Andre Flood on why some people think PRS guitars have no mojo

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I have been a guitarist for over 60 years. During that time, I have owned, or played, most every model of guitar made by the majority of major guitar builders and a number of small builders. The availability of very well built guitars is greater today than at any time during my lifetime. In my opinion, PRS guitars are equal to, or in most cases of higher quality, than the majority of guitars I have bought or played over the past 20 years. This is true not only for their “Core” versions, but also for their “S2”, “CE”, and “SE“ models which retail at very reasonable prices. I find that I can get any tone from my PRS guitars that I can envision…with plenty of Mojo!
 
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I saw that video when it came out, and I don't really agree with it at all.

I like PRS (the person) in interviews - I don't agree with everything he says, but his passion is infectious...I like that. But, most of his guitars don't really appeal to me and a lot of what's said about them online doesn't make any sense to me, whether it's positive or negative.

PRSi do seem pretty consistent, but when it comes to the SEs that I've played, they're mostly consistently well-built but otherwise mediocre...a few have been downright bad, even for the money. I don't really like any of the DGT guitars (preference things), but I've played a few SE 594s and two SE Silver Skies (Skys?) now (in addition to customs and hollowbodies)...none of them impressed me, even when cost is taken into account.

The S2s and Cores I've played aren't wildly different and do seem to have very high levels of QC....but they're not all the same. And I haven't played that many.

I like my S2 594, and I do think it's a serious cut above the SE 594s. But, it's never been in contention for my #1, and it is a bit more "generic" than my other guitars, for lack of a better word, despite mine having extremely similar pickups to my LP.

It's pretty, well-built, very light weight, and easy to play, and it doesn't have problems. The overtone series it creates (playing clean) is less interesting than my Les Paul (fewer high harmonics, and the ones that are there are quieter) despite it being louder, and that seems to be the reason I think of it as more "generic". It also sounds darker as a side-effect. I don't play particularly high gain, but I'd imagine those differences would disappear the more you turn the gain up and the overtones created in the amp become more of the signal. IDK...maybe I'm wrong.

Is it lacking mojo? IDK. That might be one way to put it. I was really excited about it when I got it.

It's not really on the chopping block because I do like it. But, it's the first guitar I'd consider selling if I needed to sell a guitar.
 
rog said:
Just put him on ignore. Life is too short to waste on people who are angry that they're not as successful as Paul.
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I always feel kinda sorry for anyone that needs to use the ignore button on any forum. Anyone that gets so triggered and whose skin is that thin must need a hug.

The fact that anyone would think I am angry is the richest of all. The title of this thread is:

why some people think PRS guitars have no mojo​

My posts were topical, relevant and accurate. Other's replies were obtuse, insulting and assailing for butchering the sacred PRS cow. While I don't pretend to know Paul's financial position (apparently @rog does and mine too!), I have been very fortunate.

I hope Paul has hedged his savings. I can say with confidence the future is not too bright for PRS or any other US guitar manufacturer for that matter. The Chinese built guitars using precision computer controlled manufacturing, laser die cutting and CNC lathes (all accurate to within nanometers) will eat all US guitar manufacturers lunch. Especially when you combine that with cheap Chinese labor. :fearscream:

The funniest (or saddest?) thing is I would bet my next patent check that @rog doesn't even own a PRS. Or maybe he bought one and is now invested in defending his purchase decision to avoid buyers remorse? That's the other downside of the ignore button. You don't get a rebuttal.

But I will miss him dearly. :cool:
 
I read comics every day on gocomics.com. There’s a few political cartoons I read and I occasionally check the comments. These are conservative strips. Most of the commentators are only there because they hate conservatives and spew the typical group thinker hate at every strip. Only there to be negative, not because they enjoy the cartoons. I see some parallels on this thread.
 
Rich5150 said:
With a thesaurus
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Never needed one - I do posses some wicked logic that isn't much fun to argue with unless you bring the right tools and facts to the kerfuffle.

If you do and you score a legit hit I will say, "Kudos you got me there."
 
Me waiting for valid point:

Bored Cabin Fever GIF
 
skolacki said:
I read comics every day on gocomics.com. There’s a few political cartoons I read and I occasionally check the comments. These are conservative strips. Most of the commentators are only there because they hate conservatives and spew the typical group thinker hate at every strip. Only there to be negative, not because they enjoy the cartoons. I see some parallels on this thread.
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For the record I am an independent and hate equally on both sides of the disfunction. Nice try.

See? Obtuse, assail, irrelevant - that is the goto for the weak minded. Make a relevant point and stay out of politics. It isn't a good look and violates the rules of the forum.
 
The troll also seem to be a sales rep for garbage guitar shaped objects that depend on exploitation and ignorance to sell. Maybe the Troll has shares in Sire. :tearsofjoy:
 
  • Haha
Reactions: rog
Judging by my latest gigs with my PRS 22 Custom Semi-hollow Trampas Green, and the reaction of the women in the room (do not mistake this with the amp in the room), some even making indecent proposals, I come to the following "scientific" experimental outcome:

Either
  • The PRS gave me a shit load of mojo, making up for my own lack of mojo;
  • The PRS lowered my own crazy amount of mojo, but not at the level to have no impact anymore;
  • The PRS balanced the mojo universe, sticking at the amount I am used to also playing the other guitars (at any price level);
For me, next to my other guitars (Gibson, Fender, Ibanez, ...) I just can say I love playing this guitar and it's sound capabilities. Paid to much? Maybe, maybe not. I don't feel cheated. I think it is up to any of us if you think or feel if a guitar is overpriced, lacks the mojo versus pricetag balance, etc.... It's all mostly feelings, oppinions, etc ..... The guy in the Youtube clip plays Parker and Strandberg, and I don't really dig those myself, even though they are probable great guitars, I respect his taste and oppinion, but I am also ok that we don't share that oppinion :cool:
 
Maurice van Wijk said:
Judging by my latest gigs with my PRS 22 Custom Semi-hollow Trampas Green, and the reaction of the women in the room (do not mistake this with the amp in the room), some even making indecent proposals, I come to the following "scientific" experimental outcome:
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You are absolutely correct! After 60 years of playing guitar, I have amassed quite a large collection of guitars; many of them displayed in the open in my home studio. My wife had never been impressed by any of these guitars during our 40 years of marriage…until we were at a guitar shop one day and she saw her first “10 Top Core” PRS guitar. She was taken aback by the looks of the guitar; to her it was a thing of beautiful art. She bought me a $4,000 PRS Paul’s guitar on the spot as a gift She has since purchased a $5,000 PRS Studio guitar for me as a gift on another occasion! Any guitar company that produces guitars “so beautiful” that they make a wife part with thousands of dollars to buy me one, when she always thought I had too many guitars in the studio before, is doing something right. In addition, I have also had many ladies comment on how amazing my guitars look, and what a great guitarist I am, at gigs since I started playing PRS guitars…since I am just an average guitarist…that is added MOJO in my book!
 
Bottom line: Each player is different, each guitar is different (no matter the brand), each soul is different. A match between the three is the right instrument for that person, and that's all that matters! An excellent player can make anything sound good, (doesn't mean they connect with it), however the right combination will take that performance to a new level. It's individual choice, stop trying to force feed your opinions out of other people's mouth! It's not up to you what they prefer, just do your thing the best you can and strive to be better tomorrow than you are today. I,ve owned a premium Santana, (sold it) and a premium SC245, ( has been in the case for over 2 years) personally couldn't connect with either, but they are beautiful, excellent instruments hands down! They just don't work for me. Heck what I play may not technically be as good, but My soul and the guitar connects and it inspires me to do things I otherwise wouldn't if there's no connection. Just enjoy the instrument that inspires you, and appreciate that others find what inspire them! It doesn't need to align with your opinion!
"That's all I have to say about That"
(Forrest Gump)
 
marsonic said:
I saw that video when it came out, and I don't really agree with it at all.

I like PRS (the person) in interviews - I don't agree with everything he says, but his passion is infectious...I like that. But, most of his guitars don't really appeal to me and a lot of what's said about them online doesn't make any sense to me, whether it's positive or negative.

PRSi do seem pretty consistent, but when it comes to the SEs that I've played, they're mostly consistently well-built but otherwise mediocre...a few have been downright bad, even for the money. I don't really like any of the DGT guitars (preference things), but I've played a few SE 594s and two SE Silver Skies (Skys?) now (in addition to customs and hollowbodies)...none of them impressed me, even when cost is taken into account.

The S2s and Cores I've played aren't wildly different and do seem to have very high levels of QC....but they're not all the same. And I haven't played that many.

I like my S2 594, and I do think it's a serious cut above the SE 594s. But, it's never been in contention for my #1, and it is a bit more "generic" than my other guitars, for lack of a better word, despite mine having extremely similar pickups to my LP.

It's pretty, well-built, very light weight, and easy to play, and it doesn't have problems. The overtone series it creates (playing clean) is less interesting than my Les Paul (fewer high harmonics, and the ones that are there are quieter) despite it being louder, and that seems to be the reason I think of it as more "generic". It also sounds darker as a side-effect. I don't play particularly high gain, but I'd imagine those differences would disappear the more you turn the gain up and the overtones created in the amp become more of the signal. IDK...maybe I'm wrong.

Is it lacking mojo? IDK. That might be one way to put it. I was really excited about it when I got it.

It's not really on the chopping block because I do like it. But, it's the first guitar I'd consider selling if I needed to sell a guitar.
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I have had two experiences with PRS

The first a Santana SE.. nicely made for the price, played nicely, but tonally?.. gutless, mediocre at best and definitely lacked "mojo" in any way i could describe it.. sold it quick, bought a used 2004 Les Paul Double Cut and, while twice the price, it was five times the sound. just inspiring.

Second time, I was lulled by the entire 594 spiel, and the implied "its a better Les Paul than a Les Paul" message and dropped well over $4.5k for my core 594. It is well made, nice looking, plays well, and is tonally flexible. I can get good tones out of it. Despite the entire "vintage" blurb does it have remotely the mojo of my 2012 Les Paul?.. nope, not close. I am keeping mine, but fool me twice...lol
 
Andy Eagle said:
The troll also seem to be a sales rep for garbage guitar shaped objects that depend on exploitation and ignorance to sell. Maybe the Troll has shares in Sire. :tearsofjoy:
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Yet another lame, obtuse and irrelevant flame based on nonsense by the esteemed AE. Maybe Tim Piece has stock in Sire too right Andy?

Mojo is in your fingers or it isn't.

 
Mystic38 said:
Second time, I was lulled by the entire 594 spiel, and the implied "its a better Les Paul than a Les Paul" message and dropped well over $4.5k for my core 594. It is well made, nice looking, plays well, and is tonally flexible. I can get good tones out of it. Despite the entire "vintage" blurb does it have remotely the mojo of my 2012 Les Paul?.. nope, not close. I am keeping mine, but fool me twice...lol
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Yeah....like I said, I like my S2 594. But, it was like $1700, not 5 grand. It does feel good. It plays extremely well, and I have to adjust the truss rod less often. It intonates more precisely than my other guitars...or maybe I just got lucky (I'm not super picky about intonation because it's never totally correct anyway...if it's too far out, I'll press harder or softer or just let myself respond to the dissonance and play a bit differently). I'm not convinced that the Cores are worth that much more money, at least for that model. If you like them, the Custom/Standard series seem like they could be.

But...it's very much not "a better Les Paul than a Les Paul". It's not even really a LP substitute to me. They've got their own things going on.

Even for people who think that the guitar/wood/etc. don't matter...the pickups aren't in the same place. They're going to sound different in ways that just aren't arguable.

And all of that held while I had Seth Lovers and basically the same wiring scheme in both guitars (I think my LP has 15% pots, and my 594 has 30% pots; the LP has 2 PIO caps, and the 594 has 1 PIO and one Orange Drop...I don't think any of those differences are significant except that I really do need to get around to changing the pots in the 594 because I like the taper that turns down faster).

Andy Eagle said:
Someone need to define Mojo because in my dictionary it is BS.
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I kind of agree with you...and with Budda's response.

I've said for a long time, partially based on all the videos that show drastic changes to guitars with little difference in sound, that I have no idea what makes me like a guitar or not....and that I don't care anymore. The differences in the overtone series between my LP and my 594 is probably related. But, IHNFC what causes that difference - it might just be where the pickups are along the strings and literally nothing else. For all I know, how much I like some random guitar might have more to do with the phase of the moon or my blood sugar or whether I've hit my protein goal or how recently I've dropped a knife on my foot (it's happened a couple times, got a scar to prove it)....I have literally no idea. But, it's inarguable that I like some guitars more than others.

"It's got a lot of mojo", to me, at this point, just means "I like it and want to play it." And, frankly, that's good enough for me. I'm not building guitars, and I'm not specifically a collector. So, it kinda works out.
 
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