Nik Huber and Bernie Marsden delivered an Orca that melds the best of hollowbody guitars - an airy tone with a slightly different note attack - with a solid-body guitar's heft and punch.

Why We Love This

Okay, let's start this by acknowledging what some may be a little embarrassed to admit - who is Bernie Marsden? Perhaps the name sounds familiar but you can't quite pin it down? Let's cut right to chase - you have for sure heard Bernie's music. How can I be so sure? Know the tune, "Here I Go Again" by Whitesnake? Bernie co-wrote that tune with David Coverdale (be sure to check out the 1982 version).

In addition to writing some of the biggest hits ever, Bernie shares a mutual friend with Nik Huber - Paul Reed Smith. The trio found themselves hanging out in Europe during a clinic tour chatting about guitars (naturally) and shortly after, Bernie phoned Nik to ask if he would be interested in building him a guitar. After getting Paul's blessing for a Huber / Marsden signature model (PRS has also made a signature model for Bernie), Nik and Bernie began chatting about designs.

Known for playing solid-body guitars, namely Les Pauls, Nik naturally sent Bernie an Orca model to check out, but Bernie was after something a little different with his Huber - more of a hollowbody. It just so happened that around this time Nik had been experimenting with new ways to chamber guitar bodies, specifically a style called 'honeycomb' routing.

"I’d seen it on surfboards, and it’s also cropped up in the world of guitars before. I was curious about where you could go with it next in terms of routing a body; the possibility of having length-grain and cross-grain connections between the body and the top can create something distinct from either a semi-hollow construction or a standard solid-body."

In addition to the internal honeycomb chambering, Nik and Bernie incorporated a new design for the heel joint, three knobs instead of four, and, naturally, the addition of Bernie’s signature Cream T pickups.

The resulting guitars - limited to 12 pair, a Burst and a Goldtop - are truly special instruments that re-imagine what a set-neck style guitar can be.