PRS and maple wood have had a long relationship that began in the late 1970’s when Paul began using unique and highly figured maple on his earliest instruments for artists like Carlos Santana, Al Di Meola, and Howard Lease. While many of our designs and processes have been tweaked over the years, our love of maple has not wavered. Check out the story below to see how our use of maple began, and how exactly we grade our maple tops.
http://www.prsguitars.com/index.php/blog/post/how_we_grade_our_woods