PAUL REED SMITH 03 | The QUEST of TONE
Posted on: October 6, 2009
Posted in: Custom Electric Guitar, Custom Guitar Making, Custom Guitar Video, Electric Luthier, Featured
PRS Guitars are world famous. The list of guitar players who use Paul Reed Smith Custom Electric Guitars is probably the “who-is-who” in Rock’n Roll music today. Custom Guitar Video wanted to find the secret behind the magic of these guitars.

When we met Paul and his son William on a Saturday morning in his river house close to Annapolis, we had obviously done our homework well. On our never ending quest on the secrets of tone, we asked him a bunch of questions which undoubtedly went into the right direction. How much impact has the choice of glues, the way a guitar is built with or without stress, the chosen tone woods, the type of truss-rod and the way it is inserted, the drying process of the tone wood and the type of finish have on the final tonal properties of a fine Custom Electric Guitar? Paul told us more than he probably originally intended to, but he – understandably – also kept a couple of secrets. Reading between the lines is sometimes more educating than the lines by themselves. His son William had a great analogy: If you give somebody your credit card, you should never give him the pin-code… We are grateful for every little piece of information and will continue our never ending quest. Listen to Paul Reed Smith in this intimate and casual interview talk about why PRS Guitars became one of the greatest success stories in the history of electric guitars.
Paul Reed Smith is the only Custom Electric Guitar manufacturer so far to successfully blend the design characteristics of the Les Paul and Stratocaster guitars into a wholly new and different model that borrows from both, but copies neither. Custom Guitar Video and GOURMET GUITARS® tried to go in depths of electric guitar making to show every facet of the wonderful electric guitars made by PRS, the Maryland-based company founded in 1985 by musician and guitar builder Paul Reed Smith.


February 2nd, 2010 at 6:30 AM
I had to refresh the page 2 times to view this page for some reason, however, the information on here was worth the wait. I loved that it is also really easy to read for the eyes.