Your dream guitar can show up in your life in a myriad of ways, and for virtuoso Sophie Burrell, an early presence on social media – coupled with a Facebook group of PRS aficionados – led her to hers: a 2014 PRS Custom 24 Wood Library, which has since become her go-to instrument.
“The back story as to how I acquired this guitar is actually very special and quite unique,” Burrell tells Guitar World.
“I've been playing guitar for a very long time, since I was like nine years old, and I started creating content when I was about 14. I was a member of this group on Facebook called PRS Guitar Owners Worldwide, and I used to post little videos of me playing in there.”
Turns out, someone had spotted her videos and instantly saw her potential. “I was just playing an SE and [he] said, ‘I want to support you. You're great. I think you deserve to be playing on a USA model, not just an SE.’”
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The guitarist-turned-patron, Al, gave her the choice of several models from his own collection before ultimately deciding to give her the very guitar she still owns today.
“I was like, ‘Whatever you want, I'll take it. It sounds good.’ I could not believe my eyes when it actually showed up. I'm endlessly grateful to Al, who gifted this guitar to me, and I believe I would not be the player I am today without that.”
Burrell notes that the PRS now feels like an “extension” of her – as soon as she picked it up for the first time, she “immediately clicked with it.
“I come up with my best ideas on this guitar,” she explains. “At this point, it kind of feels like it's part of my soul.”
“If [and] when I get a signature guitar, it would be this [one] in a different color.”
Controversially – or perhaps not so controversially – Burrell refuses to name her guitars. “I've never done that, and I probably never will. I'm just not much of a name-your-guitars type of person,” she admits.
“I name motorbikes, but not guitars.”
