Good new interview with Paul

[garrett]

Ran across this one on Facebook. Different from your typical interview with Paul, this one focuses on the business side of things. The author won't win any awards for the transcription, but it is full of good nuggets of info especially if you are interested in business stuff.

https://drivenforward.com/paul-reed-smith-interview/

I was happy to read that they had a sharp jump in revenue last year. Looks like profits were strong as well since they were able to provide some more benefits to the employees. The business seems strong, which is good for all of us!

I read elsewhere that Gibson has annual revenues over $1 billion. We've all seen it said that PRS is the number three maker after Fender and Gibson. To put in perspective how distant a third they are, PRS were thrilled to hit $50 million in revenue.

The other thing I love in this article is how Paul gives so much credit to the team who works for him.

 

[kes7u]

Nice interview. It felt a little bit uncomfortable, but you obviously don't get the tone from a transcribed interview.

VERY interesting little tidbit about a NEW guitar he's approved, and apparently at a great price point. I'm really wondering now if the new Mayer is an SE, or at the very least, an S2??

Kevin

 

[CVS]

Great article. Thanks for posting. Good to see they are growing. $50M in annual revenues is significant and for the business to thrive, it cannot be run like a mom and pop shop. Sounds like that is exactly how Paul is running things. Get good people on board, give them some general direction and let them go. A 15% increase in this industry (lots of competition) is really outstanding! The employees probably had to work very hard to make that happen.

OK - Now time to address the backlog. It would be interesting to know how the backlog shakes out between SE, S2 and Core....

 

[sergiodeblanc]

That was rad, thanks garrett.

 

[garrett]

Nice interview. It felt a little bit uncomfortable, but you obviously don't get the tone from a transcribed interview.

VERY interesting little tidbit about a NEW guitar he's approved, and apparently at a great price point. I'm really wondering now if the new Mayer is an SE, or at the very least, an S2??

Kevin

Seems odd he would throw out the number $2800, right? Considering there is nothing at that price point currently. It would be super amazing if they release a premium USA Mayer bolt-on along with an $800 SE version. Something is definitely in production in MD.

Either way, whatever he's talking about sounds big: "...people will look at me like I have a rabbit on my head when we release it."

 

[AP515]

I want to know about that Stradivarius wood LE. Will the wood make some magical difference or will it sound pretty much like any other? If they find it really does produce some benefit, I might have to open the checkbook!

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Seems odd he would throw out the number $2800, right? Considering there is nothing at that price point currently. It would be super amazing if they release a premium USA Mayer bolt-on along with an $800 SE version. Something is definitely in production in MD.

Either way, whatever he's talking about sounds big: "...people will look at me like I have a rabbit on my head when we release it."

I’m holding out for an SE double neck dragon.

 

[BrianC]

good read!

 

[Guitarsan]

Thanks for posting, great interview Paul! PRSh suffers no fools and that was one foolish set of original questions. Amazing that guy got in the door..

 

[walrus]

Great article, thanks!

 

[bodia]

Thanks for posting. Good read!

 

[Tonart]

I want to know about that Stradivarius wood LE. Will the wood make some magical difference or will it sound pretty much like any other? If they find it really does produce some benefit, I might have to open the checkbook!

A Violin III perhaps?