Back to navigation


PRS's Take on an American Classic





This article was


Written By





Our Product Research Team





Get to know them!





The PRS Silver Sky was designed by Paul Reed Smith and built to John Mayer's specifications. This vintage-inspired guitar boasts a familiar shape with an eye-catching contrasting tone in its cutaway scoop. Its neck carve, scale length, and fingerboard radius were modeled after John's early-1960s instruments; however, a modified PRS-style headstock and locking tuners propel it firmly into the 21st century. Park this axe in front of any tube amp, and its sweet-sounding single-coil pickups will churn out glassy, musical tones with excellent note definition. Beyond that, the Silver Sky includes a bone nut, molded metal jack plate, retooled knobs, custom fret wire, and PRS's double-action truss rod.





Related Videos: Silver Sky Electric Guitar - Faded Black Tee with Maple Fretboard


Vintage-inspired neck with practical contemporary touches





The Silver Sky's bolt-on neck is patterned after John Mayer's beloved vintage instruments. Its fingerboard is loaded with 22 custom-sized frets, and it boasts a 25.5-inch scale length and 7.25-inch radius. At Sweetwater, we're intimately familiar with the unique feel of classic American electric guitars, and we can attest that PRS nailed it. Wrap your hand around this neck, and you'll agree ? this guitar just feels perfect. The Silver Sky features an inverted PRS-style headstock that's been modified to accommodate John's playing style and to keep a consistent length of string behind the nut, which improves intonation. You also get traditional, vintage-style closed-back tuners with modern locking mechanisms.





Serial 0393227


Serial 0393227


A trio of sweet-sounding single-coil pickups





If you're a single-coil tone connoisseur, you'll love the PRS Silver Sky. Its pickups combine the best elements of early-'60s American electric guitars: a round and full tone with glassy, musical highs that never venture into ice pick land. The chiming harmonics yielded by these pickups are simply jaw-dropping. And when you put them in front of a tube amp, you get a gorgeous growl with outstanding note definition. These pickups have a few modern tricks up their sleeve, too. They exhibit a higher signal-to-noise ratio than vintage models, and their in-between sounds are noise canceling. On top of that, their electronics have been precision valued, ensuring superior consistency from pickup to pickup.





Classic-styled tremolo with modern reliability





Much like its tuners, the Silver Sky's tremolo takes a classic design and embellishes it with modern features. For starters, it features PRS's unthreaded tremolo arm, which supplies you with a small set screw to optimize its playing position. Beyond that, Gen III knife-edge screws ensure a reliable return to pitch. Also, per John Mayer's request, the tremolo rests flush against the guitar's body in a neutral position, so that it only goes down in pitch. Keeping the bridge in contact with the body amplifies the guitar acoustically, which improves the signal-to-noise ratio of the Silver Sky's pickups.





Serial 0393227


PRS Silver Sky Solidbody Electric Guitar Features:


Vintage-inspired guitar based on John Mayer's early-'60s instruments


Familiar shape with an eye-catching contrasting tone in its cutaway scoop


Comfortable bolt-on maple neck is patterned after John's beloved vintage instruments


Easy-playing maple fingerboard with 22 custom-sized frets, 25.5-inch scale length, and 7.25-inch radius


Inverted PRS-style headstock was modified to accommodate John's playing style and improve intonation


Sweet-sounding single-coil pickups churn out glassy, musical tones with excellent note definition


Classic-styled tremolo with PRS’s unthreaded trem arm and Gen III knife-edge screws


Traditional vintage-style closed-back tuners with modern locking mechanisms


Includes bone nut, molded metal jack plate, retooled knobs, and PRS's double-action truss rod