#172388  by lbpesq
 
Jon S. wrote: Fri Jan 21, 2022 10:26 am
lbpesq wrote: Fri Jan 21, 2022 10:01 amRemember, before he got paid to play PRS, Mayer was playing Alembics. Just sayin’.
Are you suggesting it means, analogously to Jerry moving from Gibsons to his later guitars, Mayer decided to upgrade?

:wink:

In any event, Mayer moved to PRS because Paul Reed Smith listened to and worked with him. Otherwise, it's Fender he'd be with still, not Alembic.


With all due respect, IMHO the fact that Mayer is playing a PRS and getting paid by PRS is not a coincidence. Don't get me wrong, PRS makes great guitars. I've owned three of them and a CE24 was my #1 for several years. But John went all out when he discovered Alembic. He bought several, including a Further, a Darling, and an old Series 1. If Alembic paid endorsers (something they have never done), I wouldn't be surprised to see Mayer still playing the Alembics he paid for out of his own pocket.

Bill, tgo

 #172389  by Jon S.
 
With equally due respect, the video you shared is almost a decade old. My #1 isn't the same today as it was in 2013, either.

The videos I posted are from last and this year. Many guitarists evolve from fatter sounding guitars to Strats. Think Eric Clapton, as a example. Me, too.

Personally, I can't imagine recording an album like Gravity, which Mayer recorded 7 years before the date of the video you found, and getting those signature Mayer tones with anything else but a Strat. (That he played an Alembic at all after that is, though, a compliment to Alembic.)

I wonder if your personal love for Alembic is influencing you here. Not that loving and playing yourself a particular model is a bad thing. I myself mostly play an S-style guitar now so what I just said applies to me, too.

But I think we've already both made up our minds. It's fine, we can agree to disagree.
 #172392  by caspersvapors
 
Sure he owns a couple of Alembics and has played them on stage but I dont think anybody associates him with those guitars and I dont think he would rely on one to do his entire catalog of songs. From what I can tell he just would play them for one or two songs on stage. I doubt he recorded anything on an alembic.
I think Mayer has been pretty transparent about why he partnered with PRS.
Jon S. liked this
 #172393  by Gr8fulCadi
 
More power to John if that’s what he chooses to do. I wish I was in that position personally :biggrin:

Why any of this is a trigger is beyond me. I play what I play in my world, someone famous plays what they play in their world… even if that means getting paid to do it. No different than an athlete getting paid to wear Nike or whatever.

:musicsmile: Don’t worry be happy :musicsmile:
Jon S. liked this
 #172394  by lbpesq
 
No triggering intended. Just saying that it's at least possible that Mayer might not be pushing the Silver Sky so hard if he wasn't getting paid to do so. Nothing wrong with this. But just as I buy my shoes depending on comfort and fit and not because Steph Curry wears them, the probability of my purchasing a Silver Sky does not increase one iota because Mayer gets paid to play one and say they are cool. I believe that ANY endorsement of ANY product by a famous person who is being paid for said endorsement should be taken with a large grain of salt.

Bill, tgo
 #172396  by Jon S.
 
I think we are conflating endorsement with design.

That a pro guitarist endorses a product is something I do take into account if he also uses it. And I think most of you do, too.

When a pro guitarist endorses a product that he co-designed directly with one of the most successful American luthiers alive today, that's a level up.

And it's another level up yet when the co-designer guitarist explains, substantively and lucidly, how and why he designed it as he did.

The highest level of all is when the guitarist co-designer and top shelf American luthier succeed in their design goals. This determination I withhold until I have the actual guitar personally in my own hands, as I certainly hope y'all will, too.
 #172397  by Jon S.
 
Gr8fulCadi wrote: Fri Jan 21, 2022 5:12 pm Growing up outside of Chicago, no one here ever took Air Jordan Shoes with a grain-o-salt. In fact it was sodium free!!
Feh! Growing up in Brooklyn, it had to be Chuck Taylor Con's.
Gr8fulCadi liked this
 #172400  by Searing75
 
Mayer isn’t using the SE? Right? He is using the more expensive model at $1,999.00 I believe?
 #172401  by Jon S.
 
That assumption (that he personally uses his Core rather than SE signature guitar) would be as logical for Mayer as for Santana (and other musicians with both domestic and import signature guitar models). This being said, I have no personal knowledge on the topic. In his video, Mayer describes the SE version as a more affordable version of the Core model.
 #172414  by Chocol8
 
I think you guys are likely overestimating the income Mayer is likely getting from PRS. I have seen a few of these deals, and the money is generally much less than most people would guess. For someone not as big as Mayer or Clapton, it’s often a matter of free guitars and NO cash at all!

What PRS gave Mayer was the ability to design a guitar that was exactly what he wanted with no limitations, no corners cut, and with full support of the company, including FRIENDSHIP from the owner. It’s a combination of freedom and relationships. The money from the deal, even if big relative to most guitar endorsements is likely irrelevant to a guy like Mayer.

Mayer publicly selling the guitars is also likely more about the relationship with PRS and pride than the income stream.
 #172416  by lbpesq
 
So Mayer had the chance to design his own guitar from scratch and he comes up with ... a Fender Stratocaster!


I find it interesting that in this video, Mayer says he designed the Silver Sky "to recreate all the magic and sound and feel of a vintage guitar".



Yet in this video he says "let's freshen up the electric guitar... 60's years later you're still putting out these tributes to the [50s and 60s] station wagon"



Don't intend to throw any shade. I just don't see the Silver Sky as anything more than a PRS Stratocaster.

Bill,tgo
 #172417  by Jon S.
 
See? Or played and listened/heard?

It's evolutionary, not revolutionary. The differences Mayer and PRSH built into the guitar are readily ID'd. Whether they're important to you or me is why we're fortunate today to have lots of guitar choices.
 #172418  by lbpesq
 
A poke around the net suggests these differences between the Strat and the Silver Sky:

1. Bridge: Two-point pivot on most of the new Fender Strats and vintage-style six-screw on the PRS;

2. Case: Hardshell case included with Strat and gig back with Silver Sky;

3. Price: the PRS is about $900 more than a top of the line Strat ($1000+ if you add the HSC that's included with the Strat);

4. Tuner Pegs: Metal on a Strat, plastic on a Silver Sky;

5. Fretboard: Dots on the Strat, birds on the PRS;

6. Radius: 9.5 on the Fender, 8.5 on the Silver Sky;

7. And, of course, the different headstock shapes.


Personally, I don't see much "evolution". Am I missing something?

Bill, tgo