The best SE ever?

£899

It’s hard to believe it’s been 20 years since we saw the first PRS SE guitar. Where have those decades gone? It took PRS some time before they created their ‘import’ line - their Squier or Epiphone, if you like - and from a slow start with a single Santana guitar, the SE range now outsells the exclusive USA models by quite margin. Do the maths: a USA Core PRS Custom 24-08 will cost you around £3,799; the SE version we have here is nearly three grand less.

Originally made in Korea, the SE line is now built in Indonesia in a special tie-up with Cor-tek who also make for numerous other brands as well as manufacturing their own Cort range. Now, many of us don’t care where our guitars are made but we should all care  how well they’re made, and this relatively recent location change has put a real rocket up the backsides of the SE team.

The new SE Custom 24-08 is based on the USA model and the key elements are the same: that now-classic body and headstock outline, the ‘halfway 25” scale length for starters and while the vibrato, like the rest of the hardware and pickups are based on the pucker USA parts, they’re not made in the USA. New here is a ‘shallow violin’ top carve that more closely emulates the USA models though, as ever, the figured maple we see is a thin veneer applied over a plain maple cap. But comparing our review model with a USA made CE 24, it was hard to tell the difference between veneer and solid wood.