Paul Reed Smith Learn More +

After getting a small following and orders for more than 50 guitars, we built two prototypes. I popped them in the back seat of my truck and cranked it up, calling on guitar dealers up and down the East Coast. After many days and many miles I came back with enough orders to start a company. With the support of my wife, skilled assistants, engineers, lawyers, top salesmen, artists, machinists, and friends who emptied their bank accounts to help me get started, we developed a strong team.We've come a long way, with steady growth in factory capacity, employees, distribution, and the number of prominent artists using our instruments. We're not stopping here. Every inch of your PRS guitar is based on decades of testing, rethinking, and reinventing. We continue to push the curve beyond what others would consider perfection. With experts to make sure the technology is unsurpassed, and dedicated craftspeople who guarantee a finished product you can't keep your hands off of, we make no compromises. That's the story of the beginning of the journey. Not so short, but very sweet. The moral? Believe in your dreams.

A PRS was the first truly great electric guitar I ever laid hands on. I still remember the feeling and the realization there are great guitars that are super easy to play. I own one myself and always will. We are delighted to now offer Private Stock acoustics from PRS, they are crafted to the highest standards and offer a fresh approach and design.Here's more from Steve Fischer head luthier at PRS:I started my guitar making career at Bryan Galloupâ€™s school of lutherie and from there went to work at McPherson Guitars. I met Paul Smith at a clinic he did at Elderly instruments in Lansing Michigan. I showed him a guitar I had made and he called me the next morning to ask me to build an acoustic guitar for him. When his guitar was done we decided that we should make some prototype guitars to see if there was a possibility of PRS entering the acoustic market. After a little more than three years, several prototypes, and backing from several very gifted musicians we decided the time was right to introduce the first line of PRS acoustics.The Idea for these guitars came from a Torres guitar that is owned by a friend of Paul. The guitar is a tiny little maple guitar that has a huge sound. Rich, loud bass, bright clear treble, and the overall volume of the guitar was astounding. Both Paul and I felt like this guitar had much to teach us. The guitarâ€™s owner was gracious enough to let me take the guitar back to my shop in Utah where I had it X-rayed and measured everything I could think to measure, all with the idea to try and figure out, not what Torres did, but why he did it. The problem I faced then was how to take what I had learned and apply it to the steel string guitar. That is where the idea for the hybrid X/fan brace design came from, with the idea that I could get the big round musical bass, clear bell-like treble, note separation, and articulation that I loved about classical guitars out of a steel string. I think it worked. I am very pleased with the way these guitars are coming out. The guys on the acoustic team here are very skilled and doing a great job of creating some of the finest guitars around.

Stevensville, MD

Tony McManus, Martin Simpson, Carlos Santana, Bob Weir, Alex Lifeson(Rush), Al Di Meola, Ted Nugent, Orianthi, Dave Navarro, Mark Tremonti, Pat Travers

All, Tonare Grand, Angelus, Private Stock, Custom 22, Dragon, McCarty, Hollow Body, JA-15, 305, 513, Custom 24, SE, Santana, Tony McManus, Martin Simpson