Was this '98 McCarty a good deal?

[bretwomack]

I was in my local guitar shop the other day and they had a Hurricane Katrina damaged '98 McCarty. I don't have pictures of the damage, but the serial number on the headstock was gone (you could barely see some numbers when you held it to the light. The numbers looked to be stamped on, is that accurate?), and there were plenty of scratches and dings, most notably a small chunk of one of the ears of the headstock was missing. Also, a HUGE white stripe went across the tortoise shell finish, probably salt water damage. But hey, that's character and a story, right? It had a quilty-looking maple top and completely new electronics. They had it listed at $799 and it's long gone now. But I'm new at the PRS wheelin and dealin and I was wondering what you guys thought of that price. Got some pics of the pickup cavities:

This means the serial number was 8 37304, right? Does anyone know what the "FEAR" means?

Is this long number what the barcode system replaced?

Thought it was interesting!

-Bret

 

[docbennett]

I'll bump the thread to say that if it had played OK, the price was great...PTC could have made it "good as new" for some extra bucks and it still would have been a bargain...if it hadn't been compromised musically.

But, the real reason for the bump is to reiterate the OP's question...what does the "FEAR" mean??

 

[vchizzle]

Really would have to see a pic of the whole guitar and that combined with how it played and that it could be setup properly and hold tuning would determined. I'd say it's a fair price, dependent on those things. I've seen some McCarty's in good condition go for $1000-1200 so that would appeal to me more than a hurricane damaged guitar. On the other hand that guitar is part of history & maybe has some added mojo because of it