PLAYER'S PERSPECTIVE

Since its 2018 release, there has been a ton of discourse over the PRS Silver Sky and its place in the "S"-style guitar pantheon - is it merely a copy, or is it something totally different? Well, after several years and playing it extensively ourselves, we can give you the answer - it does carry the torch of the venerable vintage guitars beautifully and is obviously meant to share the same spirit, but also has the special PRS touch that makes it a unique instrument all its own, as well as a modern workhorse that has a place in every guitarists' arsenal.

If you love the comfortable feel of the typical PRS Core body shape, the Silver Sky borrows the contours and cutaway style from those instruments and gives you an ergonomic and player-friendly platform for dishing out those vintage tones. And the 635JM pickups, especially the current version of them that seem to have gone into production in 2021-22, are simply divine. Every position on the 5-way switch is usable, and it's all there - the tubby throatiness of the neck pickup, the unmistakable Hendrixian quack of the neck/middle, the punchiness of the middle pickup... everything. Even the bridge pickup has a bit more warmth to it than the average S-style pickup and just sounds fantastic.

Combine those aspects with an absolutely incredible neck shape that brings together the best of thicker vintage profiles and PRS precision and a redesigned vintage-style bridge that incorporates the PRS knife-edge design along with the signature PRS locking tuners, and you have one magnificent instrument!

If you love vintage "S"-style guitars, it doesn't matter if you're a Mayer fan or not - this is a true masterpiece of a production-line guitar, from top to bottom.

Details

“It’s been a dream of mine for years to design a guitar that includes some of my favorite vintage specifications but with a modern spirit and aesthetic. After two years of study and refinement, the Silver Sky is my vision of what a reboot of the electric guitar should look and feel like.” – John Mayer

The PRS Silver Sky is an idealized version of a vintage single-coil guitar where every detail adds up and sets this guitar apart from the pack and the past. The result of a close collaboration between Grammy Award-winning musician John Mayer and Paul Reed Smith, the Silver Sky is based off of years of development. Incorporating Mayer and Smith’s favorite elements of 1963 and 1964 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 more distinctive specifications include, the headstock shape, tuners, bridge, pickups, and neck and fretboard options. The headstock shape is based on PRS’s trademark design, but inverted both to accommodate Mayer’s playing style and also 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 bridge’s increased contact with the body allows the guitar itself to be acoustically louder, which in turn 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 “rounded” in your hand. Both neck shapes were designed by researching vintage instruments and Mayer test-driving guitars on stage to find what felt 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 hassle-free), 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

• Model: Silver Sky
• Color: Tungsten
• Body Wood: Alder
  
  

Neck

• Number of Frets: 22
• Scale Length: 25.5"
• Neck Wood: Rosewood
• Neck Shape: 635JM-R
• Neck Depth At The Nut: 53/64”
• Width of Fretboard at the Body: 2 7/32”
• Width of Fretboard at the Nut: 1 21/32”
• Fretboard Wood: Rosewood
• Fretboard Inlay: Small Birds
• Fretboard Radius: 7.25”
• Nut: Bone
  
  

Hardware

• Bridge: Steel Tremolo
• Tuners: Vintage Style, Locking
• Hardware Type: Nickel
  
  

Electronics

• Treble Pickup: 635JM
• Middle Pickup: 635JM
• Bass Pickup: 635JM
• Controls: One Volume & Two Tone Controls with a 5-Way Blade Switch
  
  

Misc.

• Case: Gig Bag
• Instrument Weight: 7.4 lbs