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Gary Grainger PRS Sig?

Dr. Cheese

Dr. Cheese

Supporting Member
Mar 3, 2004
57,319
120,607
Metro St. Louis
#1
I got the new BassPlayer today and I saw a nice looking new bass; the PRS Gary Grainger Signature model. The price was genuinely shocking: $11,700 street & MSRP!:eek:

I take it, that it really sounds and plays great.:D The price for that bass makes Fodera and Ritter seem midrange.:cool:
 
#6
BurningSkies said:
The price makes Fodera and Ritter still sound expensive. And probably better sounding.

I own a PRS and while it has excellent action, the electronics leave much to be desired.

Also, the ratio of price to appointments is not very good.
Click to expand...

+1... the PRS guys don't really seem to understand bass very well. I've played multiple iterations of their basses through the years, and as you point out, they are solidly made and play fine, but they sound...well... not so good!
 
#8
KJung said:
+1... the PRS guys don't really seem to understand bass very well. I've played multiple iterations of their basses through the years, and as you point out, they are solidly made and play fine, but they sound...well... not so good!
Click to expand...

At first I was frustrated, then I was insulted. For a list price of $2200.00 you get no carved top, solid finish, standard dot inlays.

The finishing job is mediocre at best. I can see the joins in the body through the solid finish and it has also sunk into the grain, which tells me that the sanding/sealer stage was shortcut.

It has a 18v pre-amp with only one tone control. Huh? When you switch the preamp on, it gives you boost on the very high end and then sub-bass like lows, scooping out the mid. Other bandmates in several bands have noted that its the loudest bass you can't hear. Wanna get to the batteries? You have to take out the rear control plate.

The pickups are non-standard size and shaped so you'll never be able to replace them.


I stopped being frustrated when I bought my AB-1. They listed for the same price. The AB-1 offers about 10x more bass.

As a side note, I bought my PRS as NOS and it was handily discounted. $800, then a few quick and decent trades means I paid something like $200 in cash.

The neck is really comfortable on the bass and the action is as low or lower than any others I've played. Its a very fast playing bass.
 
#9
I played one a few years back. I didn't like it enough to find out all sorts of info, but it had a carved top, 3 pickups, and a 2 Tek bridge. It seemed fine in the passive setting, the action was decent, and it looked really nice. I found the bass to be kinda heavy and didn't have the best balance, though not horrible. When I hit the active setting, it was damn near impossible to control and I thought it was entirely too loud.

It was used, so I think they wanted maybe 1200 with a flight case, but the bass didn't really thrill me outside of the good looks.

For the money, you gotta offer me more. Other people do some pretty sweet stuff for a lot less.
 
#11
I still remember Grainger playing an Atlansia Stealth (with John Scofield). A bird of a different feather, made in Japan. I believe one of the staffers at Bass Player still owns the actual instrument. FWIW - I agree totally with Jung on PRS; I've never been very impressed with any of their basses over the years other than to pick it up and try it at the shop (then put it back down and move on).
 
#15
andrewd said:
maybe if somebody politely took the PRS guys aside and told them what they needed to fix they would do it?
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Hell no. Always seems like companies like that try to sell your custom bass with little/no input from you and any deviation is more of a penalty fee than an option upcharge. Really, they seem to appeal to bassists that can be told what they should want.

Other luthiers specialize in having the flexibility of changing the bass with minimal upcharges, sometimes no upcharge.
 
#16
Gary played his Ken Smith for years and a Stingray with Scofield. Check out the Dennis Chambers instructional video. Has some awesome bass playing by Gary. A buddy of mine played Gary's new bass and said it was a really nice instrument. I had no idea it was $11,000:eek: Gary plays in the Paul Reed Smith band. Maybe some of us DC/Baltimore fellows should check them out to hear how it sounds live.
 
#17
andrewd said:
maybe if somebody politely took the PRS guys aside and told them what they needed to fix they would do it?
Click to expand...

That's a good question. One answer might be, "we're making the basses we want to make (perhaps with Gary's input); we're not going to compromise our values simply to appeal to the mass market".

Actually, I'm sure PRS does want to sell a lot of basses. It just seems to me like their basses are designed by guitarists.
:hiding:
 
#18
I have been underwhelmed by PRS's basses in the past. I got I chance to play Gary's bass for a little bit at AES here in San Francisco and I can tell you first hand that it's an exeptional bass. A lot of time went into this bass and they sorted out all the details over time with Gary's input. It doesn't sound or feel like a guitar maker's dabbling with bass building. Very pricey but they finally got one right. It's a lot harder to dismiss once you've felt and heard it for yourself. Gary was a really nice guy as well, and a hell of a player.
 

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