PRS Guitars and John Mayer announce two updates to the popular PRS SE Silver Sky model: a maple fretboard version and the first color refresh on the rosewood-equipped model since its introduction in January 2022.
The specifications of the SE Silver Sky Maple are all the same as its rosewood-appointed predecessor, except for the fretboard wood and colors. The PRS SE Silver Sky comes in a unique color palette: Nylon Blue, Overland Gray, and Summit Purple.
“Adding a maple fretboard option to the PRS SE Silver Sky lineup is an exciting expansion for this guitar. Players have always enjoyed having fretboard material options for tone, feel, and looks. The buzz that the prototypes have created around the office has not been small. Having the opportunity to work with John on some new colors has been a bonus,” said Jack Higginbotham, PRS Guitars Chief Operating Officer.
The original PRS SE Silver Sky is also getting an update. Originally released in four colors (Dragon Fruit, Ever Green, Moon White, and Stone Blue), the SE Silver Sky is saying goodbye to Dragon Fruit and Ever Green and adding Storm Gray and Piano Black.
Shared specifications for the two models include poplar body, maple neck, 22 frets, 25.5” scale length, 8.5” fretboard radius, 635 JM “S” pickups with one volume, two-tone, and 5-way blade pickup switch, synthetic bone nut, PRS small bird inlays, and PRS Classic 10-46 strings.
“The PRS SE Silver Sky, and the Silver Sky before it, both disrupted the market with their introductions and have since become quietly accepted as real instruments with their own personalities,” said Bev Fowler, PRS Director of Artist Relations. “It’s been highly rewarding to be John’s [Mayer’s] guitar maker and also to see these designs in the hands of so many talented musicians who trust PRS to deliver the tone and playability they need.”
The SE Silver Sky Maple | Demo | PRS Guitars
A collaboration between John Mayer and PRS Guitars, the PRS Silver Sky is a modern take on a classic three single-coil guitar. John Mayer can be seen playing his signature model on solo work and in his work with Dead & Company.
For more information, please visit prsguitars.com.
The body shape of this 6-string seems surprisingly ergonomic, but that perception changes when you hold its neck!
And so it goes that I pondered this proliferation of Virgos and Libras, and my hypothesis came into focus. Were we all the result of our parents’ Christmas and New Year’s celebrations?! I have to say, there was a camaraderie discovered among my fellow party babies when I presented my findings to them. Now, being born in the early ’70s also had me thinking of the culture of the times. Hippie life was fading as young people started to realize they had to get a job, and alas, long hair and beards were being replaced by staid 9-to-5 gigs that could slowly suck the life out of you. So, given the cultural mores of that era, I thought that this month I should write about the Sorrento Swinger.
“Hippie life was fading as young people started to realize they had to get a job.”
Born around 1967—maybe in September—these Swingers hailed from the “crazy” design period of the Kawai Co. Kawai produced some of the coolest guitar designs from 1967 to ’69, and there were some very creative guitar designers there on the job. Kawai had poached some of the finest employees from the wreckage of the Shinko Gakki factory (Pleasant, Intermark, etc.) and through the purchase of the Teisco brand. In this era, Kawai usually used three different standard pickups and they all sound great, plus the units are always wired in series, which is just awesome.
For a 25-buck, Japan-made guitar from the ’70s, the Swinger has an elite-looking headstock—and, on this example, most of its tuners.
Now, the Swinger (and similar Kawai-made guitars) came from an era where U.S. importers would order small batches of instruments that were often unique and extremely gonzo. The guitars might have been destined for medium-sized music stores or direct-order catalogs, but whatever the case, the importer usually gave the guitars names. In this instance, it was Jack Westheimer who featured this model as an “exclusive” design. In Westheimer Corporation catalogs from the time, the Swinger carried the A-2T model name (there was another one-pickup model called the A-1) and sold wholesale for $25 in 1967! As the catalog mentioned, these were “priced for the teenaged trade.” This particular guitar featured the Sorrento badge, and was sold through some sort of music store that’s probably long out of business, but all the Swingers were the same.
The Swinger’s large mahogany neck (sans truss rod) is robust and beefy in all the nicest ways. Like, when I was a kid, I was considered a “husky” fit. That’s this neck: husky! The striped pickguard is a Teisco holdover and the controls are as simple as it gets. Two knobs (volume, tone) and two pickup selectors is all there is, but the beauty is in the body. That lower bout is shaped like some sort of 1969 lounge chair. The strap pin is totally in the wrong place, but the big bottom swoop is worth it. Yep, the Swinger was ready to bring in the dawn of the 1970s, but alas, the guitar came and went in a blink.
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