deebeeus: Sometimes it pays to know someone in the guitar business!   I was chatting with my buddy Brent from The Guitar Shop (http://www.theguitarshop.ca/) in Port Credit Ontario last night, and I casually mentioned that I would be interested in buying a PRS starla if they built one with a Tune-O-Matic and a stop bar tailpiece, rather than their standard Bigsby tremolo/tailpiece.  I have a Starla (see pic!) with a Bigsby, which is pretty much the ONLY way they come.  But I have seen a few pics out there on Internets where they have a stop bar instead of the Bigsby, like you would find on a Gibson, and these have always intrigued me! My pal at The Guitar Shop (http://www.theguitarshop.ca/), Brent, sells a LOT of high-end PRS stuff and often has “private stock” units (for which he has personally selected the wood for during visits to the PRS factory!) which sell for 4, 6, 8 thousand dollars or more!  I guess if you are jetting down to Maryland to pick your own wood from their inventory, I would say you have a pretty solid connection with the factory!  I mean this guy knows Paul Smith personally! So, as I said, I causally mentioned this thing about the stop bar Starla to Brent and thought that was the end of it.  Not so… Today I get an email from Brent…and he tells me that he emailed his buddy who works in production at the PRS factory, and he tells me that if I want to order a Starla with a stop bar, PRS will be happy to build me a one-off instrument!  A Starla with a stop bar tailpiece instead of a Bigsby!  Plus I get to choose the colour (I chose “charcoal”) and whether I want “bird” or “dot” markers on the fret board (I chose birds)! So I am totally stoked!  I am getting a custom-ordered, once-off build directly from PRS in the colour of my choice, AND the price is no more than the regular price for an “off the rack” Starla! The only bad thing is that it’s going to take about 3 months to get it built and shipped up here from Maryland!  But that’s actually OK with me - I need some time to save up anyway!  But I can’t wait to get my special order Starla!!!  :D I’ll say it again…sometimes it pays to know someone in the guitar business! :D  

deebeeus:

Sometimes it pays to know someone in the guitar business!  

I was chatting with my buddy Brent from The Guitar Shop (http://www.theguitarshop.ca/) in Port Credit Ontario last night, and I casually mentioned that I would be interested in buying a PRS starla if they built one with a Tune-O-Matic and a stop bar tailpiece, rather than their standard Bigsby tremolo/tailpiece.  I have a Starla (see pic!) with a Bigsby, which is pretty much the ONLY way they come.  But I have seen a few pics out there on Internets where they have a stop bar instead of the Bigsby, like you would find on a Gibson, and these have always intrigued me!

My pal at The Guitar Shop (http://www.theguitarshop.ca/), Brent, sells a LOT of high-end PRS stuff and often has “private stock” units (for which he has personally selected the wood for during visits to the PRS factory!) which sell for 4, 6, 8 thousand dollars or more!  I guess if you are jetting down to Maryland to pick your own wood from their inventory, I would say you have a pretty solid connection with the factory!  I mean this guy knows Paul Smith personally!

So, as I said, I causally mentioned this thing about the stop bar Starla to Brent and thought that was the end of it.  Not so…

Today I get an email from Brent…and he tells me that he emailed his buddy who works in production at the PRS factory, and he tells me that if I want to order a Starla with a stop bar, PRS will be happy to build me a one-off instrument!  A Starla with a stop bar tailpiece instead of a Bigsby!  Plus I get to choose the colour (I chose “charcoal”) and whether I want “bird” or “dot” markers on the fret board (I chose birds)!

So I am totally stoked!  I am getting a custom-ordered, once-off build directly from PRS in the colour of my choice, AND the price is no more than the regular price for an “off the rack” Starla!

The only bad thing is that it’s going to take about 3 months to get it built and shipped up here from Maryland!  But that’s actually OK with me - I need some time to save up anyway!  But I can’t wait to get my special order Starla!!!  :D

I’ll say it again…sometimes it pays to know someone in the guitar business! :D  

Oct 24 2011 8 notes