PRS Guitars History

Home > All Guitars > Paul Reed Smith (PRS) > Quicksilver Guitars

The PRS Story

Paul Reed Smith has done more for the high end guitar market than any other person alive. If it weren't for Paul Reed Smith, people would still be playing Gibson's & Fenders.  The early PRS guitars were absolutely the best guitars I had ever seen or played in my life. Up until the mass production and CNC manufactured models of 1995 I was recommending PRS guitars to everyone.

The absolute best thing that Paul ever did was to bring the perceived price of an electric guitar up to the level where a consumer would actually consider buying a custom made instrument. Today there are hundreds of small builders who owe their success to Paul. I am one of them.

Paul wasn't the only company who built great guitars, There was Hamer, Dean, BC Rich, Jackson, Moonstone, Turner, Alembic, Veillette Citron, and many others. These other companies even though they built great guitars failed to capture the imagination and hearts of thousands of guitarists who could afford to purchase a beautiful guitar. Paul succeeded where all others failed.

I am not a huge fan of what he is doing today but his guitars will always have a special place in my heart.

My first contact with Paul Smith was in 1977, this was as a direct result from my conversations with Stanley Whittaker and Rick Kennel of the Maryland based band,  "Happy the Man". They  were raving about this unknown builder making guitars in his attic. They were so enthusiastic that I simply could not ignore them. As a large retailer, I am frequently approached  by many small luthiers. I will generally check them out and occasionally I will find a real diamond in the rough. In this case these 2 guys were incessantly driving me up the wall. I had never been pitched so strongly about any other guitar up until that time and to this day. later that day I called Paul I spoke to him for a few moments. He sent me a handwritten letter (which I still have) and several not so good pictures of his guitars. I was not terribly impressed by the photos. In any case a few years went by and I spoke to Paul several times about his product. They were high priced for a completely unknown brand name. I sold very few of the original pre production models that were made between 1976 and 1984. These guitars played and sounded extremely good but there were many custom builders in that era that were advertising more and we all know the golden rule of the guitar business.

In 1985 Paul got some major financing and he was able to start limited hand-made production of the PRS Custom. His design got sleeker his finishes were and still are probably some of  the best in the industry to this day. The locking tuning pegs that were standard were the best in the industry at that time and have been copied in theory by Fender, Sperzel, Schaller and other notables. (Today Sperzel probably manufactures the best one) The headstock design is great. The angle of the headstock facilitates a lesser tension and makes the guitar a pleasure to play not to mention the fact that the locking tuners simply cannot work with any other nut design but what Paul designed in 1985. He used only the finest Brazilian Rosewood for his fingerboards and the wood that Paul used for the bodies and necks were tone woods that he had "hoarded and stashed for years" Paul built an incredible monument to himself in those early guitars and anyone who has had the privilege to own or even play one of those beauties is a very lucky player indeed. I could go on for paragraphs about how great those guitars were. His major financing also included an advertising budget. So at that time I became extremely interested in carrying his guitars. I already knew the quality and playability was excellent and best of all the buying public were going to see ads in magazines.