Paul Reed Smith recapped the company’s recent success at a packed press conference on Thursday: “Three years ago, we were at $40 million. Two years ago we did $50 million, and last year we hit $58 million.” Smith then went on to describe that the company has achieved such success by not striving to be a “brand” but by making high-quality musical instruments.
“What’s extraordinary to me is that we’re guitar makers and amp builders. We try to provide you with something that when you get it out of the box, you’re really excited and you don’t want to sell the next day…the first goal of the company is to build the best tools. Our artists would never play our guitars unless they loved them, unless the instruments do the job for them…and if there’s a better tool, I’d better be concerned cause they’re going to start using it.”
It looks like PRS guitars and amps are doing their job because those artists showed up for PRS at the NAMM show this year, with appearances by Carlos Santana and Jakko Jakszyk (King Crimson) at the press conference and John Mayer stopping by the next afternoon to speak to an invite-only crowd of dealers, distributors, and media.
Other PRS artists in attendance at the show included, Mark Holcomb, Orianthi, Tim Pierce, Boscoe France, Magnolia Boulevard, and Rhonda Smith. Check out PRS’s Blog and the PRS @ #NAMM2019 YouTube playlist for more from the show.
