PRS once made a prototype thinline model for Eric Johnson – and it’s one of the strangest 'what if?' guitar designs you’ll see
PRS has given serious attention to the Stratocaster market in recent years, having teamed up with John Mayer for the Silver Sky signature guitar – and, later, Mark Lettieri for the Fiore – which brought the iconic double-cut body shape to the Maryland brand’s catalog.
Before the birth of Mayer’s Silver Sky, though, PRS were courting another high-profile Strat player, and even went so far as to produce a unique, one-of-a-kind prototype model that might just be one of the strangest ‘what if?’ guitar designs you’ll see.
There are no prizes for guessing who this prototype was created for. A glance at that f-hole will tell you all you need to know – this particular parallel universe S-style guitar belongs to Eric Johnson.
Spotted and snapped by attendees at the recent (May 6) Dallas International Guitar Festival – and shared to The Fretboard forum by user Strat54 – the guitar itself is a sunburst PRS prototype thinline model, built for Johnson back in 2014, before his eventual Fender semi-hollow signature guitar arrived four years later.
Granted, it’s not a Strat-style guitar in the strictest sense of the term – those asymmetrical cutaways are more Mosrite in nature – but the topography of the body couldn’t be more similar, featuring a vintage-style tremolo bridge, a trio of single-coils, a three-knob control circuit, and a familiarly shaped pickguard.
Major differences can be found in the pickup department – that bridge single-coil is dead straight, rather than angled – and, of course, the headstock, which is an unusually flat take on the trademark PRS shape.
“Never produced – one of a kind,” read the label affixed to the guitar’s fretboard, which in turn looked to be of a flamed maple persuasion. Other than that, the rest of the specs are a mystery, though an alder body – which can be found on many Strats and the Silver Sky – would be a safe bet.
Owing to the fact that the guitar never received an official release, it’s remained a one-off example in the Eric Johnson collection since 2014. Nevertheless, it serves as a telling insight into the timeline of PRS’s Strat-inspired activities, and signifies the potential precursor to the Silver Sky.
Indeed, Johnson would release his signature Fender Stratocaster Thinline in 2018 – the same year the Silver Sky, PRS’s first foray into Strat territory, came out. Johnson's first signature Strat, which was a solidbody build, arrived in 2005.
It’s not the first time we’ve seen players partner with PRS to create prototypes of Fender-inspired models that never saw the light of day. Last year, Myles Kennedy showcased a Tele-esque PRS creation onstage, though the instrument has still yet to see the light of day otherwise.
Johnson’s PRS prototype was joined on display at the Dallas guitar festival by another never-released signature model – the "very first" White EJ Signature Strat from Fender.
Eric Johnson himself played a starring role during this year's Dallas International Guitar Festival. Aside from playing a headline set of his own, he also dropped in on Orianthi’s set to cover the blues classic, Never Make Your Move Too Soon.
