# This is what I do to rejected PRS SE guitars (It sucks but someone has to do it)



## Riffer (Nov 16, 2010)

So it's near the end of the year here at PRS and me and the other SE Inspector have decided to do something we havent done in about 3 years. And that is break all the SE guitars that had stuff wrong with them. I look forward to this because it's a crazy sight to see guitars just laying around and smashed. We take all the parts off of them and catalog them into our parts rack. These guitars have bad truss rods, cracked neck joints, tuner holes drilled off center, bad CNC body and neck carves, or shipping damage from Korea. They are all structral flaws. I figured I'd show you guys how it works. These guitars were collected over the last 3-4 years and have been sitting around waiting for a week to catalog all of them. 

*This is just a little pile we had going today that needed to be broken.* 











*Here's another pile that we still have to strip all the parts off of*.










*These are the bodies after we broke the necks out of them. We just lean the neck on the edge of a wooden pallet and stomp on the body and the neck breaks out. We then take the bodies and lay them diagonally on the pallet and the ground like a ramp and stomp on the bodies to break them in half. (I dont have a picture of that.)*






*These are the necks after we break them out of the bodies. We write down every model that we destroy and the serial number on the headstock and why is was destroyed.*







We still have some guitars left to do for the rest of the week. I know alot of people will be heartbroken or angry that we do this but it has to be done. Hope you guys like a little inside look at what I do from time to time.


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## Shashing (Nov 16, 2010)




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## Alberto7 (Nov 16, 2010)

It definitely does break my heart to see this, but at the same time it's actually interesting to take a peak behind the scenes. Like you said, someone has to do it. You actually have a job I envy . Can't you take one of those quilted-topped bodies as a souvenir?


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## Customisbetter (Nov 16, 2010)

Awesome! So that the pile from 3 years? Holy shit thats not many guitars at all. 

Also you can cut a body in half by curb stomping it? I imagine that has to be really hard.


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## SirMyghin (Nov 16, 2010)

Glad you are doing, too many companies don't. Carvin posted a video of a near completion carved top being chopped up with a bandsaw. This stuff is nothing to be upset over, it is the sign of a good company.


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## Riffer (Nov 16, 2010)

Alberto7 said:


> It definitely does break my heart to see this, but at the same time it's actually interesting to take a peak behind the scenes. Like you said, someone has to do it. You actually have a job I envy . Can't you take one of those quilted-topped bodies as a souvenir?


 Maybe every once in awhile they will let someone take a guitar body. I have acouple that my girlfriend is suppose to make into a clock or something.


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## motomoto (Nov 16, 2010)

*tear*

but at least the faulty ones, don't end up for sale in a music store...like some Schecters i've seen


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## Riffer (Nov 16, 2010)

Customisbetter said:


> Awesome! So that the pile from 3 years? Holy shit thats not many guitars at all.
> 
> Also you can cut a body in half by curb stomping it? I imagine that has to be really hard.


 I didnt take a picture of all the guitars we have to do. The total amount of guitars is probably 3-4 times what it is in the pictures. Which still isnt very many considering how many guitars we get a year. Our rejection rate is less than .5% actually. And yes you can break a guitar in half (length ways, from neck joint to bottom strap button) my doing what we do to it. I'll take a picture of how we do it so you can see. 


SirMyghin said:


> Glad you are doing, too many companies don't. Carvin posted a video of a near completion carved top being chopped up with a bandsaw. This stuff is nothing to be upset over, it is the sign of a good company.


Thanks man


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## ZXIIIT (Nov 16, 2010)

Awesome insider pics, shame, but it has to be done, QC FTW


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## Evil7 (Nov 16, 2010)

I bet it kinda feels good to destroy something that looks so nice ... A guitar people drool over and would love to have..... I bet you feel naughty when you do it dontcha!


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## jl-austin (Nov 16, 2010)

You all could have just re-labeled them Agiles and sold them!


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## Evil7 (Nov 16, 2010)

jl-austin said:


> You all could have just re-labeled them Agiles and sold them!


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## Riffer (Nov 16, 2010)

Evil7 said:


> I bet it kinda feels good to destroy something that looks so nice ... A guitar people drool over and would love to have..... I bet you feel naughty when you do it dontcha!


 It's a good stress reliever for sure. I dont feel good because other people want these guitars though. I feel good because I like knowing that I work for a company that cares a lot about the product and that the other inspector and I were able to catch these before they went out the door.


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## Deadnightshade (Nov 16, 2010)

Are there any guitars that are still functional?I mean with small blemishes but are still functional?


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## yellowv (Nov 16, 2010)

Man it looks like there were a lot of bad 25th anniversary Cu24's. Mostly all scarlet red and royal blue ones. Glad I got a vintage yellow


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## JamesM (Nov 16, 2010)

I feel like I could have utilized at least one of those...


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## Riffer (Nov 16, 2010)

Deadnightshade said:


> Are there any guitars that are still functional?I mean with small blemishes but are still functional?


 The ones that aren't structural damage we will look at and decide whether or not to fix them. Sometimes we fix them and use them as give away guitars or promotional stuff. And other times we junk them or use them for mockups for different hardware/eletronics/paint combos.


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## Gameboypdc (Nov 16, 2010)

*cries* This is horrible! You are a sick sick man for posting such horrific imagery. To me this is no worse than taking pictures of a pile of dead bodies on the floor ready to be burned. I know these were just SE models, but I don't think my heart can handle the sight of anymore guitars destroyed. So don't get any crazy ideas! *Gently pats my PRS custom. It's okay baby the mean man wont hurt you, your in a good home.*


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## Razzy (Nov 16, 2010)

Gameboypdc said:


> *cries* This is horrible! You are a sick sick man for posting such horrific imagery. To me this is no worse than taking pictures of a pile of dead bodies on the floor ready to be burned. I know these were just SE models, but I don't think my heart can handle the sight of anymore guitars destroyed. So don't get any crazy ideas! *Gently pats my PRS custom. It's okay baby the mean man wont hurt you, your in a good home.*


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## XeoFLCL (Nov 16, 2010)

Whats up with the 6 string with what appears to be an EMG707 in it on the last pic? Just curious


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## AcousticMinja (Nov 16, 2010)

Win.


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## Razzy (Nov 16, 2010)

XeoFLCL said:


> Whats up with the 6 string with what appears to be an EMG707 in it on the last pic? Just curious



I count seven strings.


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## troyguitar (Nov 16, 2010)

XeoFLCL said:


> Whats up with the 6 string with what appears to be an EMG707 in it on the last pic? Just curious



That's a P90 shape.


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## Riffer (Nov 16, 2010)

XeoFLCL said:


> Whats up with the 6 string with what appears to be an EMG707 in it on the last pic? Just curious


 


Razzy said:


> I count seven strings.


 It is the other inspectors SE One guitar. It came with a single soapbar but he took it out and installed a EMG 81 soapbar in its place. Sorry guys, it's not a 7, though that would be insanely awesome if it was.


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## Tristoner7 (Nov 16, 2010)

Being a huge PRS fan, its always cool to see a "behind-the-scenes" look at how the company functions. Which SE model had the most problems and what was the most common problem with that model ? Also, what do you do with all of the necks/bodies ?


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## Adam Of Angels (Nov 16, 2010)

Ugh, to think of how much wood and what not is being wasted there..


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## vampiregenocide (Nov 16, 2010)

So sad


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## xmetalhead69 (Nov 16, 2010)

as sick as it might be, the pile of guitar bodies immediately reminded me of the holocaust ...


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## Riffer (Nov 16, 2010)

Tristoner7 said:


> Being a huge PRS fan, its always cool to see a "behind-the-scenes" look at how the company functions. Which SE model had the most problems and what was the most common problem with that model ? Also, what do you do with all of the necks/bodies ?


To be honest it varies. Sometimes we get a very small number of the same models but usually it isn't a lot of the same model. The same with the type of problem. It's different all the time. Truss rod, neck joint, shipping damage, CNC problems, and some that we have only seen once like a guitar with a 5 piece body.


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## Tristoner7 (Nov 16, 2010)

What are the odds of PRS doing a bolt on SE ?


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## Riffer (Nov 16, 2010)

Tristoner7 said:


> What are the odds of PRS doing a bolt on SE ?



There hasn't been any talks of doing a bolt on SE. Not saying it's not possible but I highly doubt we would do one.


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## Tristoner7 (Nov 16, 2010)

a SE CE would be preettty shweet.


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## drgordonfreeman (Nov 17, 2010)

So what happens to all the broken wood? Does it go in a wood chipper and then sprinkled around the building garden or what?


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## stuz719 (Nov 17, 2010)

Riffer said:


> Our rejection rate is less than .5% actually.



For me this (particularly as I've never heard of an SE horror story) shows:

a) PRS really have a good handle on quality in their outsourcing/offshoring
b) Korean manufacturing can really deliver

I wonder how Fender (Mexico, China, USA) and Gibson compare?!


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## Goatchrist (Nov 17, 2010)

xmetalhead69 said:


> as sick as it might be, the pile of guitar bodies immediately reminded me of the holocaust ...


 
Yes. It's genocide.  Guitarcide...


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## Rook (Nov 17, 2010)

I've seen a video of American PRS's getting sawn in half because they're no good, got any pictures of that?

Not the biggest PRS fan but I think they're amazing guitars, we never have any issues with them at all. Unlike a certain American brand that sounds like Bender...


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## Alberto7 (Nov 17, 2010)

Fun111 said:


> I've seen a video of American PRS's getting sawn in half because they're no good, got any pictures of that?
> 
> Not the biggest PRS fan but I think they're amazing guitars, we never have any issues with them at all. Unlike a certain American brand that sounds like Bender...



Are you sure it wasn't the Carvin video? It was a CT6M (I believe), which kind of resembles the typical PRS shape. Both are great guitars and great companies that know how to do their QC and absolutely care about their product


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## cwhitey2 (Nov 17, 2010)

wow thats totally cool and depressing at the same time. I am actually surprised that they just don't take the PRS name off and sell them as a cheaper knock-off , thats just what i would do if it were my company. No waste products


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## soliloquy (Nov 17, 2010)

Alberto7 said:


> Are you sure it wasn't the Carvin video? It was a CT6M (I believe), which kind of resembles the typical PRS shape. Both are great guitars and great companies that know how to do their QC and absolutely care about their product



both PRS and Carvin do that.
PRS released that video first, and then carvin released it shortly after saying 'thats nothing new, as we've been doing that since the get-go.


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## Prydogga (Nov 17, 2010)

It's cool to know you don't let the QC issues pass. I'd rather they were wasted and destroyed than have some teenager save up to get his* taste* of PRS and end up with a dud. just thinking about that makes me sad. Good stuff Riffer!


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## JPhoenix19 (Nov 17, 2010)

xmetalhead69 said:


> as sick as it might be, the pile of guitar bodies immediately reminded me of the holocaust ...



It made me think of ancient Spartan culture where they inspected babies for defects.


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## ralphy1976 (Nov 17, 2010)

you just need Stephen carpenter in the middle...


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## Riffer (Nov 17, 2010)

drgordonfreeman said:


> So what happens to all the broken wood? Does it go in a wood chipper and then sprinkled around the building garden or what?


 We throw them into the garbage after we break them into pieces.


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## mikernaut (Nov 17, 2010)

You guys should have had a company party and put on a show. Then at the end of each song pull a Pete Townsend or Hendrix on these guitars.


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## Goatchrist (Nov 17, 2010)

mikernaut said:


> You guys should have had a company party and put on a show. Then at the end of each song pull a Pete Townsend or Hendrix on these guitars.


 
Inovativ and creativ thinking!


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## jl-austin (Nov 17, 2010)

Or better yet, PRS could have released a McCarty X, with built in effects, and bluetooth and all that stuff. Then the owner of PRS could have smashed one of these in the demonstration!


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## MaxOfMetal (Nov 17, 2010)

mikernaut said:


> You guys should have had a company party and put on a show. Then at the end of each song pull a Pete Townsend or Hendrix on these guitars.



The funny thing is, awhile ago when Riffer posted a vid of some of the PRS SE inspectors smashing a DOA SE everyone was up in arms and crying to the high heavens that they guitar could have been "saved with some work" or "donated to needy kids". 

I like your idea though!

Maybe at the next PRS gathering they can have a special booth or area where you donate money to charity in return you get to smash some USA and SE PRS duds. I think that would be a killer send off for these almost awesome guitars.


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## Hosenbugler (Nov 17, 2010)

This upsets and enrages me in equal measure.


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## MaxOfMetal (Nov 17, 2010)

Hosenbugler said:


> This upsets and enrages me in equal measure.


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## scottro202 (Nov 17, 2010)

Man, sounds like you have a pretty sweet job 

If you don't mind me asking, how do you get hooked up with a gig like that? How did you get to working for PRS?


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## WillingWell (Nov 17, 2010)

I hope you properly disposed of all leftover tone and mojo from those guitars and didn't just dump it out back


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## Riffer (Nov 17, 2010)

scottro202 said:


> Man, sounds like you have a pretty sweet job
> 
> If you don't mind me asking, how do you get hooked up with a gig like that? How did you get to working for PRS?


 Long story short, I applied and got a job working in "Rough Cut" where I would cut pieces of lumber down to body/neck blanks and grade bookmatched maple tops. It was a dirty job and a lot of work but it was a foot in the door and I enjoyed it. After doing that for a year they had an opening for a 2nd SE Inspector and I have a background in guitar setup/repair so I applied, got the position, moved over to that department, and have been doing that for almsot 2 years.


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## NeglectedField (Nov 17, 2010)

Guitar eugenics ftw!


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## White Cluster (Nov 17, 2010)

Pour out a little liquor for my dead homies.


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## troyguitar (Nov 18, 2010)

MaxOfMetal said:


> Maybe at the next PRS gathering they can have a special booth or area where you donate money to charity in return you get to smash some USA and SE PRS duds. I think that would be a killer send off for these almost awesome guitars.



This is a cool idea. I love breaking stuff every once in awhile.


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## XeoFLCL (Nov 18, 2010)

troyguitar said:


> That's a P90 shape.


D'oh! I forgot those even existed.. EMGs in the p90 casing that is. My bad 


Riffer said:


> It is the other inspectors SE One guitar. It came with a single soapbar but he took it out and installed a EMG 81 soapbar in its place. Sorry guys, it's not a 7, though that would be insanely awesome if it was.


Hopefully soon... right? 

Also I should add, though seeing all these bad things done to PRS SEs is painful, at the same time, it reassures me that PRS' SE line is very serious about what they do, and take every possible opportunity to satisfy their customers with overwhelming quality and not with duds and factory seconds, ever. Very cool Riffer


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## Riffer (Nov 18, 2010)

XeoFLCL said:


> D'oh! I forgot those even existed.. EMGs in the p90 casing that is. My bad
> 
> Hopefully soon... right?
> 
> Also I should add, though seeing all these bad things done to PRS SEs is painful, at the same time, it reassures me that PRS' SE line is very serious about what they do, and take every possible opportunity to satisfy their customers with overwhelming quality and not with duds and factory seconds, ever. Very cool Riffer


 
Yes, hopefully. It's a slow process but things are looking good. And thanks for the compliment on our QC for the SE line. I love guitars and take pride in the work I do. I dont want to go to a store and pickup an SE guitar and have it not be perfect. It would upset me to know that someone was not satisfied with it or that it was not up to PRS standards.


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## durangokid (Nov 18, 2010)

ralphy1976 said:


> you just need Stephen carpenter in the middle...






That made my day!

and yeah, prs does have some fucking awesome quality control, thanks for posting those riffer!


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## ShadyDavey (Nov 18, 2010)

I can't help but think of making furniture from that lot.....still, good QC


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## CFB (Nov 18, 2010)

I read somewhere that the reason Carvin cut their guitars to pieces was because they had problems with people dumpsterdiving.

Yes it's sad but if they didn't we would be buying crap guitars.


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## InTheRavensName (Nov 18, 2010)

Riffer said:


> I dont want to go to a store and pickup an SE guitar and have it not be perfect. It would upset me to know that someone was not satisfied with it or that it was not up to PRS standards.



My PRS SE is the only guitar in about 6 years I've gone into a guitar shop and walked straight out with.

Congrats.


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## s_k_mullins (Nov 18, 2010)

I think this would be really fun job. Sometimes it is a great stress relief to just destroy some shit!


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## megano28 (Nov 18, 2010)

hey man if you don't mind me asking how exactly did you get that job?


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## MaxOfMetal (Nov 18, 2010)

megano28 said:


> hey man if you don't mind me asking how exactly did you get that job?



Look about ten posts up.


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## megano28 (Nov 18, 2010)

MaxOfMetal said:


> Look about ten posts up.


 

thanks, back to TS...

do you earn a good wage out of something like that?


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## Riffer (Nov 18, 2010)

megano28 said:


> thanks, back to TS...
> 
> do you earn a good wage out of something like that?


 I do alright for myself. It's nothing crazy but it's not minimum wage. But the job itself is almost too good to be true so any pay on top of that it awesome.


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## kamello (Nov 18, 2010)

im going to have nightmares this night.......

but actually, thoose can be very usefull if you are trying to build your own guitar...
and like everyone said, is good to see how PRS cares about the final product ^^


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## HeavyMetal4Ever (Nov 20, 2010)

Thankyou Riffer and PRS, far from upsetting me, I wish all manufacturers cared this much about quality control.

Rock on!


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## Skanky (Nov 20, 2010)

Good thread!

What kind of software do they use to design these guitars? I'm a SolidWorks professional, was just wondering.

How many CNC machines do you guys use?


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## Andromalia (Nov 20, 2010)

I understand the logic and rationale of doing this, and know that these guitars were flawed, but it's still sad.


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## Tristoner7 (Nov 21, 2010)

I have a Torero and cant put it down, any talks of doing more SEs like those ?


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## scherzo1928 (Nov 21, 2010)

Yeah, that's a sad sight.

You could probably sell that stuff to a Fridays to hang on a wall. Or as someone said, charge people at NAMM to break one while playing the who on the background. 

It's great that you care so much about quality to do something like this btw. I know that if my build turns out horrible I'll still cherrish it.


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## kherman (Nov 21, 2010)

With the SE's it doesn't bother me so much.

But, with the USA PRS and Carvin's.

That hurts right here:





Watch "Custom Shop Quality Assurance"


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## yellowv (Nov 21, 2010)

kherman said:


> With the SE's it doesn't bother me so much.
> 
> But, with the USA PRS and Carvin's.
> 
> ...



Yeah PRS takes the bandsaw to their USA rejects as well.


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## SirMyghin (Nov 21, 2010)

scherzo1928 said:


> Yeah, that's a sad sight.
> 
> You could probably sell that stuff to a Fridays to hang on a wall. Or as someone said, charge people at NAMM to break one while playing the who on the background.
> 
> It's great that you care so much about quality to do something like this btw. I know that if my build turns out horrible I'll still cherrish it.



Or you could sell it to gibson, who will rework the headstock, sell it flaws and all, and still have it come out better than their non custom shop 5k$ stuff.


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