UNBELIEVABLE: 2 - The Untold Story

“If you listen to Summer Nights, the Van Halen tune, that’s a headless guitar. It sounded fantastic”: Could PRS ever make a headless guitar?

Strandberg, Ibanez and Schecter have all been flying the flag for headless designs – could PRS be next?

Guitar World · Jul 30, 2025

“He called me and said, ‘Paul! Paul! I need your help. Eddie’s coming up”: Paul Reed Smith on the time Kramer asked him to build a guitar for Eddie Van Halen

Smith was asked what he would have made if Van Halen had ever asked for a PRS guitar – but it turned out to be something of a trick question

Guitar World · Jul 25, 2025

“We have to ask: canthe electric guitar get any better?” With 40 years of groundbreaking luthierie behind it, the limited PRS Charcoal Phoenix is deserving of its mythical status

One of PRS Guitars’ 40th Anniversary special editions, limited to 150 units, this is the one Paul himself plays, and it’s perched at the summit of our wishlist

Guitar World · Jul 23, 2025

“I said, ‘Ted, you can see inside the horn, it's got a maple cap.’ He goes, ‘Shut up’”: Paul Reed Smith says early Les Pauls were all Goldtops to hide a tonal breakthrough from Leo Fender

The PRS Guitars founder answers the million dollar question: why were all the early Gibson Les Pauls Goldtops?

Guitar World · Jul 4, 2025

“Steve Vai goes, ‘I’ve been thinking about this a long time. He’s a really good guitar player.’ That’s unusual’”: Paul Reed Smith on the time John Mayer was hailed by a shred hero – and why he found it strange

Smith recalls Vai singling out Mayer for praise – and reveals what Mayer’s songwriting background means for his overall guitar style

Guitar World · Jun 30, 2025

“We had a room full of Nashville session players, and they said, ‘Paul, if we don't use your guitars on the tracks, we get fired’”: Why Paul Reed Smith isn't interested in chasing Fender or Gibson – but is focused on cementing PRS in history

Smith reflects on his decades-long involvement in the guitar making space

Guitar World · Jun 25, 2025

“We spent more than four years in research and development, working closely with Herman to get everything exactly right”: PRS activates total shred mode for the launch of Herman Li’s feature-packed Chleo signature electric

Available in Orchid Dusk and Charcoal Purple Burst, limited to 200 units, we've got 13 unique tone combinations from its HSH Fishman pickups, a Gotoh floating vibrato and Eclipse Dragon inlays too

MusicRadar · Jun 24, 2025

“We all have easy access to the parts needed to make a pickup… You certainly don’t have to start like Seymour Duncan did with a record player’s turntable”: Why more guitar builders are making their own pickups

We speak to Juha Ruokangas about why his company took pickup design into its own hands – and then retrofitted an old PRS Custom 24 with his humbuckers to see how they sounded

Guitar World · Jun 20, 2025

“He needed nobody; Jerry was his only customer”: Tom Lieber apprenticed to Jerry Garcia's guitar builder Doug Irwin in the ’70s – now he’s raising the ’Dead once again

This is the story of Tom Lieber, the aspiring guitar builder who wouldn’t take no for ananswer and ended up learning how to make some of the rock world’s most prized instruments

Guitar World · Jun 13, 2025

“Warm, woody tones and a beautiful vintage character”: PRS celebrates the launch of the first humbuckers with the 40th Anniversary McCarty SC56 – a limited-run, traditionally-styled troublemaker with bags of charm

The latest addition to its 40th-anniversary releases, the time-machine axe tips its hat to luthiery innovations from the year Paul Reed Smith was born

Guitar World · Jun 3, 2025