PRS Guitars has unveiled its most affordable electric guitar yet, the SE CE 24 Standard Satin. An all-mahogany CE 24, it’s priced just $499, and yet comes stacked with the kind of details you would expect from the Maryland brand.
The PRS SE CE 24 Standard Satin comes in Turquoise, Charcoal, and Vintage Cherry finishes, and has a solid mahogany body – complete with a PRS shallow violin carve on top – a bolt-on maple neck, and a pair of 85/15 “S” humbucking pickup that are hooked up to a coil-split for single-coil snap via your tone pot.
In short, it is a play-anything electric solid body, and Jack Higginbotham, COO, PRS Guitars, insists it as a “quintessential player’s guitar” that will withstand plenty of abuse, while offering a taste of the craft that PRS is synonymous with.
“It is difficult to speak briefly about the SE CE 24 Standard Satin,” says Higginbotham. “The price of this guitar implies that it is probably a great beginner guitar – it is. But, I imagine for some it also implies that it is lacking in some way – it is not. This guitar is full of all the attention to detail we have infused into the SE Series: the neck, pickups, playability, and vibe are pure PRS.
“More than that, this new satin finish makes a very lively guitar because it is so thin, but it is also incredibly durable, so it can withstand a bit of abuse. This is a quintessential player’s guitar.”
It is not a million miles off the PRS SE CE 24 that retails at $699 street, with the only key difference being the maple veneer and finish options.
Both versions are inspired by the classic PRS CE bolt-on, which was launched in 1988. They have the 25” scale. They have the Wide Thin neck carve and 10” radius on the fingerboard.
As the name suggests, you’ve got 24 nickel frets to navigate, and bird inlays to guide the way – and to sell the illusion to your audience that you have landed in the money.
The CE 24 platform has been reinvented over the years. There is a semi-hollow version. There is a Dustie Waring signature guitar that augments the CE 24 with a pair of Mojotone Dustie Waring Gen 2 Tomahawk pickups and a Floyd Rose.
Waring’s is a bold design but there’s maybe something even more radical about the SE CE 24 Standard Satin; PRS Guitars just aren’t meant to be this affordable.
Yes, it’s a stripped-down build, but there aren’t exactly any shortcuts here, and you can bet your bottom dollar on a tip-top build from PRS’s manufacturing partner on the SE line, Cor-Tek, a collaboration that is pretty well dialled in by now.
While some brands have used rosewood alternatives such as Indian laurel and pau ferro, PRS has stuck with rosewood for the SE CE 24 Standard Satin, which is nice to see. A moulded PRS-patented tremolo offers some factory wobble.
All this could be yours for $499. We’ll say it again: $499. For a PRS. For more details, head over to PRS Guitars.
