"The road from my workshop in a historic, haunted Annapolis garret to a dedicated factory of 75 employees was a tough one. Fact is, I always loved working with my hands. Why else would a high school kid sign up for three or four shop classes at a time? My first guitar was built as a challenge to my college music professor for some credits. I got an "A" and decided to pursue my dream of making guitars for a living. Those were hard times. I was lucky if I finished a guitar a month. There were a lot of late night brainstorms. Once a guitar was finished, I'd play it at a gig...field testing it in the purest sense. Every design change taught me something new. The next change was built on what I had learned or on feedback from other guitar players test driving the equipment. We went through three headstocks...three renditions of tuning pegs...and four tremolo designs over ten years to get the right mix. I remember hanging out at the local concert arenas for six, seven hours before a show to make friends with the roadies. With a backstage pass in hand I'd peddle my guitars to the stars. One night in ten I'd make a sale. Carlos Santana, Al Dimeola, Howard Leese, and well known others agreed to "check one out." I made deals. If the big names didn't love the guitars they didn't have to pay me even when I knew I couldn't make my rent the next day. After getting some single orders and a small following, we built two prototypes. I popped them in the back seat of my truck and cranked it up...calling on guitar dealers up and down the east coast. After a lot of miles I came back with enough orders to start a company. With the support of my wife, skilled assistants, engineers, lawyers, top salesmen, artists, machinists, and friends who emptied their bank accounts to help me get started, we developed a team that is still intact today. The rest is history. Every inch of your PRS Guitar is based on over ten years of testing, rethinking, and reinventing. We're not stopping here. Our shop pushes the curve beyond what others would consider perfection. With experts to make sure the technology is unsurpassed, and dedicated craftsmen who guarantee a finished product you can't keep your hands off of, we make no compromises. That's the PRS story. Not so short and very sweet. The moral...believe in your dreams."

Paul Reed Smith - 1992