2012 PRS PTC Custom (The White Rabbit)

This is PTC custom that was made for me by Skitchy. It started life as a Korina SE One but was plugged, routed, painted, and given a custom (Starla-inspired) pick-guard with matching TRC (signed by Paul). It has Phase 3 tuners, US-spec nut, a fire-breathing 408 in the bridge position, a Lollar in the neck, Bigsby, rolling bridge, and two mini-toggles that allow me to split the bridge pup or put the two pickups out of phase. It fits perfectly in a Starla Bigsby case.

The White Rabbit, as it is known, retained its SE credentials on the back of the headstock to make a point. SE's are amazing guitars right out of the box. If you want to upgrade its parts, you can rest assured that the wood, construction, and fretwork are a solid foundation for a serious instrument; no matter how far you want to take it.

This guitar remains best sounding guitar I own. It is my constant companion and my #1 player.

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2012 PRS Experience Limited in Desert Foil

One of only 6 or 7 Swamp Ash Studios were made in Desert Foil from the 2012 PRS Experience. This is the only guitar that I ever liked with dirt-birds; due to their gold hue. They just seem to fit this guitar. I added Mann Made brass saddles and the faux-ivory bits from Crazy Parts. I also bought it a paisley case. It seemed worthy.

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2013 PRS Paul's Guitar

One day I was reading FaceBook and Hunter (I think it was Hunter) posted this photo of a Paul's Guitar on the PRS page. It absolutely floored me. The top is just my style and it had a nice, dark, Brazilian Rosewood fretboard.

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I asked which dealer it was headed to but got no response. A few days later, my friend JD (Guitar Maverick, Austin) posts it up for sale on his site. Talk about a small world! Anyway I bought this guitar along with a Grissom amp. I never bonded with that amp and sold it but the guitar is a keeper.

I've changed the metal tuner buttons to faux ivory. Other than that, its bone stock.

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2013 PRS Walnut Limited

I was trying to be a good boy (not buy any more guitars) when I ran across this beauty. Can you believe that Walnut top!?!?! Stupid, right? The semi-hollow body and Brazilian Rosewood fretboard are just icing on the cake. But, as I mentioned, I was trying to be good. So I called @11top , the original wood-whore, and told him he had to see it. Just as I suspected, he loved it too and - as soon as I assured him that I wasn't going to buy it -- he bought it immediately. I was saved!

A few weeks later, he called and said he was selling it. He gave me some BS story about feeling guilty for buying a guitar that I wanted. I reminded him that I called him so I WOULDN'T buy it. But, I'm completely mental so... I thanked him for his generosity bought it from Steve. So much for being good.

I can't recall if I swapped-out the bridge for a 1-piece Mann trem. If not, I will. I just like 'em. I don't have any good self-taken photos of this guitar. I need to fix that next time I get my hands on it (which will be a while). The first two photos are from the dealer's sale page.

By the way, this guitar has a twin. It was clearly from the same piece of wood too. No sh!t. the twin used to be owned by Markie but I think Andy (@iahawk36 ) has it now.

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These are the only photos I managed to grab before it was put into storage.

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2013 PRS Music Store Live (MSL) Wood Library Paul's Guitar

I walked into a GC in Denver to kill some time before my flight from DIA. The guy working behind the counter asked me if I needed some help and I said "no thanks, I'm just window shopping". A few minutes later, I saw this bad MF'er hanging from the nose-bleed section. I laughed before telling the guy I changed my mind and needed him to get a ladder. I have never seen a mahogany-top Paul's Guitar and the price was very tempting.

When he handed it to me, I knew how it was going to end. It also has a rosewood neck, Brazilian Fretboard, and paisley case. The price was low because it has some warts (dings and dents in the body). The previous owner didn't give a sh!t about keeping it safe and it shows. But I couldn’t care less because this guitar sounds and feels remarkable. Plus, I can lean it in the corner and not worry about it. I will obviously need to get past the honeymoon phase to see where it lands but it is currently way up there. All-time top 5 guitar for tone and feel? Maybe...

I call it the Warthog. Can you dig it?

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Year? PTC Modified Mahogany SE One

It's no secret that I love the SE One. I have long hoped that PRS would make a "US One" and even went so far as having a Private Stock SE One spec'd-out a while back. After having the White Rabbit for a few years, I started to get paranoid that something would happen to it and I would lose "that sound". So I bought a mahogany SE One and sent it to Skitchy for some of his special brand of voodoo.

The guitar features a US-spec nut, US bridge and bridge studs, CTS pot, and a narrow 408 pickup. The mini-switch splits the pickup. Simple guitar. Serious tone.

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2018 PRS Silver Sky (John Mayer Signature Guitar with 'the case')

I learned a long time ago to stop saying I was done buying guitars. That said, this Silver Sky is certainly among the last. This is one of the pre-release guitars. It was made in January of 2018 and made the rounds with PRS as a demo guitar. It eventually made its way to Music Store Lives sale page where I found it. I snapped it up and the honeymoon is in full effect.

Making its first appearance on the forum, I present my Tungsten SS with case.

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2021 PRS Joe Walsh Signature (McCarty 594 Singlecut)

I haven't had a chance to properly photograph this one yet. Hell, I didn't even get a chance to plug it in to an amp before putting it into the vault back in the states. I let my buddy strum a few chords and snapped this photo. It will have to do for now.

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Here is a closer look at the top (dealer photo).

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Except for one more SE One Korina that I have rat-holed, that's it for PRS guitars. I do have some honorable mentions but they are Fenders, Gibsons, and Hamer's. I'll add them in this post another time. Cheers!
A thread worth doing again. Thanks for the fresh photos.
I feel honoured to have had my grubby hands on some of them.
 
1999 PRS Goldtop McCarty (Brazilian Rosewood neck/fretboard)

This is the Mother of Brazilians; one of roughly 30 guitars stolen and sold by the late Jeff Lanahan, a former PRS employee. This guitar is the best-sounding guitar I own. It was originally built at the behest of Jeff when he was the Manager of Artist Relations for PRS Guitars. The guitar was slated to be given to a professional guitar player (for promotional interests) but took an alternate course somewhere along the way. Flash forward to December of 2003, the guitar was listed on eBay (Item #2368271511) by Micheal D. Green (eBay ID: xochytl). Two of the fellas from the old Birds and Moons forum (Bruce O'Donnell and Glenn Braddy) were suspicious of the guitar -- so they started investigating.

The eBay seller, Michael Green, originally claimed that he took the guitar in on trade from a guy named “Duncan” (supposedly from Dallas). Green claimed that he traded Duncan a 1988 PRS mixed EG3/Custom employee model for it. Green ended up having a run-in (around 2004 or 2005) with PRS, the PRS Artist Relations Department, and the Feds. It turns out that many of the guitars Green was selling on eBay (to include this Brazilian Rosewood Gold Top McCarty) were stolen from the PRS factory and were coming from the hands of Lanahan. News articles published after the eventual lawsuit between PRS and Lanahan report that Green claimed to be “unaware” the guitars were stolen but that he was “always a little suspicious.”

The first source for concern was the seller’s claim that the neck was Brazilian Rosewood – despite a MODCAT code that suggests the neck is actually East Indian Rosewood. While the color and texture of the neck are clearly Brazilian, it is still a red flag. Discussions with PRS factory suggested that MODCAT system was very young when this guitar was built -- a possible reason for the discrepancy. More likely, however, was Lanahan's need make sure the guitar didn’t get any attention on the internal paper-trail. The second source for concern was the fact that this guitar pre-dates the limited run of solid Brazilian Rosewood neck McCarty guitars (250 signed and numbered) which are known, formally, as the “Brazilian Rosewood McCarty” model -- not to be confused with the Brazilian Limited Edition McCarty which only had a Brazilian Rosewood fretboard.

The bridge pickup cavity and original hang tag displays the word “Brazilian”. But, as previously mentioned, this instrument pre-dates the limited run of 250 Brazilian neck McCarty guitars. Upon closer inspection, there is little doubt that the coal-black lumber used for the neck of this guitar is Brazilian Rosewood but there has been no lab analysis of samples taken from the guitar. Assuming we're right, the build date makes this one of the oldest production PRS guitars with a Brazilian Rosewood neck. The only production Brazilian-neck McCarty that I've found that pre-dates this one was made for Howard Leese. Howard's guitar is serial number 9_42,3XX. The MOB is 9_ 43,156. Howard's guitar now belongs to Steve PfennRock Pfenninger (AKA 11top).

Braddy and O'Donnell attempted to get some verification via PRS and coordinated with Jim Cullen (former PRS Customer Relations Manager) who said the following to O’Donnell in an email:

Bruce,

The serial number would be helpful, also the MODCAT system was fairly new at the time and it does show a Brazilian for the fretboard so... It is difficult to say. Please get us the serial number and we will do what we can to assist you.


Best Regards,
Jim Cullen
Customer Relations


After the serial number was given to Cullen, directly by Green, Cullen replied with the following:

Michael,

I am sorry; our database prior to early 1999 is currently out of service indefinitely; if you would like more information, please email detailed photos of the guitar. I will do my best after receiving photos as well.
Best Regards,

Jim Cullen
Customer Relations


There is no more info from Cullen after this last email. As I write this, I cannot help but wonder if it was Lanahan (in an attempt to cover his tracks) who corrupted or deleted the original PRS database. Not knowing anything about the death of the PRS database, this is purely my own opinion.

Here is one of the news articles that was published when Lanahan was busted.

“Men sentenced in guitar-theft scheme” Sep 2, 2006 5:00 AM by Megan McIlroy
[email protected]
http://www.examiner.com/a-259180~Men...ft_scheme.html

Anne Arundel County (Map, News) - Two men who pleaded guilty to stealing guitars made by famed guitar maker Paul Reed Smith were ordered to pay restitution in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court Friday. Jeffrey Lanahan, 44, of Annapolis, and Michael Kelly, 42, of Arnold, pleaded guilty in June to a theft scheme in which they took guitars made for bands like Third Eye Blind, Incubus and Train and arranged for them to be sold on eBay. “We wrote off $250,000 worth of guitars,” Smith said in court Friday, “Everybody felt kind of betrayed.” Lanahan worked for Smith in Stevensville for nine years. Before he resigned in September 2004, he worked as the director of artists’ relations, promoting guitars to recording artists. He was one of the few people at Paul Reed Smith Guitars who had access to the one-of-a-kind guitars, charging documents said. Smith eventually discovered one of his stolen guitars — one of only 11 — on eBay, charging documents said. The guitar was connected back to a friend of Lanahan’s and Kelly’s.

The friend, Michael Green, told police that he had sold about 20 Paul Reed Smith guitars on eBay. He also said that Kelly had given him about 10 more guitars to sell. The guitars, valued at thousands of dollars, were often marketed as guitars used by recording artists like Nickelback, Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Dunty said. Investigators were able to trace back approximately $40,000 worth of guitars back to Lanahan and Kelly, and they recovered guitars worth about $19,000, Dunty said. Lanahan was sentenced to three months of house arrest, five years probation, community service and was ordered to pay Smith about $21,000. Kelly was sentenced to three years probation, community service and was ordered to pay Smith $5,000.


Glenn Brady won the eBay auction mentioned above. David (Cyclops) bought the guitar from a dealer in South Florida. The dealer had bought it from Glenn at the Orlando Guitar show. David said that he fell in love with it and put in on hold for almost a year. When David got it home, he posted his NGD on Birds and Moons. At that point, Glenn sent him the back story.

David says that almost the same day that he brought it home, the trial started. He emailed PRS and asked them if they needed it for evidence. Fortunately, the next day, the court found Lanahan guilty and he agreed to pay for all the guitars. David said that he received a really nice note from PRS basically stating that the guitar was, at that point, 'legit'.

Many of the details in the original post were compiled by its two previous owners (David and Glenn).

BTW, Glenn is the one who made the custom truss rod cover. I believe that David (Cyclops) put the gold knobs on it. I put the early non-engraved 57/08's and Paul's Guitar briefer (not shown) on it.

Jeff Lanahan passed away in 2017.

Baltimore Sun (9 May 2017)
Annapolis homeless man dies on the street at 55
by Meredith Newman

"A former guitar maker living on the street was found dead on a West Street bench Monday in Annapolis", city police said. Officers responded to a call of a person in cardiac arrest and bleeding around 5:30 p.m. Monday and found Jeffrey Lanahan on a bench in the first block of West Street, police said.

Annapolis Fire Department paramedics performed CPR and pronounced him dead once was he was placed in an ambulance. Police found no signs of foul play and the Chief Medical Examiner Office was notified. Officers knew Lanahan and said he had a history of homelessness, said Cpl. Amy Miguez, police spokesman. She added that officers saw Lanahan earlier in the day on Main Street and were "shocked" to learn of his death.

At one point, Lanahan spent almost a decade making, promoting and delivering guitars for Paul Reed Smith Guitars in Stevensville. But in 2006, he pleaded guilty to stealing about a dozen guitars from his employer in 2006 that were made for bands Third Eye Blind, The Dead and Incubus. Since then, he had several run-ins with the law. Lanahan was charged with second-degree assault in January and had a trial date set for late June."

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Hans, I fixed sentence #2 for you.
End of debate. ;-)
 
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Agree with the thoughts on McCarty thickness (or SC thickness) with Braz RW necks. Magic with 59/09s, especially SCT ME I :)

I need to up my Celtic knot collection...:D

EDIT - also agree on the virtues of Madagascar RW. I’ve had one with Maddie RW neck that as amazing. My 594 has a Maddie fretboard and some serious mojo...
 
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