In his 20s, Ben Mitchell was like most musicians, grinding just to eat and pay rent. As a gigging guitarist, he’d owned his share of guitars including a Gibson Trini Lopez and a ’50s Strat that slipped through his hands when he was 18 “…for peanuts because it was just a ‘used guitar.’”
When he stepped into Nalli Music Annex in Ann Arbor, Michigan, one November day in 1992, he was just window shopping. Being a Fender and Gibson guy, he gazed at instruments until the salesman spotted him.
“He walked up and said I should take a look at something awesome that had just come in, then he led me to the back and grabbed a guitar I didn’t recognize. He had to explain it was a PRS Custom 24 with a Zebrawood top. It had a dark-red sunburst finish, and he was right – it was awesome!”
The sales guy, Mike, let him strum it.
“I started improvising blues riffs then tried a swing/blues chord progression that I’d picked up from a guy I knew in college – I usually play it when I grab any guitar (laughs). Anyway, people say that when you find the right guitar, it speaks to you. As my fingers moved across the fretboard that day, I felt a fervid desire to be a better player. That guitar was not going back on the wall, even though it meant a substantial drop in my bank account.”
A few weeks later, Mitchell was in Ann Arbor again, so he stopped by Nalli to chat with Mike about how much he was loving the PRS.
“He saw me come in and right away motioned at me,” he said. Again, we walked to the back, and there on the wall was another Custom 24.”
Different from the one he’d just bought, it had a walnut top with bookmatched figuring and a subtle sunburst finish. Like the Zebrawood, it was expensive. As Mike handed it to him, Mitchell once again became enamored.
“I started to noodle while asking if the store had placed an order for custom tops, but he said they hadn’t – both guitars were part of a regular allotment. I felt lucky to again be in the right place at the right time, and I bought the guitar (laughs). My luck went up another notch when Mike told me that Paul Smith, the builder, was scheduled to do a workshop there at the store in a few months.”
Mitchell took advantage of the opportunity to ask Smith about the guitars, and it turned out their origins were pretty simple – he’d been offered a selection of rare woods and decided to use them on a run of Custom 24s to test their market potential.
“I remember Paul mentioning five woods – zebrawood, walnut, cedar, lacewood, and redwood,” he says. “At least one top was carved from each and not more than five of any were carved. A PRS employee later told me that there probably weren’t more than 25 or 30 guitars made with exotic tops before they became a custom option.”
Mitchell became a seeker; any time he visited a music store, spoke to a guitarist, or checked with vendors and people walking the aisles at guitar shows, he’d mention his odd PRS guitars.
“I got used to seeing facial expressions that told me nobody had ever heard about zebrawood or walnut tops,” he said.
A ray of hope came with the 2005 edition of The Official Vintage Guitar Price Guide.
“I spotted a ’92 Custom 24 (Walnut) 10 Top listed as two known to have been made,” he said. “I wondered, ‘Could one be mine?’”
After he corresponded with co-author Gil Hembree and provided pictures and the serial number of his, the The Guide was amended the following year to list three known.
The 2026 edition of The Guide shows those ’92 Walnut guitars valued in line with “standard” Custom 24s made from 1990 through ’95. But they surface so rarely there’s no way to gauge broader demand.
Such concerns are not foremost on Mitchell’s mind, because…
“They not only play and sound great, but look like beautiful works of art – worth every bit of effort and sweat I used to pay for them,” he said. “I’ve bought and sold numerous guitars over the years, but I don’t see these two going anywhere, and I’ve enjoyed the thrill of learning that two guitars I’ve loved for more than 30 years turned out to be seriously rare. That would bring a huge smile to any owner’s face.”
Jim Cullen, who has worked at PRS since 1997 as a sander, finisher, customer service rep, salesman, accounts manager, and (for the last decade) Director of Sales, said the early-’90s run Smith mentioned that day at Nalli in ’93 were indeed an experimental batch the company called a Limited Edition. Today, PRS offers non-standard options from its Wood Library, a program offered to Signature Dealers for runs with woods not offered on catalog models. In November of ’25 it reopened to in-person selection. – Ward Meeker
This article originally appeared in VG’s January 2026 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
Facts Only
* Ben Mitchell purchased two PRS Custom 24 guitars from Nalli Music Annex in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1992.
* The first guitar featured a Zebrawood top with a dark-red sunburst finish.
* The second guitar featured a bookmatched walnut top with a subtle sunburst finish.
* Paul Smith, the builder, conducted a workshop at Nalli Music Annex in 1993.
* Paul Smith stated he used zebrawood, walnut, cedar, lacewood, and redwood for a limited run of Custom 24s to test market potential.
* A PRS employee estimated fewer than 30 guitars with exotic tops were made before becoming custom options.
* The 2005 Official Vintage Guitar Price Guide listed two known 1992 Walnut 10 Tops.
* Following correspondence with Gil Hembree and submission of a serial number, the Guide was updated the following year to list three known.
* The 2026 edition of the Guide values 1992 Walnut guitars similarly to standard Custom 24s from 1990–1995.
* Jim Cullen has served as Director of Sales at PRS for the last decade.
* PRS currently offers non-standard options through a Wood Library program for Signature Dealers.
* The Wood Library reopened for in-person selection in November 2025.
Executive Summary
In 1992, musician Ben Mitchell acquired two PRS Custom 24 guitars with rare exotic tops—zebrawood and walnut—from Nalli Music Annex in Michigan. These instruments were part of a small, experimental "Limited Edition" batch created by builder Paul Smith to test the market viability of rare woods. While Smith identified five specific woods used in this run, the exact number of instruments produced remains imprecise, with employee estimates suggesting between 25 and 30 units.
The rarity of these instruments was later partially validated by the Official Vintage Guitar Price Guide. After Mitchell provided documentation for his walnut-top guitar, the Guide increased the number of known existing units from two to three. Despite their scarcity, market valuations for the walnut models currently align with standard Custom 24s from the same era. This scarcity is mirrored in modern PRS operations via the Wood Library, which provides Signature Dealers access to non-catalog woods, a program that resumed in-person selection in late 2025.
Full Take
The strongest version of this narrative is a celebration of serendipity and the "treasure hunt" aspect of instrument collecting, where a musician's intuition and timing result in the ownership of rare historical artifacts. It frames the value of the objects not just in currency, but in the personal journey of discovery and the artistic merit of the materials.
The narrative relies on a pattern of validation through external authorities—first the builder, then a price guide, then a corporate director—to transform a subjective "feeling" of rarity into an objective fact. However, there is a tension between "rarity" and "value." While the instruments are documented as rare, the price guide indicates their market value remains tied to standard models. This reveals a fundamental truth about collectibles: scarcity does not automatically create premium value unless there is a corresponding surge in demand.
Patterns detected: none
The driving paradigm is the "Collector's Mythos," where the provenance of an object provides a sense of identity and exclusivity to the owner. It assumes that historical rarity is an inherent virtue. In terms of human agency, this narrative reinforces the idea that "being in the right place at the right time" is a primary driver of acquisition, potentially overshadowing the labor and "sweat" mentioned by the owner.
Bridge Questions: Does the lack of a price premium for these rare woods suggest that "exotic" materials do not actually improve the instrument's utility or desirability for most players? How does the transition from "experimental batch" to a formal "Wood Library" change the nature of rarity from a happy accident to a curated product?
Counterstrike Scan: A coordinated influence campaign would use this story as "social proof" to drive urgency for the Wood Library program, framing it as a way for buyers to "get in early" on the next rare investment. The actual content is a retrospective human-interest story and does not match this promotional attack pattern.