
The Collector's Edition is limited to 19 Explorers and 81 Flying V's and feature Murphy Lab aging, Brazilian rosewood fingerboards and historic recreation of the cases, covers and case candy.
In 1958, Gibson introduced, and shipped only 19 Explorers and 81 Flying V's. With their space-age, futuristic designs that were ahead of their time, the instantly recognizable guitars are now highly--collectible cultural icons. After three years in development, the Gibson Custom Shop is proud to release these rare and desirable guitars re-created by the luthiers in same limited-edition numbers for the exclusive Collector's Edition 1958 Flying V and Explorer.
Made with Korina and Brazilian Rosewood, every one of these Collector's Edition Flying V and Explorer's vintage features have been re-created through 3-D scanning technology right down to the historically accurate brown cases which feature a stunning period-correct plush pink inside, and brown leather outside which complement striking golden-brown color of the Korina wood finish. The pink and brown Flying V and Explorer replica cases also include a vintage-style cable, strap, guitar picks, and a historically--legitimate pennant of the era.
The Gibson 1958 Flying V and Explorer
"The Custom Shop Flying V and Explorer project took three years to develop through the magic and artistry of the Gibson Custom Shop teams, including our shop luthiers together with Tom Murphy, Mat Koehler, Mark Agnesi, Cody Higbee, and the rest of our Gibson Lab team," says Cesar Gueikian, Brand President, Gibson Brands. "We utilized 3D scanning technology to scan multiple museum model Flying V and Explorers (made in 1958) to create the most authentic and identical clones humanly possible.
The Collector's Edition is limited to 19 Explorers and 81 Flying V's and feature Murphy Lab aging, Brazilian rosewood fingerboards and historic recreation of the cases, covers and case candy." The limited-edition Collector's Edition Flying V and Explorer will only be available in the continental USA; an extended Gibson core run will be coming in September 2021 and will be available worldwide.
For more information:
Gibson
- Gallery: Gibson Moderne Through the Ages - Premier Guitar āŗ
- 1959 Gibson Flying V - Premier Guitar āŗ
- The Mysterious Gibson Moderne - Premier Guitar āŗ
- The Mysterious Gibson Moderne - Premier Guitar āŗ
- The Akselerator Electric Guitar, Based on Gibson Epiphone SG - Premier Guitar āŗ
The bold English band return with their eighth record, Dreams on Toast. The brotherly guitar duo tell us about their pilgrimage back to Tonehenge.
The experience of locking in with the Hawkins brothers for an hour of conversation is not unlike absorbing their gonzo, wildly effervescent take on classic hard rock. To be sure, Justin, 49, the bandās frontman and de facto lead guitarist, and Dan, 48, who plays guitar, produces, and contributes backing vocals, keep you on your toes.
An instance of deep creative insight will jump-cut to a well-executed crude joke with a set-up involving slide guitar, which Justin taught himself to play during Covid lockdown in standard tuning, ānot the G cheating tuning.ā Passages of admirable self-reflection are interspersed with a freewheeling riff on Kid Rock and a debate about the finer points of crawling up oneās own arse. Itās kind of a blast.
The sad inability of critics and even audiences to reconcile fantastic hard rock with a sense of humor has dogged the Darkness throughout its existence, to the point where Dan believes the āclassic rock communityā only really came around to the band after Justin and drummer Rufus Taylor performed in Taylor Hawkinsā all-star tribute in 2022. āFinally, āOkay, these guys arenāt actually just fucking around,āā says Dan. Fair enough, but what exactly are they doing?
The Darknessā new album, Dreams on Toast, their eighth LP overall and sixth since reforming in 2011, is quite possibly their strongest set yet. In its wide-ranging, often surprising charms, it somehow manages to muddy the waters even further while also firming up an ethosānamely, that the Darkness are smart rock and pop mastercraftsmen who contain multitudes. Or, as Dan describes their M.O.: āWe can do whatever the fuck we want, whenever we want, and we donāt have to worry about it.ā Adds Justin, āThe funny thing is what we actually want to do is just write timeless songs.ā
Dreams on Toast, the British hard-rock bandās eighth full-length, is a testament to their indefatigable belief in the melding of hard-rock riffage with humor.
Justin Hawkinsā Gear
Guitars
- Atkin JH3001
- Atkin Mindhorn JH3000
- Danās red Gibson ES-355
- Danās Epiphone Casino (for slide)
- Atkin acoustic
- Brook Tavy acoustic
- Taylor 12-string
Justin and Danās Amps
- Ampete amp/cab switcher
- Vox AC30 head
- Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier
- 1959 Marshall plexi Super Lead
- Marshall 1987X
- Friedman Smallbox
- Friedman BE-100 Deluxe
- Marshall cab with Celestion Greenbacks
Effects
- Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive
- SoloDallas Schaffer Replica
Strings & Picks
- Rotosound Roto Yellows .010s
- Dunlop Tortex .73 mm
Dreams on Toast boasts moments of quintessential Darknessāin, say, āWalking Through Fire,ā a hooky rock ānā roll behemoth that pays plainspoken tribute to the power of ⦠rock ānā rollāand gets even more meta with a winky line about wasting time āshooting yet another shitty video.ā For those whoāve followed the band from the start, it can evoke the shock of discovering the Darkness on MTV in 2004, when they were an exuberant burst of Queen-inspired virtuosity amidst so much overwrought post-punk and stylized garage rock. (āI fucking hate videos. I donāt even know why we bother,ā shrugs Justin, the centerpiece of several of the most memorable rock vids of the 21st century.)
Elsewhere, Dreams on Toast has a knack for subverting expectations. āThe Longest Kissā leans into the progressive-pop facility of Jeff Lynne, Sparks, or Harry Nilsson. āHot on My Tailā and āCold Hearted Womanā are deft examples of rootsy pop writing, finding a niche between honky tonk and transatlantic folk. āThe Battle for Gadget Landā engages in campy rap-rock, as if satirizing the nu metal that thrived when the Darkness was founded. It also betrays a British punk influenceāa vestige, the brothers ponder, of their fatherās excellent musical tastes and his decision to play his sons Never Mind the Bollocks, Hereās the Sex Pistols. Bewilderingly, āWeekend in Romeā features a voice-over by the actor Stephen Dorff.
But the albumās absolute highlights belong to the signature balance that allows the Darkness to remain instantly identifiable while also being custodians of rockās various traditions. āRock and Roll Party Cowboyā seems to revel in macho rock clichĆ©s, until you notice a reference to Tolstoy in the chorus and realize that the badass at the center of the narrative is in reality a stone-cold loser. āThereās a line in there, which gives it away,ā Justin explains, āwhere he says, āWhere the ladies at?āā The truth hurts: āThe party heās describing is a disaster.āāThe funny thing is what we actually want to do is just write timeless songs.ā āJustin Hawkins
The same savvy defines āI Hate Myself,ā a punked-up barroom-glam throwback that tackles heartbreak and self-contempt. The song also has a buzzed-about video in which Justin appears, unrecognizable, as a man who wears his grief, vanity, and insecurity on his face as questionable plastic surgery. The clip is startling, cinematic, and willfully not very much fun. Consequently itās inspired pushback, even within the band. āI think on this record, from the recording to the videos and everything, I think weāre challenging people,ā Justin says. āWeāre trying to explore genres and visual ideas that we havenāt done before. Like, thereās only two of us on the album cover; me and Dan arenāt even on it.
āItās like weāre doing everything differently, and in ways that make people go, āWell, what the fuck is this?ā I think weāre hopefully positioning ourselves as a band that cares about the art.ā
The brothers Hawkins in action. They wrote the songs for Dreams on Toast on an acoustic guitar, face-to-face.
Photo by Gareth Parker
Fraternal Dynamics Ā
Following 2021ās Motorheart, which was built piecemeal in the throes of the pandemic, Dreams on Toast is a welcome return to (literal) face-to-face collaboration. āPretty much everything on the album was written on an acoustic, me facing Justin,ā Dan says. āHolding my gaze,ā adds Justin, with a straight face.
āWe have quite a lot of success when Iāve just got an acoustic and Iām thrashing away,ā Dan posits, though āthrashing awayā isnāt quite fair. In fact, the through line tying Dreams on Toast to landmark Darkness singles like āI Believe in a Thing Called Love,ā āChristmas Time (Donāt Let the Bells End),ā or āLove Is Only a Feelingā is the precision of the craftāthe sheer perfection of the sonics and the shape of each song, the seamlessness with which an intro becomes a verse and then a bridge before an earworm chorus breaks down the door. Track after track.
āI think weāve always been good at arranging,ā Dan says. āSorry to blow our own trumpets, but I think that comes from Justin and my musical upbringing.ā To wit: Fleetwood Macās pop-rock masterpiece Rumours was on heavy rotation at home. At the outset of his career, after heād been a drummer and a bass player, Dan only āstarted playing guitar properly as a session player,ā he says. āAnd that kind of taught me a lot about placing things, when to do things and when not to.
āThe only reason I can play guitar is because I wanted to work out how songs were written,ā he adds later. At one point during the chat, Justin mentions his experience writing and producing music for commercial clientsāsomething he and his brother continue to partake in, in specific under-the-radar situations. He maintains that work doesnāt inform the Darkness too much, though he does allow that it furthers their understanding of the architecture of songs. āWe learn about how theyāre built,ā he says, āwhatās happening underneath the bonnet.ā
In the end, Dan explains, the band doesnāt chase down a song in the studio until itās been properly worked out. āBecause thereās no point, is there?ā Justin says. A delightful exchange about turds, and the pursuit of polishing them, ensues.
āThe only reason I can play guitar is because I wanted to work out how songs were written.ā āDan Hawkins
Dan Hawkinsā Gear
Guitars
- 2000 Gibson Les Paul Standard
- Gibson ES-355
Effects
- Ibanez TS9 and TS808 Tube Screamers
- SoloDallas Schaffer Replica
- Keeley Caverns
- Keeley Katana Boost
Strings & Picks
- Rotosound Roto Greys .011s
- Dunlop Nylon .73 mm
Dreams on Toast features the bandās current lineup with the rhythm tandem of Rufus Taylor, the son of Queen drummer Roger Taylor, and bassist Frankie Poullain. It was produced by Dan, who helms his well-appointed Hawkland Studios in Sussex, England.
Unprompted, he shows us around via Zoom, and in his lighthearted practicality, you get a sense of the study in contrast that the Hawkins brothers have presented since they were boys in the English seaside town of Lowestoft. (For an intimate look at their relationship and the bandās hard-won return, check out the 2023 documentary, Welcome to the Darkness, which will be available on platforms in the States starting in mid April.) The conventional wisdom dictates that Justin is the YouTube personality, the opinionated fount of charisma, falsetto, and unforgettable guitar leads, and Dan is the engine room, the pragmatist and a rhythm ace in the mold of his hero Malcolm Young. Itās definitely not that cut-and-dried; Dan, despite his modesty, can put together a great solo, too, and theyāre both affable and entertaining, with the pluck to have forged ahead through physical and personal challenges. But itās true enough.
āIāve been in my studio for eight hours a day working on my guitar rig for this next tour,ā Dan says, feigning salty exasperation. āIāve spent so much money.ā Enter Justin: āAnd I learned how to go snowboarding.ā Dan is interested in the guitar for āwhat it is capable of sonically, not necessarily emotionally,ā he says. āI imagine thatās like the opposite of how I see it,ā his brother replies. āThatās why it works!ā says Dan.
āAs soon as the amp question comes up ⦠I donāt even know what my settings are,ā Justin admits. āIām more concerned about guitars, and I think Danās more concerned about amps.ā
Dan the amp man: The younger Hawkins brother manages āTonehenge,ā the wall of amplifiers at his studio which he and his sibling use.
Photo by Gareth Parker
Visiting Tonehenge
Actually, Justinās response to the amp question is terrific: āYou could just send him a picture of the Tonehenge,ā he says to his brother, referring to a mouth-watering monument of heads and cabs in Danās studio. Dan goes on to explain his wall of sound and how he uses an Ampete switcher to explore various combinations. On Dreams on Toast, he says, weāre hearing plenty of Marshall and Friedmanāwhich ātake care of the EL34 stuffāāas well as a Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier and a handwired Vox AC30 head that āplayed a major role.ā Dan doesnāt feel compelled to āpull out loads of weird combos,ā he says, because āweāve got a big sound that we need to portray pretty much straight away.ā Mission complete.
Guitar-wise, the big takeaway on Dreams on Toast is that weāre hearing less Les Paul than we might be used to on a Darkness record. Dan continues to swear by his 2000 Les Paul Standard, whose high-output 498 humbucker has had a huge impact on the consistency of his sound. āItās only in recent years that I realized you could actually pull the volume backā and achieve the tone of āa really nice old Les Paul,ā he says. His strings have thinned out to .011ā.052 after heād bloodied his fingers one too many times using .013ā.054 sets with a wound G.
For his part, Justin has largely moved away from the white Les Paul Customs that became an indelible part of his image long ago, settling into a fruitful partnership with the English brand Atkin, whose esteemed reputation for handcrafted acoustics shouldnāt overwhelm its versatile lineup of electrics. āI know Iāve sort of become synonymous with the white Les Paul, and thatās good; I think every generation should have a white Les Paul player,ā he says cheekily. āBut maybe my time is gone now. Maybe itās somebody elseās turn.ā
Justin enjoys his Atkin signature models: the Frankenstrat-indebted JH3001 and the JH3000 Mindhorn, an offset with two humbuckers and an LP-style bridge. āIāve always loved Strats,ā he says, beginning to describe his concept for the JH3001. āIāve always enjoyed the tonal variety, and the way they play is interesting.ā But signature instruments are opportunities to correct annoyances and combine archetypes, and so it goes with the 3001.
He wanted a floating, Floyd Rose-style bridge, which would allow him to do dive bombs āand all the things Iāve been teaching myself to do,ā he says. (Those shred moves impress as smartly deployed accents to tracks like āRock and Roll Party Cowboy.ā) Justin had long been frustrated with the standard pickup-selector location on Strats and āwanted the electronics to resemble more closely what the Les Pauls do.ā A 3-way toggle for two handwound humbuckers can be found on the upper horn, and the wiring is visible via a transparent Perspex pickguardāan homage, perhaps, to Justinās lovingly remembered Dan Armstrong acrylic guitar (for which he had only the Country Bass pickup). The JH3001, Justin says, is a āFrankenPaul, if you will,ā or, as Dan recommends, a āLesocaster.ā The Mindhorn, whose offset body might strike you as a meld of Firebird and Fender, offers Justin the reliability of a Tune-o-matic-type bridge; on other offsets heās played, like a Jaguar, heād pick so hard the strings would pop out of their saddles. āAlso, the selectorās in the right place for me,ā he says.
He also leans on his brotherās collection. One of his go-to instruments for his flourishing slide skills is Danās old Epiphone Casino. And Justin explains that Danās red Gibson ES-355 was the axe of choice for two of his hardest-hitting solos on the record: the twinned-up lines of āThe Longest Kissā and the breakaway Angus-isms of āI Hate Myself.ā
āWeāve got a big sound that we need to portray pretty much straight away.ā āDan Hawkins
Justinās signature Atkins JH3000 Mindhorn, wielded here, has forced his recognizable white Les Paul into a supporting role.
Photo by Gareth Parker
Solo Break
Which brings us to the choreographed majesty of Justinās solos across the Darkness catalogāmasterpieces in miniature, as hooky and bulletproof as the songs they complement. Justin expounds on his process: āWhen Iām trying to build a solo, we normally just run the track and I have a go. And usually, Iām going 100 miles an hour, finding phrases and trying to modify them so they donāt sound like where Iāve nicked them from. But the most important thing is that you can sing along to it, so it becomes a countermelody.ā He thinks technical dazzle can work beautifully in a solo, but only when itās held in judicious balance among less-showy principles. āThe thing that sets the great guitarists apart from the other ones is the expression,ā he says. āIām talking about dynamics and vibrato.ā
His lodestars of lead playing include Mark Knopfler, whose āTunnel of Loveā solo āshows you an infinite number of harmonic choicesā atop a straightforward chord sequence. āItās full of ideas,ā he says. āNone of itās showing off; itās all logic.ā Other favorites are similarly thoughtful rockers, among them Brian May and Jeff Beck.
He digs EVH too, though those concepts came later. āThere was a guitar teacher in Lowestoft that would teach everybody how to do thatāthe tapping and all the things that Eddie Van Halen invented,ā he recalls. āI didnāt go to that guitar teacher. I was more interested in blues playing, really, and that kind of expression. It wasnāt until later that I thought, āAh, fuck, I kind of wish Iād learned that properly.ā Because now Iām asking my guitar tech how to do it.ā
His brotherās lead playing is an inspiration as well, in its ability to surprise and draw contours that Justin simply would not. āHe makes interesting choices,ā Justin says, āand then I always scratch my head and go, āWow, I would never have thought to play that note.ā So I try and sometimes I think, āWhat would Dan do?āā
YouTube It
Watch the Darkness rip a trio of exuberant rock ānā roll romps to a massive festival audience.
Very diverse slate of tones. Capable of great focus and power. Potentially killer studio tool.
Sculpting tones in a reliably reproducible way can be challenging. Midrange emphasis may be a deal breaker for some.
$199 street
Bold-voiced, super-tunable distortion that excels in contexts from filtered boost to total belligerence.
Whitman Audio calls the Wave Collapse a fuzzāand what a very cool fuzz it is. But classifying it strictly as such undersells the breadth of its sounds. The Seattle, Washington-built Wave Collapse has personality at low gain levels and super crunchy ones. Itās responsive and sensitive enough to input and touch dynamics to move from light overdrive to low-gain distortion and degenerate fuzz with a change in picking intensity or guitar volume. And from the pedalās own very interactive controls, one can summon big, ringing, near-clean tones, desert sludge, or snorkel-y wah buzz.
The Wave Collapse speaks many languages, but it has an accentāusually an almost wah-like midrange lilt that shows up as faint or super-pronounced. Itās not everyoneās creamy distortion ideal. But with the right guitar pairings and a dynamic approach, the Wave Collapseās midrange foundation can still span sparkly and savage extremes that stand tall and distinctive in a mix. Thereās much that sounds and feels familiar in the Wave Collapse, but the many surprises it keeps in store are the real fun.
Heavy Surf, Changing Waves
The absence of a single fundamental influence makes it tricky to get your bearings with the Wave Collapse at first. Depending on where you park the controls to start, you might hear traces of RAT in the midrange-forward, growly distortion, or the Boss SD-1 in many heavy overdrive settings. At its fuzziest, it howls and spits like aFuzz Face orTone Bender and can generate compressed, super-focused, direct-to-desk rasp. And in its darker corners, weighty doom tones abound.
The many personalities are intentional. Whitman Dewey-Smithās design brief was, in his own words, āa wide palette ranging from dirty boost to almost square-wave fuzz and textures that could be smooth or sputtery.ā A parallel goal, he says, was to encourage tone discoveries in less-obvious spaces. Many such gems live in the complex interrelationships between the EQ, filter, and bias controls. They also live in the circuit mash-up at the heart of the Wave Collapse. The two most prominent fixtures on the circuit are the BC108 transistor (best known as a go-to in Fuzz Face builds) and twin red LED clipping diodes (associated, in the minds of many, with clipping in the Turbo RAT and Marshall Jubilee amplifier). Thatās not exactly a classic combination of amplifier and clipping section components, but itās a big part of the Wave Collapseās sonic identity.
The BC108 drives one of two core gain stages in the Wave Collapse. The first stage takes inspiration from early, simple fuzz topologies like the Tone Bender and Fuzz Face, but with a focus on what Dewey-Smith calls āexploiting the odd edges and interactivity in a two-transistor gain stage.ā The BC108 contributes significant character to this stage. The second, post-EQ gain stage is JFET-based. Itās set up to interact like a tube guitar amp input stage and is followed by the clipping LEDs. Dewey-Smith says you can think of the whole as a āfairlyā symmetric hard-clipping scheme.
āThe magic of the circuit is that those gain stages are very complimentary. When stage one is running clean, it still passes a large, unclipped signal that hits the second stage, making those classic early distortion sounds. Conversely, when the first stage is running hot, it clips hard and the second stage takes a back seatāmostly smoothing out the rough edges of the first stage.ā Factor in the modified Jack Orman pickup simulator-style section in the front end, and you start to understand the pedalās propensity for surprise and expressive latitude.
Searchinā Safari
The Wave Collapseās many identities arenāt always easy to wrangle at the granular-detail level. The control setāknobs for bias, filter color, input level, and output level, plus switches for āmassā (gain,) ārangeā(bass content at the input), and ācenterā (shifts the filterās mid emphasis from flat)āare interdependent in such a way that small adjustments can shift a toneās character significantly, and it can be challenging to find your way back to a tone that sounded just right five minutes ago. Practice goes a long way toward mastering these sensitivities. One path to reliably reproducible sounds is to establish a ballpark tone focus with the filter first, dial in the input gain to an appropriately energetic zone, then shape the distortion color and response more specifically with the bias.
As you get a feel for these interactions, youāll be knocked out by the sounds and ideas you bump into along the way. In addition to obvious vintage fuzz and distortion touchstones I crafted evocations of blistering, compressed tweed amps, jangly Marshalls, and many shades of recording console preamp overdrive. The Wave Collapse responds in cool ways to just about any instrument you situate out front. But while your results may vary, I preferred the greater headroom and detail that comes with single-coil pickup pairings. Humbuckers, predictably conjure a more compressed and, to my ears, less varied set of sounds. I also found black-panel Fender amps a more adaptable pairing than Vox- and Marshall-style voices. But just about any guitar or pickup type can yield magnificent results.
The Verdict
Though itās hard to avoid its filtered midrange signature entirely, the Wave Collapse is a pedal of many masks. Once you master the twitchy interactivity between its controls, you can tailor the pedal to weave innocuously but energetically into a mix or completely dominate it. These capabilities are invaluable in ensemble performances, but itās super enticing to consider how the Wave Collapse would work in a studio situation, where its focus and potency can fill gaps and nooks in color and vitality or turn a tune on its head. Pedals that stimulate the inner arranger, producer, and punk simultaneously are valuable tools. And while the Wave Collapse wonāt suit every taste, when you factor together the pedalās sub-$200 cost, thoughtful design, high-quality execution, and malleability, it adds up to a lot of utility for a very fair price.
The New ToneWoodAmp2 is smaller, lighter, rechargeable, and offers foureffects simultaneously, along with a mobile app and much more.
ToneWoodAmp has released the second generation of its popular accessory that brings a wide array of special effects to acoustic guitars without needing to plug into an external amplifier.
The ToneWoodAmp2 has been redesigned with portability, ease of use, and enhanced performance in mind, featuring a lighter and more compact design while adding more features and capabilities. The new ToneWoodAmp2 has a powerful DSP, a rechargeable battery that lasts for more than 10 hours, and it provides more creative tools as well as the ability to play with up to four simultaneous effects. A new smartphone app allows users to operate the device from either their phone or the device itself.
Reverb Basics | ToneWoodAmp2 Effects Guide
Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.The upgraded product is also a fully professional preamp. In addition to the built-in effects, it includes a powerful EQ, compressor, āFeedback Assassinā tools, and more. āWhile the firstToneWoodAmp provided a breakthrough technology in how acoustic guitar players experience their guitar playing mostly off-stage, the new ToneWoodAmp2 doubles as an on-stage professional pre-amp device with many new capabilities, a perfect tool for performing musicians who need a professional set of tools in a very small footprint package,ā says Ofer Webman, CEO of ToneWoodAmp and its inventor.Like the original ToneWoodAmp, the ToneWoodAmp2 attaches to any acoustic guitar via an innovative magnetic X-brace. A new and unique guitar attachment system, called the LiftKit, allows the second-generation device to attach to any acoustic guitar, even a guitar with a curved back.
TonewoodAmp2 features expanded capabilities by its new smartphone app: With its built-inBluetoothĀ®, guitarists can now connect the ToneWoodAmp2 to a free smartphone app for extended control, intuitive adjustments, preset management, and on-the-fly tweaks. The new app is compatible with all modern iOS and Android devices.āThe new device is a massive improvement from the original ToneWoodAmp,ā says MikeDawes, the U.K.-based guitar player who has twice been named the Best Acoustic Guitarist in the World Right Now by MusicRadar and Total Guitar's end-of-year poll. āThis thing is not only reverb or delay or chorus on your guitar itās everything and more at once. The reason why this is so good is that itās reducing every barrier that I would have to creativity.āThe new ToneWoodAmp2 is available for $300.
For more information, visit www.tonewoodamp.com.
Paul Reed Smith also continues to evolve as a guitarist, and delivered a compelling take on Jeff Beckās interpretation of āCause Weāve Ended As Loversā at the PRS 40th Anniversary Celebration during this yearās NAMM.
After 40 years at the helm of PRS Guitars, our columnist reflects on the nature of evolution in artistryāof all kinds.
Reflecting on four decades in business, I donāt find myself wishing I āknew then what I know now.ā Instead, Iām grateful to still have the curiosity and environment to keep learning and to be in an art that has a nonstop learning curve. Thereās a quote attributed to artist Kiki Smith that resonates deeply with me: āI can barely control my kitchen sink.ā That simple truth has been a guiding principle in my life. We canāt control the timing of knowledge or discovery. If profound learning comes late in life, so be it. The important thing is to remain open to it when it arrives.
I look at whatās happened at PRS Guitars over the last 40 years with real pride. I love what weāve builtānot just in terms of instruments but in the culture of innovation and craftsmanship that defines our company. The guitar industry as a whole has evolved in extraordinary ways, and Iām fortunate to be part of a world filled with passionate, talented, and good-hearted people.
I love learning. It may sound odd, but thereās something almost spiritual about it. Learning isnāt constant; it comes in stages. Sometimes, there are long dry spells where you can even struggle to hold onto what you already know. Other times, learning is sporadic, with nuggets of understanding appearing here and there that are treasured for their poignancy. And then there are those remarkable moments when the proverbial floodgates open, and the lessons come so fast that you can barely keep up. Iāve heard songwriters and musicians describe this same pattern. Sometimes, no new songs emerge; sometimes, they trickle out one by one; and sometimes, they arrive so quickly itās impossible to capture them all. I believe itās the same for all creatives, including athletes, engineers, and everyone invested in their art.
Looking back over 40 years in business and a decade of preparation before that, I recognize these distinct phases of learning. Right now, Iām in one of those high-gain learning periods. Iāve taken on a teacher who is introducing me to concepts I never imagined, ideas I didnāt think anyone could explaināthings I wasnāt even sure I was worthy of understanding. But when he calls and says, āHave you thought about this?ā I lean in, eager to absorb, not just to learn something new for myself, but because I want him to feel his teaching is appreciated, making it more likely that the teaching continues.
āLearning isnāt just about accumulating knowledge; itās about applying it, sharing it, and evolving because of it.ā
Beyond structured teaching, learning also comes through experience, discovery, and problem solving. We recently got our hands on some old, magical guitars, vintage pickups, microphones, and mic preamps. These arenāt just relics; theyāre windows into a deeper understanding of how things work and what the engineers who invented them knew. By studying the schematics of tube-mic preamps, weāre uncovering insights that directly influence how we wire guitar pickups and their electronics. It may seem like an unrelated field, but the many parallels in audio engineering are there if you look. Knowledge in one area has a ripple effect, unlocking new possibilities in another.
Even as I continue learning, I recognize that our entire team at PRS is on this journey with me. We have people whose sole job is to push the boundaries of what we understand about pickups, spending every day refining and applying that knowledge so that when you pick up a PRS guitar, it sounds better. More than 400 people work here, each contributing to the collective advancement of our craft. I am grateful to be surrounded by such a dedicated and smart team.
One of my favorite memories at PRS was at a time we were deep into investigating scale lengths on vintage guitars, and some unique pickup characteristics, when one of our engineering leaders walked into my office. He had just uncovered something astonishing and said, āYouāre not going to believe this one.ā That excitement and back-and-forth exchange of ideas is what keeps this work so rewarding.
As I reflect on my journey, I see that learning isnāt just about accumulating knowledge; itās about applying it, sharing it, and evolving because of it. I get very excited when something weāve learned ends up on a new product. Whether lessons come early or late, whether they arrive in waves or trickles, there is always good work to be done. And that is something I just adore.