Artist Feature – Frank Pané

/in /by

Frank Pané – Sainted Sinners, Bonfire, Dark Blue Inc.

BIO

Meet Frank Pané, a PRS Artist from Germany, a lover of Classic Rock and guitarist in the legendary German rock band Bonfire. As well as many solo projects, Frank founded the classic rock influenced band Sainted Sinners and also the progressive rock orientated band called Dark Blue Inc. We caught up with Frank to chat all things music and PRS!

PRS: What first drew you to PRS Guitars?

FP: I remember seeing ads in guitar magazines like Guitar World in the early 90s featuring some of my favourite guitarists like Alex Lifeson, Carlos Santana and many others with PRS guitars. Also, I saw Jim Matheos of Fates Warning live a few times, which has always been one of my favourite bands and he used PRS Custom 24s. That’s what got me really attracted to PRS guitars, and it was around that time when I decided I wanted to take playing guitar more seriously and become a pro musician. A few years later when the Dave Navarro model came out, I really wanted one so bad, but it took many more years and building my experience up until I got my first PRS and proudly became a PRS artist!

PRS: How many PRS guitars do you currently own, and which ones see the most action on stage and in the studio?

FP: I’m fortunate to now have 6 PRS guitars in my arsenal, of which the antique white core PRS Custom 24 ( my first PRS ) is definitely my main one. I have used it on a couple of records and nearly every live show since I got it, it’s my go-to guitar. Also coming back to the Navarro model, I love the look of white guitars and especially the PRS Custom 24 looks awesome on stage in white. I have a goldtop Custom 24, which works as my backup and for dropped D-tunings. A very good friend kindly loaned me his PRS McCarty Single-cut for an unlimited time, which became another favourite guitar of mine. It’s a stunning guitar and the best single-cut style guitar I have ever played.

PRS: As you are in three different bands; Bonfire, Sainted Sinners & Dark Blue Inc, all the while doing your own solo projects. Do you use the same PRS for all these projects?

FP: For Sainted Sinners and all session work I do, which requires standard tuning, I use my white Custom 24 and the McCarty Single-cut. For Bonfire, which tunes down to Eb, I have a beautiful PRS Custom 24 Floyd in Charcoal Burst (awesome colour) and this will hopefully see more action in 2022, when Bonfire returns to the stage and the studio again. For the melodic Metal style of Bonfire you gotta have a Floyd. Even though the non-locking PRS Gen trem works super nice, when if comes to extreme heavy dive-bombs and squeals, a Floyd is the best choice. Also, the Metal pickups featured in the Custom 24 Floyd work perfectly for the Bonfire sound, even if my general taste leans towards more low output pickups like the 85/15, which became one of my fave pickups ever. Dark Blue Inc is a more progressive band and we use a variety of tuning, so this is where my SE Holcomb 7-string gets used for a more modern and proggy approach.

PRS: When it comes to your live rig, are you a “keep it simple” player, or are you in the “more the merrier” camp?

FP: I guess you could call my approach super simple. I’m sort of very old school when it comes to the ingredients for my sound. A good tube amp, a good versatile guitar and a handful of stomp boxes ( Delay, Phaser, Octaver, Treble Booster & a WahWah ), all connected with good cables is all I need. Don’t get me wrong there is nothing wrong with a more complex setup, but for me a simple setup always works best and gets me the results I‘m looking for. The best thing with a PRS is, no matter what style or situation, I can purely concentrate on my playing, as I know they will stay in tune and deliver the sound I’m looking for.

PRS: What is the current touring situation in Germany? Any tours coming up in Europe & the UK?

FP: Well, just when Sainted Sinners began to tour again November this year to promote our latest album ‘Taste it‘, things started to fall apart again and unfortunately while being on tour, clubs had to cancel the shows with very short notice as new restrictions came up. This was very unpleasant, but i guess we’ve all learned to live with it by now, that you basically can’t plan anything. These cancelled shows have now been rescheduled for April & September 2022, and we hope that next year things will look better. As for now our schedule includes shows in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands. Also as mentioned previously, Bonfire should finally tour again including shows in the UK. The new Bonfire tour plan will be released within the next few weeks.

PRS: Any exciting projects coming up?

FP: Yes, 2022 seems to be very busy! With Bonfire we just started to record for not 1 or 2, but 3 albums, which are all to be released next year. These are not studio albums with new material, but something very interesting for the fans. A studio album with new Bonfire material is scheduled for 2023. Besides that, material for the 2nd Dark Blue inc. album is in the works and also the writing sessions with Sainted Sinners continue with a follow up to “Taste it“ already in mind. Last but not least, I also plan to release some new instrumental stuff in 2022. Whether it will be in form of an album or just digital singles, I haven’t decided yet, but there will definitely be some new stuff in 2022 in one form or the other!

See Tour dates and more on Frank’s website – https://www.frankpane.com/tourdates

PRS Europe Employee Spotlight – NICK FRASER // Technical Manager

/in /by

MEET NICK

“I had an interest in guitars since I got my first aged 11, and soon began taking them apart, modifying them, and putting them back together. After a brief attempt at making it big in a band, I started work in the guitar industry in 1987, cutting my teeth teching on Ibanez and Westone guitars. Few years later, I moved job and worked on Washburn, Taylor, and Blade guitars. Around 1993, the company started working with PRS Guitars, and I’ve been working with PRS ever since. I have gained an extensive knowledge and experience of the models produced over the last 30 years, which comes in handy when dealing with enquiries about some of our older instruments. 

My role within PRS has morphed over the years, and I now oversee our team of five techs who set up every PRS SE imported into Europe. I provide advice and training to them and am responsible for overall quality control. I spend some time liaising with the factories too. I supply technical advice to our customers, dealers, and independent repairers on our guitars and amplifiers and work closely with Chris in the Europe PTC, discussing repair options with customers. I still find time to do a few customer repairs and artist set ups, and, occasionally, workshops at the ACM in Guildford and London and ICMP London.”  

1)What’s your typical day working in the Techroom?

Typically it starts with e-mails from PRS HQ in the US, our service centre in Germany, and of course customers and dealers. Over the course of the day, I will be advising and overseeing our techs and answering various technical questions from customers and our dealers. If I have any guitars on the bench, I will generally leave them till later in the day when most people have gone home, and I can concentrate, free from interruption.

2)What is the most important tool for your line of work?

They’re all equally important! However, a set of good quality nut files is essential.

3)You work on a lot of artist guitars, is there one that has been particularly memorable?

The most memorable Artist’s guitar that I have worked on belonged to Dan Weller from Sikth. It was a USA Standard, maybe 15 years ago, and it was covered in blood – he said it was his blood, and he just got a bit carried away at a gig; anyway, I just cleaned it up, set it up and didn’t ask any questions…

I don’t tend to get star struck, but it was a bit of a moment when I got to set up a guitar for John McLaughlin.

4)What’s been the most challenging guitar you’ve ever worked on?

Probably the biggest challenge to date has been fitting a Core Piezo system into an SE Custom for Jakko from King Crimson – that was a bit of a squeeze!

5)What made you want to go into guitar maintenance and repair?

I have always enjoyed taking guitars apart and modding them. In the absence of any sensible career paths ahead, it made perfect sense to follow my dream instead.

6) What’s your favourite PRS guitar and why?

My favourite PRS guitar is the S2 Mira Semi Hollow – it just works for me. The simplicity, the comfortable forearm contour, some extra warmth and fatness from the Semi Hollow body, and that solid workhorse feel that you get from an S2. If I had to choose a Core guitar it would be the Paul’s Guitar for simplicity, feel, and tone.

7) What’s your top tips for setting up a PRS guitar?

My top tip for setting up a PRS guitar is to get familiar with the truss rod. The amount of neck relief can change with the seasons and a small fluctuation can throw the set up and feel out a tad. The factory spec relief at the 8th fret is 0.010” so it’s good to keep it around there. The truss rod is your friend, don’t be afraid of it! Set up details on the main website.

8)What do you love most about working in the guitar world?

Pretty much everyone you come across is a creative type to some degree. Having that common thread helps with communication and understanding – there is a kind of family feel at PRS. We all love guitars in general and of course PRS’s! What better place to work?