PRS Guitars has unveiled the Charcoal Phoenix, a stunning limited edition electric guitar based on the very guitar that the company’s owner and namesake Paul Reed Smith has been playing himself.
Smith didn’t plan it this way but sometimes these things just fall into your lap. “These things work for me and I am finding out a lot of other guitar players like ‘em too,” he says in the demo video.
The Charcoal Phoenix is limited to just 100 units worldwide so it’s very much a question of get ‘em while they’re hot. You could consider it a collectible cousin to Paul’s Guitar circa 2024. It similarly has the TCI electric guitar pickups, the PRS Stoptail bridge – complete with brass inserts and steel studs – and the PRS Phase III non-locking tuners. It too is super versatile.
But the actual inspiration for the guitar came from the Maryland company’s 2023 limited run signature guitar for the one and only John McLaughlin. That Private Stock doozy got PRS Guitars’ founder and managing general partner thinking.
“When we released the Private Stock John McLaughlin Limited Edition in 2023, I was inspired by its exceptional sound and playability,” says Smith. “For the Charcoal Phoenix, I wanted to create something equally remarkable but with a stoptail bridge.
“Using chaltecoco for the neck and ziricote for the fingerboard, I achieved an instrument that sustains beautifully and rings with clarity. The deep crimson back and the charcoal microburst top inspired the name ‘Charcoal Phoenix,’ evoking the imagery of a phoenix rising from fire and ashes.”
It is certainly evocative. Look at that detail in that Private Stock-grade figured maple top. And a PRS named Charcoal Phoenix is never going to disappoint the ornithologically minded guitar player; you will find “Old School” bird inlays on that fingerboard made out of “ripple abalone”. Lovely stuff.
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It is a looker but the TCI pickups and the switching system – and, okay, the build, the hardware and the feel – are the stars of the show. TCI pickups pretty much put the full spectrum of electric tones at your fingertips.
Standing for “Tuned Capacitance and Inductance”, designed around American Alnico and made in the USA, you can dial in everything from single-coil spank to full-fat humbucker cream, with two EQ toggles shaping your sound by acting as tuned high-pass filters when engaged. These nixes some shelved low-end frequencies allowing the highs to pass through. Hello, clarity.
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If you caught the PRS Guitars 40th Anniversary birthday bash, where the likes of Orianthi performed (albeit seated after that recent injury that made he miss the Alice Cooper tour), you will have heard them in action. Smith played it on the night.
As for the essential details, you have a 25” scale length, fat back mahogany body, a violin carved figured maple top (again, Private Stock grade), a high-gloss nitro finish… the whole nine yards.
Check it out at PRS Guitars. It’ll set you back £7,999/$7,750 street.
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