“Guitars are like crayons to me,” says Carlos Santana. “Life is the canvas.” Such is how the legendary guitarist views his instruments: not as mere devices, however as portals to creativity and self-expression.

Over the many years, Santana has performed all of them – Gibsons, Fenders, Gretsches, and even a signature Yamaha within the Eighties – however the one model he retains returning to is PRS.

“Paul Reed Smith has mastered creating an instrument that behaves,” says the Mexican-American guitarist within the new problem of Guitar World. “It doesn’t matter what the climate is like, it should keep in tune and all the time provide you with that nice tone.”

Regardless of having performed nearly every thing underneath the solar – “All of them have their very own sound, texture and really feel,” Santana explains – PRS guitars are the one ones that really feel like residence.

“I all the time return to my PRS fashions,” he says. “I’m very grateful to Paul. He got here up along with his personal imaginative and prescient to create a special tone and really feel. I’m grateful he did that as a result of his designs suited my persona when it got here to self-expression.”

That is very true of his PRS signature mannequin ‘Salmon’, which he describes because the “best instrument for me to materialize my inner-vision, ideas and feelings. There’s not a lot wrestle translating myself onto that guitar.”

Santana’s friendship with the PRS founder additionally goes again a good distance: “We’ve had a relationship because the late Seventies. He satisfied me to return on board. Again then, there have been solely three corporations I knew of – Gibson, Fender and Gretsch. There have been others, however these three have been the principle ones.”

Based on Santana, PRS’s consideration to element is what retains him loyal, even many years later.

“From guitars to meals or no matter, there are two phrases which are vital for any enterprise – impeccable integrity,” says the guitarist. “When folks put love and a spotlight into what they make, it stands out. When my guitars arrive from Paul Reed Smith, they’re all the time completely in tune. I’m not making it up! They arrive to me arrange completely as a result of anyone on the manufacturing unit is doing that ultimate test. Plenty of corporations don’t do this.”

As for what number of guitars he owns lately? “Most likely no more than 100 and never fewer than 75,” Santana reckons. “I suppose the Fender Strats and Gibson Les Pauls can be the oldest fashions in my assortment. I’ve received Strats from 1954; a few of my Les Pauls go all the way in which again to 1959.”