PRS Silver Sky

first play
PRS Silver Sky
12
Guitarist MaY 2018
This retooling is everywhere: whereas
Fender classically use a pressed metal jack
plate, PRS use the same concept but it’s
cast zinc and nickel-plated with a lightly
cambered top. It’s a lovely piece but again,
visually, oh-so Fender. Likewise, the control
knobs sort of mix a Fender knob with
PRS’s more fluted ‘lampshade’ design; the
five-way lever’s white cap is more like we’ve
seen on PRS switches than the classic round
cap of Fender’s style. Obviously, the bright
white/black/white plastic scratchplate is
altered but again still shouts Stratocaster,
and the standard-sized pickups are loaded
into quite rounded edged (almost vintage
worn) plastic covers with protruding
magnet poles and a modern stagger: the
lowest poles are the E strings, the A and the
B poles sit in the middle and the tallest are
the G and B poles. Even the good ol’ bird
inlays have been downsized here.
The pickups themselves all boast the same
output with a DC resistance, measured at
the output, of approximately 6.27kohms.
Controls follow Strat protocol, master
volume with two tones: tone one works on
neck and middle and tone two affects the
bridge pickup – a well-used adaptation of
vintage style. Internally, it’s all standard stuff
and pot values are quoted as 300k for the
volume and 250k for the tones. But along
with a 0.1microfarad tone capacitor there’s
a small resistor wired between the volume’s
input lug and ground. “It is a 300k volume
pot, but we used a resistor to make it around
275k,” we’re told. “They don’t make pots
that resistance, and using the resistor helps
The elephant in the
room is the very
un-Fender-headstock:
a reversed ‘left-
handed’ PRS outline
us keep a consistent pot value and helps the
guitars to sound the same from one to the
next. The lower resistance also helps the
high end not be ‘ice-picky’.”
But the elephant in the room is, of
course, the very un-Fender-like headstock:
essentially a reversed ‘left-handed’ PRS
outline with the treble side pulled forward
approximately 15mm. It’s lightly back-
angled too which avoids the use of any string
trees and provides a pretty even rake from
the bone nut to the tuners, unlike a typical
Fender. Sensibly, we also have the truss rod
adjustment behind the nut.
Feel & Sounds
Neck shape, playing feel, intonation and
tuning stability have always been a hugely
important part of PRS’s guitars. Here, based
on a mix of profiles John and Paul preferred
from that 1963-64 period, the neck is hugely
engaging, described by PRS as a C/D hybrid
there’s an appealing taper as you move up
The steel vibrato has been
“completely retooled,”
says PRS, but retains the
typical push-fit, tension
adjustable arm. It pivots
on Gen III knife-edge
screws. It’s set flat to the
body face – unlike PRS’s
normal vibrato set-up –
so the bridge plate is in
contact with the body,
which, PRS tells us, “helps
with how loud the guitar is
acoustically and improves
the signal-to-noise ratio of
the pickups”
GIT432.rev_prs.indd 12 3/20/18 5:24 PM