Fan gifts Sophie Burrell a PRS Custom 24 after years online

Al saw Sophie Burrell playing an SE in the PRS Guitar Owners Worldwide Facebook group and decided to back her with a USA model instead. What landed in her hands was a 2014 PRS Custom 24 Wood Library, the guitar Burrell had been chasing as a player and content creator long before a fan made the leap.

The instrument mattered because it was built for the way Burrell already played. Burrell said the guitar has a mahogany body and a flame maple neck, and that it clicked immediately. Over time, it picked up a few battle scars, but she still describes it as feeling like an extension of herself, the kind of guitar that feeds ideas back into the player instead of just sitting on a stand.

Burrell’s path to that moment was built in public. PRS says she began her musical journey in single digits and was already playing small local concerts before age ten, while also building a collective following of more than 1.6 million. Guitar.com said she started uploading videos at 14 and later received the guitar at 14 from Al, a member of the Facebook group. Burrell initially doubted it would actually arrive, which makes the gift feel less like a viral flourish and more like a hard-earned payoff for years of playing, posting, and showing up.

Her PRS connection did not begin with the Custom 24. In a 2021 Guitar.com interview, Burrell said her introduction to the brand came through Mark Tremonti and Alter Bridge, when the bird inlays and the sound of Tremonti’s PRS guitars caught her attention. She saved lunch money for about a year or two to buy her first PRS, a Tremonti SE Signature, which set the template for what she wanted from an electric guitar: a neck and feel that would keep up with her hands.

PRS says Burrell unveiled her band BXRRELL in 2023 and released its debut single, Dare To, on Feb. 24, 2023. That shift from solo content to a band project gives the gifted Custom 24 even more weight, because the fan-built instrument was not just a reward for online visibility. It became part of the guitar identity that Burrell carried from social media into a more traditional band path, one post, one song, and one well-placed act of support at a time.