The letter below is one Ed
Roman's personal favorites
Getting a letter like this one
makes all the BS worthwhile
Ed
Wait till you hear this one. I recently bought a used PRS from my local
Guitar Center in Dallas. The salesman told me it was the best sounding and
playing PRS he had ever had in the store. It had a Tone Pros Tunamatic bridge on
it and the body was slightly slimmer than usual. The salesman at GC told me (I
think his name was Harry) said that the guitar was no ordinary PRS, Supposedly
it was made for someone in Creed blah blah blah (I found out later that
was an outright lie). Several other salespeople all agreed that this guitar had
the PRS magic and it was the reason why PRS had such a good reputation.
I played the guitar and it truly did feel great, The neck was rock solid and
was incredibly highly figured. The body has a beautiful blue flame top and a
natural back. I sat there and tried about 12 PRS guitars, The salesman was
right, none of them came close. The guitar had almost twice the sustain of any
of the other ones and the neck was smoother and faster.
Anyway I could not resist buying the guitar, In fact I had to borrow most of
the money from my bass player. They sold it to me for only $800.00. The reason
it was so cheap is there was no serial number on the guitar and the PRS logo was
not on the headstock. There were no bird inlays but that was cool ! I was
a little worried about buying a guitar with no serial number and no logo but
they gave me a fully paid receipt so I figured it had to be OK.
The suited guy at the counter remarked that this guitar held tune better than
any other guitar he had ever played. He told me that I made a very wise purchase
and reassured me that I had made a good move. (He didn't
know how right he was).
I took the guitar home and I used it that weekend on a gig, It performed
superbly and I was one happy guy to say the least.
About a week after I got the guitar I discovered there was a push pull pot on
it and that it slit the coils on the pickups. What a great surprise. further
fiddling around with it I noticed that the pickups were bolted down solid
instead of floating on springs like all the other PRS guitars. I unscrewed the
pickup and removed it and lo and behold there was the inscription.
"Ed Roman Was Here." Everything I had read
on your website came tumbling back at me like a ton of bricks.
This guitar appeared to have had a custom body not a PRS body, It had the
step route pickups like on your site and the neck has that
1500G system that I read about on
your site. The neck appears to be an original PRS but I see now the
modifications you made to the heel and the tongue where the pickup bolts
directly to it like a Quicksilver. That accounts for the extra sustain! I am
assuming there is a Buzz Feiten System on this guitar because of the tuning
stability.
I could probably sue Guitar Center for falsely representing this guitar. But
I am thanking them from the bottom of my heart because I have one of the most
awe inspiring guitars I have ever owned or for that matter even played.
Whoever this guitar was originally built for might have misrepresented it to
Guitar Center but I am the luckiest guy in the world.
I was going to buy a PRS decal off that store in Cleveland that sells them
but now I would rather it said nothing.
Long Live Ed Roman
Pete Posintini
Plano TX
Note From Ed Roman
Hello Pete
Glad to see you like that guitar, I originally
rebuilt that PRS for a NYC police detective by the name of Manny Poole, As I
remember he lived somewhere in Jersey. The last time I talked with him had been
injured in the line of duty and was partially paralyzed. So he must have
sold it, I'm surprised it ended up in Texas. I did a number of cool PRS rebuilds
for Manny.
Several other things that you missed.
The guitar has a Korina Body and Seymour Duncan
Pickups, There were also 2 small stainless steel barrels inserted in the tongue
of the neck to add mass and stability.
The original PRS fingerboard had been removed and a
new ebony one was been installed. look carefully at the frets you will
notice you can't see the fret tangs on the side. look at a regular PRS and you
will see the tangs are completely visible.
I usually sign the PRS mod's in the pickup cavity
and I usually Jokingly print " Ed Roman was here" Ala Kilroy was
here... Just a little private joke between myself and someone who will remain
anonymous right now.
If you want a letter or perhaps a copy of the
original invoice for the work please let me know.
Ed Roman