A brief history of PRS Guitars
From a college project guitar build to endorsements by the likes of John Mayer, Carlos Santana and Mark Tremonti, the history of PRS helps us better understand the guitar giant today.
Image: Eleanor Jane
A relative newcomer to the game,PRS已经设法加入了Fender和Gibson之类的电动吉他遗产的梯队。保罗·里德·史密斯（Paul Reed Smith Guitars）以其出色的可玩性，清晰和详尽的声音，无可挑剔的建筑质量和引人注目的饰面而闻名，全世界都在世界各地使用了各种各样的玩家，因此应得到他们所获得的每一个赞美。但是，这项单人行动如何成为现代吉他中的知名人士之一？好吧，它从一个男人和三个名字开始
事实前的日子
保罗·里德·史密斯（Paul Reed Smith）在音乐上一直是Kinda Guy的手，并于1975年建造了他的第一把吉他。Aerosmith) so had built up a wealth of knowledge. This first guitar build helped ignite the spark, and over the next 10 years, Paul experimented with different wood combinations, building processes, body shapes and hardware designs to hone in on his style of guitar building.
Averaging around one guitar a month, Smith would then test them himself at gigs, as well as hang around at concerts to try and get them in the hands of touring artists. Even early on, before branding them with his own name, the first ever guitar to feature the now famous bird inlays was built specially forPeter Frampton。在这些早期，他设法积累了一些认可他的乐器的知名人士，包括Al Di Meola，，，，Ted Nugentand卡洛斯·桑塔纳（Carlos Santana）。
The aim was to make something roughly in betweenGibsonandFender，原始PRS自定义身体形状与A共享一些类似的曲线Stratand a莱斯·保罗。他想让它看起来，感觉和声音尽可能出色，并且因为PR不一定像一些较老的吉他公司那样与过去的传统联系在一起，所以他们能够利用任何导致最大结果的方法。
1985: First factory & NAMM Show
一切都在抬起头来，并从艺术家那里获得了保罗的新吉他的命令，并且在第一次去NAMM展览中成功旅行后，他收拾了卡车，开车去了美国东海岸的各种经销商。他们印象深刻，史密斯（Smith）于1985年在马里兰州的安纳波利斯（Annapolis）开设自己的工厂。the instruments – something that would become a hallmark of Smith’s relentless quest for tone in the ensuing decades.
Less than a year later, production had ramped up at a remarkable rate, and PRS produced its 1,000th guitar on 27 June 1986. A few years later, the brand diversified its offering by introducing the CE range, which featured a bolt-on neck lending a slightly different sound and a more affordable price tag.
Continued innovation in the 90s
在接下来的十年中，PR进行了新的和奇妙的事情，包括引入可收藏的龙系列，从1992年开始从Dragon I开始。这些都是超级高端，刺眼的吉他，这些吉他具有高度人物的森林，是一条华丽的龙图案一直沿指板填充，数量非常有限。Dragon的22-fret建筑与普通的24 frets PRS偏离了INITS早期，并最终导致了1993年的Custom 22诞生，该模型今天仍然很受欢迎。
The Dragon was a hugely successful guitar for PRS, and the high-end excess of the design helped to boost the brands fame and visibility. As a result, in 1996 PRS launched its Private Stock range. Effectively PRS’s equivalent of a custom shop, the Private Stock guitars were built by a small and highly skilled set of luthiers, including Paul himself, who set about building world-class guitars, utilising some of the best materials on the planet. For many, the Private Stock instruments represent the very pinnacle of what PRS can do, and by extension, what a great instrument can be.
Ted McCarty
保罗·里德·史密斯（Paul Reed Smith）拥有并将永远是一个细节的人，在他的整个职业生涯中，他花了大量时间来重新搜索Goblden Age Electry Guitar Innovation的各个组成部分的历史，以期释放出色的秘密。作为这个永无止境的任务的一部分，一个名字不断出现在与吉他相关的专利列表中 - 特德·麦卡蒂（Ted McCarty）。McCarty was Gibson’s president in the Golden Era and despite not being much of a guitarist himself, he’s the man behind such game-changing innovations as the humbucker, the Tune-O-Matic tailpiece, as well as iconic designs such as the Explorer, Flying V and SG.
史密斯（Smith）追踪了麦卡蒂（McCarty），他在那个时候已经退休了，并开始挑选传奇人物的大脑 - 在这些对话过程中，麦卡蒂（McCarty）和史密斯（Smith）接近了，很快泰德（Ted）成为PRS的顾问。麦卡蒂（McCarty）担任保罗（Paul）的导师，保罗（Paul）渴望了解泰德（Ted）以前制作吉他和拾音器的方法。保罗利用了TED的建议和指导，并于1994年推出了McCarty Model - 这是双胞胎吉他与Les Paul不太相同的吉他，并为仍然可以使用的模型奠定了基础，例如McCarty 594。
SE范围
Up until 2001, PRS was a fairly high end guitar brand. The SE range was introduced as a way of bringing the now world-famous guitars to players with a stricter budget. Carlos Santana was actually partly responsible for the SE range as he used to get many requests for a cheaper version of his signature guitar – as such, the first SE guitar was a Santana model.
尽管这是一个漫长的过程，但这些吉他第一次在韩国出国。保罗和他的团队对从工厂出来的吉他的质量一丝不苟，并花了多年的时间分享了他们如何以PRS方式建造吉他的知识。结果很棒，直到今天，SE系列代表了您在电吉他世界中发现的一些最好的爆炸。
Singlecut戏剧
Although it was far from unique in being inspired by the Les Paul, PRS’s position in the market and reputation for quality meant that the Singlecut was a threat. On 27 March 2000, PRS received a cease and desist letter from Gibson in relation to the manufacture and production of the model.
那年晚些时候，吉布森起诉PRS以侵犯商标。PRS提出了反诉，指出它没有侵犯任何有效的吉布森商标，而吉他行业则被吸引着两个重量级人物，准备将其淘汰。当然，要下面的事情将对任何制造单一cutaway Solidbody的公司产生严重的影响，并且在马戏团旁有一些焦虑的面孔。
The ensuing court battle would last for six years and would see Gibson initially claim victory only for PRS to overturn the verdict and win the right to continue making the Singlecut on appeal. Gibson took its fight all the way to the US Supreme Court but in the end PRS prevailed and makers of single-cut guitars across the world breathed a sigh of relief. The Singlecut remains part of PRS’s line-up to this day.
The Silver Sky
Fewer releases have caused a stir in the guitar community more than thePRS Silver Sky。Whilst it wasn’t PRS’s first foray into the world of single coils, it was a departure from their usual style. It was also very clearly their modern take on a pre-CBS Strat, especially seeing as it was made for, and in conjunction with a well known Fender player –约翰·梅尔。这并不是他们与梅耶（Mayer）的第一次合作，最近为他与Dead＆Company和J-Mod Signature放大器的合作制作了令人难以置信的优质超级鹰吉他。
互联网论坛与反对者烧毁 - 直到人们掌握了他们。Silver Sky和最近在2022年初发布的SE版本现在是PRS制作的一些最受欢迎的吉他。
到未来
PRS are never a company that stands still for long. They’re undeniably influenced by the past, though innovation is never shied away from and there’s no doubt that something else new and cutting edge is only around the corner. With their recent foray into the world of effects pedals, we can only wonder at what’s next for PRS.
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