The PRS Dragon guitars were the realisation of a dream Paul Reed Smith had when he was 16.

The first dragon model, introduced in 1992, was more than a showpiece, however. It featured several small but fundamental changes in the standard PRS design. If anyone got past the dragon inlays on the neck, they would have noticed that it had only 22-frets, which was two less than all the other PRS guitars. It was one result of Smith’s desire to improve on the 24-fret neck.

The shorter neck (though not shorter scale length) made it stiffer, which provided a fatter sound and more sustain. A longer heel added support for the neck and a new Stop-Tail bridge/tailpiece provided further sustain. A “wide fat” neck (though not as fat as some vintage guitars) added even more.

PRS created a new dragon each year for three years. For 1994, the dragon had deep blue wings folded much more smoothly than previous creatures. The fourth dragon did not appear until 2000, at which time it took over the body of the guitar.