“I knew the Silver Sky would take years to take its place in the world. And I say this cautiously, but it feels like it’s become pretty widely accepted”: How John Mayer and Paul Reed Smith made the Silver Sky

John Mayer plays his Roxy Pink PRS Silver Sky, wearing his Sob Rock-era duds – gray suit, T-shirt... On the right, Paul Reed Smith addresses the crowd at an industry gala.

When PRS dropped its USA-made Core Silver Sky in 2018, they weren’t just releasing a John Mayer signature six-string, and they weren’t trying to break the internet; they were reinventing the wheel, to speak.

The wheel in question was the Fender Strat, a guitar brandished by everyone from Jeff Beck to David Gilmour to Mayer himself. But Mayer – and Paul Reed Smith – wanted something different, something fresh, new and inventive. This would require forward thinking, painstaking effort and, to be frank, balls. Of Mayer’s general mentality toward the Silver Sky, Smith says, “He’s not messing around. If he had a guitar that he liked better, he would use it.”