Meet The Model: October Private Stock “Guitar Of The Month”

Posted Oct 28, 2016

Behind The Gear

2016 is a special year because it celebrates the 20th Anniversary of our custom shop, affectionately known as Private Stock. For this anniversary year, Private Stock has brought back the “Guitar Of The Month” program - a new experimental guitar design will be released in small numbers each month of 2016! Recently, we released the October Guitar Of The Month!

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Private Stock is an area of the PRS shop where the most unique instrument building takes place. As a matter of fact, that is exactly how Private Stock came to be. As a builder, Paul Reed Smith felt the urge to try something different and Private Stock was his creative outlet. All of this began in the mid 1990’s, but Private Stock is here today, celebrating their 20th Anniversary, and still experimenting through the Guitar Of The Month program.

We call the October Guitar Of The Month, the "Lotus Knot Custom 24"

Lotus Knot Custom 24

In the mid 1980's when a young, shaggy-haired Paul Reed Smith was deciding on the guitar body shape that would become synonymous with his name for decades to come, he was extremely careful and detailed throughout the process. Paul has told stories of the late-night sessions spent sketching, crossing out, and re-drawing dozens of shapes, one of which would become our company's first production model, the "Custom."

Over the years, we have seen the "Custom" evolve, including a name change to the "Custom 24." The Custom 24 has been in the PRS lineup for more than 30 years, and has been played by thousands of touring artists, gigging musicians, and aspiring players looking for a quality instrument.

Paul's love of guitar making has always been rooted in the philosophy that guitar building is an ongoing process of discovery, and he's not done yet. The Lotus Knot Custom 24 is a tip of the hat to our classic Custom 24 design, but with appointments only fitting for a Private Stock instrument. This October Guitar of the Month features unique Lotus Knot fingerboard inlays made from dozens of pieces of mother of pearl, and Paul's recently designed 58/15 LT pickups.

See photos of the Lotus Knot Custom 24 below.

Full specifications for the October Guitar of The Month are available here.

The Lotus Knot Custom 24 will be crafted in a batch of only 20 pieces to celebrate Private Stock's 20th Anniversary. They can be found at the following dealers.

Chicago Music Exchange
Chicago, Illinois
Brian's Guitars
Hamden, Connecticut
KID
Japan
Moore Music
Evansville, Indiana
Dijkmans Muziek
Breda, Netherlands
Music World Brilon
Brilon, Germany
Musician's Friend
PRS Europe
Europe
Distinguished Guitars
Eltville, Germany
Sweetwater
Fort Wayne, Indiana
The Guitar Sanctuary
McKinney, Texas
The Guitar Shop - Canada
Ontario, Canada
Wildwire Guitars
Selby, UK
Willcutt Guitars
Lexington, Kentucky
World Guitars
Stonehouse, UK
Electric Factory (ELFA)
Australia