FEATURE
Ever the tone connoisseur, Paul Reed Smith has the best seat in the house as
David Grissom closes a long night performances
EXPERIENCE PRS
2009
The annual celebration of all things PRS took
on new meaning this year as the company
threw one helluva party while taking care of
some new business.
By Joe Coffey
The party included performances by the likes
of Carlos Santana, Buddy Guy, Dweezil Zappa,
David Grissom, Johnny Hiland, Nick Catanese,
Howard Leese, Tony McManus, and many others. The business end of things involved rolling
out many new pieces of gear, announcing the
discontinuation of 14 models, and showing
the world its new multimillion-dollar factory. In
other words, for PRS fans, artists and dealers,
this was the one event of the year that was not
to be missed. The fact that PRS is celebrating
its 25th year as a company focused the significance of what was happening. To think that
a young tinkerer could go from a ballsy tone
nerd to the leader of the country’s third-largest
guitar company by focusing on quality instead
of quantity is proof that passion still matters
in this industry. At the end of the day, it’s all
about the tone.
Scottish virtuoso Tony McManus performs on a PRS Angelus Cutaway during an acoustic clinic
Paul Reed Smith sporting the
Black Label Society jacket given
to him by Nick Catonese
www.premierguitar.com
PREMIER GUITAR DECEMBER 2009 129
