Opportunity or Money Sink?

[PastorDame]

This post is divided into a Type - A and Type - B personality choose-your-own adventure post:


Type - A:


From a purely unbiased point of view, is there such a thing as a “bad” PRS, a model/series/wood-type to avoid, or a less than successful run? If so, would the SE EG be one of them? If not, is it worth scooping up when found since single-coil PRS guitars are sort of like unicorns?


Type - B:


I recently came across a PRS SE EG (3 single coil configuration) in a local pawn shop. It’s pretty beat up (a few small, cosmetic chucks out of the body, scratched up pick guard), needs some electronic work (volume pot cuts all volume out below “10” or if the knob is bumped), and rust-spotted hardware. Needless to say, it sounded horrible when I plugged it into the nearest amp, but seems like it’d be a great skeleton to work from.


The price tag on it at the moment is $300, but I’m considering some aggressive discussion with them since it’s shape is less than great and needs a fair amount of work to be dependably playable, not to mention that I have some unused pieces of equipment I’m looking at freeing myself from. While I’ve never done any guitar triage, but I’m interested in tinkering and thought this could be a nice starter.


Any thoughts or experience that I can glean from an elder/ more seasoned guitar tinkerer than myself or information with someone who knows these models would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[Chris528]

I'd say go and haggle with the pawn shop and can probably get it for under $200.

 

[justmund]

You can buy an SE EG in very good condition for that kind of money. They're a great platform for modification because of the pickguard/swimming pool route, which allows for great flexibility for pickup swaps.

 

[PastorDame]

Thank you for the responses!

I did a little more research from some of the pictures I took of the piece today in the shop and it looks like it's a 2003 SE EG, SSS Tremolo model. Not a huge fan of the tremolo tail setup, but both the single coils and tremolo are both outside of anything in my current range of ownership - which is part of the draw to this piece... the other draw is that it's blue. Don't judge - it's not nice. That's a story in and of itself... Long story short, the guitar that made me want to forsake (or at least shelf) my bass player roots was a midnight blue, flame maple top SG Supreme. Since then, I've had a thing for blue guitars... never owned one, but I will one day. It might even be this one if I can convince myself that I'll actually be able to fix it up!

 

[Brad737]

Way too much $$$, IMHO.

 

[blaren]

Yeah, sounds pretty high. Check eBay's COMPLETED listings. I expect you'll see that these guitars (in beat up shape) SELL for cheap. If so, print off a couple of those SOLD (cheap) listings and bring them to the pawnshop.
Also think about...if you walked into that shop with that guitar, to sell it to them, you can bet that they would look it up on eBay, find the cheapest one (let's say it's $200) and they would probably offer you no more than $50 or $75 for it. If they sell it to you for $150 they're still making probably more than 100% profit. Hey I know..it's a shop with overhead but always reverse the roles and imagine what they would GIVE you for that item and always check eBay's COMPLETED listings to find ACTUAL market value on any item.

Now...if I were you, IF I wasn't dead set on a SC guitar, I'd definitely save a few more bucks and look at the new SE line. I find them AMAZING. But that starts a nasty precedent...save a couple/few hun more and get a "current" SE...or...save a couple more hun than that and get a new S2. Or for that price you can get a used CE or McCarty.
Either way...GET A PRS already

 

[PastorDame]

After what I've read in the past 24 hours, I completely agree. It's haggling time!

 

[PastorDame]

Now...if I were you, IF I wasn't dead set on a SC guitar, I'd definitely save a few more bucks and look at the new SE line. I find them AMAZING. But that starts a nasty precedent...save a couple/few hun more and get a "current" SE...or...save a couple more hun than that and get a new S2. Or for that price you can get a used CE or McCarty.
Either way...GET A PRS already

LOL - That mentality is what my dad used to call G.A.S.: Gear Acquisition Syndrome: always looking for the bigger or better. He's got it and passed it down to me!

I'm not 100% set on single coils as this seems like a blank canvas to play with for a beginning tinkerer. I just don't have anything with SCs at the moment. I actually do have an SE - I have one of the Bernie Marsden ones and I love it! The SE has a good skeleton to it that might be worth resurrecting.

 

[Chris528]

I know all pawn shops are different, but to give you an idea of how much their mark up is.

I saw a SE Custom 24 with a $450 price tag on it, and I walked out paying $220 total.