“A stunning tribute to an iconic design”: PRS preps for its 40th Anniversary with two new models – unveiling all-new features and an intricate 207-piece Dragon fretboard inlay
A luxurious Dragon fingerboard and vintage specs combine with all-new pickups for a pair of guitars that look forward and backward in equal measure
(Image credit: PRS)
PRS is getting its 40th Anniversary celebrations underway with the launch of new limited-edition Custom 24 Private Stock and McCarty Dragon electric guitars.
Founded by Paul Reed Smith in 1985, the Maryland brand is set to celebrate a significant milestone in 2025, which will mark “four decades of craftsmanship and innovation” for the firm.
As such, two models that pay homage to the firm’s earliest creations – while offering some all-new specs that speak to PRS’ penchant for progression – have been unveiled.
The new 40th Anniversary Custom 24, for example, marries traditional specs with “special, limited run” appointments, including a retro violin top carve on its artist-grade, figured maple-topped mahogany body, and old-school-style Bird inlays.
Together with a “Pre-Factory” headstock Eagle motif, the inlays honor the time-tested PRS DNA and harken back to Smith’s first builds. But, while it may be a visual throwback, the electronics are more forward-facing.
A pair of all-new D.M.O. Treble and Basshumbuckers – which stands for Dynamic, Musical, Open – have been spec’d by Smith and co to produce a wide open and vocal-sounding tone. There’s a Volume and Tone control, and a five-way switch for tweaking its character.
The celebratory six-string is also appropriately peppered with nickel hardware and a “40th Custom” truss rod cover.
Get The Pick Newsletter
All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!
(Image credit: PRS)
Two other history-honoring features include its PRS Gen III tremolo and period-matching locking tuners. Built to a 25” scale length, it has a 24-fret ziricote fingerboard and a one-piece mahogany neck with a ziricote headstock veneer.
“The Custom 24 is the model that launched the brand 40 years ago,” says Product Specialist Bryan Ewald. “It has become an iconic design and for many people it is the quintessential PRS design. The PRS 40th Anniversary Custom 24 is a stunning tribute to an iconic design.”
In the other corner, the PRS Private Stock 40th Anniversary McCarty Dragon – which is something of a mouthful, admittedly – is designed to embody the “PRS spirit” through “uncompromised playability and tone”.
Immediately catching the eye is the ultra-colorful, fire-breathing dragon that commands the 22-fret Gaboon and Pale Moon ebony fingerboard. At roughly three times the price of rosewood, Gaboon ebony is a luxurious appointment.
“When I was a teenager, I had a dream about a guitar with a dragon inlaid down the neck. That dream became reality for the first time in 1992 and has since become an important part of our history,” Smith explains of the show-stopping Dragon inlay, which features 207 different pieces.
(Image credit: PRS)
“For our 40th Anniversary,” he continues, “we have chosen a McCarty model as the foundation of the Dragon, which is only fitting considering the original 1992 Dragon was the beginning of what would become the McCarty model. I’m proud to bring these two, now-historic, PRS designs together.”
Elsewhere, PRS Phase III non-locking tuners promise vintage elegance, while a PRS Stoptail bridge with brass inserts and steel studs locks the strings in place at the other end.
Like its co-celebrator, it features a mahogany body with a figured maple top, while ziricote usurps mahogany for the neck material of choice. It has the same 25” scale and more all-new PRS McCarty III pickups, which are vintage-inspired for “vocal clarity and a full, warm tone”.
The Custom 24 is priced at $6,850 and is offered in Sub Zero Smokeburst and Tiger Eye finishes. The McCarty Dragon, on the other, commands an eye-watering price tag of $17,500 and arrives in Burnt Chestnut.
Both guitars ship in a PRS multi-fit molded hard case with a Certificate of Authenticity. The 40th Anniversary Custom 24 Private Stock and 40th Anniversary McCarty Dragon are available to order now.
A freelance writer with a penchant for music that gets weird, Phil is a regular contributor to Prog, Guitar World, and Total Guitar magazines and is especially keen on shining a light on unknown artists. Outside of the journalism realm, you can find him writing angular riffs in progressive metal band, Prognosis, in which he slings an 8-string Strandberg Boden Original, churning that low string through a variety of tunings. He's also a published author and is currently penning his debut novel which chucks fantasy, mythology and humanity into a great big melting pot.
