When did you first hear about PRS and what made you want to own one?

My first bandmate and good friends in the mid 80s came to me said he bought a KILLER guitar turned out to be a VY CU24 got him a custom made flight case for it and yes he still has it , in perfect condition.
Never thought much about PRS for years then I saw a review for the Mark Tremonti SE went and tried one got it, great guitar for the cash but I flipped it when the values went up because of the lawsuit.
Later I was looking for an SG stumbled on the KL-33 ( which is how I met Sergio )
20 or so PRS later I am hooked for life
 
I first heard about PRS 10 minutes before I bought my first one. The green Cu24AP in my avatar. I walked in looking for a LP; walked out with some crazy beautiful and easy to play thing called a PRS. That was 12 years and 17 PRSi ago!
 
Anyone reading Guitar Player magazine in the ‘80s knew about PRS. I spent the better part of 10 years thinking I didn’t need another guitar because, quite frankly, it was a pain in the butt. You had to sit and play dozens of the same model to find a good one and that took a long time when you have a young family at home (spare time is measured in seconds). Then, when I did walk into the first store that had one, I was basically told that I couldn’t afford one. :mad: So I bought six.
 
I’ve been a wood nut my entire life and was into figured shotgun stocks (and other objects). As a small boy, I used to visit sawmills with my dad when he was on the prowl for fancy lumber. Even on vacation, we would stop in local sawmills looking for cocobolo and other exotics.

In the early ‘90s, I was looking at a guitar magazine and saw this small ad with these guitars with highly-figured maple tops. I was immediately interested and discovered that Indy had a dealer, Guitars and More. I called and the owner, Dean, didn’t really take my inquiries seriously. Then, I showed up with credit card in hand. ;) Dean’s become one of my closest friends. I miss his store which closed years ago.

I ordered two guitars that day, a natural quilt Artist II, and a natural top CE. I still have the Artist II.

 
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1988. I had emigrated to the States a year earlier. Walked into a Sam Ash in NY and saw these two beautiful, understated black and dark blue PRS guitars on the wall - for some reason, they stood out among all the wildly painted pointy super-strats lining the walls. No internet in those days, so info came from the sales guys, and Guitar Player magazine. Then I saw Al di Meola playing one with a Boogie (he played a show on campus), and I thought to myself... that's the thick, sustaining tone I want. Took almost 30 years, but I got one!
 
I can't pinpoint a specific moment; they've just always been a part of my guitar playing consciousness. My earliest memory is drooling over the catalog with a friend around 1993. There were always ads in the guitar magazines, too.

What made me want one was getting a Custom 24 in my hands and playing it!
 
'97.....Guitar Center Villa Park. I don't recall if I'd known anything about them before seeing them hanging there on the wall. There were probably a dozen, or so, just hanging there. They on the wall behind workbench, or small counter, so you couldn't just grab one. I left without touching one, but could not get them out of my mind. They just looked so cool, and they were different. Endless blathering about them to the Mrs resulted in a trip back there a couple,of weeks later. That day I left with a McCarty. Not sure what finish it was. It was a burgundy-ish color. That was a great guitar. Wish I still had it.
 
11top said:
I’ve been a wood nut my entire life and was into figured shotgun stocks (and other objects). As a small boy, I used to visit sawmills with my dad when he was on the prowl for fancy lumber. Even on vacation, we would stop in local sawmills looking for cocobolo and other exotics.

In the early ‘90s, I was looking at a guitar magazine and saw this small ad with these guitars with highly-figured maple tops. I was immediately interested and discovered that Indy had a dealer, Guitars and More. I called and the owner, Dean, didn’t really take my inquiries seriously. Then, I showed up with credit card in hand. ;) Dean’s become one of my closest friends. I miss his store which closed years ago.

I ordered two guitars that day, a natural quilt Artist II, and a natural top CE. I still have the Artist II.

Click to expand...

I’ve always wanted one of those.
 
1989. I decided to buy one really nice guitar to gig with (which was 4 PRS'S and one wife ago) so I went to various music stores around Pittsburgh. Looked at the usual Strat, LP and higher end schecter etc. Saw an ad for the CE 24 went to pianos and stuff, ordered it and the rest is history. And debt
 
It was probably 1989 at Thoroughbred Music in Tampa, FL. I was looking at a new Ibanez...an RG550 if I remember right. At the far end of the row of guitars they had all these PRETTY wood-looking guitars. There was a green one with birds on the neck. I asked to play it, and surprisingly they let me. I saw the price and KNEW I would not be buying it, lol....it was gonna be a struggle buying the 550!!

Anyway, I played that green guitar for a good 20 minutes before the sale dude came over and took it back. I was sad because he took it back and I couldn't afford it. At the time it seemed like the PERFECT guitar - except for being "fancy" looking....

Fast forward several years - maybe 1998 (?) - and I nabbed a CE24 in Tortoise. I was SOOOOOO excited!!! But, it didn't click. By then I had my rig worked out and the HFS/VB pickups were ghastly!! I had spent a lot on that guitar and didn't want too change it....then my car's A/C went out. I sold the PRS to get the A/C fixed.

Several years later I tried again - a CE24 Mahogany is Blazing Copper. Used it for a few shows, but again there was something about its sound that annoyed me (and my band mates). Sold it off.....

More than a decade later I tried again. This time it was SE guitars. Went through a few and really liked them. I was between bands and was doing more recording/session work. I changed out the pickups in them and was really digging the sound. I figured it was time to try a "good" one again. In the meantime, I had bought the PRS book and had done a lot of reading on the various models. Figured I'd try something different.....

Enter the S2!! Loved them!!! They were killer!!! Tried a CU22. Loved it - it was killer!!!! Tried an MC58. Loved it - it was killer!! Tried and bought a bunch more - loved them.....

Figured out I hate 24 fret guitars. Remembered I HATE the HFS/VB pickups. I have religiously stayed away from CU24s. I have been happy!!

Wow, I talk a lot. Must e that 5 hour energy I just ingested.....
 
It was shortly after seeing a few advertisements in Guitar World, but the one that really caught my eye was one of Carlos Santana, I think it was January 1988. The ad showed Carlos holding a beautiful Custom 24 (I believe that was the model), wearing a Nelson Mandela shirt and there was some text in quotations about it being a "fast, powerful, ballsy instrument, like a Maserati." There was also a Flexidisk 33 1/3 record included in the magazine of him and Chester Thompson performing "Blues for Salvador". That was my first introduction to the PRS. Over the years, I started seeing more and more people ditching their Gibsons, Fenders, et al in favor of these beauties and it wasn't until 2014 that I finally was able to afford one for myself. After that, the bug had bitten and I've been happily infected ever since.
 
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I tried a friends prs back in the mid 90s. Hated the tone and could not figure out what the guy liked about it.

That guitar must of had the HFS/VB pickups because I don't like those pickups through my current amp and I had just purchased this amp new during that time.

After learning a little bit more about prs I lusted after a Mccarty and my wife bought me one as a gift.

Now I own 8
 
Early 90’s for me. Alex Lifeson, Dave Navarro and Chris Haskett were the 1st guys I was aware of I think. It wasn’t until I saw a display at a store with my dad that I really felt the GAS hit(around the same time). I was blown away by the figured maple tops, birds and different colors- blues, greens, purple...
 
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