I Tried to Buy a New Guitar

I’ve been in search of a new PRS to use in case of a string break onstage. I’ve always defaulted to using my red Satin S2 as my primary guitar, and until recently I’ve been satisfied with using my Dave Navarro SE as a backup. However, the last few times I’ve played the Navarro SE I’ve been thinking about upgrading. I’ve noticed some substantial volume loss when switching guitars that I just can’t tolerate mid-set and regardless of how many times I get the neck reset, a persistent bowing always shows up in a few months.

I did some research online and decided on the new PRS SE Custom that I wanted. This thing was sweet. At first glance it was hard not to immediately notice the gorgeous amethyst gloss finish over a solid maple double cutaway body. The neck featured an ebony fretboard (which I’ve always wanted) that was adorned with the signature PRS bird fret inlays over the 24 frets. Throw in a couple of the 85/15”S” humbuckers and the PRS-Designed Tremolo that I’m fond of and it seemed like a steal for under $800.

Then the problems started. This was back in mid-March when I made my initial purchase. The very next day I got an email informing me that the guitar was damaged and could not be shipped. It was a letdown but being that I have worked in eCommerce for years, I took an empathetic angle. I thanked the salesperson who had reached out to me and asked them to please let me know when the guitar was back in stock.

A couple weeks later I was perusing the same site and was delighted to see that the guitar was back in stock. I again made a purchase and set a reminder in my calendar for when my loyalty points would be available. But once again the wind was taken from my sails when I received another emailing about my purchase. This time I was being contacted by a salesperson informing me that the guitar had recently been repaired and had some cosmetic damage.

Okay, I can’t be the only one that thinks that’s weird, right? After a few emails back and forth I found out it was the same guitar. From the sounds of it, the guitar had sustained a broken neck and some gnarly scuffs on the body. The salesperson told me that the neck had been professionally reglued and they would offer me a 15% discount for the damage. I’d had some previous experience with a Hagstrom that had a cracked neck and knew that the reglue job would at best last a couple years before the whole guitar goes to hell. Needless to say I had no interest in dropping over $600 on a guitar with an expiration date. I’ve since given up on this guitar and am now planning on purchasing a different PRS from another online retailer.