Official Luthiers Forum!

I'm not certain how other areas of the country are, but employee guitars are relatively common here...perhaps I am just very fortunate in my associations, but I have seen an even dozen thus far in just under four year's time. The shop where I work is about a 90 minute drive from the PRS factory in Stevensonville, MD, so most of what we see are PRS employee guitars - usually once or twice a year, either as a result of the employee gifting the guitars to family or close friends or a sale of the guitar to a third party. My recollection is that a full-time PRS employee may have a guitar built for the cost of materials after two years of good service, and every two years thereafter, with some significant restrictions on choices of materials, inlay, and furnishings (e.g., no Private Stock BRW, etc.).

These instruments are labeled 'EMPLOYEE GUITAR CUSTOM BUILT FOR (Name of Employee), carry a PRS serial number and Mr. Smith's signature, and may or may not carry a PRS logo. If you visit the PRS web site and review the 'Careers with PRS' section for the employee benefits, you will find the following noted under the Employment Benefits section:



I have been to PRS many times myself and know the people who started his acoustic program years back.

Employee guitars are gifts..... not made by the individual employee. After 5 years of service you can order an SE for free as your bonus or employee guitar. At 25 years you get a custom shop piece of your liking. But if you have any hands on it is when the parts cross your workstation. That is the way it works at PRS.

If you search for 'employee guitar(s) PRS' and other manufacturers, the AGF, UMGF, The Gear Page, TDPRI, and other enthusiast sites should offer more in the way of details. I doubt Martin and Gibson's employee guitar programs were or are as formalized, but we do get guitars in now and again with origin claims in the Martin or Gibson factories as employee projects.

Finally, here is a link to the PRS web site story on the charity auction of an employee guitar:

https://www.prsguitars.com/blog/post/michael_reids_harpy_guitar_charity_auction

Brian. I did go back and saw the imprints of different tuners under the Kluson style that is on there. It’s not the glasses. It’s the guy wearing them. Thanks


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Brian. I did go back and saw the imprints of different tuners under the Kluson style that is on there. It’s not the glasses. It’s the guy wearing them. Thanks


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have been to PRS many times myself and know the people who started his acoustic program years back.

Employee guitars are gifts..... not made by the individual employee. After 5 years of service you can order an SE for free as your bonus or employee guitar. At 25 years you get a custom shop piece of your liking. But if you have any hands on it is when the parts cross your workstation. That is the way it works at PRS. They will even tell you this on the factory tour if you listen.....

Another thing I had noticed initially when I was looking at the Gibson? are stress cracks on both waists looks very much like surface cracks from improper bending technique.
Employee built using cast off sides from the dust bin?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk