It's commonplace for big guitar companies to have more affordable sub-brands and lineups. PRS has its often-celebrated SE electric guitars – but the models were very nearly killed off.
The PRS SE Series isn't short of stand-out six-strings. One of its latest, the SE NF 53 is a smart-looking single-cut that might just be 2025's best sub-$1K guitar. In March, Paul Reed Smith's company also gave some of its most beloved SEs an exotic wood makeover. These are all guitars that wouldn't exist if it weren't for one saving grace.
“At one point, the SEs were going to go away; we were having trouble with sales,” Paul Reed Smith confesses to Guitar World in the new print issue, before revealing how the line received a miraculous second-wind.
“All the guitar teachers in America made their students buy SEs because they couldn't teach kids how to play guitars that wouldn't stay in tune,” he reveals. “The teachers saved the line, and we were back at the races. But it was almost done. That happens a lot in the guitar business.”
Reflecting on the history of the PRS SE line with GW last year, COO Jack Higginbotham believes that a lot of its success stems from its economic ethos.
“We make guitars, and then we make money,” he reasons. “And whether we’re successful or not isn’t necessarily about how much money we’re making; it’s about how much impact we’re having on the instrument, the market, and the consumer.”
Elsewhere in his latest GW interview, Smith revealed that Jeff Beck owned, loved, and recorded with a mystery PRS model. He’s now on a mission to track it down, as it wasn’t part of Beck’s record-shattering gear auction.
PRS has been launching new guitars every month this year to celebrate its 40th anniversary. Herman Li’s all-new signature and the impressively versatile SE Studio are two big highlights.
You can read Smith’s full interview in the new print issue of Guitar World, which takes an in-depth look at 2025 in gear. Grab a copy from Magazines Direct.
