John Mayer’s PRS Silver Sky

John started using this guitar in 2017. It has been developed as a close collaboration between Mayer and Paul Reed Smith. The main goal was to design an instrument that would be a future of the classic design, taking inspiration mainly from early 60s Strat models that John is known to favor.

It’s been a dream of mine for years to design a guitar that includes some of my favorite vintage specifications but with a modern spirit and aesthetic. After two years of study and refinement, the Silver Sky is my vision of what a reboot of the electric guitar should look and feel like.

John Mayer, Silver Sky Signature Model

Specs

The PRS Silver Sky features a 22 fret maple neck (22.5″ scale) with rosewood fretboard radiused at 7.25″ – identical to vintage Strat models, as opposed to 9.5″ or even 12″, which are way flatter and usually more common on modern guitars. The body is made of alder wood, and houses three single-coil pickups, again – custom-design as a collaboration between Mayer and Smith dubbed the 635JMs. The pickups are only available in this model, and it is doubtful that they would become available for purchase separately.

If you’re interested in more details about this guitar from the man himself, and you have 40 minutes to spare, watch the video below. It originates from John’s live stream from his personal Instagram profile, and John goes into details regarding the guitar’s sound, design choices, influences, and demos the guitar through a Fender Deluxe amp, and his own signature amp from PRS, a J-MOD 100.

Does John have a Favorite?

Throughout his career, John always picked up his favorite guitar, be it the SRV Stratocaster, the BLK1, or the 1964 Fender Stratocaster. Therefore, it is likely that even though he talks about how every Silver Sky feels and sounds the same, he has to have a favorite among them. Obviously – that could be a little bit of the salesman in John talking, but it is interesting to point out anyway.

I could land in any city that has a Guitar Center in it, walk in, buy it, take it whereever it needs to be and it’s like the guitar that came out of my living room.

John Mayer | Behind the PRS Silver Sky Guitar

Be that as it may, in the vast majority of cases, at least in 2017 and 2018, John seemed to have been using one same exact Silver Sky – the one finished in tungsten gray. At the release, this was only one of the four different finishes available, so obviously it could be that John picked a single gray Silver Sky as his favorite.

Also, in the 40-minute video embedded above, John plays a red Silver Sky, and talks about this is the one that he was attached to. But, compared to the gray Silver Sky, this red guitar has seen next to zero stage light.

So, until we find some quotes from John where he specifically talks about having a number one, number two, etc, we’ll have only one page about all the Silver Skys.