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New (to me) Guitar Day

Vaughn McMillan

Vaughn McMillan

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I went to the local guitar shop on Wednesday to buy a set of strings. (That's always how it starts, lol.) They had a barely-used guitar on the wall that caught my eye. It was a brand I'm very familiar with, since I already own several other models of the brand. Told the friendly guy behind the counter I thought it was a beautiful guitar. He reminded me that they take trade-ins. On the drive home, I'm saying to myself "Self, does a guy really NEED 5 Stratocasters? How about some of the other decent guitars you have taking up space that never get played?"

I worked in a music store for a few years when I was younger, so I know how their pricing and markup work. In general, an honest and fair store will offer about 50% of the used retail price for trade-ins. (One local store offers 30%, so I don't do any trades there.) It doesn't take much time on the Internet these days to figure out what the going used retail price is for just about any brand or model, so I knew about what it would take to walk out of there with a (nearly) new guitar and no money out of pocket. So on Thursday I gathered up a few guitars to go talk trade-ins. Turns out this store offered me a little bit more than I'd expected, so I ended up also adding a good ATA-approved flight case to the deal. In the end, I did spend a little bit of money, but I think both the store and I got good deals out of the transaction. Yes, I could have sold my guitars for about twice the price as what I got trading them in, but I don't like the idea of having strangers coming to my house to buy things like guitars (or guns), and don't really want to do any parking lot deals either.

Here's the result...it's a PRS SE Zach Myers signature model. Made in Indonesia at a factory owned by PRS that has been putting out some of the best <$1000 guitars on the market. (American-made PRS guitars start somewhere north of $2500 and go up into five figures.) Manufactured in 2022, and it has no signs of ever being played. It has a semi-hollow mahogany body with a maple cap and flame maple veneer. Quarter-sawn mahogany neck with a rosewood fingerboard. Plays and sounds great, as do all my other PRS SE models. (This one brings the total to four five.)

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Tom Niemi said:
That's a sweet guitar Vaughn!!! I've always been a PRS fan, Hope to own one someday, enjoy playing it :thumb:
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The SE line hasn't let me down yet. This is the 6th one I've owned. I sold one to a friend because it was essentially a duplicate, but I still have 5, and now will be gigging with 3 of them. I used a 4th one in the studio a few weeks ago. (I'll be taking this new one back to the studio next Wednesday.) I've only bought two of them new, the rest have been purchased used.

I'll never be able to afford a core model, but even if I could, I don't see a few thousand dollars worth of difference between them and the SE models.

I played this one quite a bit at the gig last night, and it didn't disappoint. It dawned on me Thursday night that I never even plugged this one in at the store before I traded for it. I had just assumed it would sound good, based on my experience with a similar guitar with the same pickups. When I got it home on Thursday I changed the strings, adjusted the action to taste, and tweaked the intonation a bit. Once I plugged it in I knew my assumptions were good. All I checked at the store was playability, feel/resonance, and neck straightness. Our sound man (who also plays guitars) told me it sounded horrible, but he's willing to take it off my hands so I won't have to suffer with it, lol. (He's actually been thinking about buying this same model for a couple of years. I think last night sealed the deal for him...we both loved the way it sounded.)
 
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David Johnson said:
Beautiful guitar. When are you going to build one that nice?
David
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Probably never, at this stage of the game. I'd need more skills, a few additional machines and more bench (and shop) space to make anything that could compete with this one. I could probably spend a few hundred bucks to make one that looks nice, but getting it to play and sound nice is a different story.
 
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I love the guitar. The history, the variation, the sound . . . I tried twice in my adult life to learn to play one. Apparently I am missing a gene; I also fail at learning foreign languages :confused:. That's OK. I get to live my guitar-life vicariously through others . .. Thanks for helping!
 
Beautiful guitar! Like Glenn I can sit and play a few songs from memory, but I’ve really never learned to play or had the patience to do so. My grandson has interest and shows a music interest, so will probably hand down my guitars and pay for lessons for him in a year or so.
 
glenn bradley said:
I love the guitar. The history, the variation, the sound . . . I tried twice in my adult life to learn to play one. Apparently I am missing a gene; I also fail at learning foreign languages :confused:. That's OK. I get to live my guitar-life vicariously through others . .. Thanks for helping!
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It's REALLY hard to learn an instrument as a adult. Some people can learn enough to noodle around, but getting really proficient takes more time and dedication than most adults have available.
 
Ted Calver said:
You are so fickle. What must the other guitars think :rofl:
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They should be used to it by now, lol. Admittedly, a very similar model of this same brand has been my #1 for the past few years. This new one is a flashier color, and a little bit lighter. It also sounds a bit different because it has different pickups. Both of them are very versatile instruments. With either of them I can go from Bad Company to Eddie Rabbit, with Foo Fighters, The B-52s, The Hollies, and Tom Petty in between.
 
Vaughn McMillan said:
They should be used to it by now, lol. Admittedly, a very similar model of this same brand has been my #1 for the past few years. This new one is a flashier color, and a little bit lighter. It also sounds a bit different because it has different pickups. Both of them are very versatile instruments. With either of them I can go from Bad Company to Eddie Rabbit, with Foo Fighters, The B-52s, The Hollies, and Tom Petty in between.
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Demo clip? :guitar:
 
Vaughn McMillan said:
It's REALLY hard to learn an instrument as a adult. Some people can learn enough to noodle around, but getting really proficient takes more time and dedication than most adults have available.
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I 'play' an electronic bugle at military funerals. I was thinking of learning how to play a real one. But a 50 year old trumpet and bugle player told me the same thing, very difficult to learn as an adult. Families do not know I'm faking it so I'll stick with the electronic one.
 
Frank Fusco said:
I 'play' an electronic bugle at military funerals. I was thinking of learning how to play a real one. But a 50 year old trumpet and bugle player told me the same thing, very difficult to learn as an adult. Families do not know I'm faking it so I'll stick with the electronic one.
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Being a total tone deaf, absolutely no rhythm type person that I am, I wouldn't know the difference unless it looks like a kazoo.... agree with Vaughn, the honor and respect shown is much more important than the actual instrument. :thumb: :thumb:
 
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