Over the years The Paul Reed Smith company has used a number of
different tremolo systems. The original was
made by a
very small company known as Mil Com.
The first original tremolos are sought after because they are cast from one solid
billet stock. The later ones are 2 piece construction, they are held together
with 3 bolts. The finish changed radically in
1987.
I have a small number of brand new original 1985, 1986,
Real PRS
tremolos that I purchased from one of the original owners in the PRS company. If you
are interested please contact me. Prices will increase drastically as
inventory dwindles.
The original tremolo is one of my favorite vintage style
tremolos. It's small neat & classy looking. It also works real well. I favor
the original model, today PRS no longer uses the original manufacturer to
produce their units. It can also fit on a Fender or even a
Quicksilver !!!!!
I am also supplying graphite saddle replacements which I
believe eliminate a lot of string breakage and help keep the guitar in tune.
IMPORTANT
The PRS original 1985 Tremolo is made from one solid billet of
steel and comes with a very high polish even on the saddles.
The quickest and easiest way to spot a later model one is simply
look at the saddles and you will see they are barely polished and
they don't even look like they have been bright plated.
The later ones are much lighter but they don't sound as good.
Eventually PRS switched to a really cheapo wraparound bridge with
absolutely no adjustment for intonation. As a former PRS lover
I became disenchanted with the companies new costcutting policies
and started designing the Quicksilver around 1995.
The Mil Com Original bridge was made exclusively for Paul Reed
Smith but when PRS opted to switch to a lower cost unit the
manufacturer sold off his remaining inventory. Eventually The
manufacturer cheapened his construction methods and they also were
not as good.
We guarantee in writing that we have the original real thing. We
acquired them from one of Paul's original partners who was edged out
in 1995 when the company reorganized and became more of a mega
corporation than a small guitar company.
I was sorry to see all the original extremely talented people at
PRS get canned simply because the new regime wanted to hire fresh
new blood to replace the people who built all the original high
quality models.
When a company goes from hand made to mass production there are many
changes that take place and usually they affect the end consumer
negatively.
If you are lucky enough to own an original PRS the tremolo must be
worn out by now!!!!
After all it must be at least 25 years old. We can now
replace it with the actual original one that Paul used when he was
only concerned about making the best guitar in the world.
Call Ed Roman The price is
only $488.00 which is not bad considering that in the late
90's they sold for $1,250.00 if you
could even find one. I know we used to get at least $1,200.00
for them because we simply could not get them.
