Premier Magazine interview with Paul Reed Smith. Clydesdale?

matonanjin

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Yesterday's issue of Premier Guitar Magazine has as the cover article an interview with the man:

Paul Reed Smith: The Luthier Behind the Initials

A very positive article. From the article (first couple paragraphs):

"PRS himself talks about learning from Ted McCarty, building guitars for the stars, elbowing the competition, his distinctive headstock design, and more.


Paul Reed Smith could be gloating. At a time when other majors have made layoffs or are coming down from the lockdown-era sales buzz, the company the luthier founded literally with his own hands in 1985 has become a $100-million business. PRS Guitars’ $849 SE Silver Sky—a 6-stringed Clydesdale—was this year’s top seller on Reverb. Recently, the Stevensville, Maryland-based operation introduced its debut pedals, plus a limited-run Robben Ford signature axe that’s a Rolls-Royce with strings. And a raft of new instruments are already in the wings for 2023.

Instead, at an early November party Smith threw at Nashville’s Soundcheck rehearsal complex during CMA week, he reflected humility. Smith addressed the roomful of players, emotionally recalling the 2015 CMA Awards, where the count of PRS instruments onstage was literally neck-and-neck with the population of Fenders and Gibsons for the first time. That ceremony was an ignition point for greater success as well as an affirmation for the guitars that bear his name.
“We don’t want to be a brand,” he told the crowd. “We want to be guitar makers. Country guitarists really helped take us to another level. I am truly grateful.
” "

WTF did he mean by "Clydesdale"? I get he meant that the Silver Sky is a workhorse. But does the author, Mr. Drozdowski, mean a workhorse for Paul (or the company)? Or it is a workhorse guitar for its owner? Clearly, I miss the symbolism.

And would you people quit using "literally" if you don't fucking know how to use it! People were not there on stage rubbing necks they were figuratively "neck-and-neck" </end rant>

ANYWAY Great article:cool:
 
Instead, at an early November party Smith threw at Nashville’s Soundcheck rehearsal complex during CMA week, he reflected humility. Smith addressed the roomful of players, emotionally recalling the 2015 CMA Awards, where the count of PRS instruments onstage was literally neck-and-neck with the population of Fenders

And would you people quit using "literally" if you don't fucking know how to use it! People were not there on stage rubbing necks they were figuratively "neck-and-neck" </end rant>

THANK YOU! I have literally said that on here a million times!!!! Glad to know I'm not the only one!!! :rolleyes::cool:

But this usage of 'neck-and-neck' is the horse-racing equivalent, meaning the number of PRSi was the same (or virtually the same) as the number of Fenders and Gibsons.

If they did have people on stage rubbing necks, their ratings might have been higher.
 
I love this excerpt:

"What Robben Ford wanted and what David Grissom wants is that every one of those models we ship is a his-caliber instrument.

He doesn’t want just the couple we tweak for him and then put his name on a bunch of others.

Carlos Santana wants a guitar that he can take out of the factory, put in the limo, go to the gig, pull it out, and play it.

And by the way, I’ve watched him do that. It’s a little scary to have him play to 15,000 people with a guitar that’s only been played about a minute-and-a-quarter its entire life.

David Grissom does not take a guitar to clinics. He takes ones off the wall at the store to hold my hands to the fire."


Well, that's the test, isn't it?

=K
 
THANK YOU! I have literally said that on here a million times!!!! Glad to know I'm not the only one!!! :rolleyes::cool:

But this usage of 'neck-and-neck' is the horse-racing equivalent, meaning the number of PRSi was the same (or virtually the same) as the number of Fenders and Gibsons.

If they did have people on stage rubbing necks, their ratings might have been higher.
;)
 
I love this excerpt:

"What Robben Ford wanted and what David Grissom wants is that every one of those models we ship is a his-caliber instrument.

He doesn’t want just the couple we tweak for him and then put his name on a bunch of others.

Carlos Santana wants a guitar that he can take out of the factory, put in the limo, go to the gig, pull it out, and play it.

And by the way, I’ve watched him do that. It’s a little scary to have him play to 15,000 people with a guitar that’s only been played about a minute-and-a-quarter its entire life.

David Grissom does not take a guitar to clinics. He takes ones off the wall at the store to hold my hands to the fire."


Well, that's the test, isn't it?

=K

It is - and I've seen it happen. Brian's did a PRS event a few years ago that I went to. Mark Hocomb, David Grissom, and PRSh. Grissom played a blue DGT, as I recall - don't think I've ever seen him play a blue one other than that event. But I know MH didn't bring the guitar he used because it was mine. Traffic was a bad getting to the event, so I called Brian and told him it looked like I'd be late but I still wanted a Holcomb. When I got there, he said there was a problem - they sold out of the Holcombs, mine was the last, and Mark needed one for the clinic and he asked if it was okay if they used mine. Like I was going to torpedo the clinic - besides, it was a chance for the guitar to sound good one last time.

I gotta say, if you want to prove you stand behind your product, it's a hell of a way to do it. Especially when you do it repeatedly over the years, at different dealers. Show up empty-handed and use what's on the rack.
 
And would you people quit using "literally" if you don't fucking know how to use it! People were not there on stage rubbing necks they were figuratively "neck-and-neck" </end rant>

“Literally“ actually works fine in this article. He's referring to the necks of the guitars, so it's a literal “neck and neck” occurrence on the stage that's demonstrating PRS' competitiveness (whereas a totally figurative use of the expression would reference a horse race without any actual necks involved).
 
On the general use of "literally" vs. "figuratively", it grates me too. I agree with others though that this was correct usage -- "neck and neck" referring to the "count of PRS instruments" versus other major brands. That said, "neck and neck" is by definition figurative, unless we are talking about horseracing. I do think even the dictionaries are taking the "living language" perspective and the definition is itself changing. The same thing is happening with "imply" and "infer". The latter's misuse always bothers me.

I'm guessing Paul Reed Smith takes the old school -- and IMO proper -- stance on the use of these words given his demonstrated precision in other matters.
 
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