Paul Reed Smith responds to Silver Sky controversy: “Everybody on the internet is gonna have opinions until they get their hands on it, and then their opinion changes”

Nothing’s set the guitar world talking quite like John Mayer’s PRS Strat-a-like, the Silver Sky, and now Paul Reed Smith himself has responded to the controversy surrounding the model.

Speaking to Guitar Interactive, the builder stated, “Everybody on the internet is going to have opinions until they get their hands on [the Silver Sky], and then their opinion changes.

Almost all the reviews from the people that had their hands on it have been very positive

“Look, 82% of the written comments have been the other way around. But it's starting to change - John put up a long 45-minute video explaining his thinking about all this and I think that helped. Almost all the reviews from the people that had their hands on it have been very positive.

And besides noting its derivative nature, our review is no exception.

Paul goes on to say: “Look, I really like all this activity. It shows great interest in what's going on. And that part John loves as well.

“Forget about all the keyboard courage. People have opinions when they haven't got an answer on the guitar. It's OK. I think we've done a good enough job. My orders are telling me we're gonna be making a lot of these.

“Look, don't stop having an opinion; I'm not trying to do that. I'm a guitar maker by trade. And I think we did a good job.”

Michael Astley-Brown

Mike is Editor-in-Chief of GuitarWorld.com, in addition to being an offset fiend and recovering pedal addict. He has a master's degree in journalism, and has spent the past decade writing and editing for guitar publications including MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitarist, as well as a decade-and-a-half performing in bands of variable genre (and quality). In his free time, you'll find him making progressive instrumental rock under the nom de plume Maebe.

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