So, why all the bird hate?
- Thread starter Jakedog
- Start date
Envy? Maybe? I mean, they've survived every calamity since they were picking nits off dinosaur heads.
That's beautiful!
What are body woods?
Just my opinion, of course.
It's not the birds I don't care for. It's Paul. Gut instinct tells me he's a narcissist, always thinking he's having a joke at our expense. Instead of making a nice instrument, and leaving the personalization for his own guitar, he puts his very personal ideas of what a guitar should be, on every guitar. The birds are apparently a memento of his mother - she liked birds. I could see incorporating it into his logo or something, but the fret markers ensure that all of us 'engage' at some level with his ideal every time we pick up the guitar. It's just a bit creepy.
Just the fact that I even know enough about Paul to think he's creepy... is creepy. With most makers, it's about the guitar. With him... it's really about him.
It's not the birds I don't care for. It's Paul. Gut instinct tells me he's a narcissist, always thinking he's having a joke at our expense. Instead of making a nice instrument, and leaving the personalization for his own guitar, he puts his very personal ideas of what a guitar should be, on every guitar. The birds are apparently a memento of his mother - she liked birds. I could see incorporating it into his logo or something, but the fret markers ensure that all of us 'engage' at some level with his ideal every time we pick up the guitar. It's just a bit creepy.
Just the fact that I even know enough about Paul to think he's creepy... is creepy. With most makers, it's about the guitar. With him... it's really about him.
jvin248
Doctor of Teleocity
.
The birds were a pretty smart marketing tactic -- easy to see across the room when someone may not recognize the headstock shape. Easy to start conversations (so the chicks dig your bird inlays after the show, jakedog? Lol).
Birds have turned into bling markers just like quilted tops. Some players want less bling just like some want to play a Relic guitar or not.
Birds and Relics bring out the thread-posting popcorn pictures.
I've seen a lot of threads where players are oohing-and-aahhing block or trapezoid inlays, which tend to get a bit too much for me.
I'm hoping that PRS launches a "PRS Strat" alongside the JM-signature. I'd be interested in that. I've stopped getting any signature artist models, just too hard to sell later and why advertise an artist you may not be really interested in?
The really hard to sell inlay signature guitars are these Paul Allender 'Bats'.
This is about the best looking example. I've seen garish green and purple ones in the wild.
.
The birds were a pretty smart marketing tactic -- easy to see across the room when someone may not recognize the headstock shape. Easy to start conversations (so the chicks dig your bird inlays after the show, jakedog? Lol).
Birds have turned into bling markers just like quilted tops. Some players want less bling just like some want to play a Relic guitar or not.
Birds and Relics bring out the thread-posting popcorn pictures.
I've seen a lot of threads where players are oohing-and-aahhing block or trapezoid inlays, which tend to get a bit too much for me.
I'm hoping that PRS launches a "PRS Strat" alongside the JM-signature. I'd be interested in that. I've stopped getting any signature artist models, just too hard to sell later and why advertise an artist you may not be really interested in?
The really hard to sell inlay signature guitars are these Paul Allender 'Bats'.
This is about the best looking example. I've seen garish green and purple ones in the wild.
.
digitalMagnetics
Tele-Meister
This right here. Non-guitarists don't always think of guitars the way we do. We (well... most of us here, I guess) see guitars as these tough, powerful, utilitarian things we use for making raunchy music. Those birds just seem incongruous because they're so pretty and delicate. To me, they just seem out of place.
I really dig the PRS S2 Standard guitars without the birds and ridiculous flame tops. Those look cool and the porous satin finish feels amazing, especially on the neck. Great guitars, those. Priced for the normies, too.
I like the birds and thought they looked cool in the ads PRS had in the late ‘80’s. I didn’t know they weren’t cool until the internet told me. I am glad that I got mine in the early ‘90’s, though, since I can’t afford one now. Actually, I couldn’t afford it then either and borrowed money from my parents, which I happily paid back since I had few responsibilities.
gitold
Poster Extraordinaire
I have a combination of plain and fancy PRS’s. The blue Studio is my favorite followed closely by the beat to heck 150 year old barnwood Reclaimed CE 24.
Attachments
Last edited:
regularslinky
Tele-Afflicted
Imagine a carpenter who measures a board and then draws a bird with its beak pointing to the spot where the cut needs to be made. You'd hate that guy right? Same thing.
littlebadboy
Tele-Afflicted
I have a bird story! It's from a song actually.
"Don't touch that birdie, just call it, and it will come..."
"Don't touch that birdie, just call it, and it will come..."
Tommy Biggs
Friend of Leo's
They’re a bit fancy for me, but I’m not a hater.
Thanks! Mine's the 'Standard' version with mahogany body & mahogany ply top. There's a 'II' version that has a maple ply top. Both have mahogany neck, ebony fingerboard, bone nut.
I don't hate them, they just seem cheesy. I think it's the mass production of what should (?) be custom work. If inlay is fancy, it shouldn't be on everything, or to stops being fancy. Maybe.
Why would I hate that guy? If it didn’t add a ton of time, and thus money to the job, I’d probably just smile at somebody who found his own way to bring himself some joy whilst doing manual labor.
teletimetx
Doctor of Teleocity
I’ve been slightly on either side of caring about this, and lately, just don’t.
Maybe 10, 11 years ago I got a McCarty version with the birds and it also had a rosewood neck - not Brasileiro, the other rosewood. Not a “ten top” or even, kind of a plain tobacco burst, blah, blah, blah.
It was a very fine instrument, playing wise. Clean, tight, well-made neck, frets, the whole playing experience. Except the humbuckers - this was a ‘95 model - just didn’t inspire me. Maybe that was my fault.
Sold it - actually made a little money. Timing, I guess.
We all like what we like. I like guitars and don’t have enough road ahead to be able to afford the luxury of distaste for inanimate objects.
Maybe 10, 11 years ago I got a McCarty version with the birds and it also had a rosewood neck - not Brasileiro, the other rosewood. Not a “ten top” or even, kind of a plain tobacco burst, blah, blah, blah.
It was a very fine instrument, playing wise. Clean, tight, well-made neck, frets, the whole playing experience. Except the humbuckers - this was a ‘95 model - just didn’t inspire me. Maybe that was my fault.
Sold it - actually made a little money. Timing, I guess.
We all like what we like. I like guitars and don’t have enough road ahead to be able to afford the luxury of distaste for inanimate objects.
superjam144
Tele-Afflicted
I'm talking pre pandemic. Of course they are backordered now. But in 2018 they were writing articles called "The Death of the Electric Guitar".
"The numbers back him up. In the past decade, electric guitar sales have plummeted, from about 1.5 million sold annually to just over 1 million. The two biggest companies, Gibson and Fender, are in debt, and a third, PRS Guitars, had to cut staff and expand production of cheaper guitars. In April, Moody’s downgraded Guitar Center, the largest chain retailer, as it faces $1.6 billion in debt. And at Sweetwater.com, the online retailer, a brand-new, interest-free Fender can be had for as little as $8 a month."
Prs was struggling... Interestingly right before the release of the silver sky.
The pandemic is what jumpstarted the industry. Folks are buying guitars like never before.
superjam144
Tele-Afflicted
Prs was cutting back the same year they released it. I'd think there was a connection there.. it's a great business move. But it's kind of seen as a cheap shot at fender.
Peegoo
Doctor of Teleocity
Imagine walking into the local Piggly Wiggly (grocery store) and going to the bread aisle and the only bread they stock is plain ol' white Wonder Bread. They've made it that way for a century. Why change?
Some folks like it. Some folks want wheat.
Others like raisins and cinnamon in their toast.
Nothing wrong with any of that. If raisins bug you and you sit on your porch and gripe about raisins having no business in bread...well, we've all known people like that
Some folks like it. Some folks want wheat.
Others like raisins and cinnamon in their toast.
Nothing wrong with any of that. If raisins bug you and you sit on your porch and gripe about raisins having no business in bread...well, we've all known people like that
Similar threads
