Blogs

We are proud to welcome Paul Reed Smith guitars to Haggerty's Musicworks! PRS Guitars are the new classic, and they set themselves apart as a company by constantly innovating the industry while maintaining a painstaking level of quality control, building only the finest of instruments for the likes of Carlos Santana, Al Di Meola, Chris Henderson, David Grissom and countless others.

This passion for quality affects not only the work habits of individuals but also the structure of the whole company. Paul Smith: “We’re not organized like other companies. Every PRS craftsperson is a self-contained quality control ‘department.’ They have a lot of authority over their work, and if a guitar falls short in any way, they don’t pass it on to the next stage, and they make that decision themselves. They hand guitars back and forth all the time, and they inspect everything over and over. It’s like an old European guild or a shop. There’s a constant ‘is this good enough?’ conversation out there on the factory floor. So the quality control begins at the workbench. It’s not something we overlay or tack on. It’s an integral, organic part of the process, beginning with design and materials selection and going through every single step in construction and testing.”

Back when he started crafting instruments one at a time, Paul Smith was steeped in the traditions of the great electric guitars of the ’50s and ’60s. Today he finds himself absorbed with the traditions of another revered company — his own. While he fondly recalls the early days of PRS, nostalgia is not a top priority. The best way he can honor the traditions of his own past is to look forward. At PRS, yesterday always takes a back seat to tomorrow. Paul Smith: “I am lucky to have an extremely talented team — not just craftspeople and artists but marketers, salespeople, programmers, administrators, and others — and everyone who works here feels the same way: We want players to know that no matter how great that old PRS guitar is, we’re pushing for the new one to be even better.”

PRS Guitars will be featured at our Rapid City - Downtown and Gillette, Wy locations, as well as in our online store. We invite you to come and enjoy the PRS Experience for yourself!

We can hardly express in words the excitement and enthusiasm we feel for having the opportunity to represent arguably the worlds best electric guitar. If you are not familiar with Suhr guitars, here is a little history. John Suhr started his building career some 35 years ago and has built instruments for Mark Knopfler, Eric Clapton, Peter Frampton, Lou Reed, Bill Connors, Steve Stevens, Reb Beach, Pat Thrall, Little Steven, Victor Bailey Pensa-Suhr Bass, Chuck Loeb, Eddie Martinez (Robert Palmer) and many others. John later became the Senior Master Builder at the Fender Custom Shop in which his clients included (and still include) Michael Landau, Scott Henderson, Doug Aldrich and Peter Frampton.

John also spent time working in the electronics field, designing some of the most legendary guitar amplifiers in existence. This unique background of both building guitars and amplifiers really gives John an insight into how the guitar and amplifier work together. Now his own company, Suhr Guitars, are providing hand made, custom built guitars of the highest quality imaginable.

On most guitars, even expensive ones, you will find a flaw or two if you look hard enough. Not so with Suhr! When you first see a Suhr in person, the first time you hold it, the only word that comes to mind is "PERFECT"! Yes perfect in every way. The shape of the neck, the tone of the custom wound pickups, the resonance of only the best tone woods the world has to offer, the way the guitar connects with you as a musician, is nothing short of perfection.

Our first order with Suhr Guitars has been placed and we invite you to come experience the difference for yourself. Suhr guitars and pedals will be featured at our Rapid City - Downtown showroom and our online store. Some pedals have already arrived and we expect the guitars to land in late May to early June, 2010.