prs-player
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I have a CE-24 and a MK Hybrid Special and a MK Patriot Custom. Same quality, same beautiful tops but not made in USA. What do you think?
Could Michael Kelly be the next PRS?
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AustinK
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I doubt it. I am not a fan of prs but i can say that their guitars do look nice and that alone will keep them in business. The same thing could be said about any brand, and time has shown the the original keeps selling.
Example being G&L the new Fender?
Example being G&L the new Fender?
prs-player
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I love my CE-24 but i hated the pickups, i swapped them out for emg's. Both my Kellys have Rockfield SWC in them and i love them. They are a great pickup and worth checking out for any guitar.
prs-player said:
Michael Kelly guitars are not going to be the next PRS. Michael Kelly guitars are nice imports but they are not flirting with the high end market in any way. Just using veneer tops keeps them out of the elite leagues (those tops are NOT thick flamed or quilted maple...they are maple with a fancy veneer on top)
edgarallanpoe
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uhh....no. For starters, the veneer top as Rocky pointed out. Second, they don't use the real Honduras Mahogany. Sorry, but African mahogany, is not even close. Very few companies still use the real stuff and it will probably be the next of the great tone woods to be placed on the CITES list of endangered species. When that happens, the price of the stuff will skyrocket. Just because a guitar looks like it is the same, doesn't mean that it IS the same. The devil is in the fine details, and the Kelly stuff isn't even in the same conversation. They are good guitars and offer big bang for the buck, but they aren't anywhere near something like a PRS, and I am not a PRS fan.
BTW I don't think that PRS is even close to being the PRS of old. I have owned a few of the older PRSs and the new ones aren't even in the ballpark. I had a late 80's CU24 10 top with birds that was an absolute monster guitar. I should have never let that one go, it is one of the very few that I regret selling.
nathan28
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I just recently bought a prs custom 24 ten top with birds and it has the hfs(hot fat screams)bridge pickup and vintage bass neck pickup and think it is absolutely bad ***. It is the most versatile guitar, i can get close to a les paul and then close to a fender, then it is also its own beast. I also own a les paul that i love and cherrish, but the paul reid smith has more paul than the les paul. hands down
Guitarzan
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"Could Michael Kelly be the next PRS?"
Ummm...NO!
Ummm...NO!
prs-player
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WOW, i wasnt trying to compare the two, i was just thinking that MK might be the next big guitar maker like ESP, Ibanez or PRS. I know PRS guitars are better.
edgarallanpoe
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Hmmm....
Call me crazy, but that sounds like a comparison to me. LOL!!!
Dersu Uzala
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edgarallanpoe said:
No one does. Today's so called Honduran Mahogany comes from neighbouring countries. Even that mahogany, in fact all mahogany is now protected by CITES and Honduran is on the 'Red list'. There's not a single timber in Honduras available for purchase. Past 10-15 years all Honduran Mahogany came from Belize, Costa Rica & Mexico mainly, although it's found in Salvador, Ecuador, Dominican Republic and in general most Caribbean and Central America....so now PRS has a new spin on things, where they actually use scrapped (but not destroyed) woods. Shame.
Truth be told, all these woods come from the same species (Swietenia macrophylla) growing under pretty darn similar conditions. It's just that what Gibson used to use back in the heyday came directly from Honduras tropical rainforests.
jdurso
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prs-player said:
not a fan of the hfs?
edgarallanpoe
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Not disagreeing with you, but that isn't how I understand it. Several of the top luthiers around have told me different. I have a feeling that you and I are splitting hairs here anyway.
Dersu Uzala
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edgarallanpoe said:
Not disagreeing with you either. It's a tricky matter...If one finds a real deal, the actual piece of timber that came from Honduras, it's from those highly specialized companies that had that stuff lying arounf for years. There is such a guy in downtown L.A., for example, and most of his woods are over twenty years old since being cut. They're all kept under special conditions, like fine cigars (needless to say they all have certificates). Guy doesn't sell that much, but the pieces are to die for both in terms of look and sound. He must've been doing this for 30-40 years. Anyway, a nice plank of wood just enough to cut a guitar out of it will offset you 500$ and more. As a luthier! You can get similar wood (at least in name if not origin and treatment) for 50-100$. Mass produced guitars would of course rely on woods, again of same family, for much much less. In Asia it'll offset you 10-15$ give or take.
So in essence, when luthiers are not telling us bull (to make an extra buck) and they happen to be very knowlegdable and/or we're very lucky, it's pretty hard to come by Honduran Mahogany or Brazilian Rosewood.
secretsoundz
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Michael Kelly, the next PRS? Ha! That's a good one! :mrgreen:
Nope - that'll never happen. PRS is a highly respected, innovative maker of top end production instruments. Michael Kelly, although sells a nice guitar at their price point, is more about production and keeping costs down, aimed at a TOTALLY different audience/demographic.
Dersu Uzala
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cmatthes said:
Agreed. If only you could back the 'innovative' part up. I sure can't.
edgarallanpoe
Well-known member
Dude...are you serious? PRS was the first company to successfully combine the best of Gibson and Fender. The 25" scale, rotary switch, trem, deep set bolt neck, and locking tuners were revolutionary. I still consider the PRS trem to be the best trem ever made. I remember the garbage that Gibson and Fender were putting out at that time and we can thank PRS for forcing them to dramatically "up" their game. Without the PRS "10" top do you really think that we would be seeing all of these spectacular tops on guitars today?
For *years* companies were vying for a piece of the pie and PRS was the first to cut a significant piece from the big 2. PRS is every bit as important as Gibson and Fender when it comes to the electric solid body guitar and the "innovative" statement was absolutely appropriate IMHO.
PRS was a VERY innovative company. That innovation has now become standard since the company is so successful.
Back in the day Fender designs were very radical....the Les Paul was looked at like a monstrosity when it was introduced. Now they are old school.
It is all about looking at a company in relation to others when the company debuts.
Back in the day Fender designs were very radical....the Les Paul was looked at like a monstrosity when it was introduced. Now they are old school.
It is all about looking at a company in relation to others when the company debuts.
Dersu Uzala
Well-known member
But you just said it, it was a combo of Gibson and Fender (way more Gibson though). So they didn't invent a particularly novel joint system, didn't invent a particular switch or switching system, didn't invent a never heard of pickup system, scale lengths of 25" were used before (and anything in between 24.5 and 25.5"), didn't invent locking tuners, didn't invent rotary switch. 10A top is a joke if you ask me, but I'll give you that. PRS company policies are now seriously in question as anyone in luthier business will atest.
Having said all of the above, I have to concur they were by large and still are to a degree (depending on the series) a friggin kick-*** instruments. But I've seen many luthiers world wide making same quality instruments with brilliant ideas...Paul was just the best businessman in the past 10-15 years. Along with Hisatake Shibuya and those dudes from Hoshino Gakki.
Having said all of the above, I have to concur they were by large and still are to a degree (depending on the series) a friggin kick-*** instruments. But I've seen many luthiers world wide making same quality instruments with brilliant ideas...Paul was just the best businessman in the past 10-15 years. Along with Hisatake Shibuya and those dudes from Hoshino Gakki.
