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Published on 09/06/11 at 03:03The PRS SE Semi Hollow Custom is a guitar that was introduced a few years back in the company's wildly popular SE line of guitars. The PRS Hollowbody is praised as one of the most versatile and well crafted guitars made by them today, so it's no shock that there would be an SE version. It doesn't have many of the features such as an onboard piezo pickup, but the guitar is quite close to an American PRS in many respects in terms of the construction and tone. It features a mahogany body and neck, flame maple top with cat's eye F hole, rosewood neck with 22 frets and dot inlays, sealed tuners, a wraparound style tailpiece (as seen on guitars like the McCarty) and a pair of dual creme P90 pickups wired to a single volume/tone control set with a 3 way toggle switch. The guitar is built in Korea.
UTILIZATION
The SE Semi Hollow is certainly a guitar I would call ergonomic. The SE Custom solidbody was a fairly well weighted guitar and the hollowbody is even more so due to its lighter weight. The neck profile is good and bridges the gap between a Fender (thinner) and a Gibson (fatter) type profile, which is good. The upper fret access is good on this guitar. The neck heel can get in the way (like on many modern PRS guitars) but if you learn to work around it, it's usually fine.
Getting a good sound out of this guitar is fairly simple. The P90s do a wide range of tones that are a nice blend of the Fender-y chime and jangle and the Gibson/PRS low end thunder. The stock P90s are surprisingly good in these guitars too which is definitely a good thing for players.
SOUNDS
This guitar sounds good for many different styles of music overall. The clean tones have a nice jangly factor to them that is perfect for everything from early rock n' roll and R&B to some funkier sounds. They can also do the gutsier blues or jazz tones when pushed harder due to their excellent responsiveness. Mild gain tones are quite cool with this guitar as well, especially on the bridge pickup with some light reverb and delay.
Drive tones have always been great to me with P90s, and this guitar reinforces my theory with aplomb. The guitar produces the low end heft of a Les Paul or an SG, but with a snappy and lively top end that is like a tricked out Strat and a midrange that meets it somewhere in the middle. Very cool. It works espeically well for thicker complex chord voicings or single note lead work in a more vintage style.
OVERALL OPINION
All in all I think the PRS SE Semi Hollow Custom is a great buy for someone looking for a way into a good semi hollow guitar or PRS type guitar for not a whole lot of cash. The SE series has consistently proven itself as a great value for money line with some great tones available within. They are about $700 new, normally high for an Korean made guitar, but they're a good deal given the quality and tone that these guitars are loaded with. Definitely worth a look.
UTILIZATION
The SE Semi Hollow is certainly a guitar I would call ergonomic. The SE Custom solidbody was a fairly well weighted guitar and the hollowbody is even more so due to its lighter weight. The neck profile is good and bridges the gap between a Fender (thinner) and a Gibson (fatter) type profile, which is good. The upper fret access is good on this guitar. The neck heel can get in the way (like on many modern PRS guitars) but if you learn to work around it, it's usually fine.
Getting a good sound out of this guitar is fairly simple. The P90s do a wide range of tones that are a nice blend of the Fender-y chime and jangle and the Gibson/PRS low end thunder. The stock P90s are surprisingly good in these guitars too which is definitely a good thing for players.
SOUNDS
This guitar sounds good for many different styles of music overall. The clean tones have a nice jangly factor to them that is perfect for everything from early rock n' roll and R&B to some funkier sounds. They can also do the gutsier blues or jazz tones when pushed harder due to their excellent responsiveness. Mild gain tones are quite cool with this guitar as well, especially on the bridge pickup with some light reverb and delay.
Drive tones have always been great to me with P90s, and this guitar reinforces my theory with aplomb. The guitar produces the low end heft of a Les Paul or an SG, but with a snappy and lively top end that is like a tricked out Strat and a midrange that meets it somewhere in the middle. Very cool. It works espeically well for thicker complex chord voicings or single note lead work in a more vintage style.
OVERALL OPINION
All in all I think the PRS SE Semi Hollow Custom is a great buy for someone looking for a way into a good semi hollow guitar or PRS type guitar for not a whole lot of cash. The SE series has consistently proven itself as a great value for money line with some great tones available within. They are about $700 new, normally high for an Korean made guitar, but they're a good deal given the quality and tone that these guitars are loaded with. Definitely worth a look.