Electric guitar titan John McLaughlin already made waves earlier this year, when he announced This Moment, the first new album from his fusion ensemble, Shakti, since 1977.
Now, McLaughlin has teamed up with PRS to create an absolute stunner of a signature guitar, the Private Stock John McLaughlin model.
A limited-edition build, the McLaughlin signature is spec'd to the nines, with the most notable feature perhaps being the guitar's hormigo neck. More on that in a moment...
McLaughlin's Private Stock model, for starters, is outfitted with a maple top and mahogany back, with a neck made from hormigo, a tonewood often used on marimbas. Said neck sports a 22-fret, 25” African blackwood fretboard with abalone “Celtic“ knot inlays with holly spikes and ovals made of crushed opal. Phew!
Electronics, meanwhile, come in the form of a pair of TCI pickups, which can be adjusted by individual volume and tone knobs, a three-way toggle pickup switch, and two mini-toggle EQ switches that – when flipped to the up position – remove “shelved low-end,“ in turn letting higher frequencies shine with greater clarity.
The PS McLaughlin model is finished in Charcoal Phoenix with a Smoked Black back, and also boasts PRS’s Gen III tremolo and the company's Phase III locking tuners.
As if all that wasn't enough, the guitar also comes with a McLaughlin-labeled truss rod cover, a Private Stock Eagle headstock inlay – made of crushed opal with holly outlines – McLaughlin's autograph on the back plate, and the signatures of PRS head honcho Paul Reed Smith and the company's Private Stock Director, Paul Miles, on the back of the headstock.
“Playing music is a way of being. Playing an instrument requires you to move out of the normal level of consciousness. If you’re thinking, you’re not playing. If you’re playing, you’re not thinking,“ McLaughlin said in a statement.
“If you have problems with your instrument, you’re not going to move out of the thinking zone and into your own world. This is why I love my guitar. For me, it’s perfect.“
“Being John’s guitar maker is an honor I fought decades for, and to now be able to give him a signature model is a special moment for me and hopefully the industry,“ added Paul Reed Smith.
“These guitars were designed to both feel like magic when you pick them up but also disappear in your hands so you can just focus on playing. John is capable of playing at extraordinary speed and with this instrument, you hear every note. Finding that balance as a guitar maker and coaxing every bit of sound out of the guitar was the key.“
According to PRS, 200 Private Stock John McLaughlin models will be produced in 2023. As of press time, the model's price has yet to surface, but – given the model's dizzying list of accoutrements, and its limited-edition nature – we feel quite comfortable saying it won't be at the budget end of the spectrum.
For more info on the model, visit PRS.
