“It makes me smile when somebody falls in love with a guitar that I’m using”: Paul Reed Smith’s road-tested Charcoal Phoenix takes flight in a limited edition PRS release
PRS has released the Charcoal Phoenix Limited Edition guitar in celebration of the brand’s 40th anniversary.
Only 150 of these instruments will be available worldwide, each accompanied by a 40th anniversary certificate hand-signed by founder Paul Reed Smith himself.
“When we released the Private Stock John McLaughlin Limited Edition in 2023, I was inspired by its exceptional sound and playability. For the Charcoal Phoenix, I wanted to create something equally remarkable but with a stoptail bridge,” Smith says of the guitar’s origin.
“Using chaltecoco for the neck and ziricote for the fingerboard, I achieved an instrument that sustains beautifully and rings with clarity. The deep crimson back and the charcoal microburst top inspired the name ‘Charcoal Phoenix, evoking the imagery of a phoenix rising from fire and ashes.”
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Beyond its striking appearance, the Charcoal Phoenix is equipped with newly updated PRS TCI pickups for 2025. Crafted with American Alnico magnets, these pickups feature slightly modified winding, wiring, and electronics specifications, offering versatile tones ranging from “spanky single coils to full soapbars” — a tonal palette shaped by Smith’s experience playing the instrument live and in the studio over the past year.
Image: PRS
The guitar’s EQ mini-toggles, meanwhile, “act as tuned high-pass filters when engaged, removing shelved low end and allowing the high frequencies through for more clarity and musical highs.”
Additional features include a 25” scale length, a PRS Stoptail bridge — complete with brass inserts and steel studs, rippled abalone “Old School” birds inlays on the fingerboard, and lightweight PRS Phase III non-locking tuners with wing buttons.
If you caught PRS’s 40th Anniversary birthday bash last month, you may have already seen — and heard — the Charcoal Phoenix in action. The event, held at Anaheim’s House of Blues, featured a star-studded lineup, including John Mayer, Mark Lettieri, David Grissom, an injured Orianthi and Paul Reed Smith himself.
“It makes me smile when somebody falls in love with a guitar that I’m using and it changes what they’re going to be using in the future,” Smith says in the demo video.
Learn more at PRS.
The post “It makes me smile when somebody falls in love with a guitar that I’m using”: Paul Reed Smith’s road-tested Charcoal Phoenix takes flight in a limited edition PRS release appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Source: www.guitar-bass.net
