Paul Reed Smith Guitars, a leading US manufacturer of high quality electric and acoustic guitars, is pleased to announce a major sponsorship of the 2014 Vans Warped Tour presented by Journeys. As the exclusive acoustic guitar of the summer-long festival, PRS Guitars will be activating in Warped’s Acoustic Basement at over forty concert events this summer, starting on June 11 in Anchorage, Alaska, traversing the USA, and culminating in a final concert on August 3 in Denver, Colorado. PRS also has planned a special consumer-facing element at the July 22 Columbia, Maryland event where the Maryland guitar manufacturer plans on spending some quality down time with music fans.

Every once and a while, a small batch of left-handed guitars are run through PRS’s production line in Stevensville, Maryland. For 2014, PRS has put together a small quantity of “Lefty” Custom 24 and “Lefty” Custom 22 instruments.

PRS Guitars is proud to announce that Paul Reed Smith has been awarded the Music and Sound Retailer Magazine Lifetime Achievement/Hall of Fame Award. Every year for 28 consecutive years, The Retailer’s large community of musical instrument dealers are asked to nominate a distinguished innovator whose musical contributions have achieved elevated levels of acclaim and respect within the musical community.

The PRS Guitars acoustic department, now in its fifth year, has officially aligned more directly with the company’s Private Stock program. The PRS acoustic team, a small group of nine people, continues to largely handcraft instruments at exclusive numbers under the company’s Private Stock brand.

Hi everyone, After a lot of thought, we have decided not to hold Experience PRS 2014 this September. We are very actively planning some special celebrations for our 30th year both at our factory and elsewhere. I can’t talk specifics just yet, suffice to say we have big plans, and we will be spending a great deal of energy to get things rolling. We’ll keep everyone posted on the specifics as we can. To the fans, dealers, distributors, press, and artists who journey to Stevensville every year to enjoy and absorb our Experience PRS event, we thank you. Your support has been paramount to that event’s success.

PRS Guitars has named Jon Croft as Acoustic and Amplifier Sales Manager. In his new post, Jon will be responsible for all acoustic and amplifier sales activity and will work with the PRS team to develop compelling products while addressing market needs and opportunities. Jon will report directly to Jim Cullen, National Sales Manager of PRS Guitars.

PRS Guitars is pleased to announce the new Private Stock Alex Lifeson Thinline acoustic guitar, new for NAMM 2014. While the craftsmanship and attention to detail are very consistent with other PRS Private Stock acoustics, this instrument embodies some new design elements that take the instrument in a unique direction. The Alex Lifeson signature PRS acoustic is slightly thinner than the company’s Angelus Cutaway and Tonare Grand and is constructed in such a way that it lends itself to louder stage volumes and the rigors of the road.

The PRS Private Stock department is one of the largest custom guitar shops in the USA. With examples in the Smithsonian, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and in leading instrument collections world-wide, the Private Stock department of PRS is a place where customers and dealers can turn instrument dreams into reality. These instruments can become timeless works of playable art that can increase with value over time and reflect not only the superior craftsmanship of the PRS Private Stock team but also the artistic vision of the owner.

In 1985, PRS Guitars introduced the Custom 24 guitar which has ultimately been said to have “ushered in a second golden era of guitar making.” Years later in 2005, the Stevensville, Maryland manufacturer expanded their imported SE line of instruments with the SE Custom 24 model, which is made to PRS’s exacting specifications at a more affordable price point. Just as the PRS Custom offerings have expanded inside of the company’s Maryland-made Core line of guitars, the SE line has now broadened to three distinctly different Custom 24 models: The classic PRS SE Custom 24, the popular SE Custom 24 7-String (introduced in 2013), and the new SE “Floyd” Custom 24 (new for 2014).

PRS Guitars is proud to announce that the complete series of PRS S2 electric guitars, including the newly introduced S2 Singlecut and S2 Custom 22, will make their official début at the 2014 Anaheim NAMM show. Built at PRS Guitars’ Maryland facility by skilled craftsmen, the S2 Series is considered one of the most significant product launches in the company’s history. The S2 series offers the quality, sound, and playability that appeals to long time PRS fans while a more accessible price point helps to attract a new audience of musicians.