By: Staff
Experience PRS is a special event. Not only is it one of the guitar world’s only (and definitely the first) single-manufacturer trade shows, where dealers come from around the country to secure their wholesale purchases of Paul Reed Smith guitars and amps, it also gives regular old dudes a chance to see the PRS factory in all its splendor. And by splendor, we mean bare efficiency and palettes and palettes of virgin wood.
Walking around the factory there are literally no places that attendees are not allowed to venture into. The place was crawling with PRS dealers, fans and all of their families, from where they store their un-carved wood, the sanding stations, the racks of half-finished guitars, the inlay stations, the finishing area, and even the electronics department. All throughout, the employees were happy to show off their processes, machines and materials, from the pickup winding machine to the motorized and automated body carver to the inlay master, who would describe exactly how they get every pearly hue into Paul Reed Smith’s beautiful neck and body inlays.
Following are some pics from our sojourn through the belly of the PRS factory, which was not currently in operation (obviously) but still a guitar player’s fantasy.
PRS electric guitar body, just after being roughly carved, before hand work begins
Stacks of would-be necks, truss rods exposed
A worker's station decorations, check out the devil children!
The sides of what will become a new PRS acoustic guitar
Someone's daughter staining a piece of wood at the staining station
Pics of SRV, Hendrix and Les Paul at a work station; it makes sense that PRS employees would know their guitar heroes!
PRS headstock and fingerboard, just waiting for some hardware
PRS-made pickups mounted on faceplates; now they just need an instrument!
