Who's gigging an expensive nitro-finished guitar as their no.1 ?

CakeEater

CakeEater

Roadie
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Hi everyone,

So, I'm stongly considering an expensive nitro-finished PRS Custom 24. I don't gig much but I get out a few times a year with some projects I know. The PRS I'm looking at is nearly €6000, which I can live with, but I've never really had to mind a nitro-finished guitar before.

Is anyone gigging a guitar like this? Or are they realistically for home-use? I don't mind the yellowing, denting and checking of nitro, it's the reactions to leather, rubber and stands etc that concerns me.

Does anyone gig with a guitar like this? How do you manage?
 
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SillyOctpuss said:
With my R7 I always classed the marks, knocks, scrapes etc as character and battle wear. As long as the headstock never comes off you're all good.

I'd never keep an expensive guitar at home to avoid any knocks. It's an instrument that's meant to be played. Otherwise It's just a piece of furniture or art IMO.
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Every time I ding a guitar it’s like “shit!” But I like the look of it over time anyway, I just try not to beat them around on purpose 😂
 
I always gig with my historic les pauls, I bring two of them unless we share the stage with others and the other guitarists are ok to borrow their insturment in case of emergency.

I'm very careful when I move them, when (and how) I load them in the car, where I leave them in the venue before moving them on stage and where and how I keep them on stage. When gigging I keep them in their case as long as possible and, depending on the venue, I might never loose sight of them.

But honestly I've been as careful with all my guitars.

I'm careful because is the right thing to do but I don't really care if I leave some makrs beacuse I've played them.
 
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No longer gigging due to a back injury. But when I did I used my R7 and 96 335 (not nitro). That was my sound. Playing originals at sketchy joints.
 
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FWIW, I’ve had both my nitro finished guitars sitting on racks w/ foam covering the piping and have yet to see any blemishes in the finish after 3 years. I think that mainly occurs when the nitro hasn’t hardened enough before the guitar gets shipped.

And worst case scenario, nitro can be repaired quite easily due to the way it melts into the existing nitro when re-spraying.

And while it’s not as durable as poly, it’s not quite as weak as some forum commentary would lead you to believe. I still haven’t cracked/chipped any of it off and I’m far, far, far from careful with my guitars. It’s quite thin, too, pretty sure MJT sprays it thin to increase the amount of wear in a shorter period, but at most all I have is some wear spots on the fingerboards from playing the shit out of them.
 
spawnofthesith said:
I don't have anything in the $6k range but I regularly play out all my nitro finished PRS and my LP
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Well that's interesting, because this one is a 2024 10-top Custom 24. Now it's a nice one, but I suppose that's inflation etc. Do you notice any nitro difference between the PRS and LP?
 
the 2014 is the oldest historic I own and, at the moment, the only one with cracks. We'll see if the other 2 (a 2017 R8 and 2020 R7) will follow in the next years. I think is unpredictable.

My 1991 SG standard is beat up in every way but has no cracks in the finish.
 
HotRats said:
the 2014 is the oldest historic I own and, at the moment, the only one with cracks. We'll see if the other 2 (a 2017 R8 and 2020 R7) will follow in the next years. I think is unpredictable.

My 1991 SG standard is beat up in every way but has no cracks in the finish.
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I need to get a LP, I've only ever had an Eli Standard that was good for its price but not what I'm looking for. Your LP is basically what I envision what I'm going to get someday :chef
 
CakeEater said:
Well that's interesting, because this one is a 2024 10-top Custom 24. Now it's a nice one, but I suppose that's inflation etc. Do you notice any nitro difference between the PRS and LP?
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My only core is an old one that I got used ('00) and that has a poly finish (they made the switch to nitro from poly on all US S2/bolt on/core stuff in 2019 IIRC) my other PRS that have nitro finishes are bolt on and S2 models.


The PRS nitro is very very thin, the les paul nitro smells better lol. I wouldn't say there's any meaningful differences I really notice
 
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Mikael Dez said:
I need to get a LP, I've only ever had an Eli Standard that was good for its price but not what I'm looking for. Your LP is basically what I envision what I'm going to get someday :chef
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I'm an hardcore Gibson fan since 1991 when I bought my SG and fell in love with...well...with everthing.
I had few USA Les Pauls before my 1st R8, all good, no complaints but the historics are just as you say, they are what I evisioned a LP should be.

Maybe it's me, maybe it's the guitar, I don't care, they are perfect for me.
They sound great, play great and they get older in a special way.

I love them.
 
At one point, I viewed my high end guitars as collector pieces that would rarely come out of the closet let alone out to gigs, so I get where you're comming from, OP. But isn't the point of having them, playing them?

I gig my vintage guitars to new custom shop guitars and everything in between. Nitro or not, play whatever inspires you to play your best.
 
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