Musicians Hotline is so proud to bring you this 20 year anniversary salute to Paul Reed Smith Guitars, a company that single handedly transformed the higher end guitar market and set a new standard in quality. This interview with Paul covers a two-decade span of PRS Guitars (1985-2005). From the pre-'85 collectables to the most recent Modern Eagle, Paul shares his reflections of the past 20 years, which includes the trials and tribulations of building the company from a grass roots level to the well-respected manufacturer that this company is today. However, it is also a Cinderella story of courage, determination and mostly of conviction. Paul Smith believed in the vision of the company from day one; he still does today. Here is what Paul shared with Musicians Hotline regarding the past 20 years of propelling PRS Guitars to the industry leader they have become.

MHL: Paul, congratulations on the company's 20-year anniversary. The evolution of PRS is an incredible success story. Let's start with the early days. Tell us about the official opening of the company and the very first instruments that were offered.

PRS: The official opening of the company was the closing of a sales period for our Limited Partnership. We actually got all the investors to invest a half a million dollars to start the company. The sales period was to open April 1st 1985, and was to go for six months. We closed it one week after it opened. We were shipping guitars by late August of '85.

As far as our early instruments, there were two models. One was the Custom and the otherwas the PRS. The PRS was the Mahogany version of the guitar. We had a Custom 24, and a Standard (PRS) 24. We still make those guitars today. We had some prototypes: we built five or six for one trade show and then 20 for the next trade show. One month after that, we were shipping guitars.

The first instruments were not quilted. We were buying all our woods from Michigan. I was hopping in a rental car and driving around Michigan to get wood. I believe we used curly Maple and Mahogany. My favorite is actually Brazilian Rosewood. It rings more beautifully and longer in my opinion. The second would be Mahogany, because it is remarkable in a way. I like the woods that instrument makers have used over time: Brazilian Rosewood, Mahogany, Maple, Ebony, Spruce, curly Maple, quilted Maple, East Indian Rosewood. There are two that I really like that aren't on the list: American Walnut, and Queensland Maple.

MHL: How did things proceed during the first couple of years? What was the vision and the branding of PRS Guitars early on?

PRS: You remember MXR, Fender, and Gretsch. There are so many words out there with brand name recognition. The first thing we did was spend ten years just showing pictures of the guitars and putting the logo up. My vision was that in two or three years, everybody in the guitar industry would know who we were. That didn't happen for fifteen to sixteen years. It took four or five times longer than I thought. Another vision I had was survival. Keeping the company alive was key. Hap Kuffner, (he is pretty famous in our industry--he started Steinberger, as well as got EMG off the ground) said to me "So you're going in the bucket. You'll be out of your mind for ten years. In ten years when you get your mind back, I'll come talk to you." Sure enough ten years later, to the day, he showed up. He was so right on it. Basically, we started our company in survival mode, and when we came out the other side, we were sane enough for him to talk to us. Getting over that ten-year mark was not easy.

MHL: There are instruments referred to in the collectables market as "Pre-'85"PRS's. The familiar bird inlay on the actual headstock identifies these guitars. Tell us a bit about those early guitars, and how they differ from the guitars built today.

PRS: They have been scooped up pretty well, and they are going for an alarming amount of money. The curly Maple ones are going for $40,000 a piece, and a few are worth double that.

MHL: As a long time guitar player yourself Paul, who's luthiering experience seemed to influence you the most, and why?

PRS: Well everything that Gibson and Fender did in the '50s and early '60s are teachers. Everything that Martin did prior to about 1972 is a teacher. Everything that Collins is doing now is a teacher. I would say a lot of things that Tom Anderson has done in his career would be teachers. I would say that all the instruments that were in my repair shop, the ones with problems as well as the ones without, would be teachers. All the magic guitars that came in my repair shop were teachers. I'd say Wren Ferguson, who built the doubleneck for John McLaughlin, had a fundamental impact on me. I would say Wren Ferguson, Randy Curly, all the guys at Hamer--Joel, and Frank, and Paul Hamer, the guys at Oasis Guitars, Rick Turner at Olympic, Harvey Citron. I would say all the guys who were trying to get it done early on. Anyone I am missing? Ted McCarty, Dean Zelinsky.

MHL: Was their any particular break or development such as an endorser or dealer that seemed to really propel the brand equity of your guitars, and please supply us with a time frame.

PRS: No particular break, but there were little things that made a difference. The different artists playing the guitar really helped, such as Carlos Santana and Howard Leese; Rick Turner doing the first review for Guitar Player; Carlos playing the guitar on Tom Snyder or at the Olympics, or at Live-Aid in Philadelphia; stuff like that really got the name out there. Just this year, Carlos played one at the Academy Awards; that was a big deal.

Washington Music Center was our first dealer. They said they would take three or four or five. If they sold, they would buy a lot more. That was the most amazing order I ever got. They now have 180 in stock and sell one every day. Just unbelievable.

MHL: In 1995, PRS built the most advanced guitar manufacturing facility in history. PRS is still located there today in Stevensville, MD. Tell us about some of the revolutionary technological advances you felt this factory brought to the industry, and more importantly how this factory enhanced the products, as well as taking PRS to an entirely new level.

PRS: I think it is a state of the art facility that would be remarkable even if it were built today. I don't think it has been copied. The reason we did it was because we didn't think we could make great guitars if we didn't. We didn't build it to prove something to our peers or to the industry or anything like that.

In our experience, if you don't build a guitar in 50% relative humidity at 72 degrees, either the necks will bow forward or backwards, depending on where you send it out in the world. If you do not have humidity controlled spray rooms in the summer, the wood absorbs too much moisture, and in the winter, it dries out too much. You have to have the air going through the spray rooms be exactly that, but you don't want to suck the air out of the factory, otherwise you are sucking dust into the spray rooms.

When we say state of the art, we are talking about in depth dust collection, and humidity and temperature control, even in the spray rooms. Plus, we are insulated. There was a lot of arguing and fussing, but the bottom line is, it works. There have been a lot of other companies that have visited here, but there has never been anybody that has sat me down and asked specifically about the humidity control, how I do that in my place.

Another state of the art thing is the very sophisticated spray rooms, drying rooms, and CNC equipment; all are very important. We were the first to do robotic buffing of guitars.

MHL: Can you supply us, in somewhat chronological order, what you personally feel were key developments for PRS over the past 20 years and the time frames associated with these developments?

PRS: Coming out with the first guitars, having them play in tune and basically stay in tune, generally without Floyd Roses; the changing of the neck to a 22 fret; that new stoptail piece we came out with; changing the pickups away from the original pickups; getting rid of the sweet switch; using animals for inlays and getting away with it; the tuning peg thing, then changing the tuning peg thing to the new screw pegs. I don't know, you are asking a complicated question. We have about 400 things we've changed in the last ten years. We sign off on them and write about them. The Modern Eagle is a big deal. You need to play a Modern Eagle and a 513. We have a doubleneck Dragon, Private Stock guitars, Brazilian Rosewood neck guitars and production guitars. Not a year goes by when we don't try to push the envelope.

The dragon came about when I had somebody named Eric Chamberlain draw the first dragon on a piece of paper when I was in early high school. I knew I wanted to do it a long time ago. I always like the English water dragons and not so much the Chinese dragons.

MHL: I have always felt personally that your guitars and the courage to introduce them to the marketplace was the catalyst to opening the door for many talented grass roots builders of today. How do you feel about the higher end (boutique) guitar market in general, and how it continues to improve and evolve?

PRS: Well, thanks for the courage comment, it was scary. There are so many\ boutique builders that are trying to fight the fight. I think it is good for the industry and I think it is good for guitars. I think it is part of the deal, but it is very hard to make a living as a builder. My tax returns for the first couple years were $8,000. I'm not saying what I think their tax returns are, but it is very hard to make a living as a builder in a single shop unless you are getting a lot of money for the instruments and you are heavily back ordered.

Overall I think it is good for the industry, good for guitar making, and God bless them for doing it.

MHL: In 2000, PRS introduced the Singlecut model. A competitor filed suit against this particular design as an infringement on trademark design. What is your personal opinion on this matter, and how has the company responded to this development?

PRS: I regret that the industry had to be dragged through this. I don't believe we have done anything wrong. There is not a shred of evidence in this case that anybody ever bought a PRS thinking they were buying something else. I've never tried to confuse the customer, ever. There are so many differences between the two guitars. For example: the position and shape of the logo on the headstock: our logo is 90 degrees turned. They have a black headstock. Our headstocks are the color of the guitars. Our headstock is much smaller. Those are just a few examples.

I don't think there is any part of the guitars that are interchangeable. As a matter of fact, a Singlecut will not fit into a Les Paul case. So the shape is pretty different.

I don't think it is cool to take somebody else's body shape. I don't think it is cool to take someone else's headstock. But come on, you've been to NAMM, there are single cut-away guitars in hundreds of booths; how come I'm not allowed in? This is the equivalent of not being allowed into the mini van business.

As a matter of fact, we got a MIPA award (Music International Press Award). They gave us an award for the Singlecut as the best new electric guitar in 2000. They didn't do that for what they thought was a copy instrument; they did that for what they thought was advancement.

MHL: PRS just celebrated the 20-year anniversary in typical NAMM Show style. Tell us about the celebration and the current new products that were unveiled at the NAMM Show?

PRS: We had a meeting a while ago and talked about taking all the archived guitars on the road. We decided instead to display them at the show. I went through our entire history with the press. Even doing this interview now, it reminds me that being around 20 years and surviving and standing in the same circles as the icons is a big deal. They had a thing in Guitar Player Magazine the other day where they rated my making one of the prototypes as one of the top 100 things in the guitar industry.

For me, all these artists showing up and agreeing to play the party dropped my jaw. All three original endorsers were involved. Carlos Santana played, Dave Navarro played, Mark Tremoni played. David Grissom played, Bugs Henderson played. Some new, some old, but almost all the original endorsers, even if they went to another company, they were there and played. That just blew me away.

MHL: Paul in closing, you must be (and rightfully so) very proud of the company's accomplishments as you celebrate this 20 year anniversary. Tell us what you feel are the most unique aspects of your guitars, your commitment of excellence, and what you feel has attributed to your over whelming success?

PRS: Fender went out of business with the Stratocaster in the mid 60's. There wasn't a Les Paul made between 1961 and 1968. I'd say the first thing is there are people who are picking the guitars up, and are getting a sound out of it that is the same kind of thing that gave those instruments life again. When Hendrix picked up a Strat, that breathed life back into that model forever.

One of the things I am proud of is we haven't had to go out of production to breathe life into our product. I'm always reminded that sometimes things take a lot longer to catch on than anybody would ever think. Another thing I am proud of is that children here have benefited greatly from the health insurance that we carry here at our company. I think that kind of employee protection commitment has a great impact and has given back to the people that work here. When your kid is sick, and he's got strep, and you don't want to go to the doctor because you don't think you can afford the visit, is just not cool.

I'm proud that when it has gotten really ugly on many occasions, people buckle down and work through it. I'm proud that some musicians find a home in our instruments and make really good music with them. I'm proud of the care that the people who actually build the guitars put into them. People comment all the time that you can tell the love and care the employees have for the guitars. I'm proud that I play one of our guitars. If there were another guitar that was better than ours, I'd play it. People would want to kill me for it, but I'm a musician, and I pick up the best thing that I know to use. Right now, the best instrument I have is a charcoal Modern Eagle right off the line. Before that I was playing the first Private Stock Guitar and a CE Bolt-on, right off the line.

Of course, I am proud of how pretty the guitars are, and how well they sound. Sometimes you get one that comes off the line with a voice; that is when I love it.

MHL: Any closing statements that you would like to leave our readers with?

PRS: You cannot make it in this business without the support of the other companies. If you've got the big boys against you, you're dead. The amount of support we have gotten from our peers is overwhelming. I'm very thankful for all the support we've gotten from within the industry.

Paul Reed Smith Guitars
380 Log Canoe Circle
Stevensville, MD 21666
410-643-9970
www.prsguitars.com

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