One of Just 165 Examples

1953 Paul Reed Smith Artist Limited

One of just 165 "Artist Limited" guitars featuring a thirteen inch wide, one and five-eighths inch thick, one-piece PRS-shape offset asymmetrical double-cutaway solid mahogany body with a carved two-piece, vintage amber 'fine fiddle-back curl' maple top. This fine guitar weighs just 8.20 lbs and has a one-piece 'wide-fat', mahogany glued-in neck with a nut width of 1 11/16 inches, a scale length of 25.00 inches and a very comfortable medium-to-thick profile. Single-action truss rod. Back angled three-on-a-side veneered headstock with "5 24459" and "Artist Series /Ltd #136" written on the back of the headstock in black ink. Single-layer rosewood truss-rod cover with "Artist/Ltd" inlaid in abalone, and secured by one screw. Individual Schaller/PRS 'Rotamatic' locking tuners with half-moon metal buttons. Ten inch radiused Brazilian rosewood fretboard with 14-carat Gold 'bird' inlays and 22 original medium-jumbo frets. One PRS 'Artist Bass' Humbucker in the neck position (with rectangular black label "Artist Bass" on the underside) and one PRS 'Artist Treble' Humbucker in the bridge position (with small rectangular black label "HFS" on the underside) with outputs of 8.26k and 9.12k respectively. The 'double-black' pickups are uncovered as usual. One volume control, one tone control and one five-position rotary pickup selector switch. Gold plastic barrel-shape "Speed" control knobs. The potentiometers are stamped "137 95XX" (CTS 1995, the last two numbers obscured by solder). PRS wrap-over, pre-compensated 'stud' bridge/tailpiece. All hardware gold plated. Inside the neck pickup cavity (on the neck tenon) written in black marker is "22/ASL7 WF" and a signature. Inside the bridge pickup cavity, also in black marker is "24.459/Amber/Art. Ser. Lim./22F/#136 Stock". This amazing guitar is in mint (9.50) condition. Housed in the original three-latch, rectangular black leather hardshell case with black plush lining (9.25).


The five position Rotary-Hybrid Pickup System works as follows:
Position 1. Treble pickup -- PRS HFS Treble pickup. Hot, fat and screams…
Position 2. Outside coils -- deep and clear…
Position 3. Series single-coils -- warm version of the "in-between the treble and middle pickups"…
Position 4. Parallel single-coils -- crisp version of the "in-between the treble and middle pickups"…
Position 5. Bass pickup -- PRS Vinatge Bass pickup -- warm, with tons of character…

The PRS Artist Limited guitar was in production from 1994-1995. The original plan for this limited edition was to produce 200 examples, but in fact there were only 165… (Dave Burrluck. The PRS Electric Guitar Book, p. 124).