PRS SE’s that good?

Beyond Black

Beyond Black

Well-known member
I played my buddy’s Akerfeldt SE last night and couldn’t believe how nicely It played and how beautiful it sounded unplugged. Didn’t plug it it, but I’ve hear him play it and it sounds great. Are these consistently that good or does he have a special one? The used prices seem too good to be true.
 
IIRC, Seems like the earlier models made in Korea were supposed to be bette than those made in Indonesia…
I had one of the 2017 Korean madeSE 245’s. It was a good guitar. Sounded really good with a marshall amp. Stock pickups were good. Not great but better than “just ok”. Stayed in tune played well… my only complaint were the fret wires were so small. Personal pref I suppose. I’m just used to bigger wire.

Others and YMMV Of course.
 
Last edited:
I had an SE CU24. Very solid guitar. I think the only thing I might have swapped out on it were the tuners and the pickups.

Otherwise, it was pretty good bang for the buck.
 
They're solid shells for mods, but these days, they're not all that bang for the buck, IMO.

You can get an equally priced Schecter or LTD that's on par (sometimes better) quality-wise, that has much better quality hardware and electronics.
 
Rex Rocker said:
They're solid shells for mods, but these days, they're not all that bang for the buck, IMO.

You can get an equally priced Schecter or LTD that's on par (sometimes better) quality-wise, that has much better quality hardware and electronics.
Click to expand...
This..

The PRS tuners and pickups are garbage. However, if you get one cheap enough, it's worth it to upgrade.

Depending on which model you're looking at, there's some better options.
 
The only reason those SE guitars are able to hit the price point as low as they are, is because PRS skimps out on the hardware and electronics. Having said that, the SE line has excellent "bones". I own and have owned close to a dozen of them over the last 15 or so years, and hardware/electronics aside the quality has improved quite a bit since inception of that line.

I'm particularly fond of the 245 SE - owned one for 11+ years now.
 
I won a silver SE Custom 24 in a battle of the bands and it's a very good guitar IMO. The pickups are way too hot and kinda muddy sounding though. Other than that, it's very impressive
 
I have a 2017 or 18 SE custom 24 Floyd (Korean PRS).
At its price point, was probably best quality of most if not all at the time. Much better than Jackson Soloists (imports), LTDs, etc.

It's a very nice guitar, but it's not a core. It is pretty different overall from my Custom 24 Floyd Core.
 
The majority that I’ve played are definitely that good.

Last year I went into a GC to look at a Taylor and a semi-hollow caught my eye on the way to the acoustic room. I had to double check the headstock to make sure it really was an SE because the top looked so good, then when I took it down to play it, I checked the headstock again because I’ve never played a guitar off the shelf that was set up so well. I knew in less than 30 seconds that I’d be taking that guitar home.

6FA912F8-CEFE-4E08-A543-3DF4AE95D1B9.jpeg


I’m still undecided on the pickups; I was using this in my cover band as my main guitar, mostly staying in the split positions. The pickups are a bit on the vanilla side, I just think there’s some more character I can put in there. I replaced the guts with Mad Hatter guts; there’s a push/push on the tone pot that does a bunch of splitting/parallel/series switching, replaced the 3-way with a 5-way switch.
 
Mikeyboyeee said:
At its price point, was probably best quality of most if not all at the time. Much better than Jackson Soloists (imports), LTDs, etc.
Click to expand...
Disagreed. I've had five SE's, and while most of them were pretty good, they've not been better than Korean LTD's at all.
 
RevDrucifer said:
The majority that I’ve played are definitely that good.

Last year I went into a GC to look at a Taylor and a semi-hollow caught my eye on the way to the acoustic room. I had to double check the headstock to make sure it really was an SE because the top looked so good, then when I took it down to play it, I checked the headstock again because I’ve never played a guitar off the shelf that was set up so well. I knew in less than 30 seconds that I’d be taking that guitar home.

View attachment 130405

I’m still undecided on the pickups; I was using this in my cover band as my main guitar, mostly staying in the split positions. The pickups are a bit on the vanilla side, I just think there’s some more character I can put in there. I replaced the guts with Mad Hatter guts; there’s a push/push on the tone pot that does a bunch of splitting/parallel/series switching, replaced the 3-way with a 5-way switch.
Click to expand...
That’s a beaut
 
I am not expierenced with the model you mentioned. I've tried a few of the Korean SE 24s, and just cant bond with them. Would like to try a 245 or Bernie but they all have that stop tail piece , kind of deflating for me. Looking at the specs on the Akerfeldt, definitely one I need to check out!
 
Great advice here, thanks. I’ve been eyeing up the SE 245’s. I’ve also got a WCR Ironman/Darkburst set that needs a home, so I just may have to do the irresponsible thing and buy another guitar that I absolutely do NOT need! \:D/
 
I’ve been a PRS freak lately. I got my first PRS after wanting one for 20 years it feels like last year, and it is incredible, core custom 24. Everytime I picked up a PRS Core or import model, it just straight up slayed. Why it took me so long to get one I have no idea.

I recently picked up a mark Holcomb 7 string with upgraded PRS tuners, and it just flat out plays and sounds amazing. Absolutely love it. You can’t go wrong with them, especially the newer models. PRS has been killing it the last few years.
 
I’ve got two newer SEs and a S2. The SEs are great. Full stop. Not just for the money. My SE Starla is a super comfortable guitar to play and hold, the neck feels good and the stock pickups have a Gretschy kind of thing going on but with a bit more meat behind them. I dig it. I added a vibramate and Bigsby to get it closer to the previous S2 and Core versions but that’s it. Nut was cut well, tuners are solid and I rarely have issues with tuning issues with the Bigsby unless I go super overboard on it.

The second SE is a 2021 Santana and it rules. Wide fat neck, slightly flatter radius than the Starla and S2 Cu24. Pickups are great. I have no reason to change them yet. They do what I like them to do. I keep the guitar in standard as is and I run 9 - 46s on it. That hybrid set helps the low strings tighten up on the shorter scale and keeps the plain strings super slinky feeling. It’s a fun guitar for me. Trem is solid enough and I upgraded the tuners to PRS locking tuners. Zero tuning issues since and I use the bar a ton on that guitar

The S2 is magnificent. I did swap pickups on this as the stock pickups weren’t for me. Just didn’t jive with the S versions of the HFS and VB. Nothing a Duncan 59 and SH-5 Custom thst I had lying around couldn’t fix. The rest of the electronics work well enough and I splurged and upgraded the bridge to a MannMade 2040. I wouldn’t have bought the S2 if I didn’t like my SEs so much. And the pattern regular neck is my favorite neck out of the bunch but all 3 guitars have excellent necks that I find comfortable to play.

So yeah, the SEs are that good. While eventually I’d like to grab another S2 or a CE to round out my little collection, I’d be happy with another SE.
 
I had some time to kill at a local music store and picked up a PRS SE, the hollowbody, and I was surprised at how nice it was for the price. The pickups were nothing short of utterly atrocious, but if you replaced those it would be a nice guitar. I was very surprised as I have never given budget guitars a chance. This was a nice playing and sounding guitar unplugged.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top