“Paul Reed Smith has mastered creating an instrument that behaves”: Carlos Santana on his love of PRS guitars
“Guitars are like crayons to me,” says Carlos Santana. “Life is the canvas.” Such is how the legendary guitarist views his tools: not as mere instruments, but as portals to creativity and self-expression.
Over the decades, Santana has played them all – Gibsons, Fenders, Gretsches, and even a signature Yamaha in the 1980s – but the one brand he keeps returning to is PRS.
“Paul Reed Smith has mastered creating an instrument that behaves,” says the Mexican-American guitarist in the new issue of Guitar World. “No matter what the weather is like, it will stay in tune and always give you that great tone.”
READ MORE: Carlos Santana: “I like being squirted in the face by music because it makes me feel alive”
Despite having played just about everything under the sun – “They all have their own sound, texture and feel,” Santana explains – PRS guitars are the only ones that feel like home.
“I always go back to my PRS models,” he says. “I’m very grateful to Paul. He came up with his own vision to create a different tone and feel. I’m grateful he did that because his designs suited my personality when it came to self-expression.”
This is especially true of his PRS signature model ‘Salmon’, which he describes as the “easiest instrument for me to materialize my inner-vision, thoughts and emotions. There’s not much struggle translating myself onto that guitar.”
Santana’s friendship with the PRS founder also goes back a long way: “We’ve had a relationship since the late Seventies. He convinced me to come on board. Back then, there were only three companies I knew of – Gibson, Fender and Gretsch. There were others, but those three were the main ones.”
According to Santana, PRS’s attention to detail is what keeps him loyal, even decades later.
“From guitars to food or whatever, there are two words that are important for any business – impeccable integrity,” says the guitarist. “When people put love and attention into what they make, it stands out. When my guitars arrive from Paul Reed Smith, they are always perfectly in tune. I’m not making it up! They come to me set up perfectly because somebody at the factory is doing that final check. A lot of companies don’t do that.”
As for how many guitars he owns these days? “Probably not more than 100 and not fewer than 75,” Santana reckons. “I guess the Fender Strats and Gibson Les Pauls would be the oldest models in my collection. I’ve got Strats from 1954; some of my Les Pauls go all the way back to 1959.”
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
