I have owned a few PRS guitars over the years. I like them but have never really fallen in love with them. I know that will offend some folks and that is not my intent. I think they are a wonderful guitar. I just have not bonded yet with one - hopefully that makes sense.
The PRS SE CE 24 Standard Satin showed up and to be honest I really did not know what to expect. Out of the gig bag is a really attractive guitar. The grain is heavy, and you can easily see the splits in the wood of the body where it is joined. PRS is not trying to hide that this is an affordable entry level guitar with 80lbs of ply finish. You have got to respect that.
The PRS SE CE 24 Standard Satin has a mahogany body with a thin satin finish and a bolt on maple neck with a semi-gloss finish and a scarf-jointed headstock. The guitar has 24 frets, a 25-in scale length, and a wide thin neck shape. It also has a rosewood fretboard with a 10-in radius and a PRS double-acting truss rod. The guitar comes with a really nice PRS Gig bag. My guitar weighs 6 lbs. and 12 ounces. The guitar retails for $499 US.
The pickups are two double black PRS 85/15 'S' humbuckers. The controls are comprised of a standard three position pickup selector toggle style switch and a master volume and tone control. The tone control is also a push pull switch, so you gain coil tapping. This means the following:
• Toggle Switch Position 1 = Bridge Pickup
• Toggle Switch Position 1 w/PP On = front Single Coil of Bridge
• Toggle Switch Position 2 = Both Pickups
• Toggle Switch Position 2 w/PP On = front Single Coil of Bridge and Rear Single Coil of Neck
• Toggle Switch Position 3 = Neck Pickup
• Toggle Switch Position 3 w/PP On = Rear Single Coil of Neck
I find the neck very playable. I am amazed to find rosewood on the fretboard at this price and current day.
Running my hands up and down the sides of the fret board and checking to see if there is any fret rocking, I come back with a big zero. Meaning there is nothing wrong with the frets at all. The sides are super smooth.
The tuners work well, and the guitar overall seems to really hold a tune. Right out of the gig bag the guitar was in tune and the intonation and string height were perfect.
The pickups sound great clean and there are so many different tonal capabilities that come out of the guitar with the added coil splitting. You can move from sounding like a rock god with both humbuckers engaged to a Stratocaster blues player with the coil splitting on.
I think for the price the electronics and pickups overall are surprisingly good and high quality.
I really tried to find something wrong with the guitar. So far, I have not been able to. The only thing that I would still like to see is how does the guitar hold up after six months of heavy use, a year, or several years.
I have to say that out of the box experience with this guitar has been top notch. Probably the best I have experienced in recent times with guitars at any price point. I cannot remember the last time I had a guitar come out of the case or gig bag ready to play without the need to correct or adjust anything. That is just amazing.
Without the opportunity to use the guitar over a long period of time…so far, I think this guitar covers a lot of possible uses and users. I would say it would be an excellent choice for someone just learning to play guitar and I could also see someone making a living with this guitar.
9 апр 2024
