What year did PRS stop using real abalone in their inlays?
A. 1991, PRS stopped using real abalone because of the world shortage of shells large enough to cut one piece inlays. For a short period of time we went to the mother of pearl inlays, but returned to laminated abalone when a Korean company developed a cutter that could cut on the curve of the shell. This process uses 80% less shell and therefore not only allows us to offer the beauty of abalone once again, but puts less of a strain on this natural resource. Comments from Ed Roman on Answer #2 I think it puts a lot less strain on the cost of the guitar also. I love the way PRS is trying to turn this into a GREEN issue. If PRS is really a Green, company. Why did they build the Archtop II & Hollow Body II models by hogging out the mahogany & wasting 90% of the wood it takes to make the body. Notice also they are buying it from a Korean company. By the way, the PRS inlays aren’t that big at all. Jackson & Rickenbacker are probably the only mainstream company I can think of that may have a
