“It just seemed Looney Tunes to me”: Paul Reed Smith dismisses the notion that you “can’t play solos” on a 7.25”-radius fretboard
The PRS Silver Sky – and the more affordable SE Silver Sky, in particular – are two of the most commercially successful electric guitar launches in recent memory, with the SE version topping Reverb’s best-selling electric guitars list two years in a row in 2022 and 2023.
But naturally, when a guitar becomes so ubiquitous, critics become louder. And much of that criticism has been levelled by those not a fan of the most expensive core Silver Sky’s smaller 7.25” fretboard radius.
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It’s very much a debate on the minutiae of guitar building, but the argument basically goes that a larger fretboard radius and flatter fingerboard makes it easier to play solos as a less curved surface allows for a more consistent and low action across all six strings. It’s also argued that a smaller radius and more curved fretboard can sometimes lead to bent notes choking out while going over the hump of the ‘board.
But PRS main man Paul Reed Smith thinks these concerns are unfounded, as he explains in a recent interview on the Zak Kuhn Show.
“When I was a kid, nobody said you can’t play solos on a Tele or Strat. That’s new internet lore,” he says [via Ultimate Guitar].
“And so when we made the prototypes for John Mayer, we tried every single radius, every scale length, every position, every body shape. We tried everything. And he goes, ‘I want it to be the same as the guitars I’m used to. I don’t want to look down when I play.’ So we made it 7.25” and everybody, everybody pushed back. ‘Bad idea. Bad idea. Bad idea, you can’t play solos on a 7.25” radius.
Smith says despite the noisy opposition to the Silver Sky’s smaller fretboard radius, he thought it was “a bunch of hooey”.
While acknowledging that notes can sometimes choke out on bends on a fretboard with a smaller radius, Smith continues: “That I understood, but the idea that you couldn’t play solos on something that people have been playing solos on forever, just seemed Looney Tunes to me.
“What hurts me when people attack, it’s they’re so adamant that they know what they’re talking about. Sometimes they do, but sometimes they don’t…
“I’m sorry. One of the solos in [ZZ Top’s] La Grange is on a Strat, from what I can hear – sounded good to me. [Dire Straits’] Sultans of Swing, don’t even get me started. Machine Gun [Jimi Hendrix] is ridiculous.”
Last year, John Mayer himself downplayed the importance of fretboard radius on a guitar’s playability, even saying the height one sets their strap is more important.
“I just looked at the guitars I loved the most, and they were 7.25 inches” he said, speaking about the Silver Sky’s 7.25”-radius fingerboard. “That was my measuring stick. Now that I know the math behind it, I still don’t think about it. The difference between 7.25” and 9.5” is less significant than your strap being an inch higher or lower. I’ll fight anybody on that.”
The post “It just seemed Looney Tunes to me”: Paul Reed Smith dismisses the notion that you “can’t play solos” on a 7.25”-radius fretboard appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Source: www.guitar-bass.net
