We didn't see this coming but now it's here… well it kind of works! John Priest, owner of UK guitar Peach Guitars, was sent some pics from a customer showing their new mod project; they turned their PRS Silver Sky into a tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan's Number One Strat. He's now posted them on his Instagram and it's a dramatic makeover, to say the least.
First up, PRS doesn't currently make a Sunburst version of John Mayer's signature model and this shows it works. There's clearly a demand as some stores in the US are even offering resprayed SE Silver Sky models. But this modded guitar goes much further with a US-made PRS artificially aged with heavy relicing to mirror Stevie's Number One guitar. A Strat he loved so much he also dubbed his 'First Wife'.
But the headstock mod might just be our favourite feature – a lot of effort and care has been made here.
Even the gigbag has been modded! Whatever you think of the results, the commitment to realising the vision here deserves respect – even down to the Engraving on the back. And do you know what, we like it - Number One was a '62 Strat that was a modded guitar anyway to some extent so it kind of keeps in Stevie's spirit in a way!
"The reason why he called it a '59 was because of some wiring in it - the back of the pickups said '1959'", Stevie's tech Rene Martinex told MusicRadar in 2010. "So the pickups were a '59, but the body of the guitar was a '62. My attitude was, 'Hey, it's your guitar, you can call it whatever you want.'"
Responses to Priest's post have been pretty positive, ranging from people who love it, people who were surprised they liked it and dyed-in-the-wool relic haters who still respected how well the guitar has been finished. One sharp-minded commenter, Paul Waller of Dawsons Music even dubbed it 'Stevie May Vaughan'.
Now there's another thought, would John Mayer like it?
"Is it wrong in every way possible or do you dig it?" John asked his followers. "I think a Sunburst Silver Sky would work nicely."
Surely we can all agree on that anyway. Check out Peach Guitars to buy your own Silver Sky to mod yourself… or leave alone. Your choice!
