Why would anyone play anything else?

[Patrick Brazil]

Just picked up a MINT 2007 Standard 24. Looks like it just came from the factory. Not a blemish on it.
I've been playing Jackson's and Ibanez's lately, and while I enjoy the feels of their necks the tone was always lacking...
I owned a Custom 22 a few years back and always regretted selling it, but just couldn't get comfortable with the WF neck. The WT neck on my Standard 24 along with the amazing tone leaves me wondering why I ever played anything else (and that's in 30+ years of playing).

 

[Berten]

happy new guitar day!

but pictures or it didn't happen!!!

 

[bodia]

Congrats!

 

[László]

It's funny, in the early 90s when I first got into PRS guitars, I also played a Strat, a Tele, a Rick, etc...but gradually over the years, I just stopped getting the other ones, and sold them off.

In the early 2000s, when my son first became a really good guitar player, I offered him the pick of one of my guitars, so he played them all. Sitting there and listening to the various tone differences, it was clear to me that my PRS guitars gave me more of what I was after tonally.

Then I went back and listened to a year or so worth of tracks I'd recorded for my ad work with the various guitars, and the PRS tracks were the ones I seemed to like the best - including the playing. They seem to fit my style of play better.

I'm sure this kind of thing is different for different players, but now I don't play anything else.

 

[AP515]

I hear the reasons from guys who have test driven a PRS but stay with their G's and F's. I can understand the thought process, but I can't understand the end result. It was an easy switch for me, and one I'm so glad I made.

 

[Kynlore]

I was also playing Jackson, but picked up my first PRS a couple of months ago. My Jackson is now my drop-tune guitar and the PRS is the main.

 

[andy474x]

It's not often that I pick up a guitar that I like as much as my PRS guitars. It does happen, every once in a great while, but it's the exception rather than the rule. But with PRS, I can pick up almost any guitar and get along with it instantly.

One nice, non-PRS that sticks out was a Gibson Bill Kelliher Explorer that a friend had - great guitar. But most Gibsons that I pick up just don't satisfy.

 

[Brad737]

I think it's pretty evident why guitarists don't play PRS exclusively. Guitarists, by nature, are very traditional...much more so than say bassists. They like Strats, Teles, Les Pauls, SGs, etc. Guitarists also tend to shy away from exotic woods for the most part as well.

I think it boils down to being closed-minded. I'm certainly no great guitarist. And I do also enjoy most of the "classics". But that whole "I like to fight the guitar" mantra is sheer lunacy. PRS guitars play and sound great to me. With my limited skills, I need all the help I can get. PRS guitars help me.

 

[vchizzle]

It's a great question! I have no idea!

It really just boils down to the player though. While nothing besides a PRS feels right to me, others might feel that way about their brand. As others have already stated, there's the traditionalists who just like the "classics", those who like variety of different brands, etc. I just want what works for me and that is PRS. PRS makes enough guitars that I can't afford to have all of them that I'd like, so I can't see using another brand.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Other guitars are stupid.

 

[alantig]

It's all about the tool for the job, whether the job is to get a certain sound, give you a certain feel, or just inspire you to play.

I'm predominantly PRS now, but I've still got a handful of non-PRS guitars. Some that get played a fair bit, some that rarely get touched. But they're around for a reason - even if it's mostly sentimental. I was just chatting w/a board member who's not around so much lately, and we were talking about various EBMM guitars (I have a Petrucci). There are things about that guitar that I'd never order in a million years, but they just work on that guitar (and I now have it downtuned a step to work on Ghost stuff). I've got an EVH stripe series that just screams "not for this fat guy". But it's a hell of a lot of fun to play. Again - not a setup I'd ever want on something I ordered. One pickup, volume-only is totally not in my wheelhouse. But it works on this guitar.

But my go-to guitars, 99.9% of the time, are my PRS stable. It's possibly the one beneficial thing to come out of my "not chasing a particular tone" thing. It makes me hard to deal with when I'm trying to buy something new and untried, or if I'm doing a custom thing, or especially when we're talking amps. So many of you guys are able to say you're looking for a Marshall sound or a Fender Deluxe Reverb-type thingy. I envy that - I don't have that frame of reference for the sound I want. But I'm lucky that I've been able to find guitars and amps that suit me.

 

[László]

Other guitars are stupid.

Yes.

 

[dogrocketp]

Hats off to Sergio and Les for their penetrating and deep rooted analysis of guitars that are not PRS. I agree. I`m old.......and possibly getting senile.

 

[11top]

Blonds:



brunettes:



And redheads:




Love 'em all.

 

[markintime]

Blonds:



brunettes:



And redheads:

Yep, only if their first name begins with PRS.

And Sergio and Les are 100% on target.

 

[veinbuster]

I'm heavily PRS biased for electric, but I play some other stuff because I'm not led enough yet to want to get stuck in a rut - even if it is a really good rut.

And my Les Paul was really good to me for a long time, so it deserves to be treated with a bit of respect.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

brunettes:

I'm partial to brunettes. Especially yours, Steve!

 

[Brad737]

Steve, you always have incredible guitars, but that is one of the most beautiful Lesters I've ever seen. Holy cow!

Blonds:



brunettes:



And redheads:

 

[Alan Manning]

seem's to me most people go for g's &f's because of there historical iconic status we've all been there.I know plenty of owners that love em one minute & not so much the next but haven't heard of anyone who wasn't impressed as yet with a prs I suppose its a guitar growing thing but if it makes you happy its doing the job & it won't be long before Paul Reed Smiths are classed iconic g&f are bricking it !!!

 

[coyote]

I hear the reasons from guys who have test driven a PRS but stay with their G's and F's. I can understand the thought process, but I can't understand the end result. It was an easy switch for me, and one I'm so glad I made.

It's not an either-or scenario. I own a couple old Fender Stratocasters, a newer Squier Standard Statocaster, my recent PRS 408 acquisition, an Ibanez AR325.... While I'm enamored of the PRS, I gotta say that the Strat remains my go-to, my fave (and specifically, oddly enough, that Squier!). I just seem to play it better, and it sounds more like what I want an electric guitar to sound like than any other guitar. Oh, and the controls are in exactly the right place. Leo Fender got it sooo very right 60 years ago.

It's a testament to Paul Reed Smith that he not only has managed to carve a niche given all that preceded him, but has managed to elevate the craft of commercial guitar mass production.