PRS closes out its 35th anniversary with Paul’s 85 Private Stock run of guitars personally spec’d by Paul Reed Smith

PRS Guitars has unveiled a run of Paul's 85 Private Stock guitars
(Image credit: PRS Guitars)

PRS has been celebrating its 35th anniversary all year, and the company has one last present to offer in honor of the occasion – a special run of Paul’s 85 Private Stock electric guitars.

The new models are crafted by the Private Stock team and personally spec’d by Paul Reed Smith himself.

The guitars boast a selection of wide-curl maple tops set aside by Smith, who also selected all of the other woods, assisted on the neck shapes, spec’d the pickups and played and adjusted each guitar until it was “right.”

Features include dark Peruvian mahogany necks, Honduran rosewood fretboards and headstock veneers, solid red abalone birds with mother of pearl outlines, bone nuts, vintage-style tuning pegs and aluminum stoptail bridges with brass inserts and brass studs.

Pickups are a pair of PRS TCI humbuckers, while the guitar is finished in Electric Tiger Glow, with a paper-thin vintage-formula nitrocellulose designed to crack over time.

“We believe guitar making is an ongoing process of discovery, and this Paul’s 85 guitar utilizes all of the parts, processes, and workmanship I have spent my career (to date) seeking, testing, refining, and teaching our craftsmen,” Smith said.

“My hope is that these benchmark instruments are something remarkable for our company and the industry. There is no better way to close out our 35th Anniversary than with these extraordinary, hopefully magic, guitars.”

These magic guitars, which are being produced in a limited run of, yes, 85, are currently being offered for $13,000. For more information head to PRS.

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Richard Bienstock

Rich is the co-author of the best-selling Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion. He is also a recording and performing musician, and a former editor of Guitar World magazine and executive editor of Guitar Aficionado magazine. He has authored several additional books, among them Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, the companion to the documentary of the same name.