What started it all?

[rschleicher]

I was in a band when I was in Jr. High. My parents were kind enough to get me a 1965 Sears Silvertone (Harmony-built) guitar (model 1478, sort of a Fender Jaguar look-alike, with two De'Armond pups). It was $89.95 in the Sears catalog. Our band wasn't bad, except for some squeeky voices - we did some Doors, Animals, Beatles, a few Stones songs, Monkees, etc. After that band broke up (14-year-old version of "creative differences"....), I mostly stopped playing. But I kept the guitar, and would noodle around periodically.

Fast-forward to Christmas 2010. My wife surprises me (at the age of 55) with a month's worth of pre-paid weekly lessons, which I've been taking ever since. One year after that (Christmas 2011, basically) I find a beautiful barely-used (early 2011) CU24 at a very nice price, after concluding that I'm committed to continuing lessons, continuing to learn and improve, etc. I still have the old Silvertone, though - it can't compare, but does have its own character, not-bad tone, and sentimental value. Probably my next guitar will be an acoustic-electric of some kind.

 

[Brad737]

I bought a used Whale Blue Custom 24 in 94 or 95. It was stunning. But I didn't really get along with the Wide-Thin neck, and didn't really care for the tone through my amp at the time, so I sold it fairly soon after. I didn't buy another till a gent on an amp forum gave me a KILLER deal on a 2000 Singlecut. That guitar slayed me. The Wide-Fat neck was amazing to me, and it sounded incredible. I'd have to run through my photos, but I've gone through 15 or 20 since then. I currently have 9 PRSi. My favorite is my ME1, but all of the ones currently on hand are really great instruments.

 

[Boogie]

It was looking at the PRS website as a young teenager...

Sadly, there was no Internet when I was a teenager.

I'd followed PRSh's work since the late '80s but didn't get to play one until early '90s. My wife bought my Cu24 as a gift for me in '01.

 

[Albrecht Smuten]

I know I'm not supposed mentioning particular artist, but Mikael Akerfeldt really started it for me in the time I didn't know much about electric guitars. It was like "if it's good enough for him, it's definitely good enough for me" and I just loved the shape of the head. Then they started to sell SE's where I live and the Tremonti was just the most beautiful for me. No big deal really. Shortly after they released the Akerfeldt SE, which almost caused me a heartattack (for I couldn't buy another guitar) and I was thinking of trading for it, but I was scared of the tremolo bridge for tone-keeping reason...

The model I actually AM digging above others is the upcoming seven string (3-Mike-7).

 

[slowro]

I was into NuMetal and seen them constantly on TV, I was always into the HBII and Archtop and I will have one some day

I seen my CE24 on ebay years ago and fell in love with it straight away. I arranged a loan from my parents then worked my ass off to pay them back in 2 weeks. My dad took me a 310 mile round trip to pick it up and its never left my side since!

 

[JustRob]

Found a friend from high school I used to jam with has been at PRS for 20+ years. He invited me to the 2011 Experience. Always loved the look of PRSi but never played one. At the Experience everyone was so nice I decided to buy a CU24. Fell in love with the feel and playability. Want to trade up to a 10 top this year, but as it gets closer I can't even narrow down which model I want.

 

[Fox77]

I was a teenager in the early 90s when I first saw an ad for PRS guitars. It was a Custom 22 or 24 with birds and a gorgeous flame top in a vintage natural type finish. To this day, I think that this is the most beautiful doublecut guitar shape ever devised.

I knew I had to get one. After a 13 year break in guitar playing, I got my first PRS in 2010 and am up to 3 now, with more on the wish list

 

[11top]

Not my first guitar, but this is my first PRS. I actually ordered two at the same time after seeing an ad in a magazine, and then checking them out at Guitars and More (RIP) in Indianapolis. I was long into figured woods, and when I saw the tops in the ad, I was hooked. I also purchased a CE natural top that is long gone at the same time I ordered this Artist II (which I still have):

 

[garrett]

Custom 24. It was (and is) the most bad-ass rockin' machine.

 

[VHTStark]

In 2004 I played a rosewood necked McCarty and fell in love with the feel and tone. The very next day I ordered my own: a McRosie in trans black. That was my first PRS.

 

[rocguitar]

First PRS in the stable.......1987 Custom 24.

 

[johnnyguitar]

Played my 1st PRS in 1985 didn't have the money so I BBQ'd chickens and ribs and sold them at a stand on Route 50 at Hebron Md Rockawalkin Rd. at the curve all summer to save enough money to buy one in 1986..all those people going to Ocean City on Saturday and coming back the other side of the highway on Sunday helped me get my 1st one..sold that one and had Paul make me a custom one in 1989 with a Gibby stoptail and sweetswitch AND tone control with the 5way wired like a 86 probably the only one ever made that way sold that one in a divorce to Rick at Garrett Park but played with it on stage around Salisbury Md for a number of years

 

[solacematt]

Some really great posts here. I too find it funny how quite a few of us don't have the first one that we started with but eventually found our way back to the obsession

 

[dantedayjob]

'85 or '86 I was in a store in Flint, MI. One of the sales guys showed me this new guitar they just got in... a Whale Blue PRS Custom (Cu24) with birds. It was simply the best guitar I had ever had my hands on... it took me years before I was able to get one myself, but a Whale Blue Cu24 with birds is the first thing that pops into my head when someone says Paul Reed Smith

 

[Scriptor]

I am really new to PRS ... just got my "first one" a few weeks ago ... here's how I got started: Went into the store intending to try out some Les Paul's ... after playing several that just did not do it for me (they just weren't comparing well to my '76 LP Dlx that my middle son has all but "kidnapped" ... ) ... at any rate, a guy goes to get a guitar that he "just wants me to try w/o thinking about the price" ... he puts a Custom 22 in my hand ... no contest ... wheels started turning and in a few short days I traded a Strat to make it work and took home the PRS ... now, I am already thinking about the next one ...

That's how I got started but I just don't know how I'm gonna to stop ...

 

[QueenCityGuitars]

I used to teach guitar at a store called Buddy Rodger's Music and they were an early PRS dealer and the only PRS dealer in Cincinnati in the '80s. They had an '88 or '89 Custom stained gray black with bird inlays. I can still remember saying to one of the salesman, "What's with the birds?!" But the top and stain looked amazing and the guitar played and sounded like a million bucks. So, I did the only logical thing: I ordered a Jackson Soloist stained transparent black. :dontknow: When the Jackson came in, it looked like it has been stained with canned spinach. It was awful. So, they let me off the hook due to how badly it turned out and I bought a guitar Buddy's had in stock: a '90 Signature Limited stained vintage sunburst with gold hardware. I wish I still had it.

 

[OsirisProtocol]

Loving all the stories so far. Looks like a lot of people don't have their first PRSi with myself included. Hoping to change that someday.

 

[aristotle]

I went to GC to pick up strings and well.....
I always have Les Pauls and a strats to gig with, which covers things fine, so wasn't looking to pick up a PRS (the headstocks are "weird" afterall, and I'd never actually even picked one up before.)

There was some yellow-ish looking thing hanging on the wall with obviously rusty strings, and I had time to kill, so figured that I'd check it out. Knowing nothing about PRS other than hearing the name, I thought that they were all inexpensive shredder guitars. The guitar turned out to be a McCarty 25th Anniversary NF3. Didn't mean anything to me, but after playing it for a bit, I really liked it. It played great, and the NF3 pickups were a thing of their own. Single-coil-ish, but not trying to be a strat, or a P90, or whatever. A quick google on the cell phone showed that the asking price was about half of what MF and Sweetwater had it listed for. Still don't know why, but GC screws up pricing on a regular basis. So, I walked out with the set of strings that I came for (which they actually threw in) and the McCarty 25th NF3.

 

[Albrecht Smuten]

Played my 1st PRS in 1985 didn't have the money so I BBQ'd chickens and ribs and sold them at a stand on Route 50 at Hebron Md Rockawalkin Rd. at the curve all summer to save enough money to buy one in 1986..all those people going to Ocean City on Saturday and coming back the other side of the highway on Sunday helped me get my 1st one..sold that one and had Paul make me a custom one in 1989 with a Gibby stoptail and sweetswitch AND tone control with the 5way wired like a 86 probably the only one ever made that way sold that one in a divorce to Rick at Garrett Park but played with it on stage around Salisbury Md for a number of years

This is a beautiful story, thank you, it calmed me down in the morning.

 

[CE-man]

My first PRS came in 1986 when I walked in to my local music store and spotted a vintage yellow Custom 24 hanging on the wall. It caught my eye with its beautiful figured top. Pointing at it I asked the salesman " what is that"? He walked over pulled it down and said "this is a Paul Reed Smith Custom" as he handed it to me. He then led me over to a stool, sat me down and plugged the guitar into an amp. He explained to me that PRS was an up-and-coming guitar company out of Maryland. Once I sat down with it and started playing, I was blown away! The guitar played so easily and you could make it sound like a Strat or a Les Paul with the turn of a knob. I bought the guitar, it was #586. I kept it until just a few years ago. About 4 years later I found a CE-24 and it was love anew, still have that one.