How John Mann met Paul Reed Smith

[John Mann]

Some of you that have met me and asked how did Paul Reed Smith and myself cross paths and start working together on the now famous PRS Vibrato Bridge design.

I met Paul Reed Smith at his West Street shop, in Annapolis, Maryland in late summer of 1978, to have a 1966 Gibson SG Special repaired . This meeting is what set me on the path to becoming a guitar bridge / hardware designer and manufacturer.

Here is the story...

 

[veinbuster]

Very cool.
Nice to see it back home.

 

[vchizzle]

That was awesome

 

[CarolD]

Cool story.

 

[Em7]

That is a very cool story, John. My first engineering job out of the Navy was with Westinghouse's Oceanic Divison. I was an embedded systems engineer (I worked in digital logic and embedded software design and development). While I worked in the building with no windows across the street from the main building, I remember the machine shop in the main building very well. The other divisions in Westinghouse referred to us as the country club because we were on the Chesapeake Bay.

 

[Em7]

For those who want to know where John and I worked, the facility can be seen coming back from the Eastern Shore on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge from the PRS factory. It is on the Western Shore to the left of both spans. It is now owned by Northrop-Grumman. It was a cool place to work as a young person.

https://news.northropgrumman.com/news/features/stories-20170914

 

[John Mann]

That is a very cool story, John. My first engineering job out of the Navy was with Westinghouse's Oceanic Divison. I was an embedded systems engineer (I worked in digital logic and embedded software design and development). While I worked in the building with no windows across the street from the main building, I remember the machine shop in the main building very well. The other divisions in Westinghouse referred to us as the country club because we were on the Chesapeake Bay.

Yep... we were the "country club"
I spent most of my short 5 year career there working behind closed doors, or in the "Skunks Works" building, which was literally 100 ft from the Chesapeake Bay with our own pier.

 

[John Mann]

For those who want to know where John and I worked, the facility can be seen coming back from the Eastern Shore on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge from the PRS factory. It is on the Western Shore to the left of both spans. It is now owned by Northrop-Grumman. It was cool place to work as a young person.

https://news.northropgrumman.com/news/features/stories-20170914

very cool article. I always remember that place when I pass it going to the PRS factory on Kent Island (were I used to live).

 

[Moondog Wily]

Congrats on that full circle! Great story!!! Looking forward to the open mic jam once that puppy is ready to rock again (as defined by Mann standards)!!

 

[dogrocketp]

A special thank you to my friend, Terry Harrison, who returned the guitar to you. He is a wonderful human being who deserves to have good things happen to him unexpectedly.

 

[Rod/]

Hi @John Mann ….Back in Santa Fe..
I just Love the Wood Library DGT I bought from you and Andy. A truly amazing electric guitar! Your set up was superb…
. You’re a great bunch of folks with a cool PRS store and such a great story about you and Paul…
see you soon, Rod