BIRDS OF A FEATHER
The new PRS Fiore and the notorious Silver Sky have outwardly similar styles – but just how does Mark Lettieri’s signature compare to John Mayer’s model? Let’s find out…
PRS’s Silver Sky not only created quite a furore when it was first launched back in 2018, it also goes down as the most derivative design ever produced since PRS opened its doors in 1985. The guitar changed the company’s fortunes, too, and gave PRS a very viable full-scale, single-coil bolt-on platform that has succeeded where all other attempts have failed.
Many guitar makers would have simply expanded on that one design, but Mark Lettieri’s Fiore is a lot more than simply a Silver Sky with a bridge humbucker. Having reviewed the guitar in full on the preceding pages, we’re now putting the Fiore and its Silver Sky brethren under the lens together to ask: what are the actual differences?
Head To Head
The reverse PRS headstock of the Silver Sky [2] is certainly polarising and typical of the whole design, which includes numerous features totally unique to the model. For example, the inset parallel-sided cover for the truss rod matches the silver-grey colour of the locking tuner thumb-screws and the plastic tuner buttons. In contrast, the Fiore reverts to a standard PRS headstock [1] with the same overlaid signature logo as the ’Sky. The Fiore’s tuner thumb-screws are black to match the standard-style truss rod cover (with artwork by Mark’s mother). Note the different styles of bone top nuts.
Both guitars use the same nickel-plated Kluson-style tuners. The only difference is the buttons, which are classic metal oval-style on the Fiore [3] as opposed to those larger plastic buttons on the Silver Sky [4]. As ever, the serial numbers are hand-written on the headstock back, with both our examples made during 2021.
All current PRS bolt-ons have spliced headstocks, a design that originated in the S2 series to increase wood efficiency over the one-piece Core necks. The splicing is slightly less obvious on the Fiore, but both are colourmatched better than some we’ve seen. And unlike PRS’s original Classic Electric, for example, the wood stock here is slab-sawn, not quarter-sawn, more in keeping with original Fender. “I don’t think it makes that much of a difference,” said Paul Reed Smith back in 2016. “The quarter-sawn thing on maple? In my opinion, it’s a little overblown.”
Across The ’Board
Few people dare mess with those bird inlays… but John Mayer did. On the Silver Sky [6], they’re slightly downsized and the almost cartoon-like outlines are a dark grey acrylic. The Fiore’s [5] are full size and use a black acrylic. That’s not the only thing JM messed with. Notoriously, the ’Sky uses an original Fender-style 184mm (7.25-inch) fingerboard radius, originally with vintagestyle small frets. The current Silver Sky uses a bigger wire – more similar to the standard PRS Core fretwire that’s used on the Fiore. “The fret wire has actually been changed a few times [since the launch of the Silver Sky] as we have continued to work with John to keep the guitar his first choice always,” Judith Schaefer, PRS director of marketing, clarifies in June 2021. “The rosewood and maple fingerboards on the Silver Sky now share the same wire, currently 1.4mm high by 2.29mm wide (0.055 by 0.090 inches).” It’s a slightly taller, narrower alternative to the standard PRS wire, which is 1.2mm high and 2.64mm wide (0.047 by 0.104 inches).
The internet believes the radius differences are chalk and cheese, but with this very similar fretwire, we’d say the differences are narrowed.
Body Moves
The Silver Sky [9] might not be an exact replica of a Stratocaster, but aside from the trademarked scoop in the treble horn, it’s close. Typical of the detail applied to these guitars, the Fiore is very similar in outline, although the horns are slightly thinned from the waist to the tip [8]. Both use the same round nose to the heel, too. There’s also that additional chamfer on the upper bassside horn of the Fiore [7]. A slight change, granted, but it all adds up to give the Fiore its own character.
Only John Mayer gets a namecheck on the neckplate [11]; the Fiore’s [10] just features its model name. Our duo has what can only be called an illegible signature squiggle. A product of these text-only days, perhaps?
The Silver Sky’s rear spring cavity [13] purposely isn’t covered. The edges of the cavity are radiused and there are no screw holes for a coverplate to be attached. It’s far from a new idea – the spring cavity of Carlos Santana’s original early 80s handmade PRS guitars are the same. Covers on the Fiore [12] sit on top of the face, and the control cavity backplate isn’t recessed. This is a feature of the modern CE 24 and S2 models.
The Silver Sky’s output jack dish [15] does look like a Stratocaster’s, but it’s a beautiful update, curved and moulded and nickelplated as opposed to the pressed metal part of a Fender. The Fiore, however, goes with the standard PRS metal jack plate mounted on the body side [14].
Highly Sprung
The all-steel vibrato of the Silver Sky [17] chases the original Fender design much more than the long-running PRS brass vibrato. Both use six pivot screws. Like that PRS vibrato, the stainless steel arms push-fit into a collar mounted on top of the steel top plate, and there’s a small grub screw to allow swing tension adjustment. For the record, the tip on the Fiore’s arm [16] is a nickel-plated metal; the ’Sky’s is more Fender-like white plastic.
Like the Silver Sky’s vibrato [17], oldschool pressed steel saddles are used on the Fiore, too, [16] although, as we’ve said, the vibrato pivots on two threaded bolts screwed into the body. Another difference is that the Silver Sky vibrato is shipped with it ‘decked’ flat on the body. The Fiore’s is more like the standard PRS vibrato and floats a little above the top with the back slightly up-tilted. But neither is set in stone. If you understand simple setup, you can change both to your liking. Incidentally, like the majority of PRS vibrato guitars, both use four springs to balance the string tension.
Pole To Pole
One visual difference here is the largerdiameter (6mm) magnetic poles of the Fiore single coils [18]. They’re also flush with the tops of the black plastic covers, reflecting the flatter radius of the fingerboard and, therefore, the string arc. The ’Sky’s 635JM single coils [19] have smaller-diameter magnetic slugs (4.72mm), staggered to match the smaller radius of the ’board.
Obviously like a Strat, the ’Sky’s pickups and controls mount onto the three-ply (white/black/white) scratchplate, while the Fiore’s pickups screw directly to the body with no mounting rings, and its controls are rear mounted. The big difference is the covered Fiore humbucker at the bridge, and it also uses the standard PRS lampshade control knobs [20], while the Silver Sky’s chase those of a Stratocaster [21], although the tops are plain and the sides are fluted rather than ribbed. Even the plastic tips for the five-way selector switches are different: the Silver Sky’s [21] is larger and it’s a PRS design that’s flatter than a typical Fender and has a cut-off, as opposed to the more pointed tip. Both guitars use the same master volume, tone 1 (for neck and middle single coils) and tone 2 for the bridge pickup. But those controls are expanded on the Fiore with pull switches on the tone control to add bridge and neck and all-three combinations, plus a series/parallel option for the bridge ’bucker.
A Different Breed
Aside from the scale length and body style, virtually every feature is actually different on the new Fiore. There is certainly a similar feel to the neck, although the ’Sky’s neck shape does feel a little rounder, the shoulders slightly fuller. As we said, the difference in the fingerboard radius feels less pronounced than the on-paper specs suggest because the fretwire is now pretty similar on both.
The bridge humbucker – not to mention the expanded sounds – means that the Fiore will go places that the Silver Sky can’t. As to the single-coil voices, it’s sort of like comparing the bodies on the Silver Sky and the Fiore: very similar but not quite the same. At big stadium levels, the slightly more scooped voice of the Fiore might be more pronounced, but at more conservative levels those differences really aren’t huge. The depth on both, the long looping sustain of the bass notes, the sparkle to the highs – all with that percussion and snap – make for an excellent flavour of this oh-so-classic dish, whichever platform you choose.