Many believe these newer archtop doublecut Les Pauls were developed in response to the high-end guitars of Gibson competitor Paul Reed Smith (PRS), whose PRS guitars most typically have a doublecut design and master tone and volume controls, and whose production eventually went from a small shop (as Hamer's has stayed) to an assembly-line production rivaling Gibson's.
Smith then contacted Ted McCarty, former president of Gibson and creator of the Explorer, ES-335 and Flying V guitars, and McCarty became his mentor and adviser.
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Paul Reed Smith (born February 18, 1956), is a luthier and the founder and owner of PRS Guitars.
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Smith would often bring his guitars backstage at concerts, and eventually got his break when Derek St. Holmes, of the Ted Nugent Band, agreed to try out #2, the second guitar Smith had ever made.
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For the article about the company that bears his name, see PRS Guitars.
Pope John Paul II | Paul McCartney | Paul Simon | Paul Newman | Pope Paul VI | St Paul's Cathedral | Paul | Will Smith | Lou Reed | Jean-Paul Sartre | Peter Paul Rubens | Paul Robeson | Paul Anka | St. Paul | Kevin Smith | Paul Hindemith | Adam Smith | Paul Revere | Smith College | Paul Weller | Patti Smith | Michael W. Smith | Paul Klee | Saint Paul | Paul Kelly | Paul Cézanne | John Paul Jones | Paul Ryan | Paul Gauguin | Paul Oakenfold |
Averch uses a variety of electric guitars on his solo albums, including Paul Reed Smith Swamp Ash Special, Gibson Les Paul and Fender Telecaster.
He generally plays a Paul Reed Smith McCarty Double Cut Solid body, but he also plays Paul Reed Smith Single Cuts and Gibson Les Pauls and also a Gibson Explorer Studio (Alpine White).
In 1977, he conceived and developed the first modern 5-string bass guitar with luthier Paul Reed Smith(Most other sources attribute the first modern 5-string bass to an instrument built in 1976 by Alembic Inc for bassist Jimmy Johnson ).
Paul Reed Smith has created a special "Spitz" head stock (a first for PRS) and a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles rendering was painted on this new guitar by tattoo artist and lowbrow painter JR Linton.