NGD - Wow, never thought this would happen

So killer, and so happy for you. I know that story well. I've been through it more than a few times! Enjoy that awesome guitar, and your incredibly supporting wife, in good health!
 
Absolutely fansmastic!! Glad a sad story got turned around with a great ending. You're gonna love that guitar forever, it's one of a kind as far as I'm concerned.

And sheesh, thank that wife of yours - although I'm sure you already have.
 
LSchefman said:
Wow. Amazing guitar. Amazingly awesome wife!

I can totally relate to the mental gymnastics required to spring for a private stock, too. Please tell your wife she has a fan in Detroit!!
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That she is, that she definitively is.

I guess the fact that I don't regret it at all tells me I made the right decision. Ha, will do!
 
drjenkins said:
Warning: Huge Wall of Text ™ to follow.

Our Story Begins (Interior, Righteous Guitars):
The wife and I went up to the PRS Clinic at Righteous on Nov. 2nd. I had already scoped out a couple things on their Reverb page that I wanted to play since they were open for two hours before the first of two clinics they had that day. Got there right at opening and saw two Private Stocks setup on the stage and figured I needed to play them since they were just sitting there, obviously. Asked to check them out, they obliged. First one was an ME V and then a Dweezil shape in a green burst with green birds and purfling. Both killer, as to be expected, no surprises there. Meandered around for a bit, played some early 90’s Customs, which is what I was looking for, nice.

Now if you never been to Righteous, it’s overwhelming, like kind of makes your brain hurt overwhelming. The sheer volume of guitars is something I’ve never personally seen anywhere else. You can make multiple laps around the place and still find new stuff every go round. The really exceptional stuff that they want to showcase goes into glass cases that house a single guitar. I tend to notice what’s in there, admire it and keep on walking, due to the accompanying price tags of said guitars. Well as I was plinking away on a really nice 80’s Custom, one of the glass cases caught my wife’s eye. There was a Private Stock in it, a Koa Private Stock.

Now I’ve wanted a Koa guitar for about 15 years now and it’s just never happened. Had one being custom built in ’05 with an insane billet I ordered from Hawaii. Sadly the luthier passed away while he was in the process of building it. The partially completed pieces weren’t salvageable since he worked on it while going through Stage 4 lung cancer, and there were too many things wrong with it. So not only did I lose a friend, I lost a dream guitar as well. Just bad all the way around and I really gave up on looking for one seriously after that.

Cut to the clinic day and this one shows up. Didn’t even know they had it since they don’t post all their inventory on Reverb, and I can’t really blame them. Wife starts getting nosy, because she sees that it’s Koa. I ask how much, choke on my own tongue, walk briskly away. Even though it was used it was expensive, as to be expected, not overpriced just expensive. Not a thing I would ever even entertain as an option on any level, for sure. The 594 SC Artist I got last year was the most expensive guitar I’ve ever bought, period. I was trolling for an early 90’s Custom, not this. They offered to take it out of the case for me to try, I declined, the first clinic folks were showing up soon and I didn’t want anybody having to rush on my account. Wife says, you should try it out (she’s evil incarnate by the way). The guys, as they always do, accommodated and freed it for a brief while so I could paw at it. Didn’t get a good read since it was getting busy and people were starting to show for the clinic and I was just playing unplugged. So, they (also being evil incarnate) offer to let me try it at the 2nd clinic that we had slots for, in the amp room, while Paul is signing stuff. Play it, really like it, play some more, go get my guitars signed, head to dinner, contemplate.

The week between when I played it and we went back up there was one of the most nerve wracking experiences I think I’ve ever had where gear is concerned. One day, full on gonna buy it, next day, no way in hell do I need that. Did the whole don’t deserve it, not good enough, should be downsizing, mental wrangling that’s ever so lovely to put yourself through. Took my rig with me to try it out last Saturday, played all four of the other versions of the guitar they had to contrast and make sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was what I wanted it to be. There was another 10 top that was seriously holding its’ own against the PS, which is something pretty damn remarkable. It was down to the two of them at that point. The Koa and all the appointments, along with how ridiculously easy it was to play and how it sounded won me over. Pretty sure if I would have tried to leave it my wife wouldn’t have let me.

So after a long 15 year wait, and this mini-book I just wrote, I finally got my Koa guitar. And it just so happens to be a Private Stock PRS. Never thought in a million years I'd ever own one:

-Special Semi-Hollow
-Brazilian Fretboard and headstock overlay
-Satin Nitro finish
-Koa Neck, natural with smoke burst
-Koa Top, natural w/smoked burst edges
-Koa Birds and Koa PS Eagle w/Agoya outlines
-Figured mahogany back with matching back plates
-Curly Maple binding all over
-Smoked Black hardware and pickup covers
-Brazilian tuner buttons

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Why can I not stop coveting this axe? Probably one of the most gorgeous guitars I’ve seen. WOW.
 
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