PRS Guitars has one more special guitar unveiling to share this year in celebration of their 35th Anniversary and it's a beauty. The Paul’s 85 guitar, meticulously crafted by founder Paul Reed Smith and their Private Stock team, is available now at authorized PRS Private Stock dealers.
The Maryland-based manufacturer has been celebrating their 35th Anniversary with new guitar announcements rolling out since the spring, as well as a virtual Experience PRS event which featured artist appearances, demos and more.
The 85 designation is, of course, in tribute to the year of the company’s founding, and in keeping with that theme, only 85 guitars will be made. Each guitar is personally inspected by Paul Reed Smith, who was involved in every step of the process, including setting aside a special selection of wide-curl maple tops, assisting on the neck shapes of every guitar, spec’d the pickups, and played and adjusted each guitar until it was “right.” The Private Stock team, who together has more than 200 years of guitar making experience, executed each detail while Paul looked after each instrument on a daily basis.
“We believe guitar making is an ongoing process of discovery, and this Paul’s 85 guitar utilizes all of the parts, processes, and workmanship I have spent my career (to date) seeking, testing, refining, and teaching our craftsman. My hope is that these benchmark instruments are something remarkable for our company and the industry. There is no better way to close out our 35th Anniversary than with these extraordinary, hopefully magic, guitars,” said Paul Reed Smith.
According to PRS, the chosen specifications also include dark Peruvian mahogany necks, Honduran rosewood fretboards and headstock veneers, solid red abalone birds with mother of pearl outlines, bone nuts, vintage-style tuning pegs, and aluminum stop-tail bridges with brass inserts and brass studs.
Additionally, every piece of guitar-making knowledge at PRS is in these guitars: the wood drying methods, the feel of the neck, the color and stain technique (Electric Tiger Glow – an exquisite stain and spray technique that accentuates the beautiful wide curl maple), the finish (a very special paper-thin, vintage-formula nitrocellulose that will crack over time), and the pickups (PRS TCI pickups that were spec’d to be full, clear, and musical).
These guitars are available exclusively through Authorized PRS Private Stock dealers, and there are only 85 of them worldwide. For more information and a personal video from Paul Reed Smith, please visit www.prsguitars.com/privatestock.
