Founded in 1985 in Stevensville, Maryland, USA, PRS Guitars (named after its founder, luthier Paul Reed Smith), took up the daring challenge of designing and producing guitars that meet the challenge of offering instruments with uncompromising sonic versatility, exceptional playing comfort, and beauty and craftsmanship of the highest level. With models such as the McCarthy and Custom 24, PRS Guitars has made a stunning entry into the world of guitar building, which it now dominates by combining the qualities of the Stratocaster (vibrato, crystal-clear sound, mellow basses, playing comfort) and the Les Paul (creamy crunch, assertive mids, endless sustain and luxurious finishes), adding a character all of its own.

The PRS Core Studio 10Top transcends the division between modern and vintage guitars. The feel of this musical gem is of course due to its lutherie, which is not only superbly precise, but also contributes to a deep and natural tone. The HSS configuration will delight those who are looking for an instrument capable of performing reliably in all styles and playing contexts. In a few words: classy and versatile. In one word: top. Like the 10Top maple top that covers the carefully selected mahogany to form the base of this performance powerhouse.

The core principles of PRS - which are the quality of the components and the quality of the instrument - are perfectly exemplified by this particular guitar. The top is of essentially rare quality, not just because it looks good on paper, but because it's the kind that makes great sounding guitars. The mahogany (for body and the neck), and the rosewood (for the fingerboard) are obviously great too. And you can hear it very quickly when you play it a little. But it's also due to the whole setup, which PRS takes special care of, since their standard is already top notch in this area too.

The PRS Gen III vibrato is reliable, easy to adjust, and easy to forget. The tuners that complement it, the PRS Phase III Locking, are precision tools that do and will work for over 30 years like they did on day one. The fretwork is impeccable, and inspiration will have to come from somewhere other than the little imperfections that sometimes color your playing on other guitars. This is a high quality, objectively beautiful and perfect professional instrument that will perform all the functions of a guitar without ever letting you down.

And then when you plug it in, it's like a monument of sound that rises up, and you can control every nuance of it to end up with that of a pure Strat, or the same as a real Les Paul, and a world in between that's actually that of a PRS with a bit more vintage, even roots, orientation than usual. It has a simple HSS electronics with 5-way pickup selector, master volume and master tone with a push/pull on the tone to split the bridge pickup.

The two single-coil mics are PRS Narrowfield, mini-humbuckers by PRS, so they don't make noise, but are passive and still sound like single-coil pickups. They have a vintage grain, and you can hear it clearly in the video (at the end John plays licks in different positions to show it). The feel of the guitar is modern: the finish is smooth, the neck is super sleek, everything is very even, it sounds right, it's perfect to look at... The tone is totally roots. But perfect. Without noise, without strangeness, without compromise. This PRS is a PRS superstrat. With two amps, or one amp and a great stompbox, or a Quad Cortex from Neural DSP, you have all the tones you could possibly need for a studio session, a concert, in a perfectly crafted instrument that will inspire you to play it.

2-year warranty from our workshop.