PRS comes clean.

jem7vwh · #1 02-15-2001, 01:15 AM

Remember that guitar called the Santana SE that was NOT a PRS guitar. *Well it's on the website of that company that DOESN'T make it. *I knew it. *At least PRS is owning up to it now. *This is what I wanted, just let the public know, yes this is a cheap Korean version of a PRS guitar. *Here's yer link

http://www.prsguitars.com/showcase/current/

look for Santana SE (you'll see it right there by the real Santana signature models)

Christopher Chen · #2 02-15-2001, 02:10 AM

Gosh it sure looks like ****. But I think it's very misleading, the guitar is still on the prs website. People are still going to think it's made by prs...

Anyone gonna buy a tremonti model? LOL!!!!

Chris.

Noodles · #3 02-15-2001, 02:28 AM

I saw the add for it in guitar world and I thought it looks and sounds pretty sweet, I would buy it if it did not have his name on it. To bad it's a signature model.

Christopher Chen · #4 02-15-2001, 12:30 PM

Hmm if I do remember correctly the one in guitarworld looked way better with a flamed top, mother of pearl streak and bird inlays!

jem7vwh · #5 02-15-2001, 05:01 PM

Christopher, I think you're probably thinking of the REAL santana model. *The one Carlos actually plays is the Santana II. *it does have the flamed maple top, the birds and the abolone strips inlayed into the body. *This is exactly the confusion I knew the SE would cause.

Jimi D · #6 02-15-2001, 09:00 PM

You know, if I bought a Santana SE thinking it was a US-made PRS Santana II and then later found out it was a piece of Korean crap, I'd be really upset...

Good thing I'm not a complete idiot.

jem7vwh · #7 02-15-2001, 09:21 PM

yup. *it's going to be a shame, but I know it's going to happen. *Especially considering how much of PRS's stock goes straight to Guitar Center. *Not to say that all the salesdoods at GC are morons or that all the customers are, but a big chain like that is more likely to have both.

Coolstu · #8 02-16-2001, 01:19 PM

The guitar was actually Carlos Santana's idea. He supposedly wanted ihis guitar to be more accesible to more people.
I read the Guitarist UK review at www.guitarist.co.uk and they gave it a pretty good review. PRS are meant to have got a decent set of luthiers together to ensure a reasonable quality guitar.
At the end of the day it is still not a cheap guitar!

Christopher Chen · #9 02-16-2001, 02:13 PM

It is definately not a cheap guitar! I saw the cover of guitarist magazine...something like 500 over pounds!!! That's like 1.5K singapore dollars...about 900 us dollars!!
Damn with that kind of money you could get so much more...

jem7vwh · #10 02-17-2001, 12:04 AM

sorry, but for $900, I'm going for a DBK, a 570 or an EVH Wolfgang.

Coolstu · #11 02-17-2001, 10:38 AM

I think it the Korean model PRS Santana is a really ugly looking guitar and the colour is horrible (of the one reviewed anyway). It will probably sell very well but I agree for that kind of money I would get myself something else.

lgascoig · #12 02-17-2001, 02:46 PM

Doesn't look so hot to me. *Why get a cheezy Korean made copy when instead you could pay a few hundred more and pick up a US made axe like the new EBMM JPM? *(Wearing fire proof suit to ward off flames).

mecca777 · #13 02-17-2001, 04:33 PM

Well, I'll be giving one a spin if I see one. Not because I particularly like PRS guitars, but because by the time it hits UK shops it's going to be priced against guitars like the Fender MIM Deluxe Strats, Ibanez mid-range RGs or high-end Epiphones - not Wolfgangs, DBKs or EBMMs.

If the build quality is decent on it, I'd probably consider a stoptail SE as the platform for a Roland GK2.

As far as the "Korean guitar" objection goes, well, until I have one in my hands I'll reserve judgement, but I've had an Epiphone G400 for years - the neck has been broken twice, the finish has been repainted and worn through to the bare wood, the hardware is pitted and it's had several massive chunks taken out of the body, but it still feels great and sounds good. That's all I ask for in a guitar.

jem7vwh · #14 02-17-2001, 07:11 PM

it's certainly not impossible to find a good playing Korean manufactured guitar, I think most folks around here would just tell you that it's more rare.

mecca777 · #15 02-17-2001, 07:30 PM

Fair enough. But much of that is due to the fact that guitar companies source their lower-mid import lines from Korea, so the only Korean guitars you see are the "cheap" models.

I've heard some people (admittedly not particularly on this forum) who've been slamming PRS for this move because "Korean guitars are all crap". That's just the same type of bull that we've all heard applied to Japanese guitars in the past. I'm sure Fender got this exact argument thrown at them when they introduced the first Squier guitars... well, that soon shut a few people up, didn't it?

Personally, I'm prepared to give PRS the benefit of the doubt on this one - there are lots of people out there who want the "look" of these top instruments without being able to afford to spend thousands of <currency>s on a top flight PRS, Parker or whatever else. Why shouldn't companies try to cater for that market as well?

Now a Mark Tremonti Signature Model... that's just plain silly.