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PRS Guitars

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by HumanJHawkins (talk | contribs) at 01:55, 27 July 2012 (→‎Legal issues: Deleted the word "erroneously". Whether the differentiation is misguided or irrelevant is debatable, but it is factual that some of these guitars are pre, and others post-lawsuit.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

PRS Guitars
Company typePrivate
IndustryGuitar manufacturing
Founded1985
FounderPaul Reed Smith
Headquarters
Stevensville, Maryland
,
USA
Area served
Worldwide
Parentself-owned
Websitehttp://www.prsguitars.com

PRS Guitars is an American guitar manufacturer headquartered in Stevensville, Maryland. PRS Guitars was founded by guitarist and luthier Paul Reed Smith in 1985. The company is one of the leading manufacturers of high-end electric guitars.

Construction

PRS Custom

Materials

The bodies of most PRS guitars are crafted of mahogany, with a maple top on most models. They often feature highly figured tops, including flame maple, quilt maple and figured maple creating the effect of tiger stripes. A small number of bodies are made of korina wood. PRS necks are usually made from mahogany, although some models feature maple or Indian or Brazilian rosewood necks; fingerboards are made of rosewood. PRS's signature fret markers include the lower end moons, and the higher end birds. The moons appear similar to standard dot inlays, but have a crescent more prominent than the rest of the dot. The bird inlays feature nine or ten different birds inlayed at the appropriate frets. Inlay materials have included semiprecious stones; iridescent shells, including abalone and abalone laminates; gold; and even unearthed ivory from the (extinct) woolly mammoth.

Hardware

Close-up of the 3rd, 5th, and 7th fret bird inlays.

Nuts are synthetic and tuners are of PRS's own design, although some models feature Korean-made Kluson-style tuners. PRS guitars feature three original bridge designs: a one-piece pre-intonated stoptail, vibrato, and wrapover tailpiece. The pre-intonated stoptail is unique to PRS, however, this design does not allow intonation to be adjusted to compensate for variations in string thickness or drop tuning. The PRS vibrato resembles a vintage Fender Stratocaster unit, and the more recent compensated wrapover tailpiece allows for minimal intonation adjustment. An adjustable wrapover bridge is available as an extra. [1]

Pickups

Pickups are designed and wound in-house; PRS is more secretive about magnet and wire type and construction than some aftermarket pickup manufacturers. PRS humbucking pickups have gone by many names, including TB(Treble Bass), HFS (Hot, Fat, and Screams); Vintage Bass; McCarty; Santana I, II, and III; Archtop; Dragon I and II; Artist I through IV; #6, #7, #8, #9, and #10, RP (after the initials of the designer, Ralph Perucci), Tremonti, Soapbar, 1957/2008(57/08); 1959/2009(59/09) and 1953/2010(53/10). Further adding to the obscurity, many of the above pickup types are actually a pair of pickups wound in opposing directions, one intended for the neck and one for the bridge position.

Finishes

PRS is known for "popping the grain" on their figured maple topped instruments, a process that accents the '3D' quality of the maple through a multistep staining process. Finishes are transparent, translucent (often with bursts), or opaque and are automotive-grade polyurethane or satin nitrocellulose, meaning that in some instances, the paints were intended for automotive use.

Student Edition (SE) models

To keep up with demand, PRS introduced a new low-end budget line in the late 1990s. The Student Edition line is manufactured in Korea and is notable for opaque finishes, non-locking tuners, and lower quality tone-woods, although some models, such as the Soapbar II, also have figured maple veneers. Whereas the PRS SE models are increasing in popularity among hobbyists, the higher-end PRS models tend to be geared toward professional musicians. In 2010, PRS released the Torero, the most expensive SE model aimed for metal guitar players. The Torero is very different from other SE models, with the exception of the PRS tuners, and that it is made in Korea.

In 2001, when PRS released their "Singlecut" guitar—which bore some resemblance to the venerable Les Paul. Gibson Guitar Corporation filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Paul Reed Smith. An injunction was ordered[2] and PRS stopped manufacture of the Singlecut at the end of 2004. Federal District Court Judge William J. Haynes, in a 57-page decision ruled "that PRS [Paul Reed Smith] was imitating the Les Paul" and gave the parties ninety days "to complete any discovery on damages or disgorgement of PRS's profits on the sales of its offending Singlecut guitar."[2]

In 2005, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed the lower court decision and ordered the dismissal of Gibson's suit against PRS.[3] The decision also immediately vacated the injunction prohibiting the sale and production of PRS’s Singlecut Guitar. Paul Reed Smith Guitars announced that it would immediately resume production of its Singlecut guitars.

Paul Smith, the founder of PRS, stated "We are delighted that the appellate court affirmed what we and the industry have long known: the PRS Singlecuts are musical instruments of the highest quality that would never be confused with a competitor’s product."

Gibson tried and failed to have the case reheard by all sixteen active Sixth Circuit judges (denied in December 2005)[4] and then by the United States Supreme Court (denied June 2006),[5] which was their last chance to have their original injunction upheld.

In the litigation, Gibson alleged that concert goers in a smoky concert hall might not be able to differentiate a PRS Singlecut from a Gibson Les Paul. The appellate court rejected that trademark theory out-of-hand, emphasizing Gibson’s concession in court arguments that “only an idiot” would confuse the two products at the point of sale.

While no changes to the design of the Singlecut occurred as a result of the lawsuit (given that Gibson lost), some Singlecut owners and sellers have adopted the term 'pre-lawsuit' to differentiate their Singlecut from others.[6][7][8]

A similar trademark infringement situation in the 1980s between Takamine Co., Ltd. and C. F. Martin & Company ended when Takamine changed styles without Martin filing a lawsuit.

Although it appeared PRS discontinued the singlecut models as of January 2010, leaving the 25th anniversary SC 245 to be the only one left, PRS introduced the SC 58 later on in 2010.[citation needed]

Notable PRS Guitar users

References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ a b Gibson Guitar Corp. v. Paul Reed Smith Guitars, L.P., 325 F. Supp. 2d 841 (M.D. Tenn., 2004)
  3. ^ Gibson Guitar Corp. v. Paul Reed Smith Guitars, LP, 423 F.3d 539 (6th Cir. 2005).
  4. ^ En banc rehearing denied by Gibson Guitar Corp. v. Paul Reed Smith Guitars, Ltd. P'ship, 2005 U.S. App. LEXIS 29220 (6th Cir., Dec. 30, 2005)
  5. ^ Certiori denied by Gibson Guitar Corp. v. Paul Reed Smith Guitars, LP, 126 S. Ct. 2355 (June 5, 2006)
  6. ^ Gibson Guitar Corp. v. Paul Reed Smith Guitars, LP, 423 F.3d 539 (6th Cir. 2005), footnote 13.
  7. ^ Marchisotto, Paul Anthony (2006) "Note: Gibson v. PRS: the Applicability of the Initial Interest Confusion Doctrine to Trademarked Product Shapes" —Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal 24: pp. 883-917
  8. ^ Haggerty, Thomas P. (2006) Note: "A Blue Note: The Sixth Circuit, Product Design and the Confusion Doctrines in Gibson Guitar Corp. v. Paul Reed Smith Guitars, LP" Tulane Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property 8: pp. 219-230

Modern Eagle II has been discontinued. http://www.prsguitars.com/moderneagle2/index.html

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