PRS Guitars

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PRS Dragon III
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PRS Dragon III

PRS Guitars is an American company, based in Stevensville, Maryland, that mostly makes high-quality, high-priced guitars. PRS Guitars was founded by guitarist and luthier Paul Reed Smith.

Contents

[edit] Sonic qualities

PRS guitars were designed to find a middle ground between the instruments of two leading makers of American electric guitars, Fender and Gibson. While Fender guitars are generally seen as offering a bright, responsive tone, with a hint of "twang" from their longer scale length, Gibson guitars are seen as having a warm, rich tone, with a deep, dark low end. In comparison, PRS guitars generally have a responsive high end that does not twang, and a rich low end that is very clear. Paul Reed Smith has said in interviews that two major inspirations for his guitars were the Fender Stratocaster and the Gibson Les Paul Junior.

[edit] Construction

The main line of PRS guitars is unusual in that the instruments are designed and constructed wholly in the United States of America. This and the exacting standards of the PRS factory make them pricey.

[edit] Wood

Wood selection plays a major role in crafting a PRS guitar. The bodies are crafted of mahogany, with or without a maple top; their maple tops are graded according to their "figure," referring to the visual character of the wood. PRS guitars often feature highly figured tops, including flame maple and quilt maple. PRS necks are usually made from mahogany, although some models feature maple or Indian or Brazilian rosewood necks; fingerboards are made of rosewood. Instead of dot or trapezoid fret markers, PRS fingerboards have birds or moons. Their trademark guitars, the Dragons, feature portraits of these mythical animals inlaid into their fingerboards or bodies. Inlay materials have included semiprecious stones; all sorts of iridescent shells, including abalone and abalone-plastic laminates; gold; and even such exotic and costly materials as unearthed ivory from the (extinct) wooly mammoth.

[edit] Hardware

Nuts are synthetic; tuners are of PRS' own design, although some models feature Korean-made Kluson-style tuners. PRS guitars feature three original bridge designs: a one-piece pre-intonated stoptail, an intonatable stoptail, and a six-saddle tremolo. The pre-intonated stoptail is unique to PRS and can be used because PRS manufacturing tolerances are so tight, guaranteeing that the distance between witness points will be within a few thousandths of an inch from guitar to guitar. This is a result of PRS' innovative CNC (robot-assisted) manufacturing process.

[edit] Pickups

Pickups are designed and wound in-house; PRS is more secretive about magnet and wire type and construction than some aftermarket pickup manufacturers. PRS humbucking pickups have gone by many names, including HFS (Hot, Fat, and Screams); Vintage Bass and Treble; McCarty; Santana I, II, and III; Archtop; Dragon I and II; Artist I through IV; #6, #7, #8, #9, and #10; and RP (after the initials of the designer.) Further adding to the obscurity, many of the above pickup types are actually a pair of pickups wound in opposing directions, one intended for the neck and one for the bridge position.

[edit] Finishes

PRS is known for "popping the grain" on their figured maple topped instruments, a process that accents the 3d quality of the maple through a multistep staining process. Finishes are transparent, translucent (often with bursts), or opaque and are automotive-grade polyurethane or satin nitrocellose, meaning that in some instances, the paints were intended for automotive use.

[edit] Current Manufacturing Methods

As demand grew during the mid 1990s, PRS had to switch from hand manufactured and assembled guitars to automated manufacture and assembly. Some would argue that the switch in manufacturing has lost some of the individual personality and allure of PRS guitars, while others insist that the change in manufacturing and assembly has led to higher quality, better sounding guitars. Additionally, some believe that the heavy polyurethane finishes used by PRS further drown out the tonal qualities and nuances of each individual guitar.

[edit] Non-American PRS

To keep up with demand, PRS introduced a new low-end budget line in the late 1990s. The SE line, is manufactured in Korea and is notable for opaque finishes and lower quality tone-woods though some models also include figured maple tops such as the Soapbar II. While the SEs do not match the higher end PRS guitars in their build quality, it is worth noting that their street price is perhaps 10 to 20% of PRS' high-end instruments, some feel that they offer excellent value to the player seeking an instrument in that price range.

[edit] Artists who use PRS Guitars

Many artists play PRS guitars. Some include

Ted Nugent was the first big-name guitar player whom Paul Reed Smith persuaded to play one of his guitars. Despite being a master of the hollow-body guitar (especially the Gibson Byrdland), Nugent has continued to play PRS guitars ever since. Carlos Santana was another recipient of some of Paul Reed Smith's early instruments, used them on stage, and fell in love with them. Santana's unusual 24-fret, 24½"-scale signature model was one of PRS' earliest special models.

PRS is named as a dream guitar by Brendan Fraser's hostage-taking character Chazz Darvey in the movie Airheads. He puts one "with a dragon inlay" on the demand list that he sends out to the police, and gets one at the end of the movie.

[edit] Legal Issues

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In 1998 PRS released their "Singlecut" guitar to much acclaim. Bearing an uncanny resemblance to the venerable Les Paul, Gibson Guitar Corp filed a trademark infringement against Paul Reed Smith. An injunction was ordered and PRS stopped manufacturing of the Singlecut in 2000. It should be noted that other guitar companies including Hamer and ESP produce models very similar to the Les Paul. Federal District Court Judge William J. Haynes, in a 57-page decision ruled "that PRS [Paul Reed Smith] was imitating the Les Paul" and gave the parties ninety days "to complete any discovery on damages or disgorgement of PRS's profits on the sales of its offending singlecut guitar."

In a long-pending trademark dispute between PRS Guitars and Gibson Guitars Corp., the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed a lower court decision and ordered the dismissal of Gibson's suit against PRS. The decision also immediately vacated the injunction prohibiting the sale and production of PRS’s award winning Singlecut® Guitar. Paul Reed Smith Guitars announced that it will immediately resume production of its Singlecut® guitars.

Paul Smith, the founder of PRS, stated “We are delighted that the appellate court affirmed what we and the industry have long known: the PRS Singlecuts® are musical instruments of the highest quality that would never be confused with a competitor’s product.”

In the litigation, Gibson alleged that concert goers in a smoky concert hall might not be able to differentiate a PRS Singlecut® from a Gibson Les Paul. The appellate court rejected that trademark theory out-of-hand, emphasizing Gibson’s concession in court arguments that “only an idiot” would confuse the two products at the point of sale.

January 6, 2006 - PRS Guitars has won another round in the long-running trademark dispute with Gibson Guitars Corp. over the award-winning PRS Singlecuts®, as a court of appeals has refused to rehear the case. On September 12, 2005, a panel of three judges from the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed a lower court decision and ordered the dismissal of Gibson's suit against PRS. The panel also threw out a lower court injunction prohibiting the sale and production of PRS Singlecuts®. Gibson then requested that all 24 judges from the Sixth Circuit rehear the case. Last Friday, the Sixth Circuit rejected Gibson's request, leaving the earlier panel decision intact and limiting Gibson to one option for further review - a petition asking the United States Supreme Court to hear the case.

(STEVENSVILLE, MD) June 5, 2006 — Paul Reed Smith Guitars is very pleased to announce that the United States Supreme Court today denied Gibson Guitar's final appeal of a Court of Appeals decision upholding PRS' right to make a single cutaway-style guitar. When first introduced more than six years ago at the NAMM show, the PRS Singlecut® quickly captured the attention of artists and critics, winning awards for its design and quality. Seeking to stop competition to its Les Paul brand single cutaway-style guitar, Gibson moved aggressively, filing a suit in Nashville that asserted trademark infringement. After several years of expensive and drawn-out litigation, the local federal district court judge initially sided with Gibson. That court ordered PRS to stop sales of its Singlecut®. Several companies joined PRS in urging the appellate court--the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit--to reverse the decision. Last year, the Sixth Circuit ruled that an injunction should never have been issued by the lower court. The court observed that Gibson conceded that only "an idiot" would ever confuse a PRS Singlecut® and a Gibson Les Paul. Based on that concession and the overwhelming evidence, the Sixth Circuit found that Gibson's trademark case had no merit and summarily dismissed the suit. The Supreme Court's decision today leaves the Sixth Circuit opinion in place and ends Gibson's multi-year effort to thwart legitimate competition under the guise of intellectual property law.

Paul Reed Smith, the company founder, stated: "I am delighted for our employees, our dealers, our customers and the industry. Everyone was extremely supportive of our cause and our company over the last six years, fully embracing our decision to fight back against Gibson's charges." Smith added: "My thanks especially go to those in the industry who helped educate the court: the media, our industry peers, guitar craftsmen and industry scholars. Their help was invaluable.”

[edit] Partial List of PRS Guitar Models

A more extensive list is available at the PRS website. Many of the listed guitars are available with an option of stoptail or tremolo bridge; the finish options are complicated and depend on the model.

  • Custom 22
  • Custom 24
  • McCarty
  • McCarty Soapbar
  • Modern Eagle
  • Santana II and III
  • Johnny Hiland Model
  • Dave Navarro Model
  • Mark Tremonti Model
  • 513
  • CE22
  • CE24
  • Standard 22
  • Standard 24
  • Standard 22 Satin
  • Standard 24 Satin
  • Corvette Standard 22
  • Hollowbody I, II and Spruce
  • Singlecut
  • Singlecut Satin
  • Singlecut Standard
  • Singlecut Standard Soapbar
  • Singlecut Trem
  • Singlecut Trem Satin
  • Singlecut Trem Modern Eagle
  • Swamp Ash Special
  • Santana SE II
  • Soapbar SE II
  • Soapbar SE Maple
  • SE Custom
  • Singlecut SE
  • SE EG
  • Tremonti SE

[edit] Limited editions

  • Signature model
  • Mark Tremonti Tribal
  • Artist I, II, III and IV
  • Dragon I, II, III, 2000, 2002 and 2005 Double Dragon
  • Rosewood Limited
  • Golden Eagle
  • 20th Anniversary
  • Brazilian Limited model with Brazilian Rosewood fretboards
  • Custom 22 semi-hollow body
  • Custom 24 and 22 with Indian Rosewood neck
  • Private Stock, one-off instruments built to custom order
  • 1986 Single Pick-up 24 Fret Standard

[edit] Discontinued models

  • Custom 22 Soapbar
  • McCarty Standard
  • McCarty Soapbar Standard
  • SE Soapbar
  • Santana I

[edit] External links

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