The Rivals

Currently offered by guitarguitar is the Pensa Guitars MK-1 (£7,499) that was famously adopted by Mark Knopfler and has plenty of PRS-esque style albeit more of a modern ‘Strat’ with a Gibsonlike build.

Gibson themselves have dabbled with a maple-topped offset double cut in the past and this year unveiled the Modern Double Cut Standard ($3,999), which looks clearly ‘inspired’ by PRS with its offset double-cut outline, dual humbuckers and master volume/master tone configuration. Despite asking, we’re yet to see one.

More obvious competition comes from the numerous bolt-ons with dual humbuckers and vibrato (with or without maple tops) from the likes of Fender, Suhr, Tom Anderson et al.

The Core 24-08 features uncovered 85/15 MT humbuckers – note the rectangular bobbins. “They sound completely different,” says Paul Reed Smith. “But it’s not just the cover, we changed the magnetic field too and we changed the [hook up] wiring which...

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