25th 513, part 2

As I have said before in my posts about guitars, every one has a story. This one has two parts. Part 1 started way back in the fall of 2009 when I was at the Experience PRS event at the factory in Stevensville, MD. They were debuting a whole line of 25th anniversary guitars at that event, that would come out in 2010. I got to play a 25th Anniversary 513, in charcoal burst at that event and really liked it. Fast forward some to the same event last fall, and the announcement came that at the end of the year, no more 25th anniversary guitars would be made, and that prompted me to go out and revisit the idea of getting a 25th 513, since my window of opportunity was slipping away.

After a LENGTHY, nationwide search of the exact color I was looking for, I found one at Wild West Guitars, in California. I found one that actually had a quilt maple top, which is fairly rare for a PRS guitar, so I bought it and received it in December of 2010, literally days after the factory stopped making the anniversary run of guitars. I got the guitar home, opened it up and was excited to have it. But then life smacked us up beside the head right after that, and to make a longer story short, I sent the guitar back, because more pressing and more important things demanded our funds that I had allocated towards that PRS 513. So, now onto part 2.

Part 2 picks up in late January of this year when all those more important things were taken care of and purchased etc. Once I realized that those expenses were not as detrimental to our situation as we originally thought, I revisited the idea of getting a 513 but of course by that time had sent the one I had back and had our refund in tact. That guitar already had a hold on it so once again, I picked my search back up. I started with the dealers that had informed me that they’d gotten the guitar in that I was asking for way back in November/December when that initial search took place, and they were all gone. I double checked with PRS and they for sure were not taking orders anymore so my only chance to score another charcoal burst 25th 513 was to luck up on one at a dealer.

Our local Guitar Center had one in fact, and after going to check it out in person, I liked it of course for its playability, but there was an issue on the top that I had not cared for (I am SUPER picky about guitar tops—esp. PRS tops) and then it also had a series of deep gouges on the bottom of it where some idiot with a wallet chain or some other pocket attached device (maybe even his keys) had scratched it all up. They said they’d give me a great deal, but since it already had something on the top that I didn’t like, I decided to pass and continue online. The great thing about PRS guitars, is that they are so consistent, that you can order one without being there to play it, and know it will be set up perfectly, and sound perfectly too.

Well, a few weeks later I was surfing some sites and saw exactly what I had been looking for, at Willcutt Guitars up in KY, who happens to be the #1 PRS DEALER IN THE WORLD. I had been there before, back in 2009 to a Road Show that you can read about here. Once I saw this 513, that you see in the photos above, I immediately called about it and put it on hold, and then talked it over with Kristi. I then put a deposit on it and just started monthly payments on it until I got it shipped to me a few weeks ago. This one does not have a quilt maple top, but instead is a flamed maple top (10 top of course) which are most of what PRS puts on their guitars. So ever since then, I have been enjoying my new guitar and playing it as much as possible. The guy at Wilcutt was super nice, as was the guy at Wild West I worked with for the first one, so I have had 2 great experiences with 2 different dealers about this same guitar model. Hopefully life won’t smack us in the head again anytime soon, because at this point, I am sure that Wilcutt would not take this one back. I have played it so much I already need to change the strings!