NGD! My First PRS in 21 Years of Playing Guitar! *2002 SC 10-Top Content*

[Ugly Bunny]

Hi guys, new member, first post!

How did this brand slip under my radar for so many years? I've owned custom instruments, a bunch of high-end guitars, basses, etc. I've got a bunch of Music Mans... But man, this one's a doozy. I'd always SEEN them, and they're beautiful, but I'd never even had the slightest inclination to take one off the hook and play it.

It all started when my girlfriend took me to a Santana concert last week. After hearing him play and then going back and listening to his massive catalogue, I knew I had to have a PRS. I went in planning to spend about $3k, but willing to spend up to about $5k if I couldn't live without it.

Well, lo and behold! This little beauty was hanging there just begging to be played. It was truly the ugly duckling of the selection (around 15-20 PRSs). But I'll be darned if it didn't resonate like hell in my hands and feel like it chose me. I knew I had to have it. It was used (2002) and only $1750. Score!

It did need a little TLC - I figure it's been hanging in the shop for a few years, but I can't be sure. Just steel wool'd the frets/fretboard and then hit it with a little mineral oil. Plays like a dream and sounds amazing. After I got it home and studied it a bit more, I started to have some reservations that I might've accidentally bought a Les Paul - but I think it's definitely got its own thing going (I've never owned an LP or really ever even played one, so who knows?). Bottom line: I love this guitar Well-done, PRS. I fear this may be one of many...

Anyway, thanks for reading and sharing in my joy!

 

[László]

Beautiful!

Be careful with mineral oil, it softens the wood fretboards are made of, leaves a gooey gunk that attracts dust and skin cells, and basically isn't great stuff for instruments. Great for cutting boards or salad bowls.

The preferred method is clean with lemon oil (just scented naphtha), and then seal with a furniture polish like Behold.

 

[Ugly Bunny]

Beautiful!

Be careful with mineral oil, it softens the wood fretboards are made of, leaves a gooey gunk that attracts dust and skin cells, and basically isn't great stuff for instruments. Great for cutting boards or salad bowls.

The preferred method is clean with lemon oil (just scented naphtha), and then seal with a furniture polish like Behold.

Huh. Noted; thanks! I tell ya, you can't get a consistent answer on the interwebs about fretboard care lol. Everyone recommends a hundred different things. In any case, it will only be a once-in-a-blue-moon sort of thing, so I'm not too worried that I may have 'hurt' it

 

[veinbuster]

I love the top.
Welcome to the forum.

 

[BMiller]

Nice!! She might be your first, but don't let her be your last and only!!

PRS guitars are a nice rabbit to follow down the hole!!!

 

[coyote]

Congrats! Beautiful guitar.

I can relate. I'd been playing since 1977 or thereabouts. And while I'd known about PRS, it never occurred to me to seriously consider getting one. That is, until late 2015 when that flame maple top 408 was hanging in the 'used' rack of a major store, in nearly new condition, at a ridiculously low price..... Nice to make such a score, isn't it?! Welcome to the club!!

 

[KrisCHS]

That is awesome! I love how the top looks like it's melting. Very unique.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Bangin'!

Welcome home.

 

[Ugly Bunny]

To be honest, the most shocking thing was not that I fell in love with one almost instantly, but that I liked a 15-year-old one way more than any of the brand new ones costing twice as much or more! But thanks for everyone's kind words

 

[bodia]

Welcome! Great score and awesome top!

 

[Tosca]

That's a classic!!
Welcome.

 

[CatStrangler]

cool story Bro!

 

[vchizzle]

I don't know about ugly duckling, that top and color are righteous! I love that sort of thing in a top. Sometimes a guitar just speaks to you. That's when you have to follow the "don't think, just act" rule.

 

[László]

Huh. Noted; thanks! I tell ya, you can't get a consistent answer on the interwebs about fretboard care lol. Everyone recommends a hundred different things. In any case, it will only be a once-in-a-blue-moon sort of thing, so I'm not too worried that I may have 'hurt' it

I'm sure you didn't hurt it by using that stuff once. But in your shoes, I'd use a little lemon oil to clean off the mineral oil residue, and then use the sealer that PRS recommends, because that can't hurt.

There's certainly a lot of misinformation on the internet, but PRS knows a little about building and maintaining guitars...

If you read any books by world-renowned experts like Dan Erlewine, you'll find good information, too.

 

[andy474x]

Nice! Sometimes you find "the one" and you just know!

 

[shinksma]

That top is so awesome! It feels like the top is dropping off the edge of a sand dune, in some darkening desert landscape.

Yowzers!

 

[dmatthews]

Ugly duckling??!!!????
I'll take three!
Gorgeous.

 

[Thomas_Magnum]

I'm sure you didn't hurt it by using that stuff once. But in your shoes, I'd use a little lemon oil to clean off the mineral oil residue, and then use the sealer that PRS recommends, because that can't hurt.

There's certainly a lot of misinformation on the internet, but PRS knows a little about building and maintaining guitars...

If you read any books by world-renowned experts like Dan Erlewine, you'll find good information, too.

Does Dr. Duck's Ax Wax work on rosewood fretboards? I've used it quite a bit on my Martin acoustic which has ebony. Also, what does it mean to "seal" with Behold furniture polish? Does that just mean "rub on"? Thanks for advice!

 

[bodia]

Does Dr. Duck's Ax Wax work on rosewood fretboards? I've used it quite a bit on my Martin acoustic which has ebony. Also, what does it mean to "seal" with Behold furniture polish? Does that just mean "rub on"? Thanks for advice!

Not sure on the Dr. Ducks. As for "sealing", I just spray some polish on a micro fiber and rub it on. Light coat. The rub down again with a clean micro fiber. Kinda like what you're supposed to do for that "showroom shine" on a car. Once you wax, and remove, you set the wax with a fine mist and another buff.

 

[Thomas_Magnum]

Not sure on the Dr. Ducks. As for "sealing", I just spray some polish on a micro fiber and rub it on. Light coat. The rub down again with a clean micro fiber. Kinda like what you're supposed to do for that "showroom shine" on a car. Once you wax, and remove, you set the wax with a fine mist and another buff.

Thanks for the info and response, bodia!