#5886 – PRS JM Silver Sky – Orion Green – new/ex-display
£1699
New Low Price – Was £1899 – Now £1699 – PRS JM Silver Sky in Orion Green – New/ex-display
There has been more talk, praise, questions and queries about the PRS JM Silver Sky, than any other PRS Guitar – I believe the PRS web site actually crashed the day the guitar was first launched, due to the high number of visitors to their site – Numerous video clips of the Silver Sky in action can be found if you tour YouTube – And a great review, courtesy of Dave Burrluck and Guitarist Magazine, that you can read, if you click here
Today I can offer for sale a new, yet ex-display model, with a 2020 serial number – It is a new but ex-display model, direct from the PRS warehouse, that I can offer for sale at a more attractive price – Now adjusted to £1899 – Close examination will just about reveal a slight hint of a blemish, to the lacquer, near the neck/body join – I’ve tried to show a close up of the blemish, without much success, but look at it in the flesh and a) you’d be hard pushed to find it and b) you’d have to be very fussy to have any issue with it – Also a slight nick on the belly of the guitar, just below the trem assembly, that is barely skin deep – Otherwise this Silver Sky is in excellent condition – The web site pics do not do justice to the orion green finish – It looks fresh and cool, compared to the many traditional based finishes we’ve seen on Strats for many years – Nice hint of that ‘flake/metallic’ vibe to it – Still complete with a full warranty, the deluxe gig bag, plus the appropriate tag – It has spent time on my bench for a check-up, a new set of 10-46 gauge strings, plus set-up, so that slick action awaits any potential buyer
A few key details :-
- Whole guitar only weighs 7lbs and 3oz, so in the ‘Strat’ world then certainly on the credible side
- Maple neck with a separate maple fingerboard, with a thin nitro finish – ‘Played in’ silky smooth satin finish – hint of birds eye can be found on the maple neck
- Neck measures .870″ around the top nut end and .977″ around the 12th fret – More of a chunky Strat based feel, then regular
- Traditional Strat 25.5″ scale length
- Vintage/tall frets so less meat than jumbo – But more meat than pure vintage
- 7.5″ fingerboard radius
- Custom wound and voiced JM single coil pick-ups – neck + middle measure 5.58K, whilst the bridge kicks out 6.62K , so very much vintage output levels
- 5 way switch
- Tone pots wired as neck+ middle and bridge
- PRS locking tuners but with vintage Kluson style backs
- Solid steel trem block + saddles
Playing performance :- You would not expect any PRS to be delivered with anything other than a slick easy action, that responds to a light touch – And the Silver Sky continues with that tradition – Granted a 25.5″ scale length will always ensure a slightly stiffer feel to a 25″ or 24.75″ scale length, but that goes with the territory – The neck some how feels a bit more meaty than many Strats I’ve played in the past – Some might say meaty C or less deep D, so which ever you choose – Either way it has some comfortable girth to it – Not to chunky – Not impossible to play – Somehow the more you play it the more you settle in with it – In many ways, the size and shape of the neck on its own, is rarely the deal breaker, as the action and set-up come into play to determine if it is an easy guitar to handle – Overall this is a very playable guitar but might just need you to spend some time with it, getting to know it and settle in with it – The silky smooth satin neck instantly feels ‘played in’ from day one – Before you know it, it just feels as though you’ve known it for a while – What makes the playing experience more enjoyable is the slick and positive feel of the PRS trem – A mix of features and spec from a vintage Strat and Paul’s famous trem’s found on many PRS models – You’d have to give it some serious abuse to have any tuning issues with it – For many of us it is responsive, smooth and stable – Again old meets new when you look at the tuners – Look at the front face of the headstock and it looks modern with the usual locking features of a PRS Guitar – Look on the back and you’ll find the vintage character of a good old Strat with Kluson tuners – Somehow, the whole PRS build quality, perfectly polished and crowned frets, plus tweaks to the trem/saddles, leaves you with a guitar that is ‘more in tune’ regarding the intonation
Tonal character :- If I said it sounds like a Strat, then I’m sure most of you would expect and accept that – There is what I’d call a Strat voice – Yet the finer nuances within this format can change so much – A 50’s Strat doesn’t sound the same as an early 60’s Strat, which again sounds different to a late 60’s model – I could go on about noiseless, active , Lace Sensor and other pick-up options etc etc but I’m sure you get the drift – With John Mayer’s history of playing Strat based guitars, then hardly a surprise that such a guitar has that traditional Strat tonal character – I agree with the review (see above) that points out that there is not to much ‘scoop’ within the tonal character and that it somehow has more ‘girth’ about it – Almost more ‘positive’ and less ‘percussive’ – Yet always sounding like a Strat or should I say a versatile Strat – Always rich in tone and always musical – The big plus is how responsive the volume and tone pots are – This in my opinion is the heart of the guitars tone, certainly with regards to soul, expression and emotion – I never leave the volume pot on 10 – 6 or 7 is my base camp and whilst I require a slightly ‘softer’ output, I still want to preserve the guitars full goodness and expressive tonal character – 10 is then a place I can move towards when I require a little bit extra – A turbo boost – This format works well on a clean amp to allow for more emotion, but comes into its own when you add some gain on the amp – This approach now allows you to control the gain, directly from the guitar – So 6 or 7 for a cleaner ‘Little Wing’ voice to more of a full on approach that Rory Gallagher would adopt when required and the pot on 10 – The more I explored the guitars tonal options, the more I wanted to carry on playing it – Occasionally I might tweak the tone pot to damp the highs – It sounds funky aka Chic, when required – The out of phase settings are instantly infectious with more quack/snap from the bridge/middle combination and more full on the neck/middle combination
Maybe the be all and end all doesn’t exist in one single Strat – As I mentioned earlier, there are many great Strats out there and 2 different Strats can both be great at the same time, yet slightly different – The Silver Sky is a great guitar that can compete with the best of them – It can easily sit in a collection amongst other Strats – It can easily sit in a collection as your only ‘Strat’ based guitar – It can easily be your only guitar ( not that many players/customers I know only have 1 guitar) – It can easily be Hank, Eric, Rory, Stevie, Buddy, Jimi, John or you as required
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Guitars4You is not another corporate high street guitar store - My selection of premium grade guitars is about quality not quantity. Every guitar has been selected, inspected and approved by me, with particular attention to the set-up and playing performance. Every sale, phone call, email and mail order transaction is handled by me. A journey that is now over 40 years old, has fuelled my knowledge, experience, love, devotion and passion for exceptionally fine guitars.