100% accurate

There isn’t much modern about the Silver Sky at all, except that it’s being offered in ugly Tesla-inspired colors (apart from the special finish runs like Nebula). I don’t have a problem with it, apart from the fact that John Mayer is trying to make it out to be some evolution of the Strat… It IS a Strat, with a PRS headstock.

Lmao facts!

@@joeykelly5642 yeah that was very weird to hear. You’d think he meant a guitar with piezo in the bridge vibrato saddle, stereo outs with a magnetic pickup and piezo blend knob, stainless frets etc. it’s just a strat in the sea of strats, that, like he said ironically make his guitar yet another station wagon tribute

Yeah even a $150 Cort G series is more of an evolution in terms of being a strat style guitar.

hahahaha wow

I think it has something to do with his vocal surgery and him having to learn to laugh different so as to avoid irritating his vocal chords

@@soumakbasak9848 Totally you may be right because he developed his habit after around the same time

Mr. Perfect Pitch over here.

@@soumakbasak9848 he’s always laughed like that I’m pretty sure

Actually PRS COPIED the guitar that DID create the surf culture of the 60's. (Dick Dale) It also was the choice of Hendrix, Vaughn, Clapton and hundreds of other great established guitar LEGENDS. What has always been obvious is it's the great players that made the instruments 'ICONIC'. The brand of guitar doesn't make anyone a great player. That comes from years of practice, focus, and driven devotion. Any guitar is only as good as the person playing it.

@@mitcharney1 Clapton established his career on Gibsons. THEN in the 70s, Fender lured him away.

@@TheScottJeter He wasn't lured away. Way before there was a Fender EC Model he explains in a KZfaq video that he bought used Strats in pawn shops and pieced the neck he liked best to one of the bodies. (Blackie). He has played Strats much longer than gibsons. "Blackie" is the guitar that became/is synonymous with Eric Clapton and the first year of the EC Artist Model was 1988.

Yeah, I don’t really understand what he means. He wanted contemporary design cues, so he went to a company that makes 80s-looking guitars and asked them to make him the exact car-inspired surf guitar he already plays? I think it’s just that PRS treats him better so he moved on.

Check my patented fretboard invention 🎸🎶

@@paulmcgrath6118 The SE series from PRS is great. Anything PRS ! IMHO

@@paulmcgrath6118 the SEs are usually pretty good, but I’d also recommend the S2 line if you can swing a bit more money. They use similar hardware and pickups, but are built in their US factory and generally have a higher build quality. The satin Vela in particular is a fantastic guitar.

I worked at Taylor Guitars for years and Bob Taylor was in the factory every day. If needed, he could cover anybody’s job for the day. Said hello whenever we passed each other but did not know him personally. Ranks in the top 2 best bosses I’ve ever worked for.

@@paulmcgrath6118 play a modern eagle and you will never want to play a fender again.....

the touch and details on ALL PRSes are near perfect, its just like people at PRS just hate making any substandard guitar that carries the PRS name, unlike most other big names which will eventually bumping into bad makes once in a while

Guy from musiciswin is crying somewhere

@@yungplague5534 you mean tyler

Any guitarist's relationship with Paul is the stuff of a guitarist's dreams.

Fender CEO finally gets a hold of John Mayer guitar sketch and gives him a "well done" sticker star on his forehead

"This is going RIGHT on the fridge, John! Good job!"

“Transfer him over to Charvel, where modern fenders are made”

@@JohnL2112 yup.

LOL

But he made it more like a custom shop with the vintage sounding pickups but instead of it being outrageously priced it's 2200

Gotta be more to the story because they will make me a custom neck for the right price.

@@richarddeschaine7689 Well, $2200 is pretty outrageous to me. I don't even like paying $1000, although I've done it a couple of times.

@@reed311 from his 40 or 60 minutes video he explained that the person inside of fender who used to do his old one left, the new people he had some people then when prs called he wanted to make some change some things and prs let him he explained it a lot better hopeful this helps.

@@reed311 You watched the video, right? His contact at Fender left. The "new" Fender rep was more concerned with the company bottom line, than making customers happy. I would imagine John is pretty difficult to work with (In the nicest way. He's a perfectionist and should be!). Fender just wants to slap John's signature on a strat and call it an artist strat. PRS wants to give John what he wants, and feel good about it.

Was just gonna write this. The Silver Sky model is just like every other 60's strat-style guitar. Lol.

Yeah made no sense.

IIRC, his old number one is a SRV tribute made in the 80s.

Because Fender has been making their strats the same way as always and PRS has been innovating guitar technology for a while now. Especially in their electronics and most importantly in their playability. Fender is so inconsistent in their quality and playability that it's almost comedic. It's almost like playing a lottery buying a new fender guitar these days because you probably will have to get some work done on it to get it the way you want it - assuming you're the caliber of player that can tell the difference

@@zynthio Looks like you are in the minority with your reply. There is not a single electronic innovation in the 'Sky' that Fender had not already used. If you just read all the Videos that Mayer has posted you will find that he asked Paul Smith to "COPY" his vintage 7-1/4" radius Fender Strat necks. The key word is "COPY". Mayer also asked for the "Sky's' pickups to "COPY" the same tone of his vintage "Strats". Since the 'Sky' came out, Fender has sold at least 100 American made Strats to each PRS 'Sky' sold. Fender Custom Shop is 6 years behind in some of the orders. The "Sky" was not an innovation at all. It is, However, a nice copy of the Leo Fender "innovation".

The artists made Fender. The company, after Leo's original design, has basically not done anything truly innovative. It's really luck of perfect timing that Fender became what it did-- that so many artists used them for so much great music that it became a self-fulfilling prophecy of success. And they've been cashing in on cheap to make 1950s designs for 70 years.

Indeed! Like Dokovich and Federer. They push each other.

@@G5Hohn What a total bullshit statement! You sound like a middle school bully trying to break someone down because they had success and you cant stand it.

@@weschilton I have no idea how you get that. Unless you aren't mature enough to recognize that a big part of the successful vs the failure is just dumb luck. The more honest successful people will admit that. Once the "vintage" craze hit in the 90s, guitar innovation (especially at the big guys) basically stopped. Go ahead and list off the major "innovations" from Fender since, oh, 1985. I'll wait.

@@G5Hohn Well I don't know how innovative it is, but my Elite Strat is one of the finest instruments on earth. The Ultra Strat also won all kinds of "guitar of the year" awards the year it came out.

He leaves Fender so PRS can build him a Fender Strat. This seems so retarded.

@@malachi9898 yep nail on the head

@@malachi9898 yet he talks about it like it’s a revolutionary instrument. I’m so confused.

Well there’s dozens of things different about it if you just cross the specs. It’s pretty obvious

@@spencerriggs6777 Ascetics are only ascetics. If you don't see the guitar being played (blind test) it sounds exactly like a Strat. That is the sound Mayer wanted and as the project developed the more Mayer wanted specs to be like his 2 favorite vintage Strats. He says that in other videos. You have to maintain the basics of the build to get that sound, as ALL the boutique copiers have done. The bottom line is about the sound of a Strat. The last thing is PRS was willing to pay John more for an endorsement than Fender was. Van Halen changed guitar companies at least 4 times. It's about $.

I just wanna use this special opportunity to thank you 🙏 for the love 💕 and support towards me, I’m very grateful and thankful to have you as a supportive fan❤️😍😘🙏✅

From what I’ve heard about it (haven’t played it personally) it has a pretty “hi fi” kind of sound to it. Heard the same sort of explanation from multiple people. So I guess it’s just like a strat as intended, with more of a modern kind of sound, and then feel with the PRS neck and body details. Take what you will from that. Just think I’ve heard from too many people now that it just isn’t a strat, and I’m starting to believe it

@@grahamr7756 im don't understand much about guitar gear, so I'm curious, what actually made the difference? The tone wood the pickups?

@@CigLivery I think usually it’s pickups related. Like I said before I’ve not actually played one so I’m guessing here. Woods do matter as well though but I don’t think it’s anything out of the ordinary what they’re using. Except the carve is a bit different

@@grahamr7756 The wood's main effect lies in the sustain. If the wood resonates with the string, it helps the string to ring longer, and thereby generate more harmonics etcetera. Pickups then push out the signal according to their sensitivity and frequency response.

A guitar is so much more than just how it looks ya know. The type of wood, fretboard, pick ups, tuners, bridge you use can look like a Strat but feel and sound completely different

PRS Private Stocks are the same price as Gibson Murphy Lab Les Pauls

The SE guitars are really nice

High end PRS are comparable in price to top of the line Gibson but NO Gibson at ANY price can even compare to top shelf PRS. Last time I checked out a $3k-$4k Gibson LP custom I was appalled at the atrocious lack of any standards of quality applying to the finishing cosmetics like inlays and binding. The inlays were actually plastic and if that wasn't atrocious enough they weren't even cut to the proper shape but instead they just inlayed rectangular plastic blocks that roughly simulated MOP then simply painted over them to create the desired shapes such as the Gibson logo!?! Absolutely deplorable and abysmal manufacturing standards. It was difficult not to suspect Gibson corporate of conspiring to hatch a sinister, diabolical scheme to scam unsuspecting naive guitarists with no eye for quality by selling them guitars manufactured with defects BUILT INTO THE DESIGN as part of a carefully planned, elaborate campaign to cut corners to the level of quality once inherent to older guitars basically doing away with pesky standards of quality in order to simplify and streamline the building process. No longer must they agonize over even obvious flaws and defects since they are now inherent to the very design itself. Not to mention most of their most popular guitars have design characteristics that are inferior and long outdated compared to modern designs like PRS(such as the LP neck joints laying part of the fretboard directly onto the body). To top off the admirably evil practices, they are known as being by far the most sue happy guitar company ever! Once sueing even the smallest, most boutique guitar builders for building anything even remotely resembling a Les Paul or SG. SMFH... I will no longer even consider buying from the greedy, corporate, monopolizing company that is Gibson... K, rant over!

My guitarist has a silver sky. It's a beauty.

PRS was willing to pay John more $ for an endorsement than Fender was. Have you forgotten how many times Van Halen changed guitar companies?

Yea I think that's the main point he pointed out on his KZfaq channel when he was describing the prs guitar from the fender guitar.

@@mitcharney1 evh is a different story. Moved to MM when kramer was going to collapse. Then with Peavey to build basically the same guitar plus his copy of a Soldano and having a better worldwide spread. Then he was fired by Peavey when he went to NAMM drunk while presenting the new line. Then Fender offered him a personal line to produce his basic guitar PLUS the amps (evolution of the peavey 5150) plus all of his older guitars that people still asked. With Fender wasn't an endorsment, was a company in the company

didnt he have a concert in 2020 where he used a fender strat though?

And what's inside of it is absolutely nothing interesting or innovative. Copied vintage Strat neck and body specs, reverse-engineered and PRS built same old vintage strat pickups. It's literally just a strat, just a boring one.

@@Quicksilver_Cookie PRS actually has a unique way of doing the wiring on the Silver Sky. Using resistors on the pots to keep them at a precise value and really finding the sweet spot for the pickups and capacitors to work together to make the controls much more interactive than most Strats I’ve played. While you could mod any guitar this way I think you’re hard pressed to find a production guitar with that extra thought put into it. Copied or not I give PRS some merit on that.

@@Stratpack59 That mod has been used for years and not a PRS idea. It's cost about ten bucks.

@@mitcharney1 Fair enough that it’s been around for a while. I don’t personally know of another production guitar that uses it though. I’m not a huge PRS fanboy, but I appreciate the thought Paul has put into them. Like doing a $10 mod to help it achieve the best sound out of the factory.

why didn u swap out the strings ?

I love my S2. Nice work sir!

The fender that designed the strat is not the same fender we have today.

@kitano0 I don’t think that’s the point that John was making. His point is that his collaborative relationship with Fender changed. When in the past they would be more creatively open minded to artist ideas and work flow, they shifted to a more rigidly corporate behaviour, which in John’s mind stifles creativity when it involves the artists they endorse. Personally, I don’t have an opinion one way or the other. I have a Eric Johnson model strat that I’m happy with, but I didn’t buy it new and I doubt I’ll be buying a Fender product any time in the future unless it’s old and vintage.

@@Clayphish exactly, fender just became more about the production and the dollars at the end...not so much about the music and the artist anymore. @kitano0, is it really new what they do? feels more like apple without steve jobs. They keep on making different products on the same theme. Whatever they make it always looks like a former model... Besides that, I think PRS is absolute a stunning company especially as long as Paul Reed Smith himself stays with the company.

I love fender but, no. They’re not releasing new and exciting product.

Where are the new and exciting products lol? Release the same version of a strat with the only big change being the price that is 300$ more ? I freaking love strats, but they're starting to be like Gibson

yeah that's what i didn't understand. the silver sky is most definitely a traditional s type guitar lol. i do agree with him on how idolizing vintage guitars to the point of trying to recreate them in perfect detail 60 years later is ridiculous. but fender has been backed into this corner where it's like they're scared to change their strats and teles for fear of pissing off their traditionalist customers. i'm glad leo sold the company and went on to make G&L guitars where he continued what fender could've been if they werent living in his shadow. If leo were still around today who know where his next company would end up. but yeah many many other companies and doing much more innovative things than 3+3 tuners on a strat body lol

What brands would you recommend someone to look into? I wanna checkout these features

@@erickelley9888 Gibson is the same way though.

@@rangowilder8099 brands like Relish Guitars from Switzerland have that funky pickup switching with a really light aluminum framed body. Strandbergs are cool for the fanned frets.

And Cordon Bleu Baby Blue

I'm honestly curious to see what that color would look like now lol.

I was never really tempted by the silver sky....but the roxy pink.....wow

John doesn’t need the money

@@rambleon2011 doubt he does this for the money when he has Range Rover and G-Shock money on the side and is John Mayer lol. Silver Sky sold a lot and a lot of non-Mayer fans got it.

@@rambleon2011 Is he known for paying his girlfriends bills? Rumour says no. We all need more money. This PRS deal is just the business deal! A dream come true. Good package with return.

That's called prostitution integrity. That's an oxymoron. Follow the money right off a cliff.

Fender doesn’t own the right to the Stratocaster body design. He just made some extra contours to the strat because he wanted them there

His PRS is hideous looking

@@karterdowd606 Yes Fender owns the Headstock design.

Watch the review with phill knight and Marty music sorry if I missed spelled there name but Phill pointed out fender does not own the strat anyone can make it . Also they made slight changes so they can not get sue, the electric parts are different to.

His point isn't about tweaking, though (like swapping out pickups or electronics). He's saying the basic design hasn't changed in 60-70 years. The most popular electric guitars-Teles, Strats, Les Pauls, &c.-haven't changed much. The guitar manufacturing business is possibly the most conservative business I can think of. The vintage market has made things worse in that sense, because guitar buyers are so conservative that they think nothing can be improved in the design because Leo Fender or Les Paul "got it right the first time."

@@danielstoddart yeah, and his signature guitar is just a warmed over copy of that design. Like a million others before it.

@@Dram1984 so sorry someone held a gun to your head and made you buy one

@@danielstoddart I'm sure that I'm as conservative as any player out there. Buy the simple truth, and in this case the driving force for new guitar design is the fact that "if it's not broke, don't it." And I'm happy with that.

@@danielstoddart So why did he make something so close to the Strat? You would think he'd do something drastically more modern

LOL!!!

Steve Vai said the same back in 1987 or so about the JEM.

Correct.

the headstock is reversed that's it.

@@ved5243 I also notice an extra taper on the lower cutout? Other than that, nothing?

Bruv you also get some matte colour options on the prs. Other than the nebula blue nothing is striking. The Silver Sky is an exact replica of a strat:(

@@ved5243 That's true. It's pretty wild imho that Paul took on this project, I mean, what's next? A PRS Iceman for Paul Stanley?

Look its JOE Fender….wazzup joey

PRS provided a more lucrative endorsement.

Lol he hasn’t mastered my fretboard invention doing FretCorner bends yet. I’m the king of the style so no matter how badass any Rock star thinks they are they have to admit they can’t do FretCorner bends as good as me or have never invented any legit modification to a fretboard. Atleast 99.99%. Lastly I offer these guys a free guitar to try and instead of taking up offer .. they bitch tf out. That’s weak af. Kill the ego. Admit you can’t do a style and I’m the best at it.

The DJ of Guitar Designers

he literally says he "redesigned" a guitar (that already existed) in the first 30 seconds.

@@haze86 he redesigned the definition of redesign I guess

@@davidgangemi3314 to your point, it looks very much like a Strat and I do think he's being a little silly even implying that what he did is a redesign but... I don't think JM is crazy enough to think he "designed" the guitar himself.

lol

There would have to be some.

It's a Strat with a PRS head.

@@marcpaola1371 Obviously. But theoretically they made it “better”, as all Strat improvements try to do.

Is it after all just about the money?

I always fear my guitars being the 3 main ones I use, but im sure if I can show my songs to someone I can start trying other guitars as they come

LOL!!!

Indistinguishable? Better have another look

He said “redesign the electric guitar” to gain some distance from the old vintage things we always had. Not create something new from scratch. He said he has been a Fender guy his whole life, but when the company decided to stop taking what artists had to say on an instrument, or the ideas to make it better, he just moved somewhere else towards a place where he could actually make something, to have the freedom, and PRS was that place. After the massive success the Silver Sky was, im sure Fender are gonna start taking their artist more seriously

The haters will always be the ones who will comment first. And they say the internet is a nasty place LOL negative people have their safe haven in these comments section

I think I'm picking up what you're putting down, Andrew. His "totally new" story moving forward from these apparent tributes to station wagons to today rings quite hollow when you consider the final product. It isn't exactly a Tesla guitar. Hell, it isn't even one of Ryan Bellamy's designs. Brian May and his father had a guitar design leap. I am amazed by John's talent, but he and PRS didn't exactly reinvent the proverbial wheel.

well Saint Vincent is kind of an experimental musician whereas mayor is making traditional sounding music. it makes sense that her guitar would be some weird new concoction whereas his would be pretty basic but just filled with his preferred specs.

to be fair he plays their Modern Eagles and non-Silver Sky a lot for Dead and Company and the JMod amps.

@@MaestroJericho Fair enough mate. Don’t really listen to Mayer that much, he’s a fabulous player when he’s jamming but his mainstream stuff isn’t for me really.

@@Yosser70 a marvelous player for sessions but I couldn’t listen to one of his songs for over 30 seconds

And Fender already gave him 2 and the contract was for 2 guitars so for the third one they wanted to charge and that was outrageous? It's funny :D

@@LZcool like he can spare the change

🤣🤣 yep. He’s talking about reinventing the wheel but designed the exact same wheel.

@@cornellbobby A wheel other than round, doesn't roll!

Yeah, I love John's music, but dude... this is nothing but barely veiled marketing hype. Its really pretty lame.

yeah well. do you know how much 60s strats go for? the fact that PRS can make something like that of that quality for that price is really cool.

PRSs and Fenders have wildly different neck feels, really all that’s similar is the shape of the body

you nailed it sir

Agreed. His PRS sounds sterile. His Black1 had mojo tone

He already has. He was playing non PRS guitars a lot of the time with Dead an Co.

It's the player that speaks over any guitar that's made. The player makes the Guitar.

@@mitcharney1 you'll agree with me that also a good tool will make the difference, otherwise a pro will still use a 200$ guitar after 10 years. I was just observing how the market has changed in few years.

And notice how Fender has now updated the finishes and some parts of the Strat to be more “today” or “current with time” after PRS Silver Sky was released? Fender realized after the success with Silver Sky John was right and updated the look and now use more young people to advertise it. 🤷‍♂️