PRS SE Custom Semi-Hollow Electric Guitar

some guitarists understand PRS (plus some dream every day of adding among the organization’s Private Stock axes for their collection), the organization’s import SE range usually gets notably less play inside git-tar hit.

Developed during the demand of Carlos Santana so newbies and “weekend warriors” could experience playing a PRS at a more affordable cost, SE series devices run between $600 and about $900 retail. But their quality, tone, and playability are particularly much consistent with a top-tier expert instrument. The range is made of 10 guitars, including two musician signature models (the Mark Tremonti SE and Paul Allender SE), the SE standard, SE Custom, SE Singlecut, SE Soapbar II, as well as the new SE Custom Semi-Hollow PRS delivered for our perusal.

The SE Personalized Semi-Hollow has actually a chambered double-cutaway mahogany human body with a 1/4” flame-maple limit, a soundhole on the lower bass bout, a set 25”-scale “wide fat” mahogany neck with a 10” distance rosewood fretboard, moon inlays, a little three-ply (black/white/black) pickguard, black speed knobs, and natural-finished lumber binding. Unlike its U.S.-made equivalent Personalized, the SE Custom Semi-Hollow has a set top, but maintains PRS’ elegant double-cutaway body design with scooped contour on treble-side cutaway.

Hardware from the Semi-Hollow includes PRS’ proprietary wraparound tailpiece (which adjusts intonation by going the whole tailpiece in or out making use of two small Allen screws), PRS-designed die-cast tuners, and strap buttons. The SE Custom Semi-Hollow is equipped with two PRS-designed exposed-coil humbuckers mounted in crème-colored pickup rings and managed via a single master volume, master tone, and three-way toggle pickup selector. PRS utilizes full-sized pots, an open-frame three-way toggle selector, and shields the control hole and hole covers on all SE designs.

Visiting united states directly through the flooring regarding the NAMM tv show, our SE Custom Semi-Hollow model is completed in Matteo Blue over a flame-maple veneer with a gloss-black human anatomy and neck.

Playability on the prototype was exceptional; a dead-on straight throat with reduced, buzz-free action, nicely polished frets with curved ends and a tremendously comfortable throat profile, including excellent usage of the 22nd fret. Even though PRS calls this their “wide fat” neck profile, the width during the fan is still the standard 111/16” therefore the profile and somewhat rolled edge result in the neck feel anything but “chunky.” The combination of light-weight (simply over six weight) semi-hollow body, maple top, and wraparound tail supply the Semi-Hollow a definite, resonant acoustic tone. The well-conceived, low-profile design associated with the PRS bridge doesn’t feel large or uncomfortable, as wraparound bridges sometimes can. And though specific sequence intonation isn’t an option, intonation had been near ideal.

To know it, we plugged the Semi-Hollow into a Koch Twintone II 1×12” tube combination. The guitar’s exemplary acoustic clarity was obvious before we plugged it in. As soon as we performed include AC, we found all three pickup combinations to-be very well-balanced, with a lush, fat tone through Koch’s clean station. The 25” scale length and semi-hollow construction combine to offer a guitar a more-than-ample selection of clean shades, from a bright, snappy noise within the selector’s bridge and center position, to a fat, dark jazzbox tone with the tone control rolled as well as the selector when you look at the neck position. The semi-hollow human anatomy adds punch to low-end response and heat toward midrange, although the maple top assists it keep clear high-end.

The guitar additionally performed really through the overdrive station associated with the Koch, supplying an obvious, solid, crunchy, also rock tone with exemplary note split, as we rolled up the amplifier’s gain. The PRS-designed humbuckers inside our tester aren't your standard run-of-the-mill import fare; rather, these are generally extremely nicely voiced (especially for 25”-scale guitars) with substantial gain no comments issues.

Selecting finishes and unique woods may be restricted aided by the SE Custom Semi-Hollow when comparing to PRS’ core domestic designs, however with its pro-level quality, killer seems, solid tone, and effortless playability, the SE Custom Semi-Hollow is certainly worth the Paul Reed Smith name.

PRS SE Personalized Semi-Hollow

Cost: $858

This article originally starred in VGVintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or usage is strictly restricted.