Reaching for the sky
“I’ve been dreaming of designing a guitar that includes some of my favorite vintage specifications but with a modern spirit and aesthetic for years. After two years of study and refinement, the Silver Sky is my vision of what a reboot of the electric guitar should look like.” – John Mayer
The PRS Silver Sky is an idealized version of a vintage single-coil guitar where every detail adds up and distinguishes this guitar from the pack and from the past. The result of a close collaboration between Grammy Award-winning musician John Mayer and Paul Reed Smith, the Silver Sky is based on years of development. Incorporating Mayer and Smith’s favorite elements from 1963 and 1964-era instruments with an eye toward modern references, the PRS Silver Sky delivers the warmth and familiarity of an old guitar with the finesse of a brand-new instrument.
Some of the most distinctive specifications include the headstock shape, tuners, bridge, pickups, and neck and fretboard options. The headstock shape is based on the PRS trademark design, but inverted both to accommodate Mayer’s playing style and to keep a consistent length of string behind the nut, which makes staying in tune easier. The tuners are a traditional vintage-style, closed-back tuner, but with PRS’s locking design. The steel tremolo takes the patented PRS design and incorporates Gen III knife-edge screws. Setup flush to the body in the neutral position so that the tremolo bridge only goes down in pitch, the increased contact of the bridge with the body allows the guitar itself to be acoustically louder, which improves the signal-to-noise ratio of the single-coil pickups. The 635JM single-coil pickups are very round and full, with a musical high end that is never “ice-picky” or brash.
The Silver Sky comes with the option of a rosewood or maple fretboard. The maple fretboard option comes with the original 635JM neck shape, while the rosewood fretboard option has been subtly modified in the shoulders to feel more "round" in your hand. Both neck shapes were designed by researching vintage instruments and Mayer’s guitars on stage to find what feels right. The fretboard radius on both options is 7.25".
Other high-quality specifications include a bone nut, a molded metal jack plate (curved to make plugging and unplugging a guitar cable easier), retooled knobs, and PRS’s double-action truss rod (accessible from the front of the headstock for ease of use). PRS premium gig bag included.
SPECIFICATIONS
BODY
Body Wood Alder
NECK
Number of Frets 22
Scale Length 25.5"
Neck Wood Maple
Fretboard Wood Maple or Rosewood
Fretboard Inlay Small Birds
HARDWARE
Bridge PRS Steel Tremolo
Tuners Vintage Style, Locking
Hardware Type Nickel
ELECTRONICS
Treble Pickup 635JM
Middle Pickup 635JM
Bass Pickup 635JM
Controls One Volume and Two Tone Controls with a 5-Way Blade Switch