Paul Reed Smith's personally spec'd Private Stock Paul's 85 guitar surfaces

In our experience, when a PRS electric guitar model has the word Paul in its name, it's extra special. 

Paul's 85 is special run of Private Stock guitars; the number made and also the year PRS Guitars began. These models are personally spec’d by Paul Reed Smith and crafted by the Private Stock team. 

The genesis of Paul' 85 was a batch of wide-curl maple tops that Paul set aside. The PRS Guitars founder also selected all of the other woods, assisted on the neck shapes of every guitar with the Private Stock team executing each detail, Paul also spec’d the pickups, and played and adjusted each guitar until it was “right.”

(Image credit: PRS)

“We believe guitar making is an ongoing process of discovery, and this Paul’s 85 guitar utilises all of the parts, processes, and workmanship I have spent my career (to date) seeking, testing, refining, and teaching our craftsman," says Paul Reed Smith. 

"My hope is that these benchmark instruments are something remarkable for our company and the industry. There is no better way to close out our 35th Anniversary than with these extraordinary, hopefully magic, guitars.”

 The Paul's 85 spec includes Peruvian mahogany necks, Honduran rosewood fretboards and headstock veneers, solid red abalone birds with mother of pearl outlines, bone nuts, vintage-style tuning pegs, and aluminium stoptail bridges with brass inserts and brass studs. 

Now for the price… £12,995.  

More info at prsguitars.com/privatestock

Rob Laing
Guitars Editor, MusicRadar

I'm the Guitars Editor for MusicRadar, handling news, reviews, features, tuition, advice for the strings side of the site and everything in between. Before MusicRadar I worked on guitar magazines for 15 years, including Editor of Total Guitar in the UK. When I'm not rejigging pedalboards I'm usually thinking about rejigging pedalboards.