Paul Reed Smith Guitars at Total Guitar Buyer

The story of how Paul Reed Smith grew from small beginnings to its current position is the stuff of dreams. Founded by Paul Reed Smith (appropriately enough), it began as a small guitar repair enterprise in the mid 1970's. By 1976 Smith's guitar building career got off to a notable start with his earliest clients to include Ted Nugent and Peter Frampton.

Targeting influential guitar players was central to Smith's marketing approach and it eventually paid off as his guitar-building reputation grew. Acquiring clients like Carlos Santana did much to establish the Paul Reed Smith brand but it took a few more years of struggling before Smith was really able to capitalize on his growing reputation amongst guitarists.

It was 1985 that saw the emergence of the Paul Reed Smith guitar production business and despite the relatively high cost of PRS guitars, the business began to flourish. This was in no small part due to the quality of the guitars and a clever mix of Gibson and Fender design elements.

Faced with the challenge of maintaining the quality standards of his handmade guitars in a new production environment, Paul Reed Smith continued to place an emphasis on basic standards such as the type and quality of wood used in construction. This goes some way to explaining why, despite demands from enthusiasts and industry retailers, PRS has never truly embraced the budget end of the electric guitar market. Having said that, the more reasonably priced PRS models currently available enjoy much of the attention to detail lavished on their more illustrious relations.

This devotion to quality and craftsmanship is the reason why Paul Reed Smith guitars still attract many of the world's finest guitarists.