PRS Tele

[Guardians of the analog]

I open my mouth in the breakroom and always stick my foot in it, I tried to not speak on this topic but my time has come. I'm only speaking for myself, but I have never played a prs in the last 20 years that had any personality. They are so sterile and bland to me, zero soul. It's like eating at a white BBQ, prs is like potato salad with raisins. To make matters worse, there are two camps of players associated with them...blues lawyer/dentists that love John Mayer and Nickelback frat boys wearing tapout, affliction and ed hardy. Even if they play nice it's just not for me.

This attempt at a tele is further evidence that prs is not for me or really anyone here. It's ugly AF. It looks like a collage from a kindergartener. It's almost as if they tried to make it as terrible as possible because they know their core consumer base is so brainwashed they would buy a turd if Paul put a pickup in it. I almost feel as though they put it in an AI art generator, but only Paul and his luthiers could make this. I put prs telecaster into an AI generator and it made this which is soooo much better.

***The views expressed in this post are mine and do not represent PPCB or any of its members. None of the comments made were intended to hurt any feelings or offend anyone, I apologize in advance for the hatred that is imminent***

 

[jjjimi84]

Blues lawyer dentists or frat guys or diy enthusiasts that like Les Pauls that stay in tune.

 

[Bricksnbeatles]

To make matters worse, there are two camps of players associated with them...blues lawyer/dentists that love John Mayer and Nickelback frat boys wearing tapout, affliction and ed hardy. Even if they play nice it's just not for me.

truth! Almost every time I think “man, this artist sucks” and I look up a picture of them, they’re playing a PRS. Not that they don’t attract some good clientele too, but there’s something interesting about how many musicians I absolutely detest who turn out to play PRS, while nearly none that I like do (and even then, all of the guitarists I like who have played PRS, the era they played PRS happens to be my least favorite of theirs; ie. Alex Lifeson, Dweezil Zappa, Martin Barre).

Straight up, the PRS artist roster is the only one where I actively dislike like 90% of the people on it.

 

[HamishR]

I'm old enough to remember when PRS first appeared in GP magazine. His early guitars seemed to be a great concept and looked pretty good. I looked forward to playing one fore a long time. I have owned a few but like Mr Guardian found them somewhat sterile - I was hugely disappointed. The best I had was a McCarty Soapbar which actually sounded pretty good. I do like the aluminium wraparound bridge (which seems to have fallen by the wayside!). I thought it was a beautiful piece of design/engineering. But when I compared it side by side with a '54 RI Gibson Les Paul the Gibson had so much more character and nuance it was crazy. The PRS was probably better finished but the Gibson wasn't too shabby! I gigged with that Les Paul for a few years before finding another lovely Gibson with P90s, a Luther Dickinson 335 which I wouldn't mind having back.

So there is a fair bit to like about PRS but for me they're too slick and don't have the character and response which I love about my Gibsons. It's as if someone took a Gibson and systematically ironed out all the quirks and idiosyncrasies in an effort to make it perfect, in in doing so sterilised it. And FWIW my three Gibsons all stay in tune! PRS guitars are nice to play but don't age as well as Gibsons.

 

[Alan W]

From about 1991 to 2007 I had a PRS. I've always been a sucker for Birdseye maple. It had the "wide fat neck" which is a really good carve. I never liked the way it sounded, but loved playing it. Part of that is my (now understood much better) preference for single coils, but it basically never gave me back the energy I was putting into it. For most of those years, I had a second electric, a 1962 ES-330. It was a delight, in every way, except for how thin and narrow the neck was. I bought a used Grosh Electrotone, and suddenly had a great neck and a guitar that was alive in my hands—so I knew it was time to sell the PRS and Gibson. The PRS, which was just "pre-factory" got me enough (and more than I paid for it by a nice bit) to buy a just released Collings 290—this really upped the bar in my understanding of how you could have it all (great playing and sounding in one instrument). The Gibson got shipped to Vienna, after much paperwork dealing with the Brazilian rosewood FB. I bought an Eastman thin line to give me that hollow mojo, and at this point, it's my #1, but I really play pretty equally on 4 different guitars. The Gibson sale yielded enough surplus to get me a great bass and bass amp, too.

 

[Gordo]

That's a pretty cool mashup. Looks like Travis Bean meets Rickenbacker (which would be totally cool). jjjimi84 I keep coming back to your comment about a Les Paul playing in tune. Isn't that the truth? I got to play a SG Pete Townsend that was the first SG I've ever played that could do cowboy chords and then I found out how much it was worth. I'd kill to get my old 68 goldtop Deluxe back but the reason I sold it off to buy a Lado was that the intonation made me nuts. And believe me, it don't take much...

 

[jjjimi84]

From about 1991 to 2007 I had a PRS. I've always been a sucker for Birdseye maple. It had the "wide fat neck" which is a really good carve. I never liked the way it sounded, but loved playing it. Part of that is my (now understood much better) preference for single coils, but it basically never gave me back the energy I was putting into it. For most of those years, I had a second electric, a 1962 ES-330. It was a delight, in every way, except for how thin and narrow the neck was. I bought a used Grosh Electrotone, and suddenly had a great neck and a guitar that was alive in my hands—so I knew it was time to sell the PRS and Gibson. The PRS, which was just "pre-factory" got me enough (and more than I paid for it by a nice bit) to buy a just released Collings 290—this really upped the bar in my understanding of how you could have it all (great playing and sounding in one instrument). The Gibson got shipped to Vienna, after much paperwork dealing with the Brazilian rosewood FB. I bought an Eastman thin line to give me that hollow mojo, and at this point, it's my #1, but I really play pretty equally on 4 different guitars. The Gibson sale yielded enough surplus to get me a great bass and bass amp, too.

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You can’t mention Grosh, Collings and Eastman and not show us pictures. I played one Eastman a few years ago and fell in love. Great playing guitar and if I ever decide to own an acoustic again it will be an Eastman.

That's a pretty cool mashup. Looks like Travis Bean meets Rickenbacker (which would be totally cool). jjjimi84 I keep coming back to your comment about a Les Paul playing in tune. Isn't that the truth? I got to play a SG Pete Townsend that was the first SG I've ever played that could do cowboy chords and then I found out how much it was worth. I'd kill to get my old 68 goldtop Deluxe back but the reason I sold it off to buy a Lado was that the intonation made me nuts. And believe me, it don't take much...

Maybe its just the Gibsons us midwesterners get that don’t stay in tune? I know the Les Paul I had was a boat anchor and I am happy to have parted with it.

 

[Gordo]

I got to play a Collings and a Santa Cruz acoustic a while back and now I know what all the fuss is about. Just stupid good guitars. Like game changing I’m not worthy stupid good.

 

[Gordo]

Both were like $8k stupid though.

 

[Guardians of the analog]

Best guitar I've ever played I pieced together for like 850 bucks. I would put this up against anything in any price range. Nebula, the blue meanie. PRS can suck it.

 

[HamishR]

I got to play a Collings and a Santa Cruz acoustic a while back and now I know what all the fuss is about. Just stupid good guitars. Like game changing I’m not worthy stupid good.

Best acoustic guitar I have ever played was a Santa Cruz 00 in a store near me. Incredible sound. Then I played another one, exact same model in Rudy's downtown in Manhattan. Same experience - incredible guitar. At the time it was US$4000, which was a lot to me. Now they're more! But the guy in Rudy's made me compare t will similar Collings, Froggy Bottoms etc, many of which cost five times as much! But that Santa Cruz beat them all.

 

[andare]

I'm gassing hard for an Eastman SB55dc. It's a Les Paul Jr double cut knockoff with high quality materials and manufacturing.
However it's a slab body and I have ribs and a forearm. Barring any anatomy changes I think I'll stick to my lowly reissue Coronet.

PRS is to guitars what Jacob Collier is to music.

Thank you but I'll take Marc Ribot playing a skronky solo on an old Tele through a ratty old amp in a Tom Waits song any day.

 

[cdwillis]

I can't decide if this new one is uglier than that Silversky or not. That headstock might be more tolerable on this though. On the strat style guitar it looks like Frankenstein's monster.

 

[andare]

I can't decide if this new one is uglier than that Silversky or not. That headstock might be more tolerable on this though. On the strat style guitar it looks like Frankenstein's monster.

At least the Silver Sky looks like a Strat with an ugly headstock. This thing is just an abortion.

 

[Alan W]

You can’t mention Grosh, Collings and Eastman and not show us pictures. I played one Eastman a few years ago and fell in love. Great playing guitar and if I ever decide to own an acoustic again it will be an Eastman.

Maybe its just the Gibsons us midwesterners get that don’t stay in tune? I know the Les Paul I had was a boat anchor and I am happy to have parted with it.

Here’s some poorly lit shots.

As much as I love that Grosh, I’m just not playing it enough, and am beginning to think it needs a new home. I just realized that both the Grosh and the Eastman have Dan Armstrong wound pickups. (Odd, it never occurred to me before.)

 

[jjjimi84]

Lets talk about that Allen Amp! Did you build it or did David make it? What model do you have there?

The Collings is a stunner, I would sleep with that thing.

 

[Alan W]

Lets talk about that Allen Amp! Did you build it or did David make it? What model do you have there?

The Collings is a stunner, I would sleep with that thing.

It’s the Encore, with two 10s. I built it just about three years ago. I can’t say enough good things about it! I just went through and changed a few tubes for the first time, and it may be sounding better than ever! (I think due to the rectifier; am planning on putting the old one back in and seeing how much difference there is.)

After I decided on Allen, the hardest part was figuring out which one to get. I was pretty sure it’d be a 2x10 combo from the start, but each amp has its own mix of goodies. The Encore was sort of the little bit of everything model. It’s super quiet. (As an example, David moved V1 so it’s directly at the input.) The Raw control basically takes the entire tone stack out, which since it’s subtractive, gives you quite a boost; you can basically start off blackface (raw at zero) dial in blonde or take it towards tweed. The trem is bias, there’s a tone control for the reverb, the master volume works, and biasing is super easy with built in bias test points. For about 15 years (before the Encore) my main amp has been a TopHat Club Royale, which is just incredible with that Collings (P90s and EL84s are just meant for each other), but I hardly fire up the TopHat anymore.

 

[Harry Klippton]

It’s the Encore, with two 10s. I built it just about three years ago. I can’t say enough good things about it! I just went through and changed a few tubes for the first time, and it may be sounding better than ever! (I think due to the rectifier; am planning on putting the old one back in and seeing how much difference there is.)

After I decided on Allen, the hardest part was figuring out which one to get. I was pretty sure it’d be a 2x10 combo from the start, but each amp has its own mix of goodies. The Encore was sort of the little bit of everything model. It’s super quiet. (As an example, David moved V1 so it’s directly at the input.) The Raw control basically takes the entire tone stack out, which since it’s subtractive, gives you quite a boost; you can basically start off blackface (raw at zero) dial in blonde or take it towards tweed. The trem is bias, there’s a tone control for the reverb, the master volume works, and biasing is super easy with built in bias test points. For about 15 years (before the Encore) my main amp has been a TopHat Club Royale, which is just incredible with that Collings (P90s and EL84s are just meant for each other), but I hardly fire up the TopHat anymore.

Can we see the top hat tho

 

[jjjimi84]

I built my accomplice seven years ago and love the shit out of the amp. His amps are outstanding for anyone interested in a great blackface amp

 

[music6000]

Best guitar I've ever played I pieced together for like 850 bucks. I would put this up against anything in any price range. Nebula, the blue meanie. PRS can suck it.
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