Keith Urban has given the world the first close-up of his forthcoming signature guitar that he is developing with Paul Reed Smith – and while it might be inspired by his favorite Telecaster, this looks like it is going to be something completely different.
Come on, how could it not be? It is a semi-hollow electric inspired by a Custom Shop three-pickup Telecaster named Clarence that survived the Nashville floods, and its f-hole is inspired by Urban’s tattoo. That’s right, in September 2024, Urban told Guitar World that he actually sent Smith a picture of his tattoo and asked him to design the f-hole from that.
“I like a little bit of a hollowbody, so it’s got a little bit of that in there,” he said. "We have a customized f-hole shape that is modeled after the phoenix tattoo on my forearm.”
In a new video interview with Premier Guitar, Urban lets us see exactly what he meant – and it’s pretty cool. His prototype also has its own custom tint and floss finish, and we’ve now got some firm details. It will have a swamp ash body, figured maple top, with a maple neck and maple fingerboard. Urban says it feels good. The weight is bang-on. The neck, however, remains a work in progress.
“Everything about it on the whole has been quite good, but the neck, we just haven’t quite got that right yet,” he says.
So what’s Urban looking for from an electric guitar? In short, everything. After seeing John Mayer with his ‘Dead Spec’ Silver Sky, he wanted something similar, i.e. a guitar that is versatile enough to handle an entire set.
“This PRS is an ongoing project. It started from me wanting to see if I could get a guitar that I could lean on most of the night,” says Urban. “So it had the versatility I needed, and a better tonal response than my Telecaster that I’ve bonded with.”
It sounds like there will be a few more revisions before it is signed off and sent to dealers. But Urban assures us that this will be a production model. If it sounds better than his Clarence Custom Shop Tele, well, it’ll be in no small part down to a set of pickups that Urban likens to a PAFs, and the 500K volume and 250K tone pots from Riboloff Engineering.
When describing their sound to GW, Urban said the magic “D” word, and it’s all we could think about.
“They’re humbuckers but have an amazing, almost Dumble harmonic range,” he said. “I can get squeaks and squawks out of them; unlike any other guitar I’ve got. And the playability is just beautiful.”
We can’t wait to hear it when it’s done. This has been a big week in what has been a big year for PRS Guitars, as the company celebrates its 40th anniversary with monthly releases, from limited edition shreddable doozies to finally giving the NF 53 the SE treatment. And it was worth the wait. Be sure to check out our five-star review of the PRS SE NF 53.
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