thats my hope too, but I’m not optimistic for myself -I find that doing anything but leaving my fingers relaxed interferes with my picking motion - instant tension 
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That makes sense. For me it was hitting it randomly and then taking a second to figure out why I was getting no sound or a volume drop. It kind of took care of itself since it doesn’t bother me to hit the knob occasionally. I have a bigger problem hitting the pickup switch on LP style guitars!
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My knee-jerk response would be one of the two-knob Squier Affinity or Yamaha Pacifica models, but even they have the volume knob in pretty much the same spot as your PRS.
If they meet your other criteria, a low-end Epiphone SG or Les Paul would have the knobs well out of your way.
Some lower-priced 25.5" scale guitars with the knob slightly further away would be some of the low-end Jacksons like this one:
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/JS12A24Bk--jackson-dinky-js12-black
Or moving up in price a bit, a Sterling by MM like this one:
If you’re handy, the best low-priced option would probably be to pick up a cheap 3-knob Squier, rewire it as 2-knob (one volume, one tone), and leave the closest knob-mounting hole vacant (optionally cover it with tape or something).
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This happened a lot on my ibanez guitar when using usx. Eventually I figured out how to avoid it unconsciously.
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I have large hands—long fingers in particular—so this was a problem for me on my Strat. I finally rewired it, removing one of the tone pots. I grabbed a custom pickguard off Warmoth with just two control holes, then moved the volume knob down a spot. It made my Strat much more playable.
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I’ve learned to avoid it over time, but, I suspect that with your trailing edge grip, that might be a much harder task?
I’m forearm and wrist, similar setup to Malmsteen, so it’s definitely in the way, but not so much that I couldn’t learn, over time, to avoid it.
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I’ve been beyond annoyed with this myself. I saw a similar post on Reddit with one of the answers suggesting that OP just needed smaller and more precise right hand technique and cited Yngwie and Blake Mills as examples. But my right hand technique is already very, very tight.
I play mostly speed/thrash (Megadeth), so I want a tight, aggressive, and consistent attack when playing on the wound strings, and I also want to be able to mix in quick lead runs and then return to playing rhythms and immediately have them just as dialed-in as they were.
That translates to needing a lot of pick angle and a tight grip, horizontally-angled linear pick movement (headstock <-> bridge), an easily-adjustable palm mute with the meatiest part of my palm, low-ish string action for playability, and mostly elbow/shoulder-based string tracking, which makes it easier to independently control both the traversal angle and pickslant at high speeds while also maintaining consistent muting.
The best-sounding solution I’ve found requires me to lift my fingers so high that they’re bent backwards, which is uncomfortable to do for even short periods, let alone a whole session. And even that isn’t perfect - if I want to add slight muting to the high E for a Nuno Bettencourt style solo, the top of my pinky metacarpal bumps the volume knob!
I’ve tried chugging with the pinky-style muting that Blake uses - even at low speeds it sounds terrible because there’s not enough pinky meat to sound like a proper palm mute, and if I compensate by moving the mute farther from the bridge it noticeably changes the note pitch. I’ve also tried Yngwie’s pick grip, and that can either enable me to use the muting that I want or the attack that I want, but not both. I’ve tried all sorts of hand postures, grips (finger pads, standard, knuckle, 3-finger, thumb+middle), angles, movement styles (linear vs rotational, fingers vs wrist vs arm, all variety of combinations thereof) - I’ve found none that completely satisfy my requirements.
I’ve been at this for 8 years now. I think, finally, I can reasonably conclude that it isn’t me - it’s the instrument. I need to either switch guitars or move that damn knob.
I had the same problem, and I think it’s just poor design on Fender’s part. There are a ton of great players who are totally incompatible with the strat volume knob placement. Look at Paul Gilbert’s PGM guitars - his volume knob is placed way down and back, far away from the bridge. Same with John Petrucci’s Ibanez and Musicman models. I’m willing to bet it’s because their technique just can’t work with a volume knob there.
Personally, I owned my first strat for about an hour before I decided the knob had to go. No sense changing my entire picking mechanic because of Leo Fender.
I just took the pickguard off, stuck the 2nd tone (bridge) knob entirely inside the body cavity, and moved Volume/Tone 1 down one spot. No soldering, and no more knob in the way. You can also do a 2-knob Volume and Master Tone resoldering, if you’re handy with it (it’s a really common mod if you google it).
And yet, none of this is possible with the volume knob anywhere else:
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I’ve owned a Strat for 30 years. Never had a problem.
Yngwie, Eric Johnson, SRV, Beck, Clapton, Blackmore……etc did just fine.
If it were a bad design….it wouldn’t have remained essentially unchanged for 70 years.
Some guitars fit, some do not. Nothing new.
I’ve wondered since joining this site if the position of the volume knob and what you play has an effect on your default escape motion. For instance, if you spend a lot of time on the higher strings and the knob is in your way, do you lean towards downward escape? Or if you mostly play heavy rhythm but need to use the knob a lot to control feedback, it’s in the perfect spot. Same with what guitar you actually play. With a Strat style, it can be in the way, but not so much on a Les Paul or PRS kinda configuration.
That said, for every guitarist whose approach is influenced by that, there’s another that does the opposite…
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That’s a great question. I was actually just thinking about this the other day, but regarding resting your hand on the bridge - some guitars have really uncomfortable bridges (like vintage bridges with saddle screws sticking up, or some tune-o-matics), and I wonder if guitarists who start with those may use different techniques as a result. On my strat with vintage bridge saddles, I can’t slide my hand up and down to track strings without discomfort, so I end up using a lot more wrist-based tracking ala Anton Oparin.
Or distance between the strings and the body. I just played an Ibanez RG with a pickguard and super low action, and it was really uncomfortable because I rest my fingers on the guitar. It felt like I had to smash my hand flat. But, on a Les Paul for example, there is a huge gap between the strings and the body.
It would be really interesting to see the ways in which these factors influence technique that people develop.
Could certainly be a possible factor to an extent. None of this exists in a vacuum. I think a bigger one regarding hand placement and form is how you mute the bridge if you do. Most of us learn our rhythm forms first, because it’s simply the first thing most of us learn and are taught - It’s the most useful. Everything else stems from that.
For example: If you started life as a heavy metal chugger doing everything you can to keep all strings muted and quiet when playing with heavy gain, you might adapt a picking hand position that’s more supinated to get the whole pinky side of the palm to cover more territory over the strings. This will likely carry over into lead playing. Not always the case certainly, but possible. I know I can certainly trace how I play to a similar factor.
I do think volume placement in a lot of cases can be annoying. If you don’t do a lot of volume swells or ride it a lot you can always move it. I had this issue a lot and ended up just moving it to where the tone usually is. I usually disconnect the tone control anyway. On one guitar i have it (normal volume knob placement) removed completely and the hole plugged, with the volume where the tone control usually is.
I know Paul Gilbert has stated in interviews that this is the reason he does similar.
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It might be worth sharing a video of what happens?
I’ve noticed that most really good guitarists seem to have one main guitar (?)… perhaps the reasons are that they can get used to it. Perhaps they did evolve differently if starting with a Les Paul vs. a Strat, etc.
We could get some insight into that as we can see what type of escape people have vs. what type of guitar they usually play, and there might be a correlation?
Some people put an o ring under foot pedal knobs to keep them in position via friction. Might be worth a try. I hate the fender volume knob placement but nob riders love it. 
I still got my volume, but took the knob off, so much better, have to twist it hard to change volume, exactly what I want
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The fact that guitar makers still put the volume knob in the ‘pimp hand zone’ absolutely baffles me. For the people saying ‘adjust your technique’ that’s not really an answer as IME unless your almost exclusively DSX you’re gonna hit it sooner or later.