What don't you like about PRS guitars?

[Dancing Frog]

I dislike how their current product line has moved back toward the Gibson tone again. No models with Swamp Ash or Alder bodies or bolted necks are in this years line up. I also dislike that they removed the trimmings that made the 513 special and unique, modern birds and its own neck carve. I haven't bought a 513 outside of Private Stock since they made that change.

 

[RedGuitars]

I haven't bought a 513 outside of Private Stock since they made that change.

And lord knows you need another! :biggrin:

 

[11top]

I wish they offered figured tops.

 

[HANGAR18]

I dislike how their current product line has moved back toward the Gibson tone again. No models with Swamp Ash or Alder bodies or bolted necks are in this years line up. I also dislike that they removed the trimmings that made the 513 special and unique, modern birds and its own neck carve. I haven't bought a 513 outside of Private Stock since they made that change.

Gibson doesn't "own" any particular tone. PRS simply has a very wide range of tones available from the many different pickups that they make, and some of them have certain tonal qualities that resemble the big fat tone of certain classic guitars.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

I dislike how their current product line has moved back toward the Gibson tone again. No models with Swamp Ash or Alder bodies or bolted necks are in this years line up.

I agree!... but.... I feel like I'm a bit of a nightmare for PRS's "F-style" development team: They put out the NF3, DC3, 305, SAS NF, and BM yet I don't want any of them. I suck.

 

[Dancing Frog]

I agree!... but.... I feel like I'm a bit of a nightmare for PRS's "F-style" development team: They put out the NF3, DC3, 305, SAS NF, and BM yet I don't want any of them. I suck.

As do I. I feel that every time that they move in that direction, they get closer and closer to something really special. But then, they completely run away. If they spent as much effort as they did on recreating and evolving the classic 50's humbucker tone with 5xxx/20xx series pick ups as getting the perfect singlecoil tone, we'd be there already.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

As do I. I feel that every time that they move in that direction, they get closer and closer to something really special. But then, they completely run away. If they spent as much effort as they did on recreating and evolving the classic 50's humbucker tone with 5xxx/20xx series pick ups as getting the perfect singlecoil tone, we'd be there already.

Well, at least you keep buying 'em! I'm like a b!tchy girl at the bar that keeps turning her nose up when hit on, eventually they're just gonna stop courting me, and I'll go home alone.

What do I want?! I'd like to think they could just slap some Fralin (or something) single coils on an alder CE 22 and I'd be happy, but I'm sure it's a little more complex than that.

 

[CantankerousCarl]

Well, at least you keep buying 'em! I'm like a b!tchy girl at the bar that keeps turning her nose up when hit on, eventually they're just gonna stop courting me, and I'll go home alone.

What do I want?! I'd like to think they could just slap some Fralin (or something) single coils on an alder CE 22 and I'd be happy, but I'm sure it's a little more complex than that.

Well, nothin' personal, but it it's you and an alder-bodied CE left at the bar and the end of the night, my date's the one going home in a case

I will +1 myself to the suckitude bandwagon...I have almosted a DC3, NF3 and SAS, yet have always ended up with something different...

 

[alantig]

Well, at least you keep buying 'em! I'm like a b!tchy girl at the bar that keeps turning her nose up when hit on, eventually they're just gonna stop courting me, and I'll go home alone.

What do I want?! I'd like to think they could just slap some Fralin (or something) single coils on an alder CE 22 and I'd be happy, but I'm sure it's a little more complex than that.

Well, nothin' personal, but it it's you and an alder-bodied CE left at the bar and the end of the night, my date's the one going home in a case

I will +1 myself to the suckitude bandwagon...I have almosted a DC3, NF3 and SAS, yet have always ended up with something different...

What makes you think Sergio won't get in the case?

 

[richardlpalmer]

Here is the thread, the date was June the 24th at A Sharp Music.
http://prsguitars.com/forum/showthread.php?5431-PRS-Meet-amp-Greet-Local-Dealer-4-24-2013

I just realized the folder for my pics and also the thread title state it was April the 24th.
Man, the next day when I made that thread and the folder for my pics I dated it two months prior.
Was just looking at it and I did not get my 408 until late May, so no way could it have been in April since I took my 408 to the shindig.

We were sitting on the far left about half way back.

Yup, we were there. I'll check out your thread -- and hopefully I can find a picture from us there. I asked a kid to take one of use with Paul but it didn't turn out.

My son was the gigantic kid drooling over that bass.

I wish they offered figured tops.

I know, right?

 

[ibis]

2. Perhaps not related to some deficiency in the guitars themselves, but the parts are priced astronomically for no apparent reason. Even the "G" company prices its parts as relative bargains in comparison and I just don't understand it. The cost of the US bridge is obscene for a simple piece of CNC'd aluminum, and I don't know what those lampshade knobs are made of but for the absurd price (for a set of only 2 no less!) I sure hope it is something rare and unique.

+1 on the parts price. Unjustifiable.

This thread had me thinking. I reckon one reason that I don't GAS for more PRSi (I have 2) is that I like bound bodies and necks. My premium purchases in recent years have been Gibson and Hamer. I did pick up a Bernie SE though. I might pick up a green Myers SE despite what I just said because it is very pretty as it is!

My old '89 GT has had its 5-way rotary replaced by a toggle and push/pull volume. The sweet switch is meh? The neck is a little narrow for my current liking. These 'gripes' are nothing that hasn't been fixed, or evolved, over the many years of PRSi. One thing that I'm not too keen on are the large heels on current instruments compared to my old gold top. The single cuts are better but could do with a little more in the way of top fret access, like the Washburn idols had.

These are just honest opinions and nothing to detract on the beauty of PRSi. I'm a newbie here and don't want to upset anyone. I thought I'd add my opinion on the basis that I've been playing a PRS for a long, long time and have been buying premium instruments (and modifying them for stage use) for even longer!

 

[MykeWright]

1. Not enough double-cut models with 2 volume controls
2. High 'E' on the DGT neck is too close to the edge of the fretboard
3. Prefer W/F to Pattern
4 Would like a Fatter option than W/F
5 Pots on Piezo equipped guitars (2008 specifically) feel cheap
6 Would prefer all coil-taps to be 408 style - 2 micro-switches, no push-pull

 

[HANGAR18]

At one time, it did sort of bother me that PRS didn't do any "real" binding around the bodies but my tastes have changed and I'm fine with the unstained Maple edge you see on many PRS guitars. I still like binding done the old school way but I simply look to a different brand for that. If you like binding and you have enough money to buy a Gibson, you might consider buying two Heritage guitars for the same price as a Gibson, which, by the way, are still being made in the original Gibson factory in Kalamazoo Michigan. It's like being able to buy a brand new vintage guitar, made better than a Gibson and for half the price. My current collection of PRS guitars consists of both unstained simulated body bindings and fully stained/colored edges.

 

[blaren]

Mine are pretty minor but I have a few.
-The new V12 finish looks and feels great (I don't HEAR a difference) but is VERY hard (brittle) and thin. Jost LOOK at it wrong and I get a chip in the finish.
-The new cases are cheap and stupid. No more padded handles (I guess most PRS players don't carry their own guitars or don't carry them far) and all 3 latches are the cheapos.
-I think the switch tips and trem arm tips should be nicer. Actually the whole trem arms are cheap and import-looking.
-I'm the odd one out but I wish I could get a WT carve on all of them. WF isn't for me. I have a PT and much prefer the old WT or the SE's WTs.
-The new TRCs (at least the ones in 2012) with their big bright white block-ish logos/model names (my Studio in particular) looks cheap. I flipped mine over until a new one arrived.
-When they had the rotary (I didn't think I liked it..until it was gone) switches, the FIVE way rotaries, why the 10 numbers?? That wouldn't even happen on a Squier or Epi.
-The S2s!!! Why aren't they like $800 LP Studios? REAL PRSs (core-style) with no bling. Satin, dots, unbound, plain tops, standards maybe?, gigbag, and made in the USA! If we wanted fugly SEs that are (pretty much only) assembled in the USA...uhh...well we DONT. How are the S2s doing BTW? Selling-out? Doing well? Werent they created to allow youngsters (and old guys like me) to get into a USA PRS without blowing all their paper route money? Keep saving kids...that S2 aint made in the USA!
-Did I mention that I kinda miss the rotary switch?

All pretty trivial. Mostly cosmetic gripes.
Of all of those the only no-gos for me are the S2s and, SO many times I see a PRS that I NEED...oopsies..WANT...which is about 3 times a day...they usually have WF or Pattern, pattern reg, PT...I can live with my Studio's PT carve but 9 times out of 10 when I go...WOAH...what can I sell to GET THAT!? Oh....Pattern family carve? Fageddaboudit. Phew.

Neck carves were mentioned on page 1. Very valid points were brought up. They COULD offer the old WT and WF carves on all models without it costing any serious extra money. When neck blanks are loaded, instead of pushing on the P, PR, PT carves just press on the WT button.
By the same token, they are already cutting core model body violin profiles. Creating a whole new body style and cnc program for the S2s costs more than just using the good old software.

And finally...more on the neck carves. (good thing I didn't have any serious major complaints lmao)...as I mentioned, I didn't/don't bond with the old WF carves. Because of it my McSoapy is in real good shape lol. It's now my slide-only beast. I just don't like the clunky, beefy, BATs like the old '50s gibbies and old Broadcasters, Nocasters and Esquires.
When the old carves were being used on the cores though, the people who did love the WF carves actually (it seemed from reading threads) would have preferred them to be even F-er and even MORE beefy/50's-ish. The rest of us loved the WT carves but I also used to read a lot of "the WT carve is great but it aint no Ibanez!! So evidently, a lot of WF lovers loved that carve but coulda done with it being even FATTER and the WT lovers wouldn't have minded if it was T-er and W-er and even F(latt)-er.
So WHY did they turn the extremes into mediocre-please no-one, in-between, neithr here nor there...(I always use the rear-end (diff) analogy. There are 4:10s or 456s or 411s that are great for the quarter. There are 273s and other steep ratios that give huge top end. And then there are the 373s that are decent (read not very good) at the quarter and have a decent (read not very good) top end. The old Jack of all trades, master of NONE.
True, you can't please everyone. But that doesn't mean you should try to please NO one.

Hey, I know there are lots of lovers of the new carves. For a lot of us though, they are deal-breakers :-(.
Not a bad thing though really. Not when the SEs have the oldschool carves and are SO awesome and such great values. Even when you compare a $700 SE SC to an $800 USA Les Paul Studio.
If my only comfortable neck options lie in the SE line that's great news for me because I LOVE the SEs and I don't really care where my guitars are made (unless they claim to be made in one country but are loaded with Asian parts...that's just greasy)...AND...it means more guitars for Shane! I can get 3 or 4 SEs for the price of a single core model and I'll LOVE the necks. Of course I'll be limited to another Tremonti SE Custom, a SECU24 and that old Floyd model (name evades me right now) unit...there aren't a LOT of SEs with the WT carve...I really have my eye on the SECU24FR. I LOVE the ZM SC semi-hollow and would be in line for one right now...IF they had a WT carve :-(
The WF and Pattern family of carves are saving me an awful lot of money (that I don't have anyway).

So, other than the neck carves and a few really minor cosmetic "issues" and case-problems...I don't have much to cry about.

Now, if the question was...What do you LOVE about your PRSs? I'd be typing for a YEAR and NONE of us wants THAT!
PRS has given me the guitars I LOVE. When I think about it, I cant even imagine still being chained to a strat, tele, and gibby. Not that there's anything WRONG with those but I don't even want to think about what that would be like. Actually, I'd probably be playing Korean Gretches. A nice great big, wet black, covered in '50s Caddy chrome is really SEXY.

THANK YOU PRS. Thanks for being AWESOME. Thank you for my old CE24 and it's (too) thin neck. Oh...it IS hard to see those fretmarkers in the dark. I used to add white-out to them every second night. Especially though, THANK YOU for making such AWESOME SEs and still offering the old carves. Pretty sure that is where all my money will be going for the next few years. I'd love a new 2014 unit with a killer top and Pattern carve...to hang on my wall but until they come with WT carves I'll be populating my collection with SEs. An SECU24, SECU24FR, ZM SE SC (either live with the carve or re-carve it myself), an SE Soapbar, one of those SE HB Bigsbys, an SE One, an SE245 (I guess I have a s-load of re-carving to do ...which I wouldn't do on a core model's neck..well maybe...I did on the old CE :wink), another Tremonti but a quilt one, an SE Angelus, an SE bass (one day?), an SE amp.
Just referred to my crystal ball and I do NOT see any S2s in my future :-(

I LOVE PRS guitars!

EDIT: I guess that "and finally..." was bullpoop. Sorry.

 

[HANGAR18]

yawn... :goodnight: