PRS SE Models - Do They Have the Same “Essence” As Core Models?

[Daryl Jones]

I swear, I will not contribute to this thread any more after this:
Manufacturing and licensing are so intertwined anymore it's hard to say just what is original or really made where.
I'm a motorcycle nut, former dealer, rider and racer as well. I've owned and ridden almost every known (to the m/c community) brand there is in the last 53 years. In the last few years Harley Davidson (likely the single most iconic m/c make ever) has taken to having bikes built in India and elsewhere across the pond. This is to compete on a global scale that was necessary to expand their domestic and global customer base. Does that mean they are not HD motorcycles? I think not. But even their "home" plant in Milwaukie uses a very high percentage of components from all over the world, including Japan and China. Sure, they have their own foundries and onshore suppliers, but in order to compete in the marketplace, they need to outsource parts and components, just like every other manufacturer these days. Does that make them lesser bikes? Again I say not. Made in USA doesn't mean everything in every product or plant that makes them. But do you know what does? The brand itself. As do the people that purchase them. Paul endorses the SE line and is very adamant about it. It's his name, his company, and we are all his customers. Again, that's good enough for me.
Just FYI, do you know what the VIN sticker on my Honda Goldwing says? "Made In USA" specifically Marysville, Ohio. Not "Made In Japan". Gee, I guess I don't ride a "real" Honda...

 

[Mark Ray]

now shut up and play the damn guitar.

I swear, I will not contribute to this thread any more after this:
Manufacturing and licensing are so intertwined anymore it's hard to say just what is original or really made where.
I'm a motorcycle nut, former dealer, rider and racer as well. I've owned and ridden almost every known (to the m/c community) brand there is in the last 53 years. In the last few years Harley Davidson (likely the single most iconic m/c make ever) has taken to having bikes built in India and elsewhere across the pond. This is to compete on a global scale that was necessary to expand their domestic and global customer base. Does that mean they are not HD motorcycles? I think not. But even their "home" plant in Milwaukie uses a very high percentage of components from all over the world, including Japan and China. Sure, they have their own foundries and onshore suppliers, but in order to compete in the marketplace, they need to outsource parts and components, just like every other manufacturer these days. Does that make them lesser bikes? Again I say not. Made in USA doesn't mean everything in every product or plant that makes them. But do you know what does? The brand itself. As do the people that purchase them. Paul endorses the SE line and is very adamant about it. It's his name, his company, and we are all his customers. Again, that's good enough for me.
Just FYI, do you know what the VIN sticker on my Honda Goldwing says? "Made In USA" specifically Marysville, Ohio. Not "Made In Japan". Gee, I guess I don't ride a "real" Honda...

^^^AGREE!^^^

Great example with the Goldwing. I rode a Honda VTX1800C for 14 years. To my understanding, every part on that bike was made in the Marysville plant, EXCEPT for the engine, which was built in Japan. In fact it was stated on the VTX Forum that it's US percentage of parts was higher than a Harley-Davidson. I understand that this is today's business model for LOTS of things. And I accept it, because I sure can't change it myself. We're a global society in a global market, and I don't see things ever going back.

 

[Tedder]

I don't see the reason for confusion here. Everyone knows that they are being made overseas. The PRS SE label is the same as Squier and Epiphone.

Fender -> Squier (China, Indonesia and Korea)
Gibson -> Epiphone (China only)
PRS -> PRS SE (Indonesia, Korea for solid-body and semi-hollows, and China for the acoustics and HBs)

 

[JMintzer]

I did. Don’t isolate one part of a comment. It has to be taken in context with everything else that I wrote.

So, you're arguing against point YOU made? Ponderous...

 

[aphantomvaper]

I don't see the reason for confusion here. Everyone knows that they are being made overseas. The PRS SE label is the same as Squier and Epiphone.

Fender -> Squier (China, Indonesia and Korea)
Gibson -> Epiphone (China only)
PRS -> PRS SE (Indonesia, Korea for solid-body and semi-hollows, and China for the acoustics and HBs)

I have a USA built Squire. (Serious)

PRS straps aren't made in USA? I've been shystered! (Kidding!)

Like, go play your guitar, and save for what you want, or don't.

As Bill Murray said in Meatballs, "It just doesn't matter!".

I'm sure my comments aren't helping. I think everyone is right in their opinion for themselves. To argue, and get hurt feelings is much too meta.

Enjoy Tuesday!

 

[SinSir]

I have a USA built Squire. (Serious)

I used to have a MIM squier and yes MIA squier exist too! They even had squire with Fender on the headstock. Those crooks selling us copies!

 

[Birdsofprey]

I propose term limits for threads. I know I’m the problem as I just bumped this thread dam it lol.

 

[shimmilou]

I just wish to point out that Argo paradox and the PRS SE paradox are quite simple when seen in the context of what we might call the "human body paradox," i.e the simple fact that, with a very few exceptions, -- like, say, the cilia in one's inner ear and certain small segments of the brain, -- all the parts of the human body, or more precisely, all the cells of the human body die and are replaced about every seven? years or so. That means that by my age, 68, I should be building yet another set of cells to replace those of the last cycle, which replaced those of the previous one, back and back to the original ones I started with as a newborn. After 10 such replacements it is something of a wonder that accumulation of small corruptions in the DNA code transmitted have not caused me more physical damage than they actually have. In any case, to return to the question here, if I ask myself whether I am the same person now as I was at birth, or at least at some young age, it is hard to answer with either a definitive yes or a no. Certainly socially and legally I am considered to be the self-same man, even the very conferring of a name on me stresses such an "identity," but such a view leaves out both the many turnovers of my physical protoplasm mass just mentioned, as well as the many other variations brought about by experience, the accumulation of additional information, and transformations of beliefs, attitudes and opinion. My name and my [actually very limited] memories of earlier events forever call me back to the unitary hypothesis, but just how exactly who I am now relates back to all of those earlier experiences, just what "thread" strings them all together to form a whole is very hard to say.

So, you are a copy!