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racerevlon « Great sounding guitar but make sure you like the way it plays. »
Published on 10/17/12 at 16:44The PRS SE guitars ("SE" stands for "Student Edition") are made in Korea and are intended to bring PRS guitars down to a price point where student or non-professional guitarist can afford a PRS guitar. Personally, I have never been a fan of PRS guitars but had an extraordinary opportunity to acquire this guitar for an outstanding deal at a time when I happened to be looking for another semi-hollow guitar. There are simple controls: a single volume, single tone, and a three-way pickup selector switch. The guitar has the PRS "Wide-Fat" neck profile that I simply can't get along with. The string spacing seems to be wider than any other guitar I've played and that has the effect of throwing off my playing and making it inconsistent. The guitar has a fixed-wrap around bridge, 22 frets, and seems to be otherwise stable while being incredibly light in weight. The guitar also comes with a nicker-than average gig bag with ample padding and plenty of storage space.
UTILIZATION
Here's the dilemma I have about this guitar. While I don't like the way the guitar plays, there's no denying that the guitar sounds wonderfully, both acoustically and amplified. Because it is so light in weight I could see playing the guitar all night and covering a wide style of music. The guitar has a single modern-shaped "F" hole that provides a unique tonal signature. I'd like to be able to echo my displeasure playing the guitar in listening to the guitar, but that's just not the case. The guitar sounds great and I don't know that I've heard a guitar at this price point sound this good.
SOUNDS
The pickups are zebra non-descriptive "PRS Designed" SE pickups. I'm not sure if they're modeled after production PRS pickups, but there's no denying that to my ear they sound wonderful. Aside from the fact that it, being a semi-hollow, obviously feeds back on higher gain settings, there's not a tone I could not coax out of this guitar, from crystal cleans to cheap dirt to 70's rock, 80's hard rock, and contemporary metal. While it's not well-suited for metal, I can see it easily being an ideal "all-in-one" guitar for gigging musicians.
OVERALL OPINION
I still can't say that I'd ever purchase another PRS guitar. I think PRS guitars are aesthetically pleasing, but I've simply never played one that I felt is a comfortable guitar to play, or one that I'd want to play for more than one or two songs tops. Whenever I have to play something where I need that "Semi-hollow" tone, I reach for my $199 Epiphone Dot and not my more expensive PRS. It sounds great, but it's just not the whole package.
UTILIZATION
Here's the dilemma I have about this guitar. While I don't like the way the guitar plays, there's no denying that the guitar sounds wonderfully, both acoustically and amplified. Because it is so light in weight I could see playing the guitar all night and covering a wide style of music. The guitar has a single modern-shaped "F" hole that provides a unique tonal signature. I'd like to be able to echo my displeasure playing the guitar in listening to the guitar, but that's just not the case. The guitar sounds great and I don't know that I've heard a guitar at this price point sound this good.
SOUNDS
The pickups are zebra non-descriptive "PRS Designed" SE pickups. I'm not sure if they're modeled after production PRS pickups, but there's no denying that to my ear they sound wonderful. Aside from the fact that it, being a semi-hollow, obviously feeds back on higher gain settings, there's not a tone I could not coax out of this guitar, from crystal cleans to cheap dirt to 70's rock, 80's hard rock, and contemporary metal. While it's not well-suited for metal, I can see it easily being an ideal "all-in-one" guitar for gigging musicians.
OVERALL OPINION
I still can't say that I'd ever purchase another PRS guitar. I think PRS guitars are aesthetically pleasing, but I've simply never played one that I felt is a comfortable guitar to play, or one that I'd want to play for more than one or two songs tops. Whenever I have to play something where I need that "Semi-hollow" tone, I reach for my $199 Epiphone Dot and not my more expensive PRS. It sounds great, but it's just not the whole package.