“Designed to look and feel like a favorite garment”: He’s played it on stage for a number of years – now John Mayer’s matte black Silver Sky has finally been released to the masses

PRS has continued its annual tradition of expanding the SIlver Sky’s color palette by finally introducing arguably one of the most sought-after finishes to the John Mayer signature guitar range.

That finish – officially named Faded Black Tee Satin – will no doubt be familiar to eagle-eyed Mayer fans, having already been seen strapped to many a stage-bound Silver Sky over the past few years.

Indeed, Mayer gave the as-yet-unreleased prototype a number of run-outs during his various live commitments over the past few years, and its earliest appearances can be traced as far back as the beginning of the Sob Rock tour.

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Aesthetically the quintessential modern iteration of Mayer’s classic Black1 Fender Stratocaster, this specific take on the uber-popular signature electric guitar gives it a stealthy, matte black makeover that takes Mayer’s penchant for Apple-esque colorways to new extremes.

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While it might not be the most eye-catching Silver Sky finish – we’d give that mantle to the limited-edition Nebula from 2020 – it certainly is one of the sleekest, and is notably one of the few to bring a satin treatment to the template.

There’s no two ways about it: this is going to be an absolute hit among Mayer and Silver Sky fans, and we imagine this will only solidify the model’s standings at the very top of the guitar rankings.

If the matte black finish represents one end of the sleek, MacBook-esque aesthetic spectrum that Mayer envisages for the Silver Sky, the second new colorway – Venetian Blue – definitely represents the other.

With a Nebula-ish hue, the Venetian Blue is, unlike the matte black colorway, a completely new finish, and according to Mayer himself takes its character from “a rare Porsche paint code from the late 1980s”.

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All we’re saying is, if the Roxy Pink Silver Sky wasn’t a thing, the Venetian Blue Silver Sky could have easily done a job and become the face of Mayer’s Sob Rock era.

As an added bonus, both the Faded Black Tee Satin and Venetian Blue iterations are available in rosewood and maple iterations.

Otherwise, they follow the PRS precedent, and come equipped with an alder body, maple neck, and a 7.25” fretboard radius, as well as a trio of 635JM single-coils wired to a standard Strat-style control layout.

“Kicking off 2024 with a pair of new colorways for the @prsguitars Silver Sky model,” Mayer wrote on Instagram. “First, as seen on stage for the last couple of years: Faded Black Tee. Satin finish, designed to look and feel like a favorite garment that’s been washed to that perfect depth of black and gray. 

“And a new one you haven’t seen, Venetian Blue, a rare Porsche paint code from the late 1980s. Both colorways come in rosewood and maple neck configurations, and are available now at @prsguitars dealers.”

To find out more, head over to PRS.

Funnily enough, this arguably isn't the biggest piece of news to come out of PRS today. The Maryland brand has also debuted its new Wing button tuner design – a deceptively small update that could have a huge impact on guitar tone.