Released in February on Paul Reed Smith’s birthday, the Charcoal Phoenix is a highlight of this year’s 40th Anniversary celebrations for PRS.
With a limited run of 150 pieces, it’s the guitar Paul himself plays, having road-tested it over the past year, refining its design and tone. If you caught the PRS 40th Anniversary concert at this year’s NAMM, you’ll have seen Paul in action with this guitar, demonstrating more than 40 years of craft in one instrument.
Although based on the Paul’s Guitar model, it seems the 2023 Private Stock John McLaughlin Limited also paved the way for this new guitar.
“I was inspired by its exceptional sound and playability,” says Paul. “For the Charcoal Phoenix, I wanted something as remarkable but with a Stoptail bridge. Using chaltecoco for the neck and ziricote for the fingerboard, I achieved an instrument that sustains beautifully and rings with clarity.”
Here, the Private Stock-grade two-piece centre-joined figured maple top is spectacular with its fine fiddleback grain-striping, finished in dark black/grey ‘micro burst’ high-gloss nitro (including the top’s edge).
The one-piece mahogany back and Pattern-profile chaltecoco neck – a wood related to Brazilwood/pernambuco – are a translucent deep-cherry that nods back to PRS’s past.
Another example of 40 years of progress is that every visible part (with the exception of the Switchcraft toggle switch) is a proprietary design.
This includes the latest TCI mini-humbucking-sized pickups, which date back to the original 408 model’s neck pickup and were also used on the various Paul’s Guitar models.
We also get the mini-toggle EQ high-pass filter switches, as first used on the John McLaughlin guitar and now featured on other 2025 models.
Typical for classic PRS style, the ziracote fingerboard is unbound and has a mottled colouration resembling a dark stormy sky behind those birds in flight.
As with the original ’94 McCarty Model, the Charcoal Phoenix also features a thicker ‘fat back’ body compared with a Custom.
Alongside our reference and well-gigged 1994 Custom 22, the Phoenix brings into focus the constant evolution in parts and craft that’s become the hallmark of the brand.
Consider its excellent 3.53kg (7.7lb) weight, the strong unplugged ring, through to the fat, rich and huge-sounding sustain‑for-days humbucker voices that clean up beautifully with the EQ switches, and the volume control (a whisper to a roar)… and we have to ask: can the electric guitar get any better?
- Guitarist would like to thank Wildwire Guitars for the loan of the featured guitar.
- This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.
