“He called me and said, ‘Paul! Paul! I need your help. Eddie’s coming up”: Paul Reed Smith on the time Kramer asked him to build a guitar for Eddie Van Halen

Paul Reed Smith addresses a panel at NAMM. On the right, Eddie Van Halen, with a yellow tiger print blazer on, shreds on Frankenstein.

Paul Reed Smith makes for all kinds of high-profile players. He pretty much launched PRS Guitars on the back of Carlos Santana’s endorsement. Forty years on, players such as John Mayer, Mark Tremonti and Zach Myers swear by his electric guitar designs.

But he was asked an interesting hypothetical the other day, one that all guitar makers will have pondered at some point: if Eddie Van Halen knocked on your door and asked you to make a guitar, what would you make him?