PRS Guitars - News Archives

News

September 2007

PRS Guitars and Four-Time NEXTEL NASCAR Champion Jeff Gordon Auction Collector Guitar

9.27.07

Jeff Gordon and PRS Guitars have teamed up to auction a one-of-a-kind instrument signed by Jeff Gordon, Chip Foose and Carlos Santana. The guitar, a CE Mahogany Model PRS, features the same DuPont Hot Hues™ paint finish as the Hot Hues™ “Heat Waves and Flames” No. 24 DuPont® race car driven by Gordon. Proceeds for this unique instrument will benefit The Jeff Gordon Foundation, and the guitar’s online auction, held from October 15 through October 28, will have no reserve. PRS and Gordon announced the auction initiative during the NASCAR Nextel Cup Chevy Rock & Roll 400 race in Richmond this September.

PRS and Hyperfest on Motorweek Thursday, 9/27

9.27.07

Motorweek's coverage of Hyperfest will re-air this Thursday on PBS and SPEED. This episode showcases the events at Hyperfest as well as PRS' involvement and fundraising efforts for the John's Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center. Check the following link for channels and showtimes in your area.

Motorweek Station Listing (link)

PRS Guitars and Chevrolet Entertain Fans at the Chevy Rock & Roll 400

9.18.07

PRS Guitars joined Chevrolet for a third consecutive year at the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 Nextel NASCAR Cup series race at Richmond International Raceway on September 7th and 8th. This year’s onsite collaboration began on the front stretch of the ¾-mile long, D-shaped oval track where staff from Richmond International Raceway and PRS Guitars joined together for an exclusive photo shoot of the pace car and matching PRS trophy.

August 2007

Richmond International Raceway's Gatorade Victory Lane Rocks Again With PRS Guitars

8.30.07

NASCAR fans from all over the country who venture to Richmond International Raceway year after year to experience the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race have probably noticed a slight change in the winner’s trophy over the last few years. Many may even have fond memories of seeing the trophy travel the track thruways on a golf cart or having pictures taken with it in the Chevy Fan Fest area. Yes, it’s the PRS guitar wrapped in aluminum flames.

PRS Guitars Sponsors Creation Festival

8.10.07

Paul Reed Smith Guitars is a proud sponsor of Creation Festival, the world’s largest annual Christian music festival, and was on site at both Creation East and West this summer. In addition to providing PRS guitars for giveaway contests at both festivals, more than half of the headlining bands on each coast proudly play PRS Guitars. Creation Festival bands endorsing PRS Guitars include RelientK, Casting Crowns, Third Day, TobyMac, Kutless, David Crowder Band, Skillet, Stellar Kart, Flyleaf, Hawk Nelson, Pillar, Fireflight and RED.

PRS Guitars Revs It Up

8.10.07

Paul Reed Smith Guitars has teamed up with Rev It Up™, the world’s largest performance driving school and national racing competition, for a summer long racing tour of the US. At the Chevy-powered Rev It Up™ 2007, professional racers, including drivers who have experience in ALMS, open-wheel, NASCAR and SCCA competition, will teach participants how to compete, and drivers can hone those skills behind the wheel. Each race weekend, the top drivers have a “shoot out” in identically prepared Corvettes, and each City Champion takes home a PRS SE Corvette guitar as part of their prize package. The PRS SE Corvette guitar is based on the SE Custom model but integrates the images of “Jake,” the mascot of the PRS sponsored Corvette C6.R. This guitar model is available through authorized PRS Dealers as well as BadBoyVettes.com

Experience PRS and A Letter From Paul

8.9.07

July 2007

Introducing David Grissom’s First Signature Model PRS Guitar…the DGT

7.27.07

David Grissom’s first signature model PRS guitar, the DGT, will be unveiled at this year’s Austin Summer NAMM show. The result of more than 20 years of collaboration between Paul Smith and David Grissom, the DGT (short for David Grissom Trem) is essentially a McCarty Trem with special pickups, special wiring, a neck smaller than PRS’ wide-fat neck, bigger frets and heavy gauge strings that permit beautiful rhythm and solo tone.

Paul Reed Smith Named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2007 Award Winner in Maryland

7.9.07

PRS Guitars, the third largest electric guitar manufacturer in the U.S., today announced that Paul Reed Smith, Managing General Partner, received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2007 Award in the Retail and Consumer Products category in Maryland. According to Ernst & Young, the award recognizes outstanding entrepreneurs who are building and leading dynamic, growing businesses. Paul Reed Smith was selected by an independent panel of judges, and the award was presented at an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year gala event at the Hyatt Regency Baltimore on June 28th.

June 2007

PRS Guitars Teams Up with indieSolo.com

6.20.07

Paul Reed Smith Guitars would like to congratulate the seven bands dubbed by indieSolo.com as the indieImmortal7. IndieSolo.com is a new music website that features 365 of the world’s best independent bands, ONE band a day™, everyday. Paul Reed Smith Guitars sponsored the indieImmortal7 contest, which gave the most popular bands the honor of kicking off the first seven days of the year-long indie showcase. Winning bands include Rise of Abundance, B for Eveline, Keating, Acid Eyeliner, littleSUNDAY, Chris Ning and Ken Tizzard.

May 2007

Paul Reed Smith Band to Perform at the 26th Annual Bay Music Festival

5.30.07

Paul Reed Smith’s internationally touring band will perform from 8:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at the 4-H Park in Centreville, MD on Saturday, June 9th as part of the 26th Annual Bay Music Festival. All concert proceeds benefit Centreville Lion’s Club projects, with the primary beneficiary being the Wilmer Eye Institute in Baltimore. A PRS SE Soapbar II guitar signed by Paul will be raffled at the festival. Raffle tickets are $5 each, and all raffle ticket proceeds will benefit the named charities. Tickets can be purchased in the weeks leading up to the festival and at the festival.

Six Kutless Fans/Guitarists Will Play Live On Stage With Kutless At Summer Festivals

5.30.07

While Kutless won’t be offering a permanent spot in the band, they will give six aspiring guitarists the opportunity to play with them, live, at one of six summer music festivals, with the grand prize winner receiving an autographed custom PRS Guitar. The promotion -- PRS Guitars invites you to ROCK THE FESTIVAL with KUTLESS – will include a two-round online battle of the band’s style competition with PRS Guitars and Kutless choosing the semi-finalists from self-produced videos submitted via YouTube.com and the grand prize winner determined from an online fan vote.

PRS Guitars Brings “Laps For Life” to Summit Point Raceway

5.11.07

On June 23, 2007 racers, drifters, vendors and thousands of spectators will descend upon Summit Point Raceway to experience the 6th Annual Hyperfest Event. Located near Harpers Ferry, the raceway will once again be transformed into an auto amusement park for a fun-filled day of non-stop track action.

The Exies PRS Guitar Giveaway on Ultimate-Guitar.com

5.2.07

The Exies are gearing up for the release of their new album “A Modern Way Of Living With The Truth”, and radio stations all across the country are already playing the album’s first single “Different Than You.” Support The Exies’ new release by requesting the song on a radio station near you and visit www.Ultimate-Guitar.com for details on how you can win a SE Soapbar II signed by the band.

April 2007

Paul Reed Smith Guitars Artists to Perform at 30th Annual Dallas International Guitar Festival

4.12.07

April 12, 2006 — Performances by a dynamic line-up of Paul Reed Smith Guitars’ artists and an extraordinary Holy Grail Guitar Exhibition sponsored by PRS Guitars top the must-see list for the 30th Annual Dallas International Guitar Festival April 20th through April 22nd in Dallas, TX.

Johnny Hiland’s Spring PRS Clinic Schedule

4.5.07

Experience Johnny Hiland’s amazing techniques first hand and see what the Johnny Hiland Signature Model PRS guitar can add to your arsenal of musical possibilities. Johnny is a must see guitarist…one you can’t afford to miss. If he’s in you’re area, make the time to check him out. You will be glad you did!!

PRS Sponsors Holy Grail Guitar Exhibition

4.5.07

Paul Reed Smith Guitars is proud to sponsor the never-before-seen Holy Grail Guitar Exhibition at the 30th Annual Dallas International Guitar Festival. The exhibit will feature more than 60 of the world’s most iconic guitars and historically significant guitar paraphernalia.

March 2007

PRS Guitars' Singlecut Model Named “Best Electric Guitar Of The Year”

3.30.07

Paul Reed Smith Guitars is again the recipient of a Musikmesse International Press Award (mipa). The PRS Singlecut model was the winner of the “Best Electric Guitar of the Year.” Comprised of a voting panel of editors and journalists from more than 100 publications worldwide, mipa presents manufacturers with awards considered by many in the industry to be the "Grammy” of the musical instrument/pro audio industry.

Guitar One and Guitar World Review the SE Custom and SE Singlecut

3.29.07

Guitar One and Guitar World have lots of really nice things to say about the new SE Custom Semi-Hollow and the SE Singlecut. Check out the reviews on their website when you can.

Fox 5 DC TV Visits the Factory

3.19.07

Fox 5 Weatherman Tony Perkins visited the factory as part of his live segment "Let Tony Try It." Perkins delivered live weather reports and tried more than nine different guitar building techniques on live television such as sanding, staining, winding a pick-up, inlaying fretboard birds, stringing a guitar and rocking out a few guitar riffs in final assembly on Carlos Santana's testing amp.

SE Soapbar II Maple Receives Guitar Player Magazines’ Editors’ Pick Award

3.19.07

The SE Soapbar II Maple received top honors in Guitar Player's May ’07 feature rating 35 guitars under $500, including the Editors’ Pick Award. The SE model also received the best ratings for sound, vibe, workmanship and several others categories and was selected as the preferred guitar by two Guitar Player forum members brought in to review the round-up of guitars.

Vintage Guitar Digs the New SE Custom Semi-Hollow

3.14.07

The SE Custom Semi-Hollow review in the May ’07 issue of Vintage Guitar is chock full of goodness. Check it out as soon as you can!

For details visit www.vintageguitar.com.

February 2007

Paul Reed Smith Guitars’ 2006 Product Brochure Wins Distinguished Printing Award

2.7.07

Paul Reed Smith Guitars has received another “Benny” award; a premier print award for ‘Best in Category’ for the 2006 PRS Guitars product catalog. This award is given annually by the Printing Industries of America, Inc. and is considered to be the “Oscar” of the printing industry.

PRS Guitars Commemorates Special Edition Ron Fellows Z06 Corvette With Custom Guitar

2.6.07

On February 8th, the aisles at the McCormick Place in Chicago will be filled with auto enthusiasts from across the world where Chevrolet will introduce a special edition Ron Fellows Corvette. Ron has had a long and successful career racing everything from NASCAR stock cars to Formula cars. For the last 9 years, he has driven for the factory Corvette team, first in the C5.R and then the C6.R when it was released in 2005. Ron has podiumed 6 of 7 times at Lemans, the famous 24 hour race in France, with two of these being class wins.

January 2007

New PRS Models for 2007

1.18.07

PRS Guitars is proud to announce our new models for 2007.

PRS Guitars Hosts James Brown Memorial Concert

1.12.07

Paul Reed Smith Guitars is honored to host the West Coast James Brown Memorial Concert at The Grove of Anaheim on Friday, January 19th. The James Brown Band will perform as part of the annual PRS Guitars NAMM Concert and Party in Anaheim, CA to pay tribute to the legendary artist. Guest musicians will pay musical homage to the renowned singer by sitting in with the band as they perform Mr. Brown’s greatest hits.

Archive PRS Guitars on Exhibit at the National Museum of Ireland, Dublin

1.12.07

Paul Reed Smith Guitars celebrates and pays tribute to electric guitar history as part of “RockChic - The Life and Times of the Electric Guitar 1931-2006,” a dynamic multimedia exhibit currently on display at The Riding School, National Museum of Ireland - Decorative Arts & History, Collins Barracks until Sunday, January 21st, 2007.

December 2006

New Appointment Announced At PRS Guitars

12.22.06

Peter Wolf, Paul Reed Smith Guitars, Ltd. Director of Sales and Marketing, recently announced the employment of J. Hayes as PRS Guitars’ Product Support Manager. Hayes joined the PRS team this summer and has since been extensively touring the U.S. and PRS’ exclusive authorized dealer network, as well as attending trade shows in Canada, England and China.

Kutless Visits PRS Guitars

12.1.06

On Friday, November 17th, the band Kutless graced Baltimore with an outstanding concert at the 1st Mariner Arena. Guitarists, James Mead and Ryan Shrout joined us at the factory for the day to get a sneak peak at the manufacturing process and meet some of the PRS folks that had a hand in building their guitars. Before heading to the venue for soundcheck, James and Ryan strapped on their guitars for a quick photo shoot with PRS photographer, Marc Quigley.

PRS Contest Winners

12.1.06

Thanks to everyone who visited their local PRS Dealer, checked out a PRS Guitar and entered the contest! The winners are...