Representative image: a 1991 Land Rover Defender 90 in blue. Photo: Mr.choppers, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
John Mayer collects Defenders, so this was probably inevitable. PRS Guitars lists a run of 500 US-made Silver Sky guitars in each of four Land Rover Defender colors, 2,000 in all, on the model page for the Silver Sky Defender Limited Edition 2026. The colors are Arles Blue, Portofino Red, Sandglow Yellow and Willow Green, and PRS says Arles Blue comes from John Mayer’s own Defender.
That page, Land Rover’s page for the collaboration and PRS’s separate listing for an SE version are the sources for everything below. Mayer, whose signature model the Silver Sky is, calls the project “a dream come true” and describes himself as a Defender collector who picks guitar colors from objects and materials he likes.
The 2,000 US guitars
Each one has a matching painted headstock and a neck plate engraved with the color name and “1 of 500.” The case is a molded ATA unit with a Defender badge. PRS lists an alder body, a maple neck with 22 frets and a 25.5-inch scale, a rosewood fretboard with small bird inlays, three PRS 635JM pickups, a steel tremolo, vintage-style locking tuners and a high-gloss nitro finish. Land Rover’s page shows a white pickguard on these four and groups them as the heritage colors.
The SE version
The SE Silver Sky Defender comes in Petra Copper, Sedona Red, Carpathian Grey and Woolstone Green, which Land Rover files under contemporary colors. PRS lists a poplar body, a multi-ply maple neck, three 635JM “S” single coils, a two-point tremolo and a custom PRS and Land Rover gig bag. The pickguard is black, which PRS describes as a first for the Silver Sky.
What the listings leave out
Neither PRS page carries a price. The SE page gives no production number, so 2,000 covers only the US guitars and the total across both lines is not stated. The SE page does give an order window, September 15, 2026 through June 30, 2027. The US page, as we read it, lists no window and no shipping date.
PRS says four heritage Defender finishes were selected, with Defender’s contrasting roof colors informing the look. The SE page says Defender’s palette spans decades and more than 900 colors; the collaboration uses eight. We found no statement on either page about whether the guitar lacquer is matched to Land Rover paint codes or only drawn from them, which matters if you plan to park one next to a truck.
The guitars arrive in a busy stretch for the nameplate, which has also produced JLR’s American Defender plan and a factory V8 for the Puma Defender. Neither of those comes with a neck plate.
PRS has until June 30, 2027 to take orders on the SE line and has not said when the first US guitars ship. Is a Defender paint color enough reason to buy a Silver Sky, or is it just a finish for a truck you don’t own?
Sources: PRS Guitars model pages for the Silver Sky Defender Limited Edition 2026 and SE Silver Sky Defender Limited Edition 2026; Land Rover USA collaboration page.
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