They have an exclusive agreement to use wire drawn from the same machine that made wire for Les Paul and Stratocaster pickups in the 1950s. These pickups include innovations that feature no loss of volume when in coil split mode. In 2012, PRS released the 408 pickups used on the 408 and Paul's Guitar models.
In 1998, an electronic upgrade kit was released for pre-1993 instruments which included lighter-weight tuner buttons, nickel-plated brass screws for saddles and intonation, a simulated tone control, and high-capacitance hookup wire. PRS developed pickups for the aggressive rock market, offering pick ups such as the chainsaw, and the Hot-Fat-Screams (HFS) initially used on the Special model. The standard treble and standard bass pick ups use magnetic pole pieces in the non-adjustable inner coil, and a rear-placed feeder magnet in order to achieve a more authentic single-coil tone when split by the rotary switch. Through the use of a unique rotary pickup selector switch, PRS pickups offer 5 different sounds: a combination of thick humbucking Gibson-like tones, and chimey single-coil Stratocaster-like tones. While most of the pickups are humbuckers, some are actually a pair of single coils wound in opposing directions, one intended for the neck and one for the bridge position.
It was an update on the classic Fender vibrato and used cam-locking tuners, which offered wide pitch bending with exceptional tuning stability. The vibrato was designed with the help of guitar engineer John Mann. PRS guitars feature three original bridge designs: a one-piece pre-intonated stoptail, a vibrato, and a wrapover tailpiece.
Nuts are synthetic and tuners are of PRS's own design, although some models feature Korean-made Kluson-style tuners. Right then I decided that I wanted to put those sounds on a humbucking guitar, which is when I went back to the rotary switch and redesigned it for humbuckers." After three years, the company employed 45 people, and was producing 15 guitars per day.
I put in our whole tuning-peg/bridge system and a new electronic system with an Alembic Stratoblaster pre-amp. "I saw Adrian Belew on King Crimson's Beat tour in 1982," says Smith, "and the sound he was getting out of his guitar was on another planet somewhere. Featuring a mahogany neck set into a mahogany body with a maple cap, a patented vibrato, customized tuning pegs, and custom rotary pickup switching with high quality electronics, the guitar represented influences from both old and new something striking in the midst of an industry that was producing "high tech" guitars. The company's first outing was for the 1985 NAMM Show where they debuted the PRS Custom. Paul Reed Smith set up a partnership to create a factory in Annapolis, Maryland.