Why the hatred?

Solteroblues

Solteroblues

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The thread about no one playing PRSi in the San Diego area inspired this thread...

Why do you think PRS are either a love it or hate it brand? I think it's safe to say here on this forum at least, we all love all things PRS. But most other sites, such as MLP and TGP, and a few others, the mere mention of PRS brings out all of the haters. I can understand not bonding with an instrument, but more often than not, it's not a "I just can't bond with PRS" its more of a "I hate PRS!" "Birds are the ugliest!" etc...

Now granted, I KNOW its not all black and white, but it sure seems like it is most of the time.
 
Coming from an original "Gibson and Fender only" guy--It's because PRS is an American brand, but wasn't around in "the golden years," 1954-1964.

So how can they be any good? "Clapton and Hendrix never played one."

You'll get this kind of comment from "brand lovers."

"I bought this thing, and I'm a smart guy, so my guitar is the best and yours is trash."

To be fair, there are PRS owners that are the same way toward other brands.
 
I feel there is a lot of people speaking without experience with the hated instruments. Not just with PRS, but with other brands as well. For instance, I read someone say they didn't like PRS because of the skinny necks, which suggests the author had no real experience with PRS. PRS is growing and now are growing its market share. Hatred will come with the territory.
 
Don't forget the usual "Their pickups suck, they have no character" statements, as well!

I used to be a Gibson only kind of guy, but I've never bonded with a Gibson like I have with my PRS guitars over the years. At first I thought maybe it was just jealousy, but I don't know. You hear a lot more Dentist and Lawyer jokes about PRS than you do Gibson or Fender, even though many Gibson's cost as much as PRS. After owning several, I just don't know how anyone could hate them if they've ever played them.
 
Hmmm, it should be about quality only, but face it, it’s about aesthetics and perception as well. I as a non-guitarist who shops for my husband was instantly drawn to PRS. We watched the factory tour and the finishes are just hands down the best! My husbands dream guitar was always, surprise, a Les Paul. We were able to get him a new LP studio. He does have a tele, a Dot, a strat, and well many others. For him, he really wanted a PRS in the early 90’s when all the 70’s guys started Carlos, Nugent. By the time he could get one in the late 90’s all the newer guys were on the PRS wagon and he thought they were now a little trendy. I finally told him we had to add one to the arsenal. @ this point we have um a lot of guitars sooo, we are picky. What can it add that I don’t have? Can we get it in pink, so you’ll shut up about my needing a pink guitar....he likes the PRS SE 24 the best, almost bought a pink one from Japan, but went and played them and hates wide thin necks! Long story short we got a Zach Myers in trampas. I would have preferred violet, but as you all know, beggars can’t be choosers in the SE line. My hope is he really enjoys it. He did admit a lot of his Gibson love comes from the glory days. First humbuckers, blah blah. Even he is excited to receive our first PRS.
 
Heidi Korsmo said:
Hmmm, it should be about quality only, but face it, it’s about aesthetics and perception as well. I as a non-guitarist who shops for my husband was instantly drawn to PRS. We watched the factory tour and the finishes are just hands down the best! My husbands dream guitar was always, surprise, a Les Paul. We were able to get him a new LP studio. He does have a tele, a Dot, a strat, and well many others. For him, he really wanted a PRS in the early 90’s when all the 70’s guys started Carlos, Nugent. By the time he could get one in the late 90’s all the newer guys were on the PRS wagon and he thought they were now a little trendy. I finally told him we had to add one to the arsenal. @ this point we have um a lot of guitars sooo, we are picky. What can it add that I don’t have? Can we get it in pink, so you’ll shut up about my needing a pink guitar....he likes the PRS SE 24 the best, almost bought a pink one from Japan, but went and played them and hates wide thin necks! Long story short we got a Zach Myers in trampas. I would have preferred violet, but as you all know, beggars can’t be choosers in the SE line. My hope is he really enjoys it. He did admit a lot of his Gibson love comes from the glory days. First humbuckers, blah blah. Even he is excited to receive our first PRS.
Click to expand...

You buy guitars for your husband and this will be "our" first PRS?
Your husband is a lucky man indeed. Just an observation.
 
Well, if we tried to love something instead of hating it, would that solve our problem? Sure, there are folks who hate. Sometimes they do it out of sheer ignorance and know nothing about a product, but they're familiar with other products and gravitate towards these.

Let's put it this way: If perhaps you've never experienced or being around other people of different races or nationalities, maybe you might not feel comfortable around them, because of the way they dress, look, speak a different language, or enjoy different things.

Yet, what fascinates me is that love is a universal language everyone can appreciate. While hatred is divisive and causes enmity between groups of people, love brings people together in ways we all can appreciate.

Why, then, the PRS hatred? It's likely because folks who don't prefer PRSi prefer their own choice of products, and have become familiar with these. They may be biased against PRSi, simply because they like what they already have, and are not as open to hearing discussions about for or against certain instruments.

As was said in a previous post, you can't change someone else's viewpoint of something, you can only try to understand the other person's view, and consider your own. Perhaps you may be persuaded to learn to like something that is unfamiliar or foreign to you. If perhaps you understand the other person's viewpoint, it will only bring you closer together, perhaps not ideologically, but will certain help eliminate the divisiveness and finger-pointing that exists, not only in the world of guitars, but in the world itself.
 
My personal, somewhat Freudian theory is that it’s because they’re kind of non-binary guitars.

I feel that’s partially why the Silver Sky and 594 guitars are so popular: they fit neatly into traditional guitar archetypes, ie: Fender or Gibson, meanwhile the original PRS guitars possess attractive attributes of both.

This can then lead to an existential crisis for some players who are unable to come to terms with the realisation that they like (and dislike) certain things about Gibson and Fender, and they are ashamed of that attraction. The fear of their desire being unacceptable in society can then lead to repression and ultimately hatred.

Plus, we can’t all agree on which bathroom they should use.
 
Don't forget jealousy too. Just because they can't afford such a great guitar is a big reason and they try and find 'something' to hate about it even with no actual knowledge or experience. A guitar that is so precise and 'perfect' in build must have no 'soul', no 'character' because that's how thy perceive a precision machine built machine would be. On the one hand, criticising other brands for consistency and fit and finish issues, wanting to 'fight' with the guitar rather than have a 'great' and very playable guitar. I could go on but I am sure we have all met or read comments from the uneducated and inexperienced idiots on the net who think they know everything.

Its these people who also think a CNC machine makes 'guitars' by putting wood in, pressing the button and a guitar pop's out the other end. Believing that this removes the need for a skilled luthier to ensure the neck fits perfectly, that the frets are fitted, crowned, leveled, finished and the neck rolled perfectly because CNC does all of that...

I choose to ignore rather than to educate (you can't teach someone who 'know's it all' and not willing to learn), and just enjoy playing my PRS guitars. I would say that means more great guitars for us but the turnover of the shops here in the UK seems that they are selling PRS guitars fairly quick. Its no point hoping that the PRS guitar you really want, the colour and top, will still be up for sale in 5/6months time when you have saved and saved up enough to buy...
 
Solteroblues said:
Don't forget the usual "Their pickups suck, they have no character" statements, as well!

I used to be a Gibson only kind of guy, but I've never bonded with a Gibson like I have with my PRS guitars over the years. At first I thought maybe it was just jealousy, but I don't know. You hear a lot more Dentist and Lawyer jokes about PRS than you do Gibson or Fender, even though many Gibson's cost as much as PRS. After owning several, I just don't know how anyone could hate them if they've ever played them.
Click to expand...
Interesting, we almost always assume we are going to swap pu’s. We gasp, but new pu’s in his LP a Duncan 59 neck and 59 hybrid bridge. Our favorite guitar is a beat up old Gibby SG we put Saturday Night specials in and he let me pick a pimpy pick guard and new knobs on. Surprisingly, we bought a cheap pink Schecter and he loves the stock pu’s, who’d a thunk right? So for me it’s a surprise pu’s are a deal breaker!
 
alantig said:
They’ve been doing this for years, and this is the first PRS they’ve bought - how lucky is he, really? :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
Well, the other choices have been his, I enthusiastically assist, but in the long run, I have to defer to the person actually playing the guitar! Let’s call him lucky because we did finally get one, and hey if he loves it, I would love to pick out more! But, I will say, we now have enough guitars that we might have to start trading in....
 
Mozzi said:
Don't forget jealousy too. Just because they can't afford such a great guitar is a big reason and they try and find 'something' to hate about it even with no actual knowledge or experience. A guitar that is so precise and 'perfect' in build must have no 'soul', no 'character' because that's how thy perceive a precision machine built machine would be. On the one hand, criticising other brands for consistency and fit and finish issues, wanting to 'fight' with the guitar rather than have a 'great' and very playable guitar. I could go on but I am sure we have all met or read comments from the uneducated and inexperienced idiots on the net who think they know everything.

Its these people who also think a CNC machine makes 'guitars' by putting wood in, pressing the button and a guitar pop's out the other end. Believing that this removes the need for a skilled luthier to ensure the neck fits perfectly, that the frets are fitted, crowned, leveled, finished and the neck rolled perfectly because CNC does all of that...

I choose to ignore rather than to educate (you can't teach someone who 'know's it all' and not willing to learn), and just enjoy playing my PRS guitars. I would say that means more great guitars for us but the turnover of the shops here in the UK seems that they are selling PRS guitars fairly quick. Its no point hoping that the PRS guitar you really want, the colour and top, will still be up for sale in 5/6months time when you have saved and saved up enough to buy...
Click to expand...

I might agree with this except that envying another's instrument leads to all sorts of disordered reasonings. Not so much in a bad way as when we descend upon meet and greets at things like Summer NAMM, but the resultant coveting of instruments that causes our eyes to widen and our hands to reach into our pants pockets for our wallets...

I worry sometimes that 'desire' can result in good things, but more likely than not, into inappropriate things as well.

Regards folks who purport to know-it-all, one can still earn when they are good listeners rather than ones who just talk at you. That's just a rule of thumb. Perhaps being patient with folks is letting them talk until they've said their peace and then you can render a decision once you've heard them out. Makes sense to let them speak, right? You may actually glean something from them, but the discerning one isn't fooled by just talking. There may be something to it, but hearing therm out is a way towards understanding and knowledge, and more peaceable relationships, rather than judging too quickly and/or harshly. As the wise DreamTheaterRules once said, "Patience, Grasshopper..."
 
Part of it is the "guitars for dentists" trope. Core PRS are pricey and a bit "precious" with their birds and ornate flames.

Also I can see where Paul may rub some the wrong way as he's bit of showman and salesman talking things like "tonewood", the exposed brass and the clink of nuts stuff that sounds more like magic than anything else.

I dig it and take most of it with a grain of salt. The attention to detail and craftsmanship speak for themselves and once you actually play a PRS, you get it.
 
Forgive the non-PRS part, this warmoth body was the first thing I bought him, look @ the smile! This is why I love our GAS.
 
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