The First 'Ultimate' Paul Reed Smith Guitar
"Whale Blue Quilt"

1988 Paul Reed Smith Signature

This absolutely mint PRS 'Signature' guitar weighs just 7.90 lbs., and has a one-piece, PRS-shape offset asymmetrical double-cutaway 13 inch wide, 1 3/4 inch deep, mahogany body with an amazing 1/2 inch thick, sculptured, two-piece, book-matched, 'exceptional' quilted maple top. There is a 1/4 inch 'band' of plain maple which starts at the tip of the treble-horn and goes all the way round to the neck on the bass side. One-piece glued-in mahogany neck with a nut width of 1 11/16 inches, a wonderful medium-thick profile and a scale length of 25.00 inches. Single-action truss rod. Back angled, three-on-a-side black faced headstock with Paul Reed Smith signature in gold marker. Ebony truss-rod cover, secured with one screw. Individual Schaller/PRS locking tuners with half-moon shaped metal buttons. On the back of the headstock is the serial number "8 5311" and  "Sig # 287" written in gold marker. Brazilian rosewood fretboard with 24 medium-jumbo frets with abalone "Bird" inlay position markers. One PRS "Standard Bass" humbucker in the neck position and one PRS "Standard Treble" humbucker in the bridge position, with outputs of 8.10k and 9.84k respectively. Cream plastic pickup surrounds. One volume control, one five-way rotary tone control and one 'mini' two-way "sweet" tone filter switch. Clear black plastic barrel-shape control knobs. Combined nickel PRS vibrato bridge assembly. On the back of the guitar the triangular black plastic control cover and the vibrato assembly cover, both secured by four screws. This amazing guitar is in mint, as new (9.50) condition. Complete with original tremolo arm. Housed in the original three-latch, rectangular black hardshell case with black leather ends and black plush lining (9.25).

"The first up-scale model was the Signature model… Outwardly , it's identical to a Custom but for the hand-signed logo and the outrageous maple top. At the time [1988], this was the best that you could get. At first the signature model was planned to have an unlimited life, but the apparently good idea of having Smith hand-sign each logo turned into a production nightmare. The busy Smith could not always guarantee being available at the right time. So it was that the Signature was halted after 1,000 had been made. The Signature, introduced at Summer NAMM 1986 along with the PRS bass, was the first "ultimate" PRS guitar and its success paved the way for a number of limited edition collectors' guitars. However, unlike some of those later editions, the Signature model simply employed the very best quality timbers available to PRS, and did not add any specific decorative embellishments. With its "exceptional curly maple top" as the promotion for the new model put it, along with the hand-signed headstock and the fingerboard's bird inlays as standard, the Signature was otherwise identical to the Custom." (Dave Burrluck. The PRS Guitar Book. pp. 46-47).