SE 24 Custom, 35 Year Anniversary Edition arrives.

[Chris Sederqvist]

I've bought my first PRS guitar, and was hesitant to purchase the "SE" series, but hey, heard all good things and read nice reviews, so I figured, let's go for it.

Now this is how that story unfolded...

So after trying to get in contact with someone at PRS Guitars through their Instagram and Twitter accounts, where I explained the whole thing, and I have high resolution images available (8K+) that details the sad state the neck was in on this guitar I have not gotten ANYTHING in response. No "sorry for this or that" or any explanations as to how a guitar produced in 2020 has corrosion on the strings, rust had developed on many of the fret wires and the neck was so dry that the rosewood fingerboard had started to get cracks.

Because I've restored a couple of guitars before, I thought that this was borderline broken beyond repair, but I realized after removing the rusty old strings that the wood on top, the actual layer of rosewood fretboard was damaged only to a degree that was possible to fix myself, and this was a Friday so I wanted the guitar in shape like yesterday!

Here is the progress from arrival to post-restoration of a 2020 model guitar.

Getting my hopes up, opening the box...

Now, this is what I get for $1100

And another showing how bad the frets looked:

So, starting the process of restoring the neck.

Everything else on the guitar was in stellar condition.

Love to clean those frets...

Starting to get better after a day of conditioning and grooming

Finished!

For those who likes happy endings, I must say that after spending several hours working on the neck, changed to a proper set of 10's and adjusting the tremolo and doing a basic setup, this is a superb guitar.
I love the ability to split the two Hum-buckers into true single coils using the switches, and it just is a blast to play this thing.

BUT, I must say that my first impression of PRS as a company and my respect for Paul has gotten damaged quite hard, probably to the point of no return.
If I buy a product for $1100, and don't even receive a reply on the only channels they say that I can reach them on, they don't have the decency to apologize or say or do anything at all. That's just TOO BAD, plain and simple!

I used my whole weekend grooming this baby, and on Sunday after the neck had gotten re-humidified and had a few shots of citrus oil drawn into it, it was perfect.

I think it's kinda sad in a way, because I've always imagined the PRS company as a "Best of Breed" kinda place and Paul as a hard-working, outstanding and customer-oriented guy that wouldn't let his name be tarnished by printing it on something like this ugly piece of wood they called a neck.

 

[HANGAR18]

Pictures of the rest of the guitar?

 

[11top]

I’m confused. Did you purchase new from a PRS dealer? Assuming yes, why didn’t you return it?

 

[Tahlee]

Welcome to the forum. Nice job on those frets. The SE have really nice birds.

I’ve never used Instagram or Twitter in my life, but I have reached out to PRS customer service via email and telephone before and they helped me right away.

 

[DISTORT6]

You should start with the dealer that sent you that mess...

 

[andy474x]

Hmm, none of my guitars came with a rub down and a happy ending - what dealer did you get this from again?

Seriously... nice job fixing it up, but I think you’re being a little harsh. I doubt it left the PRS facility that way, and after that they don’t have control over what happens to it. Especially this year, of all years, we all need to give each other some grace. Your dealer would be the first to take that issue up with, and after that, the more appropriate place to contact PRS about a defective guitar is their customer service via email or phone, not their social media accounts, and that contact info is plainly available on their website. They’re a small company, and their customer service/support staff don’t handle their social media accounts.

Sorry to be prickly, but I genuinely am happy you like your guitar now, those 35th’s are fantastic. Enjoy it!

 

[László]

Something either happened to that guitar in shipment, or at the dealer. PRS Guitars don't arrive looking like that, whether SE, S2 or Core.

 

[shimmilou]

Nice job of cleaning it up. That is not corrosion, or else it wouldn't have "cleaned" up with just a rag and cleaner/polish. Looks like there was some grime or polishing compound, or something spilled on the frets and neck. Also, the wood is not "cracked" that is just natural for rosewood. But most importantly, what dealer would ship it like that?

After reading your several other posts about the same guitar, this seems to be another instance of the buyer not working with the dealer that sold it in bad condition, for some unexplained reason, and trying to bypass the dealer and deal with PRS directly. Sound familiar to anyone? Unauthorized dealer? Trying to wrongfully knock PRS? Fishy

 

[unretrofiedforu]

IMO it sat hung up in a closed music store for around 1-2 months ...

congrats on the new guitar though

 

[Aahzz]

Sounds to me like the dealer didn't take care of it...it should never have been sent to a customer like that, and I have my doubts that it arrived at the dealer that way - am thinking some sort of poor storage condition or mishandling by the dealer. As for contacting PRS, why did you not use the support email address listed on the PRS web page? Twitter and Instagram aren't efficient contact channels and are probably not monitored by the support staff.

 

[Chris Sederqvist]

Nice job of cleaning it up. That is not corrosion, or else it wouldn't have "cleaned" up with just a rag and cleaner/polish. Looks like there was some grime or polishing compound, or something spilled on the frets and neck. Also, the wood is not "cracked" that is just natural for rosewood. But most importantly, what dealer would ship it like that?

After reading your several other posts about the same guitar, this seems to be another instance of the buyer not working with the dealer that sold it in bad condition, for some unexplained reason, and trying to bypass the dealer and deal with PRS directly. Sound familiar to anyone? Unauthorized dealer? Trying to wrongfully knock PRS? Fishy

Yes it's easy to blame the dealer, but considering they are a large world-wide dealer of nearly all Music gear and brands and a qualified dealer for selling PRS (it's Gear4Music.com) and that the serial checked out fine when registering it... Not buying that without a joint too much. I had a similar thought, but shaked it off.

So Gear4Music buys several instruments at a time and they distribute them directly (no stores that I know of) to specialized storage facilities around the world.
So in this case the "dealer" has most likely never had anything to do with the guitar except from ordering it from the factory / PRS and shipping it to Sweden, and this is only a few months ago.

On top of the fact that nothing on the outside boxes had ANY DAMAGE, and that's cardboard. Would probably have shown if it had been in a storage facility with some serious issues. and that was the outer-layer box straight from the factory in Indonesia, it was printed on the box and all, and the tech check happened in the UK, on its way to storage in Sweden, not the other way around and the guitar has since been placed with other instruments and electronics in a specialized storage facility there, and I live one country away from Sweden.

Regarding why I didn't just return it:
It was ordered online and used a few days to get here, and it was a Friday, and I knew that the neck wasn't beyond repair, so I wanted to do it myself. Was offered free pickup on next Wednesday via UPS and it wouldn't have costed me a penny.
Would even get a $35 discount. So call me stubborn or stupid, maybe both, but that's who I am and that's what I did. Would probably do it again.


I'll answer the other questions tomorrow. Gotta catch some ZZzz's...

 

[Chris Sederqvist]

IMO it sat hung up in a closed music store for around 1-2 months ...

congrats on the new guitar though

If the explanation was that simple, I wouldn't need help to figure out what went wrong. Problem is that THERE IS NO PROBLEM that separates this sale from the other 1000 or whatever orders that Gear4Music push out each day.

 

[Chris Sederqvist]

Pictures of the rest of the guitar?

Well, I said that the rest of the guitar was in stellar condition.
Why do you want that? Are you accusing me of making this up or something? What on earth would benefit from that?
Using this forum-from-the-stonage server software it isn't that funny to post 10 images in a go.
But I have one here if it makes you feel better:

It is in fine condition now.

I see that the compression used on the forum system didn't do that picture any favors, and I also notice that "hey, that's not showing the PRS Logo, could be fake..." or if some other strange tought arrives in your head, fire it my way and I'll clear up any misunderstandings.

I don't have a habit of taking pictures of stuff I purchase unless there is a good reason to, and the complete guitar was never really an issue.

 

[Chris Sederqvist]

You should start with the dealer that sent you that mess...

See my answer above. The "dealer" wasn't really involved in any crime besides trusting the PRS logistics and a separate company that they use for storing many other instruments and lots of other gear as well...

 

[Chris Sederqvist]

The point is that I DON'T KNOW so I ask for other's ideas and thoughts, because I've been through all the obvious, plain logic explanations and solutions myself trying to figure this sh*t out!
It's not like I'm wasted or have 3 brain cells working. (must be at least 5).
Starting to feel like a ******ng suspect or something here.

Well, probably just need some sleep.
Later.

 

[HANGAR18]

Well, I said that the rest of the guitar was in stellar condition.
Why do you want that? Are you accusing me of making this up or something? What on earth would benefit from that?
Using this forum-from-the-stonage server software it isn't that funny to post 10 images in a go.
But I have one here if it makes you feel better:

It is in fine condition now.

I see that the compression used on the forum system didn't do that picture any favors, and I also notice that "hey, that's not showing the PRS Logo, could be fake..." or if some other strange tought arrives in your head, fire it my way and I'll clear up any misunderstandings.

I don't have a habit of taking pictures of stuff I purchase unless there is a good reason to, and the complete guitar was never really an issue.

Because I said so. That's why.

 

[Mozzi]

All that PRS checklist tells you is that it was 'checked' and passed on whatever date that it was signed off. Its then travelled to a distributor or to the store. Whether that store has a storage facility before distributing to individual stores or not, that could be another journey. Gear4Music do not use UK PRS Reps at all to acquire their instruments but use a European stockist/rep. There is also the possibility that you are not actually buying a 'brand new' guitar, that it could be a store demo model that's out on display for anyone to come in and try. I know that people trying guitars of late has been significantly reduced but it could have been on display before lockdown and left with 'grime' on hanging in store for months.

A decent store should at least check the guitar is in a fit condition to sell - although it seems they are less inclined to do so on guitars under a certain price point. It should be their responsibility to check that the goods they are selling, match the description. The piece of card that PRS supply is only saying that the guitar was checked and set-up on whatever day that it was signed. A LOT can happen in between that card being signed and you taking ownership of it. It could even of been sold once and a return for a full refund - of course the Dealer again should be responsible.

Anyway, the point is the dealer is responsible for checking that their stock arrives as expected and that they sell the products as described. The fact that PRS check guitars before dispatching to retailers only means that on the date that its signed, it was passed to go to retail but not that it will still be up to standard several months later after several journeys and potentially being handled by others too before you buy. If you go into a store, you can grab many guitars to play, many left hanging for months until bought. You can't blame PRS unless you bought it direct from them. You have no evidence that that guitar left PRS in that condition....

 

[shimmilou]

See my answer above. The "dealer" wasn't really involved in any crime besides trusting the PRS logistics and a separate company that they use for storing many other instruments and lots of other gear as well...

That seems to be the part that escapes you. The dealer is the one you bought the guitar from, not PRS, therefore your proper recourse is to complain to the dealer. Trying to bypass the dealer and complain to PRS is like back-dooring them, not the right thing to do.

 

[AaeCee]

The point is that I DON'T KNOW so I ask for other's ideas and thoughts, because I've been through all the obvious, plain logic explanations and solutions myself trying to figure this sh*t out!
It's not like I'm wasted or have 3 brain cells working. (must be at least 5).
Starting to feel like a ******ng suspect or something here.

No need to be so hostile. Everyone here is simply trying to get a bead on the situation and is civilly asking all the right questions in a completely non-threatening fashion. We've all been around guitar order mishaps for quite a while, have seen our share of misplaced blame, and are inclined to dig deep enough to cover all bases. That seems to rankle you and make you somewhat defensive however, which has at times been the case when there's more to the story than we're being told.

No one here is defending anyone and all truly want to help, first to see the situation resolved, as well as assuring that a company we all admire stays true to their tradition of exemplary customer service. If you take the queries as intended and provide the details in an equally civil manner, I can assure you that a favorable path toward resolution will be identified if warranted.

 

[AtkinsGS]

Looks like compound on the frets.

most of the new guitars I have bought came with dead strings or with some rust on the strings.
Depends on how long it sat in the box some place .

Factory strings always go the garbage on the first day .

some sort of inspection was missed for sure along the way . Maybe the dealer did some work and don’t wipe it down when done hard to say?

My dealer did a final review of the guitar I purchased.

Can’t say I have ever received a guitar that didn’t have a dry fretboard that didn’t require
Conditioning. Even a 3500 Gibson I bought had a dry board.

If oiling the board solves your board issues
Re what you thought was a crack , cracks can’t be fixed with oil. Is there still a crack or was it just a Wood grain that’s natural and has faded now that it has been oiled?
If you have a crack , send it back for sure .


Btw I sold that 3500 Gibson and I have the 35th prs SE in its place along with JV strat.

Could not take the hum on the Gibson with the pc board. Gibson could not stay in tune to save its life with me as an owner.

guess I like mine a lot and could not be happier with mine ... prs stays in tune as well, it’s a killer
Guitar for the $ and shoots way above its price.

Hope you enjoy your new prs SE 35th as much as I do