You could play the `86 with care and have a playable investment.
When I got to town, a `59 Les Paul was for sale at a vintage shop for $85k. Slash came to town and had a clone of that made. Gibson then made a Slash edition based upon the clone.
A guy on a car forum back in my Viper days bought a `59 Les Paul for $175k. I just shook my head on what a bad investment that was. Oy.
Then even further back in the day, I was offered a `67 Corvette L88 coupe with 72 miles on it for $3250. I declined. I really know how to invest. Son of Oy.
Ted McCarty was a principal in designing the Les Paul “bursts” for Gibson (Eg. the famed 1959 Les Paul). BTW, Gibson corp bought Epiphone for $20k.
Paul Reed Smith asked McCarty to consult for the design of the McCarty models of the PRS (1994) line.
The first three PRS Dragons (93, 94, 95) used “Dragon pickups” of Paul’s design. However, late in 1995, there were ~12 PRS Dragons with McCarty pickups.
I can photograph mine if interested. Interestingly, my wife was mentioning a green PRS last night and that it is not a color PRS routinely offers. Some of the PRS have multiple pickup selector configurations. My wife likes the sound of Santana’s PRS (and amp) which have a round tube like sound to them as seen/heard in the video “Smooth” with Rob Thomas. That video features Thomas
wife who has had to deal with Lime Disease for a long time.
Can you get a Tele-like tone from a PRS…likely. There have been rumors due to the success of the Silver Sky SE that PRS would make a “tele” like guitar. The guitar market right now is complex. Fender cutting back, Guitar Center lay offs and Sweetwater soaring. I have a sunburst Tele anniversary…35th? Cannot recall.
I have a regular mid 2000s American Tele and my mate back in Scotland had some fancy PRS of similar vintage - like a $5-6k CAD value guitar. There is no way those guitars sound the same at least through the same amp. PRS is a whole different being, richer, deeper, punchier, more liquid, but so it should be given it cost 4-5 times as much. Not sure why PRS would want to do that, since I would not have thought that Teles were their natural hunting ground. If you want a Tele, get a Tele . They look real nice though.
Assuming: As in the case when Fender was disappointing John Mayer, and he turned to PRS that Paul saw a creative opportunity, made the Silver Sky and then the SE version. Both have done very well for the company. If PRS sees that many people are playing a Tele, I would guess that it is good and creative to create a competitive Tele-style, improved upon, and endorsed by today’s musicians. Unrelated: an interesting YouTube video, recorded locally has three guitarist talking about whether future generations would be interested in pre-CBS Strats and Gibson bursts.
There are things like…guitars, watches, pens etc that become investments because someone wants what you bought. And you really like owning them. That is not true with many other hobbies.
If buying guitars makes y’all happy and does not create buyers’ remorse…do it.
Did I tell this story? Perhaps. I was in my office and my wife came to the door and said “if you could have a new PRS, what would it be?” Without a pause, I said “it would be a PRS Custom 22, semi-hollow, whale blue, McCarty pickups, gold hardware, wide thin neck…something like that.”
She said “that sounds really special” and went back to her desk.
Two weeks later, that very guitar arrived at our home.
I’ve been enjoying some open G slide on my Emerald Carbon Fibre X7 with HyVibe and it is addictive.
4 Likes
AceRimmer
(Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast!)
199
I broke down and bought a PRS.
But I didn’t spend large, sure there were some awfully pretty quilted one piece maple top axes with some equally nice prices but I decided I could live without them.
This one needs better pictures as the purple burst finish is more eye popping in the flesh so you speak.
2009 SE Paul Allender Edition.
I think the purple and the bat inlays got me hooked
. They look real nice though.
