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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | Well this isn't about Ovation guitars, but it is about guitars and a nice thing. During the acceptance speech for the below award, PRS announced that he would be donating one guitar to every high-school music program in Maryland. I think that's nice.
Paul Reed Smith was named the Maryland Small Business Person of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration. The award was announced by Allan Stephenson, District Director of the SBA’s Baltimore District Office. “Paul’s unique product, career achievements and entrepreneurial spirit set him apart from the crowd. It’s an honor to recognize him as the 2002 Maryland Small Business Person of the Year,” said Stephenson.
The nomination criteria for the Small Business Person of the Year Award was as follows: staying power, growth in the number of employees, increase in sales and/or unit volume, current and past financial reports, innovativeness of product or service offered, response to adversity, and contributions by the nominee to aid community-oriented projects. |
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Location: NJ | How much you want to bet they are import santana models and not dragons..... |
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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | No need to bet... they are. |
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Location: NJ | OK Maryland is a small state and I bet those guitars cost him about $40 ea imported so I guess for under $500 actual cost he can have a $10K tax write off. sorry I am so cynical today I am in one of my "moods" |
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Location: SoCal | Al:
You are so cynical for one so young! Ovation was donating guitars to military personel a while back. Not an Elite or Legend in the bunch. All Celebrity models. Better than nothing, but not much. |
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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | I don't think it's too cynical Al... let's see... he turns a couple of thousand worth of guitars into a 10K tax write-off... no wonder he got "named the Maryland Small Business Person of the Year." Now in fairness, he did the donation AFTER he got the award. I also agree, that ANY donation to a music program in ANY school is a good thing. I also think it's smart not to give a really expensive guitar to a school that would only get ripped off, then sold on eBay for drug money. |
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Location: NJ | Having been in the public education system (in NJ not in MD) I can tell you as fact that the majority of items donated do not get to the kids at all. They are consumed by administration staff and yes even teachers.
I can tell you of donated computers that were not ALLOWED to be opened by a lunatic principal that remained in a closet for 3 years so that when they were opened they were brand new antique computers. Personally I was brow beat for repairing old donated 486 machines so the kids could use them but I could not stand to have NOTHING while stuff sat in the corner unused.
My point is that it is an extremely nice gesture. It is absolutely a good and noble thing to do. I hope at some schools the instruments actually get to the kids BUT it is also a tax wtite off and let us not forget that PRS nor Ovation are tax exempt entities. Their purpose is to make a profit and sometimes to make a better profit you have to make some donations.
sorry my x employer left some bitter wounds. Now that I sell music gear for a living I am much happier.
[ May 12, 2002: Message edited by: alpep ] |
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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | I guess MD, Northern VA, and DC schools a lucky in some ways... although it gets out of hand. Because of the proximity to DC, there are so many "watch groups" you can bet someone is tracking the trail of every one of those guitars and anything and everything else that happens. At times I wonder with all the "groups" monitoring things, if kids in the area actually get an education? It's a big topic around here of which I know little to nothing as I don't have anything to do with kidz other than occasional babysitting of my friends to re-enforce I don't want any. (whew that was a sentence...) |
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Location: Knoxville, TN | As a long time PRS owner/user, maybe I have a different view than some here. I have gotten to meet Paul 3 times, tour the factory 2 times, and hang with many of the factory's employees at the 3 annual PRS Forum events held the last 3 years in March.
Paul is a caring individual. He cares about his family, employees, and of course his products to an almost obsessive degree. He is NEVER satisfied with the guitars, no matter how much they develop. He always thinks that they can be better.
Okay, having said all that, the first point that I want to make is that the Santana SE, which is yes, made in Korea, is the best $500 street price electric guitar out there. Of course this is my opinion, but if you want proof, just go out and play some of them. They are all quality checked at the Annapolis factory before they are released to dealers. Do you know what happens to PRS guitars that "don't make the cut?" They are run through a bandsaw, to make it impossible for a defective instrument to get out into the public's hands. I have seen the huge barrel with sawed-up guitars in it. They save nothing-the backlog of orders is too large to take the time. Sometimes even the "office boys & girls," including Paul, are out on the lines trying to catch up.
Paul has kids, and his family does seem to be his first priority. He was unable to attend our Forum Jam this past March because his son had a soccer match and he was going. He wouldn't give the guitars to schools unless he truly wanted to.
Oh yeah, check out the prices of a typical PRS Custom hanging in a music store compared to say a Gibson Les Paul (if you can distinguish from the no less than 45 variations of the LP). You will find that the PRS is a MUCH better deal than an LP that matches the features of the PRS.
Thank You |
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Location: NJ | I am not writing this as an attack but as an alternative point of view and please read it that way.
If you want to see great deals on guitars you should look at Hamers they are far superior than any PRS I have ever played. The Prs guitars are very nice but not my taste of ornamentation at times they appear too over the top to me. I have no desire to own any new Gibsons at all.
I have no doubt that Paul, like us all, are all caring individuals but he is a business man too. I have known some past employees and he was less than kind to a few of them, one a long time employee who was injured on the job.
I have seen TONS of bootleg PRS parts and guitars at guitar shows stuff that was taken home and dumpster dived etc. All manufacturers have this problem and they do what ever they can do fix it. In fact I myself have a box of the neck plates that were used for the early bolt on models.
As for the imports I have played many of those out there Hamer Santana Samick Ibanez Washburn Epiphone Cort Aria proII They ALL make a decent product I don;t think there is a major degree of difference in most of them. I will say that the high end Samick Ibanez and Cort stuff really impresses me The Santana is just another one in the mix.
From a business standpoint sure you give some guitars to the schools the kids see your name and want to buy your product. you are building a customer base.
sorry if I sound real cynical remember I am from Jersey and spent years working for a corrupt school system. |
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Location: Knoxville, TN | Good points alpep.
One other thing I meant to put in my first post was it would be a bad move for PRS to give "real" (i.e. made in Stephensville) guitars to schools. There are a LOT of people waiting for their custom ordered guitar, and if they found out models like what they had ordered were being given to schools, and their wait turned into 18 months instead of 12, they might get a bit upset.
Another point is the fact that PRS's revenues went up 50% from 2000 to 2001. This was done with the same amount of employees, a true testament to their commitment. The typical wait for a certain guitar went from 9 to 18 months for a while. Whether people like them or not, Santana and Tremonti have sold a TON of guitars for PRS. This would allow them to "give away" some guitars without feeling it as much.
Great discussion!
[ May 21, 2002: Message edited by: Adamas II ] |
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Mr. Smith goes to Washington
