Nestled in the second floor of the 85,000 square foot PRS shop in Maryland, a small team of acoustic luthiers build PRS Acoustics. Since their introduction in 2009, these guitars have become known for their tone, quality, and playability. I recently sat down with Senior Acoustic Luthier Michael Byle to talk Acoustics.

This lovely green Hollowbody II showed up to our PTC center in need of some tender loving care. Unfortunately, the guitar landed on its headstock in the middle of an epic jam-session.  This posed no threat to our PTC guys, they had her fixed up in no time. In a fortunate turn of events, this Hollowbody will live to shred another solo.

Good work, guys! If you would like to learn more about our PTC department, or send your own PRS in for repair, click HERE.

If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a thousand times, Paul Reed Smith is a tone junkie.  From the woods to the finish, everything can affect the final tonality of your guitar.  The pickups are certainly no exception!

Nearly every pickup for our core model guitars are wound here in our Maryland factory by a team of talented people.  Additionally, each component of the pickup (wire, bobbin, etc.) is specifically chosen by Paul because he requires only the best for our instruments.  We create many different types of pickups here at PRS so that our musicians can capture the tone they seek.

In the video below, Paul tells the story behind some of our most recent PRS pickups.

This guitar was sent to our PRS Tech Center (PTC) as a NF3 fitted with the standard three “Narrowfield” pickups.  The owner was ready for a change so he sent it in to our talented guys here at PRS for some new life.

We were able to remove the middle pick-up, re-route the body to fit a larger 59/09 pickup, re-route the body to fit a Floyd Rose tremolo, and finally tie it all together with a new pick guard.  It may sound easy, but our tech center worked hard to preform quality work while preserving the tone and resonance expected of this caliber of an instrument.

It’s been a good Friday here at PRS, lots of exciting things coming in the future and the factory is buzzing.

Check out this photo I’ve entitled the “Triple Threat.”

Every once in a while we will post a photo of an employee’s workspace.

This is Jeff’s space, he works in final assembly.  Final assembly is the last stage in our guitar production process.  It’s the place where tuning pegs, electronics, strings, and extra tender loving care go into our guitars.

Jeff’s job is to give our instruments a serious final inspection before heading out the door.

The guitar pictured is a SC245.

This guitar began its life in the form of a SE Mike Mushok Baritone. The instrument came standard with a brown burst finish and a string through body stoptail bridge. 

The owner was ready for a little change so he contacted the PRS PTC department. The PTC team re-routed the body to fit a Floyd Rose Tremelo and also refinished the guitar in Jet White.

As always, the PTC department did a flawless job.

*The following is a customer testimonial describing his experience with the PRS PTC department.

The last part of the project is where James from PTC took control. We had spoken about the logistics of the piezo trem and he made it happen. From drilling individual holes in the baseplate and body to accompany the saddle wires, to notching out a crevasse to prevent pinching when using the trem – he thought of it all.