Is This The FINEST PRS Ever Made? | The John McLaughlin Limited Edition

I've known Paul Reed Smith for a long time he goes after great guitar artists and collaborates with him like nobody else in the world this is another example of that this is his newest collaboration he loaned me this guitar for this video now Paul did not go after John Mayor it was actually the opposite John cold called PRS and it's an amazing story I'll tell you in a second this is not a sponsored video like I said this guitar is on loan I just want to reveal some stuff about Paul that might surprise you before I tell some of these stories let's take a few seconds and listen to this guitar his latest [Music] Obsession in a couple of minutes we'll do extreme close-ups and a deep dive into this guitar first I want to tell you a story so at this point we all know about John Mayer and the silver sky guy well the way that started John Mayer called cold called the general PRS number asking for Paul the person at the end of the line did not believe him so John had to send a text with a photo of a piece of paper where he scribbled yes this is me he wanted a guitar built for his Grateful Dead tour and he was able to get through that eventually led to them talking more and building the silver sky when they released the guitar in February 2018 they took a big risk combining a PRS headstock with a strat style Body it could have been a huge flop we all know now that it wasn't about a month later I borrowed a silver sky from PRS and I also borrowed a 65 vintage Strat from Norms R guitars I did a video once again not sponsored comparing the two [Music] [Applause] [Music] instruments so here we are 5 years later and the PRS silver sky SE is the bestselling guitar on reverb.com for 2023 as you can see other prss place very high on the list also now think about this Paul created the student Edition line the SD line because Santana asked him to make a guitar that the kids who were his fans could afford now the reason all this happened is because Paul was so tenacious he would spend six and seven hours in the parking lots of Arenas and stadiums with his guitar trying to show it to guitar artists big artists nine times out of 10 he got rejected Santana gave him a shot now Paul and David Grom spent over two decades working on both the mccardy and the Grom model and then of course there's the Grom SE which redefines quality at a low price point I bought this at the Village guitarist in New Mexico I bought this from a gentleman in the midwest was not a bargain I bought this from Wildcat guitars in Escondido California and I bought this from sounds for Less in Orlando Florida so let's take another quick listen to Paul's newest invention the pickups have these mini toggle EQ switches they are highpass filters that create more crystal top end and clearer bottom end to put it another way on the neck pickup sounds to me like Wind Cries [Music] [Applause] Mary so the color is called charal Phoenix on this highly figured Maple top finished in high gloss Nitro this is a generation 3 tremolo bridge I like the fact that it floats both up and down set up that way from the factory it also stays perfectly in tune these are the highpass filter toggle switches for each pickup to me they sound much better than the traditional coil split this is a great invention the TCI soap bar pickups are totally silent they are meant to snarl at full volume and then clean up well as you turn them down the fretboard is African Blackwood and these are the remarkable Celtic knots with crushed opal that gives them a three-dimensional quality always moving the neck wood is called hormigo it's finished but you would never know it the Finish is inside the wood giving it a very smooth satin feel these are the latest iteration of Paul's endless quest to make tuning keys that add sustain and tone to the guitar this guitar is signed by Paul miles and Paul Reed Smith and personally signed by John [Music] mlin [Music] so real quick we are giving away a brand new collection of 30 free guitar lessons so if you want to transform your guitar playing click the link below and you'll have instant free access let's talk about the elephant in the room which is the price of this guitar is it worth it yeah I think it is playability wise and soundwise it might be the best PRS I've ever had in my hands so there's that but Private Stock guitars are probably meant for collectors and rock stars now check this out I looked on reverb a few weeks ago and the inventory of these was in the mid-40s now it's at 36 these guitars are selling through and will sell out now if you're not a collector or a rock star I feel like Paul has the rest of us covered with guitars like the Grom SE I've had the privilege of being able to teach at a few of Paul's music schools last time we did it I was in Annapolis the morning of the first day he said hey I'll come pick you up and he picked up the coffee and the bagels for the crew and when he picked me up uh he did so in his Toyota Highlander and I thought I expected a Ferrari maybe anyway I asked him recently do you still have the Toyota Highlander he said no I traded it for a used Toyota Sequoia and I said why do you like Toyota so much he says they're devices that work properly so here we are and my friend here is waiting in line to get his badge at the N Show recently I had already gotten my badge Paul and I had breakfast together and I accompanied him to get his badge as we stood in line I realized all at once that this person who had spent millions and millions of dollars buying square footage at n over the last few decades had no sense of entitlement no sense of specialness or privilege as he stood in line as a civilian to get his namb badge Paul is truly a humble human being [Music] [Music] he hey guys a lot of the time YouTube will bring you my videos even though you're not subscrib if you get the chance click this subscribe button and ring the bell

Channel: Tim Pierce Guitar

Views: 228,829

Keywords: tim pierce, guitar, tim pierce crowded house, tim pierce runaway, tim pierce rick beato, tim pierce iris, PRS guitar, paul reed smith, John McLaughlin, Mahavishnu Orchestra, John Mayer, PRS Silver Sky, Silver Sky SE, PRIVATE STOCK JOHN MCLAUGHLIN LIMITED EDITION, PRS Private Stock, john mayer gravity, john mayer daughters, dead and company john mayer, dead and company, the grateful dead, the grateful dead sugar magnolia, the grateful dead casey jones, the wind cries mary

Id: KdBbbIZzPr8

Length: 8min 31sec (511 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 12 2024