Features of the PRS SE Custom
Tuners - Sealed PRS branded mini-tuners with large tuning knobs. These work extremely smoothly to bring the guitar into tune against the balancing pull of the four-spring vibrato block.
Headstock - Characteristic pointy PRS three-a-side design.
Nut - A large and solid-looking black plastic nut abuts the rosewood of the fingerboard.
Neck - The set mahogany neck has a nice chunky feel that doesn't quite go as far as a Les Paul. It's comfortable in the hand and gives a solid feel for playing complex, controlled passages and chord runs.
Fretboard - The rosewood has a very tight grain and is almost black in colour. The round dot markers are very attractive. When you look closely they reveal themselves as being made of two different materials that show a crescent-moon effect when they catch the light.
Frets - Medium frets with a nicely rounded profile that make bending strings a joy.
Action - This guitar was very well set up prior to despatch from the PRS warehouse, hence the action was excellent straight from the box.
Body - It's a feature of the PRS range that most models share the same body shape. This is either a brilliant marketing strategy or a wasted opportunity, depending on whether the PRS body shape flicks your personal switches or not. Whatever side of that fence you sit matters not when you consider the quality of materials and workmanship lavished on PRS guitars.
The SE Custom has a slab body which is formed from mahogany with a flamed maple top. This gives a weight which is substantial on the strap without being uncomfortable. The flamed maple glows a beautiful golden colour under the cherry sunburst finish and what looks like an antiqued binding is actually the exposed edge of the maple.
The lower cutaway is enhanced by a considerable scalloping of the face of the guitar which does a lot to improve the access to the higher frets.
Bridge - This is a compact self-contained PRS vibrato bridge. Each of the solid-looking block saddles is adjustable for intonation and height. The strings dive through the saddles to be anchored in the vibrato block.
Pickups - Two PRS designed humbuckers make quite a visual statement with the zebra-stripe contrast of the black and white open-coils.
Controls - One master volume, one master tone and one three-way-selector switch. Simple.
Strap-buttons - Medium-sized in the usual places.
Output Jack - On the bottom edge of the body in an oval chrome plate.
Finish - Exquisite.
Sound of the PRS SE Custom
Thinking about the mahogany construction led me to run the neck pickup on its own on a clean channel. It has a lovely timbre and depth with a slight touch of quack that I found very endearing. Switching to the bridge on clean, there's a nice brittle top-end that compliments a rather scooped out mid- and low-end perfectly. Combing the two brings out the complexity of tone that is perhaps the signature voice of this guitar.
Staying two-up I cranked on some overdrive. I was rewarded with a gorgeous, full-on rock sound with great depth and sustain. Dropping to bridge only the guitar took on an SG-style growl with noticeable extra depth imparted by the thicker mahogany slab supporting the pickups. This is an awesome metal sound for lead runs and power chords.
Running the neck alone on overdrive kept all the authority of the clean sound but with seemingly greater depth of tone. This would sound glorious in a drop-tuning.
The vibrato handled superbly and the tuning stayed very tight throughout the test.
Overall Impressions of the PRS SE Custom
Some people call the PRS range "guitars for accountants", but in reality they are a collection of musical tools that have been finely honed to do their job as well as it can possibly be done. Within five minutes of picking up the SE Custom I was playing familiar stuff in a different way. The sheer playability of the guitar encouraged me to experiment and the tonal spaciousness of the voice kept me intrigued with the results.
If a great playing experience is what interests you, then you could do a whole lot worse than acquire a PRS, any PRS. If rock music is your bag, the SE Custom has a superb range of humbucker voicings that will take you anywhere you need to go.
Product Details
Specifications:
Body Mahogany back with flat maple top and flame maple veneer
Neck 25" scale length mahogany 22-fret neck with rosewood fretboard and moon inlays
Neck carve - wide fat
Hardware PRS designed stoptail or PRS designed tremolo
PRS designed non-locking tuners
Electronics PRS designed treble and bass humbucking pickups with zebra bobbins, Volume and tone control with 3-way toggle
Finishes - Cherry Sunburst with natural maple edge, Gray Black with natural maple edge
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