Paul reed smith biography hyattsville md
Home / Scientists & Inventors / Paul reed smith biography hyattsville md
Build a guitar that players can’t put down.
That’s the story so far. His love for music started at home, influenced by his mother’s acoustic guitar playing and folk singing, and his father’s admiration for Beethoven. Carlos Santana, Al Di Meola, Howard Leese, and other well-known players agreed to check one out.
With a backstage pass in hand, I’d peddle my guitars to the stars. Smith's ability to play guitar himself has given him a unique advantage, allowing him to understand what artists are looking for in an instrument.
Legacy of Paul Reed Smith and PRS Guitars
More than a successful businessman, Paul Reed Smith is a teacher and mentor, dedicated to passing on his knowledge of guitar-making to future generations.
By the time Smith took his first orders in late 1984, he and his team were hard at work fulfilling $300,000 worth of guitar orders by April of the following year. By regularly interviewing artists and incorporating their insights, PRS Guitars remains at the forefront of the guitar industry, offering players instruments that deliver in both sound and style.
PRS Guitars – More Than a Brand
Paul Reed Smith has built PRS Guitars into a brand synonymous with quality, innovation, and artistry.
My first guitar was built as a challenge to my college music professor for some credits. He made his first guitar while at St. Mary's College of Maryland, and continued to build guitars after he finished college, making them one at a time, one a month. While PRS Guitars continues to evolve, the core values that Smith instilled from day one—craftsmanship, innovation, and a deep love for music—remain at the heart of the company.
Paul Reed Smith with the iconic PRS Silver Sky guitar model.
Updated
Paul Reed Smith
Paul Reed Smith (February 18, 1956) is one of the world's premier luthiers and the founder and owner of PRS Guitars.
Paul grew up in a household filled with music and made his first guitar for extra credit at St. Mary’s College. To build guitars whose tone inspires you to be a better player, whose durability will get you through a thousand gigs, whose elegance makes it a piece of art in its own right. However, it was the vinyl record Meet The Beatles that sparked Smith's fascination with music, and hearing Jimi Hendrix’s Are You Experienced? ignited his desire to pick up the guitar.
Despite his struggles in academics, Smith excelled in drafting class, where he first learned to draw the components of a guitar—foreshadowing the future of PRS Guitars.
The Beginnings of PRS Guitars: From Hobby to Business
While attending St.
Mary's College, Smith's passion for building guitars blossomed. Every inch of your PRS guitar is based on decades of testing, rethinking, and reinventing.”
The goal for Paul and PRS is to manufacture great instruments, period. Fact is I always loved working with my hands. PRS Guitars quickly gained a reputation for crafting high-quality instruments that musicians loved.
A significant turning point for Paul Reed Smith was meeting Ted McCarty, a legend in the guitar-making world who had a long history with Gibson Guitar Corporation.
This small space, where he lived and worked, became the birthplace of PRS Guitars.
The Private Stock line of PRS guitars are made utilizing a vast range of exotic materials including various stones, elaborately figured tone woods, and intricate shells for inlays.
.
I made deals. St. Holmes played the guitar for the first few songs of his set, and Smith told him that after he showed it to some other musicians, he would fly out to Detroit and give it to him.In 1985, he turned that positive experience into PRS Guitars.
“The road from my workshop in a haunted historic Annapolis garret to a state-of-the-art factory was a tough one. Beyond his work, Smith is proud of his family and hopes to be remembered as a devoted husband, father, and grandfather.
---
Why PRS Guitars Remain a Top Choice for Musicians Worldwide
The continued success of PRS Guitars lies in Smith’s philosophy of innovation, craftsmanship, and listening to customer feedback.