PRS releases full-length documentary celebrating the life of guitar industry legend Theodore “Ted” McCarty
As we reported earlier this month, PRS looked to be teasing something related to the late, great Theodore “Ted” McCarty.
As it turns out, that was a new full-length documentary celebrating the guitar innovator’s life, packed with archival interview footage, as well as new interviews with PRS head honcho Paul Reed Smith, McCarty’s daughter Sue Davis, and a number of PRS employees. And the 73-minute doc is available to watch right now at PRS’s YouTube channel.
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Ted McCarty served as vice president of the Gibson Guitar Corporation in 1949, and later as president between 1950 and 1966. The man behind the Tune-O-Matic bridge – also working alongside Les Paul to develop the Les Paul guitar format – McCarty was also partially responsible for the humbucking pickup alongside engineer Seth Lover, as well as the Explorer, Flying V, SG, ES-335 and Firebird.
As PRS explains, Paul Reed Smith first discovered McCarty’s name in the US Patent office in the early ‘80s, and later enrolled him as a manufacturing and business consultant. PRS introduced its first McCarty model in 1994, and continues to honour him with new guitar designs. Ted McCarty sadly died in 2001 at the age of 91.
“Ted McCarty was a legend. Incredibly smart. Really exceptional,” says Paul Reed Smith. “He was a champion, an industry icon, a leader, a mentor, a friend. In the end, he was family.”
“If you ask anyone who’s an expert over the age of 50, ‘Can you teach me,’ they say ‘Okay, I’ll teach,’ because they don’t want to die and have their gems of knowledge not be passed on,” he continues. “Ted was a prime example of that. He wanted his knowledge base to be passed on, and he decided to pass it on to us (at PRS Guitars), which I loved.”
“There is no better time to reflect on our history than as we close our 40th anniversary,” adds PRS Guitars COO Jack Higginbotham.
“Ted is a part of our foundation. He’s central to who we are. As we continue to grow the company and evolve and create new instruments, he’s fundamental in our thought processes of building great instruments. Ted will always be a part of the story of PRS Guitars as it goes forward.”
“I feel so proud that PRS has once again honoured my dad – this time through a great video tribute to his life and impact – and I am delighted and honored to have been a part of this project as well,” says Ted McCarty’s daughter Sue Davis.
“When Paul asked my dad to put his name on a guitar, dad wasn’t so sure anyone would want to buy it. Paul and PRS have made sure that the name Ted McCarty – and the man that he was – will be remembered for a long time to come. And for that, I could not be more thankful.”
You can watch the full documentary, The Legacy of Ted McCarty, below, or at PRS’s official YouTube channel.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
