Agree with many comments below that these are outrageously expensive and not attainable for working-class folks. Yes, it's marketing. Yes, it's just a beautiful guitar that probably doesn't sound better than a regular USA (or even SE/S2) but here's the thing: do you really want to live in a world where beautiful things don't exist? Where people don't strive to create the best, most beautiful instruments? I'll probably never have one but I'm glad these guitars exist. They're nice to look at and they raise the bar for everyone else.
Essentially he is the Steve Jobs of guitars. Extremely high price on guitars where it is mostly image. The product is great, but it's not 3,000+$ great. They can afford to go less, but they want to look premium. Hell, he even tries to look like Steve Jobs.
The thing that absolutely no one understands, is when you spend 3000+ dollars on a custom guitar, that's a guitar you have for life, something that will last way longer than yourself. They aren't in the market of shitty guitars you buy, and upgrade from in 5 years. If you're a musician, and you cannot see past a price tag you way need a different passion. 3000 is nothing for a life time instrument.
Back in '87, I was just a teenage dreamer when I stumbled upon a PRS ad in a magazine, and I was like, "Whoa, dude... owning one of these beauties? Mission impossible!" But guess what? Fast forward to now, at 54, and I'm rocking not one, not two, but three freaking PRS guitars! Each of them is mind-blowingly incredible, with killer looks, comfort that's off the charts, and a sound that's out of this world! Talk about feeling blessed! Paul's sincerity, honesty, and integrity totally blew me away. It's what sets PRS apart, no doubt. I'm dead serious; I think it's what makes all the difference. And you know what's even crazier? I totally believe that Paul's spirit is woven into every single PRS guitar ever made. Mind-boggling, isn't it?
I make expensive stained glass windows and everyone can't afford one. I'm well aware of that and if I couldn't build them I wouldn't be able to have them in my home. I love fine hand made craftsmanship and own just one entry level PRS guitar which is my first guitar and at age 73 I did my research. I'm diligently working to learn to play this guitar so I can then get one of these gorgeous hand made one of a kind guitars which is a direct parallel to my glass work. I appreciate the fine materials and the skill of the artisans who produce these pieces of art.
Although I doubt I'll ever have the privilege of owning a PRS, I have a great respect for Paul. I've seen a few of his clips & never does he talk like a business man. He talks like the genuine guitar geek he is. The huge growth of his company hasn't distracted him from his true vision of creating some of the finest instruments the world has seen. His passion for what he does keeps both he & his company well centered.
I always love seeing people talking about their passion, and then you can see the way they say it with tears on their eyes. You know that they really love what they are doing from the bottom of their hearts.
I love the passion that Paul puts to his job. These guitars are not just works of art. They play like nothing else. Whoever says the opposite has never played one.
Amazing pieces of art! I’m blessed town five PRS instruments (although nothing from the Private Stock realm), and they are a pleasure to own, play, and just enjoy!!
I agree, I have a Vela 2 and it's fantastic to play and still looks great. I feel that I have all the benefits of a high end USA PRS but with slightly less embellishment and glamour but still with all the quality in tact. I was saving for a Gibson ES-335 as I play a lot of blues but now I really do fancy a nice higher end PRS. Dilemmas of an amateur guitar player.
I've owned seemingly some of the sweetest guitars in the world that are worth a lot .. But when my fingers first were placed on a PRS .. I was amazed at the ease of playing one was .. The distance from string to fret was so close . It became effortless .. and when it becomes effortless .. Your mind now is not dwelling on staying within the bounds of the instrument .Then you let your mind loose . I was shocked when I first played one .. Not only beautiful to look at , but the perfection and ease of playing one was .. If someone made a guitar out of broken pallet and a piece of plywood from Home Depot . and could make it play like a PRS .. I guess I'd be switching to a Home Depot CDX 7 PLY . with a Latex finish . .. Beauty is one thing and I think as well .. When playing a beautiful guitar , You have something you can look at when playing and marvel .. And that helps soothe the mind . I personally play best when I am not looking though . In a darkened room or with my eyes closed ..
Folks, most of the comments below are just so...I don't know what the right word is...so envious? Jealous? Seeing something so beautiful and so high end and knowing they will never, ever be able to have one. That breeds contempt, it breeds apathy. I see a lot of "... what a waste..." and "...such a gimmick..." and "...I would never spend my money on...." kind of comments. It is really funny to read some of the negative comments. I would bet that if any of those people came into some money, all of the sudden they would be like " I just placed an order for one of these gorgeous instruments..." LOL
+Charlie Foxtrot The 3rd You are missing a word and that is being realistic.People who actually know guitars and they dont try to sell anything in the process, know and will tell you that there is only so much you can charge for solid body electrics even if you wanna throw there the very best aftermarket stuff.You can basically build a guitar with the very best stuff and still cost three times( or more)less than a PRS. In the end what comes down to is why you actually buy guitars...for prestige or function....cause if you buy it for prestige then great....but if you buy it for function then you are being ripped off royally.
Dreamdancer11 Well, I really don't like to argue on RU-vid, but I suppose my point was that these instruments are as close to perfect as one can possably get. That kind of craftsmanship and material is worth every penny. I played one at my local Guitar Center and I just could not believe it. It was priced at $8,800. I paid $300 for my Fender T-Bucket. Both do the exact same thing. One is an investment grade one-of-a-kind heirloom and the other is a mass produced guitar with a million just like it. If I had that kind if money at my disposal, I would own one of these for sure. Probably more. That is just human nature!
Charlie the difficulty with 'investment grade' and 'heirloom' is somebody still has to want it, and it has to have a generally recognized market value. It is my opinion that just because something is rare or expensive to make, that does not guarantee its resale value and definitely not a return on investment. Somebody has to someday pay you what you think it's worth or it isn't an investment, it's a loss. Someone has to want the thing in two generations or it isn't an heirloom, it's grocery money. Although intrinsically, a great guitar you enjoy as an instrument to create music is priceless to the one person to whom it really matters. I would buy a superior guitar mostly for playability.
Tone woods aside, if you've ever played a PRS, you know they are phenomenal instruments. Of course it comes down to preference, but there aren't many people who have played a PRS and not been impressed (to my knowledge). If you think it's over priced, try an S2 or SE. Guitar (or music for that matter) is an expensive hobby and that's just the way it is.
I've played many PRS guitars. Some private stock. The neck profile isn't my thing. I prefer compound radius necks (ie Jackson). Not a knock on PRS, it's just my preference. The quality, fit, finish, choice of woods, electronics, tone.....all top notch.
@@acegibson9533 Another great thing about private stock is that I'm sure you can get a compound radius fretboard and neck if you ask for it, however, I agree, I have an se paul's guitar, and the neck is so wide, and I have small hands. Used to it though.
Ah ha - they tell Paul’s secret in the first two minutes: he hoarded all the best wood. That method absolutely works. I did the same thing with my antique Himalayan Bowls. If you have a limited supply of something and grab all the best, you will have the best to offer your customers. That’s why my Paul Reed Smith Custom 24 Wood Library is so special. It’s one of the most beautiful guitars I’ve ever seen and I’m convinced it’s one of the most beautiful guitars ever made. It’s that good.
Bless you Paul and to all those that work with you in your factory, giving birth to those masterpieces, turning our world even more beautiful and sounding much better. I also want to extend this compliment to all that do the same at : Gibson ; Fender ; Ybanez ; Washburn ; etc. my best wishes to those that create and live in LOVE and in all they do, they use LOVE as a guiding light, may it be so with everyone all over. LOVE YOU ALL.
For me... the more I saw PRS RU-vid vids the more I drifted away. Not sure why and instead bought me a new fender. Yes PRS Guitars are beautiful to look at.
Its funny seeing this video Mr. Pual Reed Smith because in my music history class we learned about the building process of the stratovarious violins and other famous baroque violin making families, and the way they would have these libraries of the finest woods aged for a 100 years for there grandchildren to eventually turn into the immortal pieces of art or violins. Its cool to see a company that carriers on these traditions, and i truly hope one day to have you make me one of these guitars
paul you've turned old man! but you've done great man prs is nothin without you! mark tremonti model is my fav prs! love prs man, the best guitars in the whole world! u people have done a great job over the years!
The whole thing about PRS guitars would really make sense, only if the Pickups were fully microphonic, in order to pick up those subtle nuances of the wood. This is but contrary to the function of pickups, since they are made not to feedback and only pick up a ferromagnetic string's vibration. It's a bit self-defeating in the end.
wood affects how quick the energy and what parts of the frequency spectrum dissipate from the strings through the body and neck wood. and what parts of it resonate with the wood and thus appear accentuated. it does not mean wood sounds better than acryl but it is part of the sound nonetheless.
look this wood thing is just a way of getting you to pay thousands more the guy sells guitars for a living beautiful wood doesnt make a solid body electric sound better BUT, IT IS BEAUTIFUL, THATS THE MAIN THING
Greg Pasquier Well maybe it's not a total misnomer, but I would definitely say that these factory guitars were machined, not handmade. Even cars require some handwork, but I don't think they call those handmade.
Those "notes" will change as soon as you start cutting these pieces of timber up. It is impossible to cut them up without changing the frequencies. What's good in these pieces of timber is that they "tend" to resonate well, but don't expect the same frequencies you got from these rectangular pieces. If you would reduce the lengths in this kit 50% to a "uke kit", the frequencies will double and everything will sound an octave higher. Taking away smaller amounts of material will result into different modulations than a nice octave. So what comes out will be more or less a surprise. It gets interesting when you are able (through experience) to PREDICT the own frequency of a completed neck, body, fretboard... AND of the SUM of these parts. A scientific approach of the characteristics of the guitar building materials in shape x, y, z etc. might lead to REPEATABLE DESIRED RESULTS. That can be achieved easier with man made materials such as composites. Finding nicely resonating timber is a matter of LUCK, which is NOT repeatable. If you compare it to the desired "constant quality" of let's say MEAT, it is easier for McDonalds to make a Quarterpounder of constant quality than it is for a chef of Michelin star restaurant to get a constant quality for his T-bone steaks. That's the industrial approach versus the chef's approach. Which approach you choose depends on what kind of customer you want to serve with your products? The guy who walks in for a burger after his Saturday shoppings is a different customer than the man in a business suit taking his classy girlfriend out to dinner. They get different products with a different price tag. Both customers can be very happy with the product of their choice. Sometimes I think: 'Wouldn't it be better for the planet, if guitar manufacturers would start using synthetic materials for the guitars for "burger guys" instead of cutting up trees?' Just a thought... Maybe I'm totally miscalculating, because these synthetic materials don't GROW, their resources are in fact only decreasing. One thing's for sure: it's still cheaper to make a bad wooden guitar than it is to make a GOOD synthetic guitar.
I agree with this. And the roughly approximate size of pre-cut pieces might give an idea if that will be a good sounding density of wood for that project. And you can't predict the interaction of the pieces of wood of varying densities until they are assembled, more is the shame with glued neck pocket and maple cap construction. At least Nash can try a pile of Fender bodies and necks, they can always be un-screwed and try another pairing.
a wise man once said, "quality is like buying oats - if you want good, clean, and fresh oats, expect to pay a fair price. if you want oats that have already gone through the horse, they come a lot cheaper". Now while I believe each instrument is different, there is a good reason why I own a higher end taylor. their quality, playability, and all around function make my instrument worth 10 times what I paid for it. So play what you can afford - I did my time in purgatory commercially fishing halibut the year I bought my taylor, and I don't knock anybody who has the cash (and earned it!!!) to buy a PRS. I may never own one (I'm a fat guy, and even when I was skinnier I had huge muscled hands, so they look like a toy. lol), but bless you for employing AMERICAN craftsmen and women building these beauties.
Dear PRS, where are all those special woods are coming from? is there any attempt to use wood from sustainable sources or even replacing some of the endangered ones with similar ones?
Maybe a physicist luthier can help me understand: 3:00 why does the rosewood have two different resonant pitches depending on the angle it’s stuck? Would regular xylophone keys do this if they were struck on a different side?
I have never heard wood ring like that. When he knocks his knuckles on that neck blank, It really did sound musical. I wonder if the guy in Mexico who made my Squire Strat did that to the neck blank he selected for my guitar. He probably knocked on several to find the most musical sounding for my special instrument. You think?
@R0ckers2R0ckers True, but instument grade abalone, that is, large enough peices with the right grain, color and luster are a little bit harder to come by. For instance, a 100 yard section of beach may only have 1/2 to one pound that is worthy to be used in fine instrument making. But, you are correct, the stuff is everywhere.
There are discussions on RU-vid about the real contribution of wood in the final tone of an electric guitar. Someone says it's all about the pickups and the strings, after seeing Mr PRS knocking at those pieces of wood there couldn't be any doubt about it. Good sounding woods make good sounds guitars
Well one thing you can say about the man he is consistent , he has worn the same shirt in every vid ive seen him in , i was just wondering if i play my PRS at the next gig If I should go and buy one of those shirts .
I love my PRS guitars... I own 5! And one is a PS! I went through all different types and the cheapest PRS I have (1st year SE Santana) sounded as good or better than the Les Paul Studio I had. I traded the LP and a couple others for a CE24.. Couldn't have been happier. To each his own, but PRS is the guitar that to me sounds and feels the best, rock, blues, whatever it is.
I just bought my first custom 24 core USA 10 top. A Faded Blue Whale 2023. It has so much tiger curly maple figure it looks like the top was brushed on with a paint brush. Awesome.
I love PRS guitars!! I can never afford one (divorce with children) but thats ok.I love Italian Sports cars too.lol.Everytime I go to the music store to pick up strings or what ever I have to play one of their PRS guitars.This store I go to has this amazing PRS Swamp Ash Studio that I would marry if it was legal.Keep make the dream!!!
It would an interesting experiment to ask PRS if they could build me a guitar in the shape of a Les Paul. I wonderr if this could be done - even privately. Perhaps it has already.
in this video i realized why my 600 euros guitar cost so little less than these eye candy guitars.. i will work my butt off in the next years to get one of these guitars cause they dont just look good they sound divine!!!
+ilias 1161 Yeah, these are beautiful, but that €600 guitar you own can make music that is just a good as a €10,000 PRS Private Stock can. These are sold to people with very deep pockets. The guy who owns a €500,000,000 super yacht would have one of these in his stateroom. A working man with bills to pay owns the €600 guitar, and it makes you no less better or worse than the wealthy guy. Just different.
+ilias 1161 Yeah, you wouldn't want to go on tour with a $10.000 guitar and ruin it. You'd want to hang it on the wall and never really use it too much. 600 euro guitar is a completely different story. Record it, tour it, anything you want.
Thanks for correcting me! I agree with you, wood plays fundamental role in acoustic guitars but I still think electric ones tone is somehow affected by the wood, it must be, It could not be the main thing but good magnets cannot pickup a frequency or an harmonic that a guitar just doesn't produce, a listener wouldn't hear the difference but a nice resonating guitar unlike a cheap one can makes you play slightly different
You pressure your inner forearm into the top(behind the bridge) putting pressure on the bridge indirectly, It causes a fluctuation in pressure on the strings, kind of like a floating tremolo. The more clarity and presence the acoustic has, the more the effect presents itself.
Listen Iam not rich. But of all the 13 good guitars i own i love my Prs guitars the most. Only time i do not pickup a Prs first is if I need a Tele or Start tone. I have met Paul and he truly loves guitars. Im working toward a 15000 Private stock as we speak. It will take a few years but it will be worth it. A private stock guitar is the pinnacle of guitars your choice of woods pups and switching.
Well I haven't tested the eagle and a couple other PRS models...for some reason the market seems to be saturated here in Switzerland where I live and there has been a reduction in orders in shops. I will keep trying new models if and when I come across them. On another but related subject I just bought a Les Paul Collector's Choice 4 'Sandy' and am amazed by it is every way; tone, balance, sustain, action and playability but find it nuts that I had to lay out that much to finally get a perfect..
That Thor drawing at 0:25 sec. looks pretty sweet! Although, I, personally, wouldn't want it to be on my guitar... Especially not on such sweet PRS-guitars. I'd prefer some cool rust finish on a quilted top. :D
They definitely do. It's simple physics. The materials resonate/dampen the strings which influences the tone. You think a rubber guitar would sound the same? It can be subtle, sure. But if you have decent ears and experience you'd definately notice... ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0Y_tyUjkkhA.html
Of course they want to sell those, they are quite beautiful looking and sounding, plus some of those woods won't be available in the near-ish future, due to environement and wood rarity. The tone is in the hands, really. I'm sure seeing Clapton playing a Jay Turser strung with dental floss would be enough to make you drop your jaw to the floor. Rock on dude!
@bretona - The 86 PRS is made with Paul's select woods - and trust me it makes a difference. Nitro finish, and I tricked it out with Joe Barden pick-ups. But the Carvin is top shelf, I agree - that's why I bought one. The top is 4A quilted maple, and is matched perfectly. The finish is Dragonburst - amazing! Abalone inlays, Sperzel tuners, Floyd trem.... She plays and feels like a dream. I'm glad that besides Gibson and Fender, other companies are making killer guitars.
This for me exemplifies the PRS Private Stock paradox. These are among the best PRS guitars out there, and they deserve to be played and heard... but sadly they won't be because real guitar-players can't afford them. And even if a gigging musician were to purchase one, the chances are that he'd never take it out on the road. So new Private Stock guitars are aimed at dentists, merchant-bankers and high-end furniture-collectors with money to burn, and who don't give a jot about depreciation and residual-values. Adding insult to injury is the issue of supply and demand. Put simply, PRS make far too many, and as a result you can expect to lose 50% of the value between paying and walking out the shop-door. For £10k I could buy two 1950-60's vintage Gibson Les Paul Juniors and a regular PRS Custom 24. The Juniors will hold up in value because of their vintage, and the regular PRS Custom 24 is an all-round great guitar. A regular PRS Custom 24 is as good as a Private Stock at less than a third of the price, it just doesn't have all the Brazilian rosewood and gold-plated 'flash'. Also, when you play it live and get some 'dings' you won't lose as much sleep. I own a Private Stock McCarty from 2008. The first owner paid £10k and 'kept it under his bed'. I bought it for a little more than a third of the original purchase-price last year, but I'm still frightened to take it out of its case in case it gets damaged. An example of the Private Stock paradox once again. Even though I bought it relatively 'cheap' it's still too pretty to risk damaging. For me the problem rests with Paul. He's flooding respected dealers with guitars made from his wood-library containing powdered unicorn-horn sprinkled with oofle-dust... and it strikes me that it's the retailers that are picking up the slack.
+Peter Marshall I got an idea that'll make one of the three major guitar brands millions, possibly billions of dollars! Here it is...You build a time machine, and send 2 or 3 thousand of your standard model guitars back in time to...let's say 1956, once the standard model guitars, made in the present, reach the year 1956 they are stored in a special vault labeled "Do not open until September 05, 2015"...Moving forward in time to the present, the guitar manufacturer retrieves the standard model guitars, made in the present, but sent to the past, and voila!!! You have 2 or 3 thousand "100% Authentic" New Old Stock guitars that are in pristine condition, and nearly 60 years old that you can charge insane amounts of money for!!! This is just between you and I, ok?
My local Guitar Center has a PRS Private Stock guitar. It is hanging above all the others in the PRS section. It has a price tag of $9400. Not too far from it is a PRS Santana SE (an import) that has a price tag of $688. After much begging, they got down the Private Stock and let me play it (under intense scrutiny) and then I played the SE. You want to know what I think? No? Ok, I won't tell you then!
prs are the highes level of quality in every part of the guitar. and private stock instruments are almost better then the best prs guitars...a quality level in the highest dimension you can imagine. great.
Great to knock on the wood... the minute you take wood off the pitch drops. Ever wonder why he didn't knock on that curly maple earlier? It's because curly maple don't have much of a tap tone or sustain to speak of. LOL....
Generally speaking, a greater use for those woods would be as percussion instruments. I understand weight, appearance and some impact on acoustic guitars; otherwise, I believe they would better served as percussion instruments.
I agree and get this...when I had to repair a PRS neck once the company at first didn't want to furnish me with bird inlays claiming that they were not certain that I would use it to repair my PRS still under guaranty! I finally insisted and they charged me a fortune for the inlays...not very conducive for good relations:(
Your point is interesting but two remarks: 1) I have blind tested my PRS guitars so it is not just in people's minds as you suggest. I live right next to a music shop with a huge stock of top guitars and their staff agree 2) look what happened to the Les Paul from built from mid 58 to 1960...they stopped production as you well know. I think that the best strategy would be to keep producing the old instruments which have proved their salt without changing them and then invest in innovation.
I remember the first UK review I read of a PRS in the magazine Making Music which called it as it saw it in its reviews and wasn't afraid to call guitars overpriced planks if that's what they felt. The final sentence in the PRS review was "the best yet"
@manifestgtr you seriously dont look at many other musicians cuz carlos santana uses them orianth linkin park(i think) paul gilbert nick catanese and al di meoloa use them
I raise the question whether PRS are heading in a dangerous direction i.e. they are placing so much emphasis on esthetics that I wonder if the quality of their instruments have suffered. I own five PRS guitars all made in the 80's and I notice that they all sound better than recent ones. I think that sticking to the basics should be a very important component of their resource allocation. Research and development and innovations are also important but please don't loose sight of the essentials!
To all the people saying that the wood or tone of the guitar when not plugged in makes no difference, you are wrong. The effect is negligible when buried under processing, effects, and distortion but when running a clean amp, the construction of the electric solid body can make the difference between a muddy sound and a clear bell tone. I play my electric without even plugging it in a surprising amount of the time. Try it. Some guitars will not be able to make much sound but others will sound great unplugged. If the wood body of a guitar allows the strings to ring out and resonate longer then the pickups will respond to that vibration longer. The pickups respond to the vibration (movement) of the strings and that vibration is affected by the mechanical bond to the neck and bridge and therefore the wood of the guitar. Vibrations return back from the body of the guitar and affect the string movement detected in the pickups. As I already said, the effect is not noticed unless you run clean in an amp but you will hear it and notice that the responsiveness of the instrument is different because of it.
@bretona - Hard to disagree with you. I do own a 1986 (#1078) PRS, and it sings with sustain forever.... But I did have a Carvin CT6-24 custom made by Carvin this past year..... and it is KILLER!!! What a player, I am in love with my new Carvin. Bur at the same time, there is no denying the absolute "Precision Art" that is a PRS guitar.... and as for sound.... untouchable.....
this year one of the most iconic rock artist in Latin America die his name was Gustavo Cerati and his most loved guitar was a rare 1988 PRS 24 custom multi-foil. I was thinking that maybe PRS could made and special edition of those beautiful guitars in honor of Cerati's legacy. I would be waiting in line to buy the first one for my daughter thanks
I don't doubt the quality of these instruments, or their sound quality. What I don't like is the fact that this whole "private stock" notion is just a cleverly packaged "sales gimmick". It's no different than the Batesville Casket company selling grief-stricken people, "Sealed Caskets", (Which Batesville came under fire for in the 90s) turns out, these people thought they were buying a "superior" casket that, due to the fact it sealed itself, would preserve their lost loved-ones forever, when in reality the sealed casket (that was many times more expensive than the standard casket) did quite the opposite...I won't go into any details, you can google it for yourselves, but the point i'm trying to make is that these companies are taking advantage of people by leading them to believe that they are buying something extraordinary, or rare when in reality they are just buying something that looks pretty, and nothing else. These guitars are well-built and beautiful, but do they sound better? The sealed Batesville caskets looked beautiful, they were built well, but did they really provide "eternal" protection from the elements like advertised?
+TheOldOakSyndicate I get what your saying the price tag is a bit steep but definitely the best quality instrument i have ever played was a private stock 513 in this very pretty blue color it was around 8000 and my first thought was okay is it just cause its good looking or the name or something? so tried it out and it blew me away right off the bat not even plugged in it sounded better than every guitar id ever heard before it rang out like crazy if i could afford one id buy it in a heart beat but i think a standard U.S PRS or a SE which are amazing bang for your buck definitely among the best for sub $1000 guitars very stable too never had problems with frets popping out due to change in climate or movement of the wood taking your guitar out of intonation which is always annoying.
