Wildwood Guitars & PRS?

[Maertl513]

With interest I read through the posts.
To my personal perspective some posts went off topic.

I purchased my PRS at Wildwood and I´m still very satisfied with the decision. Abroad I didn´t found my dream guitars with the designated specs but at Wildwood.
I imported the guitar to Europe.

I still stay in contact with them.

One month ago - likewise member VirginiaAve - I got an e-mail by Wildwood Guitars and I´ll quote it directly to give facts without gambling:

"[...], very cool that you met both Paul and Greg at Musik Messe in 2014, both very good guys. We decided to take a year off of ordering PRS as we had ordered so many guitars the last few years we had a backlog of older PRS that we needed to move. Now we are considering new orders from PRS as we love their guitars but there’s been so many on the market that it became just a question of matching the lowest price in the US – we are always more interested in special guitars like yours, the S2 models became as plentiful as American Standard Strats.
I’m happy to hear that you love your 513 and have added the cool parts to it. Take Care - [...]."

 

[Drew]

I think Rainbow Guitars dropped PRS as well. Thats sad. They were an outstanding dealer.

 

[László]

So how many folks here have mail order brides from Russia?

I collect them!

But most of them are case queens.

 

[Brad737]

Damn right. I got crucified on BaM for saying that while I appreciated the huge value of the SE line, I probably would never buy one. When I was a kid, whenever there was a dip in the economy,mother first thing you'd see anywhere were "Buy American!" billboards, stickers, and newspaper ads. You never see that anymore. People want high-paying American jobs. But if you don't buy American products, before too awfully long, you won't be able to!

Rock on Doc! I knew I liked you. :congrats:

It would be a grand day if the "politically correct" Americans that are sooooo against Slave Labor, depressed wages, unfriendly eviornmentalists would prove it with their wallets roud:

 

[Stephen Rudnick]

A lot of both sides of the argument here! Wow! I started in the 1950's playing and all we had were American guitars.
I played Gibson and Fender mostly along with some Suhr, and anderson, for 52 years, before deciding that I was not getting a honeymoon period with American guitars any longer. I went European with Vigier and XOX Audio Tools, and absolutely found them head and shoulders above what I had been using, unquestionably.

I have never played but one PRS and that was a satin S2 in a local store. They only had 2 of them in there.
I am saving for a PS PRS. It is going to take me some time, and all I am worried about is that when I go to order, the quality of the ps wood will be so low that I will not find any satisfactory pieces that suit me, and I have become beyond extremely picky. I've taken pictures of exactly the type of wood I want, but I see so many ps guitars being built now, that I just have a nasty feeling that the wood selection will be nothing like what it used to be.

I will not settle for less then what I want. I want to buy American, and I only want a PRS, but after saving and making plans for the piece that I want, if the wood isn't there, I'm gone.

 

[CVS]

Great posts here - For me at least - I do want to buy American. I also want to play the guitar before I buy (a cardinal rule if the guitar that I want to buy is not a PRS ). The only guitars that I have purchased via the internet have been PRS core model guitars and they have come, as Paul himself puts it, "gig ready"

 

[GrotonGuitars]

I agree. I tried to get my local dealer to look at PRS. Too much stock they have to buy at once, and I think minimum sales of $100k/year. ...

... I would buy a Core in a heartbeat if it was less, pretty much the only thing stopping me from buying one. Cut out the middleman, sell direct, and I'm there.

I don't know who you talked to. I am PRS dealer in CT. There is no such requirement. In fact PRS is a dream to work with compared to other MFGS. As far as cutting out the middleman goes you'd be surprised how little a dealer makes and how much work goes into it. Basicly we store and maintain the instruments while allowing people to try before they buy. Constant temperature and humidity control along with set ups and adjustments, string changes etc etc. All while keeping the instruments looking as if no one has ever touched them. Just the amount of customer service required before during and after the sale is something you can never get buying an instrument online. MFG's aren't in the business of customer service. It's a whole different can of worms.