Why the hatred?

[sergiodeblanc]

I don’t get many “furniture/dentist guitar” comments directed my way any more, but in the early days (90s) I did. I wasted a lot of time explaining and justifying to people who just felt like being morons to amuse themselves.

At some point in the 90s I started saying, “Hey, this is what I play. Want to compare session fee and broadcast royalty checks?”

I realize that response was kind of silly, but it did put a lid on the snarky comments. And I was doing a hell of a lot of national ad sessions with my PRSes, so I wasn’t BSing.

I’ll also add that I never got that kind of comment from the pro session players I knew. Just the wannabes.

I never heard the dentist thing until I got on the internet, and I’ve been playing a PRS since 1993.

Exactly one time I had a producer suggest my Les Paul over my PRS, and that was before I even plugged anything in. Once I did, and we A/Bed tones he was fine with my CE. Coincidentally, he started working on a Disturbed record as a Second Engineer half way through our project.... Guess what guitars Dan was using then.

 

[László]

Coincidentally, he started working on a Disturbed record as a Second Engineer half way through our project.... Guess what guitars Dan was using then.

Hmmmm....let me take a wild guess...

 

[elvis]

OMG, drooling! Tell me you still have and play this!

Sadly no. It was a casualty of the great 2019 selloff.

Like your spouse, I have a hard limit on guitars, and had gone well over.

 

[elvis]

W

won’t post pic

You need to host pics on a 3rd-party server and paste the link into posts here.

 

[Casi1]

Well, a haters job is to hate, so let them do their jobs, lol...

I bought my first PRS because of the body shape. I hadn’t read about the hate prior to that purchase. However, at a later time, I heard these comments repeatedly:

1) the guitars are for doctors and lawyers (folks who can afford them) not the working musician, therefore I hate them

2) the pickups all sound the same: sterile. Therefore I hate them.

3) the body shape is small and feels like a toy, therefore I hate them.

4) the finishes are too flashy and over the top, therefore I hate them

5) nobody super awesome played PRS guitars back in the day, therefore I hate them.

6) it doesn’t sound exactly like a Strat or a LP, therefore I hate them

7) I don’t like neither JM or CS attitudes or life decisions, therefore I hate them

Etc, etc, yada, yada

But as soon as I say ‘okay, here, just play my PRS, just hold it’ they give me the deer in headlights / vampire surprised by sudden break of dawn look that says ‘I am afraid that I might like it... so no thank you’. And they back up slowly then vanish.

These guitars are easy to hate on because they weren’t around in the golden era, and people, in general, are slow to change after identifying themselves as a ‘Strat man’ or a ‘Gibson player’.

 

[slide13]

I’m a new PRS owner and traditionally a Strat player. I don’t seem to see as much hate as I used to. I think there was a time where PRS were perceived to be outside the reach of the everyman gigging musician and that turned a lot of people off. Core models have a pretty high price of entry even if it is well deserved.

I think two things happened.

One is the rise in popularity of both Fender and Gibson Custom Shop guitars which has made high priced guitars just generally more palatable. So many people are spending $3k+ for guitars from the Big Two that people don’t bat an eye at the price of a standard core line PRS anymore.

Second is PRS introducing the S2 line which brings US made guitars down into the same entry level price ranges as the US made Gibson and Fender entry level.

Which is great, because PRS makes an amazing guitar. I bought a Les Paul Traditional a few months ago and just couldn’t bond with it and ending up quickly returning it. As a Strat player a LP just never feels right to me. My Custom 22 gives me a very comfortable guitar that instantly felt right and gives me that bolder and thick humbucker tone I was looking for along with the look of a nice carved and figured maple top, which I love.

Also, TGP recently had a thread about the best inlay designs every. PRS birds won by a good margin with 29% of the vote! I was actually surprised by that but it wasn’t even close. Dots came on second at 19%.

 

[Tonart]

People have strong feelings when it comes to hard earned money. They have inate ‘justice barometers’ on how much stained pieces of wood glued together ‘should’ cost.

Anything falling on the wrong side of that ‘barometer’ triggers a sense of injustice. Looking like glitzy high art only provides reinforcement. Class comparison whispers to the soul. Lastly they find a side of themselves admiring the guitar, and then the sour grapes factor really kicks in. The guitar becomes an existential threat to ego.

Whatever you hate, you actively find fault with. Hence the sterile and doctors lines. Every one latches on once the first catchy meme-worthy criticism hatches. Convenient ready made defense mechanisms - who could reject?

And it’s not just PRS, I would think. I’m sure Ferrari would get it to some degree too, perhaps less so because it’s so entrenched in collective consciousness it is seen as “having earned it”. I see Gibson reissues get it all the time too.

Anyway, it’s a free country. People are free to dislike and free to appreciate.

 

[Alnus Rubra]

Strange how musicians are so conservative in their views!

Surely as artistic people, we should be a relatively bohemian and open-minded group.

 

[Ovibos]

Strange how musicians are so conservative in their views!

Surely as artistic people, we should be a relatively bohemian and open-minded group.

You mean and advocate for amplification technology developed after 1960?

 

[Heidi Korsmo]

I had a pink Tremonti that was not a custom. Great guitar.

Also, it’s cool you found that, but what have they offered lately? 6 years of trampas green? As someone looking to buy now, everything cool is some limited edition I missed, something old I can’t find, or something released only in UK or Japan. It’s frustrating and disappointing. Like looking for a needle in a haystack......

 

[elvis]

Also, it’s cool you found that, but what have they offered lately? 6 years of trampas green? As someone looking to buy now, everything cool is some limited edition I missed, something old I can’t find, or something released only in UK or Japan. It’s frustrating and disappointing. Like looking for a needle in a haystack......

I see a bunch of new Bonnie Pink PRS various models on the interwebz.

 

[Heidi Korsmo]

I see a bunch of new Bonnie Pink PRS various models on the interwebz.

Yes and they are NOT SE’s!

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Like looking for a needle in a haystack......

Or like shopping in the Men’s dept. at Kohl’s: Grey, brown, blue, black...

 

[Heidi Korsmo]

Or like shopping in the Men’s dept. at Kohl’s: Grey, brown, blue, black...

Jaja, I know I sound bitter, I am excited to get the green one, but is it what I really wanted? Nope the only reason it became an option is because we got a pink Schecter!

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Jaja, I know I sound bitter, I am excited to get the green one, but is it what I really wanted? Nope the only reason it became an option is because we got a pink Schecter!

No worries, I’ve lamented about color selection like you are now for years.

You just have to get used to it, pay for international shipping and import duties, or be a glitter queen like me and paint the sh!t yourself.

 

[elvis]

Yes and they are NOT SE’s!

Oh, right. It's a core color. Never saw a pink SE.

 

[elvis]

Yes and they are NOT SE’s!

Sorry. Never saw a pink SE.

 

[Heidi Korsmo]

No worries, I’ve lamented about color selection like you are now for years.

You just have to get used to it, pay for international shipping and import duties, or be a glitter queen like me and paint the sh!t yourself.

Well I almost imported pink, but i’ve heard some of the Japanese sellers are scammers. Having it done is an option, we aren’t skilled enough to do it, but to me I just can’t justify spending the amount the guitar cost on a paint job!

 

[Heidi Korsmo]

Well, a haters job is to hate, so let them do their jobs, lol...

I bought my first PRS because of the body shape. I hadn’t read about the hate prior to that purchase. However, at a later time, I heard these comments repeatedly:

1) the guitars are for doctors and lawyers (folks who can afford them) not the working musician, therefore I hate them

2) the pickups all sound the same: sterile. Therefore I hate them.

3) the body shape is small and feels like a toy, therefore I hate them.

4) the finishes are too flashy and over the top, therefore I hate them

5) nobody super awesome played PRS guitars back in the day, therefore I hate them.

6) it doesn’t sound exactly like a Strat or a LP, therefore I hate them

7) I don’t like neither JM or CS attitudes or life decisions, therefore I hate them

Etc, etc, yada, yada

But as soon as I say ‘okay, here, just play my PRS, just hold it’ they give me the deer in headlights / vampire surprised by sudden break of dawn look that says ‘I am afraid that I might like it... so no thank you’. And they back up slowly then vanish.

These guitars are easy to hate on because they weren’t around in the golden era, and people, in general, are slow to change after identifying themselves as a ‘Strat man’ or a ‘Gibson player’.

You are right, but the sad thing is PRS has the vision and innovation we aren’t seeing from G & F anymore and the quality!!! Including a Korean made SE line as opposed to China or Indonesia. All he needs to do now is give the unwashed masses some of the cool colors and neck choices! I say once a year release a cool color in the SE line for everyone (not limited run) and rotate each year!

 

[11top]

Ya know.....”Hate” is a really ugly word.