Alrighty folks, as promised, here is the second of the NGDs. This was ordered on 31st December so it didn't break my no guitar purchase 365 day promise, unlike the other Stealth Holcomb.
Now all of us on the forum are familiar with the fine art of online guitar watching. We spot a guitar we like but we just can't get at that moment. Maybe it's too expensive. Maybe it's in the wrong country. Maybe one can afford it but just doesn't want to pay that much. Point is, we want it but can't quite get it so we watch it obsessively.
My story with this guitar begins in either November or December 2018. This was the time I was going to Japan 15 days a month for work (quite an assignment. Half Singapore, half Japan) and of course it was guitar heaven since Ochanomizu was just a couple of train stops from my office. Ochanomizu, for the uninitiated is Guitar street in Tokyo and Japan is quite good for used guitars in general.
Around this time I did not play 7 String guitar. I also did not own the dozen or so PRSs I have now, having but my purple Cu22, my 594, and the recent acquisition of the 513.(and oh my Private Stock 'Emperor' Custom 24 which I had just bought the month before at a stonking price from Ishibashi Shinjuku). So I walked into Ishibashi's showroom on Ochanomizu, a multi-storey affair where there is a wonderful floor of premium guitars. And which is when I spotted one of the most stunning guitars I had ever seen in real life. It was a purple bluish colour with a crazy top which wasn't flamed maple but something. I didn't know that much about guitars at the time but I know now it was burl maple.
I did not understand why it looked so good, beyond the colour. There was something about the shape as well. Recognition came a second later as I counted the strings. It was a 7 string. Since that day, I have maintained that the PRS shape looks better as a seven string than a six. If I ever bought a guitar on looks alone , love at first sight so to speak, it would have been that guitar on that day.
However there were two obstacles. Firstly, I did not play seven string. That would happen only a couple of years later around early 2020. No chance I was playing Private Stock money for a niche instrument for me. Talking about Private stock money, I simply could not understand the price. It was almost double what a Private Stock should cost, once I converted to USD. I understood why a while later as the guitar was ordered in 2016 when the Japanese yen had been much weaker. However since then the yen had appreciated but the price of the guitar had been pegged in yen.
In any case it was just eye candy for the moment. But the guitar left an impression. Over the next few months and years, everytime I was browsing online, I would go to the Ishibashi website and eye the listing, hoping that
1) It would not sell
2) they would reduce the price when they realized how absurd it was
3) The Japanese yen would weaken (this actually is not great for my business so count this more of a silver lining to a grey cloud).
Well the days and months and years passed and we arrive at December 2021, a time period where travelling to a country for 15 days a month sounds like science fiction. I check the Ishibashi website and they are running a significant price drop promotion. I check the rate between the SGD and JPY and it was 15% better than it ever was. I have played 7 string as much as 6 string for one and a half years now. It is not a passing phase.
So ample self justification then. The deed was done. A simple matter of 12 days later, a package arrives at my door. I unbox it and here we are
Picture time. The Caveat is that my studio has really warm yellow light so I'll take some daylight shots tomorrow to give you a more accurate sense of the colour
Now all of us on the forum are familiar with the fine art of online guitar watching. We spot a guitar we like but we just can't get at that moment. Maybe it's too expensive. Maybe it's in the wrong country. Maybe one can afford it but just doesn't want to pay that much. Point is, we want it but can't quite get it so we watch it obsessively.
My story with this guitar begins in either November or December 2018. This was the time I was going to Japan 15 days a month for work (quite an assignment. Half Singapore, half Japan) and of course it was guitar heaven since Ochanomizu was just a couple of train stops from my office. Ochanomizu, for the uninitiated is Guitar street in Tokyo and Japan is quite good for used guitars in general.
Around this time I did not play 7 String guitar. I also did not own the dozen or so PRSs I have now, having but my purple Cu22, my 594, and the recent acquisition of the 513.(and oh my Private Stock 'Emperor' Custom 24 which I had just bought the month before at a stonking price from Ishibashi Shinjuku). So I walked into Ishibashi's showroom on Ochanomizu, a multi-storey affair where there is a wonderful floor of premium guitars. And which is when I spotted one of the most stunning guitars I had ever seen in real life. It was a purple bluish colour with a crazy top which wasn't flamed maple but something. I didn't know that much about guitars at the time but I know now it was burl maple.
I did not understand why it looked so good, beyond the colour. There was something about the shape as well. Recognition came a second later as I counted the strings. It was a 7 string. Since that day, I have maintained that the PRS shape looks better as a seven string than a six. If I ever bought a guitar on looks alone , love at first sight so to speak, it would have been that guitar on that day.
However there were two obstacles. Firstly, I did not play seven string. That would happen only a couple of years later around early 2020. No chance I was playing Private Stock money for a niche instrument for me. Talking about Private stock money, I simply could not understand the price. It was almost double what a Private Stock should cost, once I converted to USD. I understood why a while later as the guitar was ordered in 2016 when the Japanese yen had been much weaker. However since then the yen had appreciated but the price of the guitar had been pegged in yen.
In any case it was just eye candy for the moment. But the guitar left an impression. Over the next few months and years, everytime I was browsing online, I would go to the Ishibashi website and eye the listing, hoping that
1) It would not sell
2) they would reduce the price when they realized how absurd it was
3) The Japanese yen would weaken (this actually is not great for my business so count this more of a silver lining to a grey cloud).
Well the days and months and years passed and we arrive at December 2021, a time period where travelling to a country for 15 days a month sounds like science fiction. I check the Ishibashi website and they are running a significant price drop promotion. I check the rate between the SGD and JPY and it was 15% better than it ever was. I have played 7 string as much as 6 string for one and a half years now. It is not a passing phase.
So ample self justification then. The deed was done. A simple matter of 12 days later, a package arrives at my door. I unbox it and here we are
Picture time. The Caveat is that my studio has really warm yellow light so I'll take some daylight shots tomorrow to give you a more accurate sense of the colour