NAMM 2024: PRS reveals new John Mayer Silver Sky finishes, pickup specs and… tuning buttons that go back to the future!

PRS headstock
(Image credit: PRS Guitars)

NAMM 2024: PRS may have been reminiscing with Mark Tremonti recently, but it's looking ahead too. First up, it's got some hardware and pickup updates to share – plus two lovely new finishes for its John Mayer Silver Sky

PRS blueprint

(Image credit: PRS Guitars)

As he explains in the video below, the decision to update the tuning machine buttons for many of the Maryland company's Core Series guitars to a new Wing design actually realises Paul Reed Smith’s original design from around 1980. Five years before the company began. 

You can already see this lighter-weight tuner button on the recent PRS NF 53 and Private Stock John McLaughlin models. “By having less weight on the headstock, the guitar is allowed to ring at a musical note – it opens up the vowel sound of the guitar,” says Paul Reed Smith.

Paul Reed Smith Explains New PRS Tuning Button Design | PRS Guitars - YouTube Paul Reed Smith Explains New PRS Tuning Button Design | PRS Guitars - YouTube
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The PRS Core and Bolt-On Series are also seeing some more pickup options. The original PRS McCarty model now comes with McCarty LT pickups in place of the previous 58/15 LT pairing. You can hear the new spec in action below.

The McCarty | Demo | PRS Guitars - YouTube The McCarty | Demo | PRS Guitars - YouTube
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The Custom 24-08’s pickups have been updated to the TCI pickups that proved so popular on Paul’s Guitar. 

On the finish front, Carroll Blue is a new PRS option for 2024 and the PRS Silver Sky has two colours that we are immediately fans of: Faded Black Tee (Satin) and Venetian Blue

PRS Silver Sky

(Image credit: PRS Guitars)
The Custom 24-08 | Demo | PRS Guitars - YouTube The Custom 24-08 | Demo | PRS Guitars - YouTube
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Check out the new ranges at PRS Guitars

Rob Laing
Guitars Editor, MusicRadar

Rob is the Reviews Editor for GuitarWorld.com and MusicRadar guitars, so spends most of hi waking hours (and beyond) thinking about and trying the latest gear and making sure our reviews team is giving you thorough and honest tests of it. He's worked for guitar mags and sites as a writer and editor for nearly 20 years but still winces at the thought of restringing a Floyd Rose guitar.

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