A guide to the PRS SE
PRS guitars have been regarded as some of the best instruments in the world for over two decades, historically PRS branded guitars have produced higher end instruments designed to meet the needs of professional players. The manufacturer realised it was missing out on a big market of musicians who couldn’t afford to pay the steep prices; as a result they introduced their PRS SE line of guitars. All SE guitars are manufactured and imported from Korea; this allows the manufacturer to build great budget instruments which appeal to beginners and amateurs. This article is going to provide you with a little background information about the PRS SE line of instruments and talk about some of the great models in this line.
PRS SE guitars use lower quality tone-woods; these allow for less expensive production costs which allow them to be priced competitively. Although SE guitars do not share the same build quality or rich tones as higher end PRS guitars, retailing at less than 20% of the cost of the real thing makes it a real bargain. Despite being over a lower build quality to high end PRS models, PRS SE guitars are still considered to be of a much higher quality than similarly priced instruments. This is evident by looking at the technique used to attach the neck to the instrument, entry level guitars usually use bolt-on necks because they are cheaper but PRS SE guitars all use set-neck construction which is more prominent on higher end models.
PRS SE Custom models actually replicate the look and feel of the manufacturer’s more expensive models by featuring maple tops, flamed maple veneers and a mahogany backs. These guitars are regarded as really great performers, their PRS treble and bass humbucking pickups sound great and its chrome tuners and wrap around stop tail give these instruments the veneer of a far more expensive instrument. A Custom PRS 24 retails for around £450 ($650) and comes with a deluxe PRS gig bag; these are serious instruments which, despite their Korean workmanship, are really superb quality.
PRS SE Singlecut guitars are very similar to Custom models, the most notable difference between the two is the natural maple top binding and Moon inlays on the fretboard of the former. The dual humbucking pickups in a PRSE SE Singlecut are actually tailored to sing rather than produce a treble shrieking sound, this really enhances the guitars performance during solos and lead licks. PRS Singlecut SE guitars can be purchased for much the same price as Custom models, they usually retail for £450 ($650), but you may be able to pick one op for less than £400 if you really shop around.
Many players actually purchase PRS SE guitars and change the pickups; this can dramatically improve the tone of your guitar. A standard high end PRS 24 Custom retails for over £1,500 ($2500), but in many cases the humbucking pickups featured on these high end guitars can be bought for less than £250 ($300). Meaning you can buy a cheaper version for around £400 and then make that extra leap by adding those high end pickups used in the ‘real’ Custom 24. Readers should not that simply changing the pickups of your PRS SE 24 will not make it sound exactly like the real deal, different tone-woods also play a large part, but you can definitely improve the sound of the instrument significantly.
That’s my guide to PRS SE guitars, anyone thinking of buying an SE model should really consider replacing the pickups with the ones used in the US models to really make a superb instrument. All you have to do then is find somewhere to buy the mother of pearl birds on the fretboard and your set (joking).
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Tagged With deluxe PRS gig bag, high end PRS, maple top binding, Moon inlays, PRS Custom models, PRS SE, PRS SE 24, PRS SE Custom, PRS SE guitars, PRS SE Singlecut, PRS Singlecut SE, SE guitars
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