PRS SE 245

This PRS SE 245 guitar is built in Korea. It has a mahogany body, a maple top, a mahogany neck, and a rosewood fretboard, with 22 frets and 25 inch scale. The hardware is all PRS proprietary, designed after the USA models and identical in appearance, yet different in metal composition. The pickups are PRS 245 Treble and Bass humbuckers, and there are 2 volume and 2 tone knobs and a 3 way, like a Les Paul.

This is a very nice instrument. I've played the black one (which I'm reviewing here), and I've seen pictures of the sunburst ones - the sunburst ones have a much nicer looking top. The black finish is expertly applied on the one I'm familiar with, but I would have rated the guitar higher if it had the nicer flamed top like the sunburst.

UTILIZATION

The guitar plays very well! It is obviously inspired by the Les Paul, but with the Paul Reed Smith distinctive shaping. It is quite well made, and the fretwork is some of the best I've seen in this price range. The guitar balances well, and it is easy for my hands to reach all the frets.

SOUNDS

These pickups sound great! The treble pickup really cuts through, but it is not too hot. The neck pickup sounds very warm and open, and that nice "woman" tone (like Slash or early Cream) is really easy to achieve. This guitar will do about any genre, excelling at rock and blues-based styles.

OVERALL OPINION

This is a nice choice for someone on a budget, or a pro that needs a backup for their more expensive main guitar. For the pricing, this offers a lot of style, playability, and tone. Check it out - it's worth a look if you find one in a store near you.

Paul reed Smith guitars are very well know for their expensive but gorgeous looking guitars. they have guitars for every guitar player out there and most of their guitars features the exact same wood combinations. They usually have a mahogany with a rosewood fretboard and then a couple humbuckers installed into the instrument. They have had a variety of pickups that seem to be exclusive to their own company and brand.

UTILIZATION

Top Wood: Maple Top and Flame Maple Veneer (no veneer on opaque finishes)
Back Wood: Thick Mahogany
Number of Frets: 22
Scale Length: 24 1/2"
Neck Wood: Mahogany
Fretboard Wood: Rosewood
Neck Shape: Wide Fat
Fretboard Inlays: Birds
Bridge: PRS Designed Stoptail
Tuners: PRS Designed Tuners
Truss Rod Cover: "PRS"
Hardware Type: Nickel
Treble Pickup: PRS Designed SE 245 Treble Humbucker
Bass Pickup: PRS Designed SE 245 Bass Humbucker
Pickup Switching: Volume and Tone control for each pickup and 3-way toggle pickup selector on upper bout

SOUNDS

If you have ever had any experience with a mahogany based guitar then you will be in good company with this guitar. This guitar will give you a nice deep rich tone that will fill the room quite nicely. It is a tone that has a full body and a wide range of frequencies. If you like clean tones than this guitar can do it, and if you like high gain tones than this guitar can do that as well. Overall, this is a very cool guitar that has a wealth of tone and feel.

OVERALL OPINION

I would recommend this guitar to anyone who is not on budget and wants someone of the best tone you can get out of a guitar. This guitar will give you that is spades. They come in new for right at around $700, which is actually a good price for a PRS guitar. So this is the budget friendly for PRS standards, but not budget for mine.

The PRS SE245 is basically an SE version (made overseas) of their ever popular SC245 model. Many of the specs are the same, but it doesn't have the price tag of the original model.

This particular guitar has a mahogany body with a flamed maple top, a mahogany neck with a rosewood fretboard and 22 frets, the trademark PRS bird inlays, classic PRS wraparound bridge/tailpiece, and a pair of PRS designed humbuckers. It also offers a 24.75 scale length to go that extra mile. It's loaded with the PRS SC245 control layout of two volume controls and two tone controls with a 3 way selector switch.

UTILIZATION

The design of this guitar is fairly ergonomic considering that it's a mahogany guitar built in the general style of the classic Gibson Les Paul. The guitar sits well on the body due due to its reasonable weight which is definitely a great thing for any players of this type of guitar. The neck heel is molded differently than a standard Gibson and to me I can attain greater upper fret access with this design. The singlecut shape isn't the greatest guitar for playing uber fast on, but the PRS doesn't make things difficult by any means - it's quite a treat to play.

Getting a good tone out of this guitar is pretty easy. Despite being an SE model PRS, it still sounds great. Picking it up and strumming it unplugged yields a very full and rich tone that is only bettered when the guitar is plugged into a good tube amplifier such as a Fender, Mesa Boogie or Dr. Z.

SOUNDS

I've tried this guitar through various different amplifiers and have been fairly impressed each time. The PRS designed pickups in this guitar are very nice and articulate, just the same as the pickups in the real SC245, and it definitely sounds wonderful for a whole host of styles. The clean sounds have a great complex sparkle that lends itself very well to clean tones using effects or to the heaviest of distorted tones a-la Porcupine Tree where clarity is of maximum importance. I've always liked the SE pickups and this guitar does not disappoint.
There is a great vintage snarl to this guitar, with a lot of killer harmonics lurking inside for distorted work. Heavy rhythms are just awesome with this guitar, and it sings for fusiony lead work too. Though the pickups seem vintage at first, they can certainly handle modern tones quite well too.

OVERALL OPINION

All in all I think the PRS SE245 is a great guitar that is an excellent version of the famed PRS singlecut for those on a budget or who are apprehensive about buying a PRS for $2,000. Though its made overseas, it still is an extremely high quality instrument and it has the cosmetics and tone that are close enough to a real PRS to maybe even fool someone. For the sub $1,000 price bracket that these sell for new, it's really a no brainer if you want to get a guitar that has the PRS vibe for not a lot of cash.

The PRS SE line of guitars is their line of guitars that is made overseas. They are much cheaper and usually have very simple finishes. This guitar breaks this image by being low cost but having an awesome top and finish to go along with it. This is the PRS SE 245 model. This SE model is targeted at more traditional single cut or Les Paul players. The guitar has a mahogany body with a maple top and flame maple veneer. The set neck is mahogany as well with a rosewood fretboard. The fretboard has 22 frets and has the cool PRS bird inlays. Since this is targeted towards traditional Les Paul players it has a 24.5 inch scale lenght which is where the name comes from. The neck is PRS's wide fat profile. It has standard PRS SE zebra bobbin pickups front and rear and a PRS wrap around bridge. It has Les Paul controls with a volume and tone for each pickup and a 3 way switch on the upper bout.

UTILIZATION

This guitar has a unique feel to it compared to other PRS guitars. It has a super short scale even shorter than a Gibson. I found this pretty weird. It is easy to play above like the 15th fret but beyond that it gets way too crowded for my fingers. I dont know why they didnt just give it a 24.75 scale lenght. Maybe they already had the 245 name made up and 2475 was too long. PRS wraparound bridges actually intonate pretty well. You cant adjust it but if you stay in normal tunings they do their job well.

SOUNDS

This guitar has more of a vintage tone. The pickups seem to be a medium output. With the short scale on this guitar everything is a bit muddy. The string tension isnt really there so you will have to fight the guitar for a bit of clarity. This problem helps the neck position thought. The neck pickup tone is unbelievably smooth because of the short scale and pickups. If you were just playing blues and jazz this guitar would be perfect for you. This is what the guitar does best with the short scale and vintage voiced pickups. The bridge pickup sounds a bit nasal in the clean setting. It has decent spank to it with a bit of overdrive. I would probably swap out these pickups if this were my guitar to keep. Something hotter with more clarity would work well.

OVERALL OPINION

This guitar seems to be meant for super traditional Les Paul players. It pretty much provides good tone under clean or barely overdriven settings. The short scale and and super low output pickups give this guitar an antiquated feel which some people may like. It is very comfortable to play on the lower frets because of the short scale but this makes the high frets very crowded and awkward to play on. I would have a hard time recommending this guitar to most people.