PRS Guitars - Hard to sell?

CampbellH · September 2023

Stop thinking about what you will get back from a guitar when you move it on and think about what you will get from it by paying whatever it is you pay for the guitar. If you cannot justify the latter then the former is a moot point.

Life is about the life-experience. Remember you don't really own anything, you are just renting them whilst you are alive, after that it's gone..

chris78 · September 2023

imalrightjack said:

guyinlyon said:

Jay100 said:

Said dealer then mentioned that although beautiful, play great etc etc - they were having a hard time shifting them, particularly the more expensive ones and they weren’t keen on taking any more into stock at the moment. Apparently there isn’t much appetite for PRS (or higher-end PRS) in the UK - at least right now.

The problem is that your "dealer" hasn't found enough doctors, lawyers and City bankers, as they are the natural market for PRS guitars.

I don't think there's a more tedious loads of bollocks rolled out on here that fucking 'dentist' comments. Admins should start banning people for a failure of imagination.

To be fair if @guyinlyon wants to make it clear to the world that he can’t afford something and is envious of those who can, good luck to him

Boromedic · September 2023

LMAO, PRS owners are very touchy aren't they!

As soon as you mention the BDA, fillings or lawyers they get all angry and upset. Fender owners have to put up with bullshit like, it's just two pieces of wood screwed together, anyone can do it, blah blah blah. Gibson owners have to wear the, no don't breathe on it as the headstock will snap, or Gibson's QC is awful, everyone else makes a better Les Paul originality. So it's the same rubbish different manufacturers.

Perhaps you need thicker skins underneath the feathers?

thomasross20 · September 2023

Has nobody noticed that since most dentists have gone private, the price of PRS has shot up?

Rob1742 · September 2023

Halls66 said:

"unplayed" second hand guitar:
https://www.squealingpigguitars.co.uk/product-page/prs-usa-paul-reed-smith-modern-eagle-v-charcoal-burst-rosewood-2023

same model but new and from reputable shops:

https://www.peachguitars.com/prs-modern-eagle-v-charcoal-burst.htm?opt=38116&gad=1?gclid=CjwKCAjwjOunBhB4EiwA94JWsBcmv3WTscD6SZOcSZD3KWgRd1AEtbhlsT1poJVUWIRi5MeXU4I5bBoCgzUQAvD_BwE

https://www.gak.co.uk/en/prs-modern-eagle-v-charcoal/961116?gclsrc=aw.ds&&gclid=CjwKCAjwjOunBhB4EiwA94JWsDUN7pniy7dQo164SSJ6m11V62fHUVzWv2jw-piY7KidVWhpJv9iexoCkDAQAvD_BwE

Nothing against squealingpig, but I'm not sure that 10% is a large enough discount for people to not prefer the 'safety' of a shop and warranty of a new item.

Nailed it

mrkb · September 2023

thomasross20 said:

Has nobody noticed that since most dentists have gone private, the price of PRS has shot up?

And the price of petrol has gone up at the same time - so those Fuel station cashiers must be rolling in PRSs........

Blueingreen · September 2023

Boromedic said:

LMAO, PRS owners are very touchy aren't they!

As soon as you mention the BDA, fillings or lawyers they get all angry and upset. Fender owners have to put up with bullshit like, it's just two pieces of wood screwed together, anyone can do it, blah blah blah. Gibson owners have to wear the, no don't breathe on it as the headstock will snap, or Gibson's QC is awful, everyone else makes a better Les Paul originality. So it's the same rubbish different manufacturers.

Perhaps you need thicker skins underneath the feathers?

The stuff you mention in relation to Fender and Gibson is about quality control, value for money, design flaws. A swipe at the product. The lawyer/dentist jokes are a swipe at the people who buy the product. Playing the man, not the ball. Of course people are going to be touchier about that.

roberty · September 2023

Blueingreen said:

Boromedic said:

LMAO, PRS owners are very touchy aren't they!

As soon as you mention the BDA, fillings or lawyers they get all angry and upset. Fender owners have to put up with bullshit like, it's just two pieces of wood screwed together, anyone can do it, blah blah blah. Gibson owners have to wear the, no don't breathe on it as the headstock will snap, or Gibson's QC is awful, everyone else makes a better Les Paul originality. So it's the same rubbish different manufacturers.

Perhaps you need thicker skins underneath the feathers?

The stuff you mention in relation to Fender and Gibson is about quality control, value for money, design flaws. A swipe at the product. The lawyer/dentist jokes are a swipe at the people who buy the product. Playing the man, not the ball. Of course people are going to be touchier about that.

Here y'are. No one gets out alive

notsopro · September 2023

CampbellH said:

Stop thinking about what you will get back from a guitar when you move it on and think about what you will get from it by paying whatever it is you pay for the guitar. If you cannot justify the latter then the former is a moot point.

Life is about the life-experience. Remember you don't really own anything, you are just renting them whilst you are alive, after that it's gone..

whilst I agree in general with those points, personally if I'm looking to buy a guitar 'second hand' and especially off a marketplace, or somewhere that doesn't give me the safety of a dealers returns / long distance sell policy, I personally will factor in the "if I don't take to this piece of gear after a month or so, what will it cost me to get rid of". So I think people factoring in the resale value, how easy it will be to shift etc, is fair.

The thing that I still struggle to accept when looking at used guitars, is if a new guitar is purchased for £2000, and has 20% vat on it, the dealer will receive £1600; yet you see the same guitar a couple years old appear on facebook for £1800. So if it sells at that price, the re-seller is techincally recieving more money than the dealer, crazy world we live in.

Also everyone, buy a used prs if you get a good deal, they're great

Wazmeister · September 2023

Sassafras said:

Bedroom dealers aren't known for their realistic pricing policy.
i've seen actual shops selling brand new stuff for less than most bedroom dealers selling used items.
And they wonder why they're not selling?

This.

Price em right and they will sell.

Boromedic · September 2023

Blueingreen said:

Boromedic said:

LMAO, PRS owners are very touchy aren't they!

As soon as you mention the BDA, fillings or lawyers they get all angry and upset. Fender owners have to put up with bullshit like, it's just two pieces of wood screwed together, anyone can do it, blah blah blah. Gibson owners have to wear the, no don't breathe on it as the headstock will snap, or Gibson's QC is awful, everyone else makes a better Les Paul originality. So it's the same rubbish different manufacturers.

Perhaps you need thicker skins underneath the feathers?

The stuff you mention in relation to Fender and Gibson is about quality control, value for money, design flaws. A swipe at the product. The lawyer/dentist jokes are a swipe at the people who buy the product. Playing the man, not the ball. Of course people are going to be touchier about that.

Nope, that's not correct, the implication if you buy a Gibson is that your making a lifestyle/badge choice over a decent instrument so you're a wrong un. The Fender implication is that you're a fool who is easily parted from your cash. Same rules apply, so that's horse shit, perhaps dentists and lawyers have no sense of humour??

Evo · September 2023

Aaaaaand moving away from the ludicrous, pointless, and very un-funny discussion about guitar brand stereotypes....

The second hand guitar market is dropping.

As are a lot of other markets for reasons which are incredibly boring but generally revolve around people that already have money wanting to get more of it off people that don't have any.

The "bedroom dealers" have had the same great time as landlords over the past few years, used guitar, car, and property prices have been seemingly invincible for such a long time now that they've forgotten that prices go down as well as up.

Now that folks are actually starting to say "hang on, HOW MUCH??" on almost every item in Sainsbury's, the general progression is that we start to see prices drop once CEOs see their quarterly bonus payments plummet.

It's a big game of musical chairs, a few chairs have been taken away and now we're just waiting for the music to stop.

BigPaulie · September 2023

Blueingreen said:

Boromedic said:

LMAO, PRS owners are very touchy aren't they!

As soon as you mention the BDA, fillings or lawyers they get all angry and upset. Fender owners have to put up with bullshit like, it's just two pieces of wood screwed together, anyone can do it, blah blah blah. Gibson owners have to wear the, no don't breathe on it as the headstock will snap, or Gibson's QC is awful, everyone else makes a better Les Paul originality. So it's the same rubbish different manufacturers.

Perhaps you need thicker skins underneath the feathers?

The stuff you mention in relation to Fender and Gibson is about quality control, value for money, design flaws. A swipe at the product. The lawyer/dentist jokes are a swipe at the people who buy the product. Playing the man, not the ball. Of course people are going to be touchier about that.

Even if the comparison is "playing the man, not the ball" the point about thicker skin is valid.

Why would anyone take the dentist/lawyer/banker jokes (and that's all they are) personally?

I've got a PRS and I don't take offense. Mine isn't a very "dentisty" one though...

roberty · September 2023

Evo said:

Aaaaaand moving away from the ludicrous, pointless, and very un-funny discussion about guitar brand stereotypes....

Triggered

Boromedic · September 2023

Plenty of things are still selling TBF, certain things not so much, but I don't see much in the way of corrections as yet. It may happen, the powers that be are invested in it not happening though to be fair.

As for selling PRSs, I notice they hang around longer and sell for less than I'd expect but I'm not in the market for them either. I've noticed a few unrealistic Fender CS prices used and they're never gonna sell at that, but if they drop their prices a few hundred they probably would. Still at the end of the day, they might not sell but the person who is selling them has the right to ask what they want even if we think it's patently ridiculous.

gumbothewiddler · September 2023

I wonder whether some (but certainly not all) new guitar buyers just don’t think that depreciation applies to their purchases as it does for other things.

There may also be a relationship between used value expectations and whether the guitar was bought outright or on credit.

Evo · September 2023

roberty said:

Evo said:

Aaaaaand moving away from the ludicrous, pointless, and very un-funny discussion about guitar brand stereotypes....

Triggered

Ok, boomer

Evo · September 2023

gumbothewiddler said:

There may also be a relationship between used value expectations and whether the guitar was bought outright or on credit.

That’s an interesting perspective I hadn’t considered before.

I suppose an extension of that would be considering that some used instruments may not actually be completely paid off yet and the prices being charged are to cover the payments needed to pay it off. Especially if it was a “buy now pay later” finance as opposed to a Klarna style monthly payment.

Whitecat · September 2023

The people who say “how much!?!” at Sainsbury’s are not the same people who are deciding whether to buy a Wood Library or splurge on a Private Stock. There is a class of people who are mostly shielded from the problems at the moment, financially, and it’s becoming their buyer’s market.

Rhl87Rhl · September 2023

BigPaulie said:

I've got a PRS and I don't take offense. Mine isn't a very "dentisty" one though...

I’ve got an S2 Mira that’s all dinged up. More dental receptionist than full dentist. Maybe hygienist at a push…

Boromedic · September 2023

Maybe it's the NHS dental special?

CloudNine · September 2023

I think it could be because they are sterile, toneless lumps of tasteless bling, which completely cancel out any coolness you might otherwise have garnered from playing a guitar.

Evo · September 2023

Whitecat said:

The people who say “how much!?!” at Sainsbury’s are not the same people who are deciding whether to buy a Wood Library or splurge on a Private Stock. There is a class of people who are mostly shielded from the problems at the moment, financially, and it’s becoming their buyer’s market.

That's not the kind of direct correlation I was trying to draw.

The people saying "how much?!?!" are the ones on lower incomes, the regular, everyday customers at Sainsbury's that all of a sudden can't quite afford their usual weekly big shop and have to cut down.

These cuts then find their way into Sainsbury's profits, resulting in smaller bonus payments for the private stock and wood library customers.

This class of people have been artificially shielded through tax cuts and out of control pay rises for about as long as the economy can stand, there comes a point when the scales just tip and that's usually when the housing market crashes because people can't make their mortgage payments...the mortgage payments that some people have seen almost double within the last 12 months.

Fingers657 · September 2023

I bought my five PRS guitars new in dealer sales over the years and did really well on prices.
All are worth more now than when I bought them.
Ive no wish to sell any of them.

imalrightjack · September 2023

I'm not remotely offended - it's just FUCKING BORING!

BigPaulie · September 2023

Rhl87Rhl said:

BigPaulie said:

I've got a PRS and I don't take offense. Mine isn't a very "dentisty" one though...

I’ve got an S2 Mira that’s all dinged up. More dental receptionist than full dentist. Maybe hygienist at a push…

Yep.

Mine's an S2 Mira too.

You have good taste. Great little guitars.

RaymondLin · September 2023

I got mine either in a sale or used and if I put them up at 10% below the rate the same guitar just sold on reverb, i would still be in profit, by like 50%, enough to cover inflation.

Get used, hold on to it, then it’s fine!

Plus, there are lots of rich people out there, plenty of people with no mortgage and lots of savings and right now, they are getting richer by the day.

roberty · September 2023

Evo said:

roberty said:

Evo said:

Aaaaaand moving away from the ludicrous, pointless, and very un-funny discussion about guitar brand stereotypes....

Triggered

Ok, boomer

I have Fender, Gibson _and_ PRS guitars. And I am in an incestuous relationship with a first cousin. Make of that what you will

Dominic · September 2023

^ Nothing wrong with an incestuous relationship with a 1st Cousin as long as you aren't planning on having kids
and even then , that's how Dynasties are born

OilCityPickups · September 2023

The original question was 'are PRS guitars hard to sell', and I would have said they are not quite as easy to sell as similarly priced Gibsons or Fenders.

Several reasons for this, none relating to oral health professionals you'll be glad to note. Also I'm not talking about Far Eastern PRS guitars here.

Firstly PRS were late to the party. Gibson gave a company name and history going back well over a hundred years, and Fender pushing eighty ... PRS simply haven't had the time or the mileage to seep into a guitar players consciousness like the 'big two'.
Secondly they mix features between Gibson and Fender, and while that's a big plus for many players, to others it produces an instrument that's neither 'fish nor fowl'.
Lastly the models that seem to get all the coverage in the guitar media (and forums) are ones that, if one is generous, one would call extravagant and extrovert, with tops that would make certain big cats blanch with jealousy. Or if one prefers more sedate six stringers and was less diplomatic, one might liken to an explosion in a tarts handbag.

One of my favourite guitars ever that I've tried was a PRS SE1 ... a stripped back rock machine that I should have bought while they were going fairly cheaply a few years ago.

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PRS Guitars - Hard to sell?

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