PRS Guitars 40th Anniversary Models: Inside the Commemorative Collection
12 Jun 2026
2025 marked 40 years of PRS Guitars. The year started with a party and ended with reflection. It was full of hard work - a year that seemed to fly by faster and faster as it went along, and then all of the sudden we find ourselves in 2026. Did you feel that way too?
For a small business that started with half a dozen employees and has now grown to around 400 people building instruments that musicians are using to make their art, being here for forty years feels incredible. Thank you to everyone who has picked up a PRS – you have made a big impact on all of us here.
Today, we’d like to take a minute to go back and honor the commemorative models we released in 2025. All of these instruments were limited in production from anywhere from 150 to 500 guitars worldwide. They all came with official certificates documenting their specifications and featured our “pre-factory” eagle on the headstock – a nod to our roots. Limited to our best dealers, these anniversary collection instruments celebrate a significant milestone for PRS Guitars. Read more about each model below.
40th Anniversary Custom 24 Limited Edition
Paying homage to the model that started it all. Limited to 400 pieces, the 40th Anniversary Custom 24 Limited Edition blends traditional "Custom 24" design with special limited run appointments such as a ziricote fretboard and headstock veneer, retro violin top carve, and "Old School" bird inlays. This model is also outfitted with PRS DMO Treble and Bass pickups providing players with a clear "wide open" sound.
Charcoal Phoenix Limited Edition
Limited to 150 pieces worldwide, this is the Charcoal Phoenix Limited Edition! An instrument crafted to offer the world Paul Reed Smith's personal instrument of choice on stage and in the studio. The Charcoal Phoenix features PRS TCI pickups and two mini-toggle EQ switches. Aside from its sound, this guitar offers a visually stunning deep crimson back which contrasts beautifully with the Private Stock grade figured maple top in a charcoal microburst finish. An incredibly strong Chaltecoco neck is adorned with a ziricote fingerboard and ripple abalone “Old School” bird inlays - adding a beautiful aesthetic detail.
“When we released the Private Stock John McLaughlin Limited Edition in 2023, I was inspired by its exceptional sound and playability. For the Charcoal Phoenix, I wanted to create something equally remarkable but with a stoptail bridge. Using chaltecoco for the neck and ziricote for the fingerboard, I achieved an instrument that sustains beautifully and rings with clarity. The deep crimson back and the charcoal microburst top inspired the name ‘Charcoal Phoenix,’ evoking the imagery of a phoenix rising from fire and ashes.” – Paul Reed Smith
40th Anniversary Custom 24-08 Semi-Hollow Limited Edition
The 40th Anniversary Custom 24-08 Limited Edition is a 300 piece limited run that builds on the original Custom platform that Paul Reed Smith used to launch PRS in 1985. With its semi-hollow body construction, TCI pickups, and recently developed EQ mini-toggles, the 40th Anniversary Custom 24-08 Semi-Hollow has a unique voice within the PRS lineup.
40th Anniversary McCarty SC56 Limited Edition
A classic single-cutaway model, the 40th Anniversary McCarty SC56 Limited Edition was made to pay homage to a golden era of electric guitars. Limited to only 400 pieces worldwide, this model features a unique weight-relief design and comes equipped with McCarty III pickups!
40th Anniversary Custom 24 Satin Limited Edition
A new twist on a classic model, the 40th Anniversary Custom 24 Satin Limited Edition celebrates four decades of PRS Guitars by bringing a fresh new look to the guitar that started it all. Only 500 of these 40th Anniversary Custom 24 Satin Limited Edition models were made, with each one featuring a stunning mango top, ebony fretboard, satin nitro finishes, and smoked black hardware.
40th Anniversary Special Semi-Hollow Limited Edition
Limited to 280 pieces worldwide, the 40th Anniversary Special Semi-Hollow Limited Edition features the stunning combination of an artist grade figured maple top, black limba back and neck, and Honduran rosewood fretboard and headstock veneer! Thanks to its hum/single/hum pickup configuration, consisting of McCarty III treble and bass pickups and a PRS Narrowfield in the middle position, the 40th Anniversary Special Semi-Hollow has 12 unique pickup combinations for players to choose from.
Private Stock 40th Anniversary McCarty Dragon
The embodiment of imagination and the spirit of PRS, the Private Stock 40th Anniversary McCarty Dragon features 207 individual pieces of inlay, and is limited to only 165 spectacular guitars.
Some of the key features on the Private Stock 40th Anniversary McCarty Dragon include woods from the Private Stock Vault, McCarty III Pickups, a Burnt Chestnut finish, Ziricote Neck, and each one is hand signed by Paul Reed Smith and PRS Director of Manufacturing Paul Miles
“When I was a teenager, I had a dream about a guitar with a dragon inlaid down the neck. That dream became reality for the first time in 1992 and has since become an important part of our history. For our 40th Anniversary, we have chosen a McCarty model as the foundation of the Dragon, which is only fitting considering the original 1992 Dragon was the beginning of what would became the McCarty model. I’m proud to bring these two, now-historic, PRS designs together.” – Paul Reed Smith