to this 2013's Gray Black). They're going to put my electronics in the new one obviously (I had put in DiMarzio PAF 36th Ann. 'buckers and also a second push/pull pot).

That's pretty sweet customer service IMO.

New one should be home around the middle of October or so.
 
Update:

Matt called today and said it'd be easier/quicker to just build me a new guitar instead of repairing the "fret pop" in the clear coat so I'm getting a new Custom 24 in Whale Blue instead of going with Elephant Gray (which would be the equivalent to this 2013's Gray Black). They're going to put my electronics in the new one obviously (I had put in DiMarzio PAF 36th Ann. 'buckers and also a second push/pull pot).

That's pretty sweet customer service IMO.

New one should be home around the middle of October or so.

They're really great about that, aren't they?
 
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