Experience In Sound

The sonic adventures of Paul Reed Smith show no signs of slowing down. We drop in for a catch-up, but can we keep up?

- Dave Burrluck

As our many interviews over our past 500 issues will confirm, a conversation with Paul Reed Smith is never straightforward. In early May of this year, Paul sounds upbeat: “There’s a lot going on here… and in general it’s all good!” he wise-cracks, before turning the table and asking us what we think of the new PRS Core Modern Eagle V. “Not bad? Is that all we get?”

Getting our interview back on track, we remind Paul that he showed this writer the MEV prototype back in early 2019…

What took so long for the Modern Eagle V to become a Core model? 

“Covid, our back orders… I mean, we’ve made a bunch of them and now it’s a Core model. The Modern Eagle V was just about getting a pile of good tones that sounded industry-standard and our way, both.”

It’s pretty much the same as Paul’s Guitar, not least the TCI humbuckers based on the earlier 408 neck-pickup style (but with the exception of an additional middle pickup and a couple of different switch functions). So, why wasn’t it called ‘Paul’s Guitar II’?