“The overall quality of sound, not least for the price, is exceptional": PRS SE Custom 24 Semi-Hollow Piezo review

PRS SE Custom 24 Semi-Hollow: What is it?

About to be forty years old, the Custom is the epitome of PRS electric guitars, still the best-selling model after all those years. While the company's empire was built on the now £4.5k plus USA-made Core level models, along with the stripped-down S2 range, us mere mortals invariably look to the now-Indonesian-made SE range where prices kick off at £499.

In terms of new models it’s also the place where the most action has been in recent years and this SE Custom is one of the latest. Based on PRS’s classic 24-fret Custom platform, this semi-hollow variant adds a piezo-loaded vibrato purpose-designed with LR Baggs.

PRS SE Custom 24 Semi-Hollow: Specs

Launch price: £1,499
Made: Indonesia

Type: Semi-hollow electric with unique piezo vibrato
Body: Mahogany back with maple top (w/ flame maple veneer facing) and shallow violin carve
Neck: Maple, wide thin profile, glued-in
Fingerboard: Bound rosewood, pearloid ‘old school’ bird inlays, 254mm (10-inch) radius
Scale length: 25”/635mm
Nut/width: Friction reducing/43.2mm
Frets: 24, medium jumbo

Hardware: PRS patented vibrato (cast) w/ piezo saddles, PRS designed non-locking tuners – nickel-plated
String spacing at bridge: 52.5mm 

Electrics: PRS 85/15 ‘S’ Treble and Bass humbuckers (open coil, double black bobbins); 3-way lever pickup selector switch, piezo volume, magnetic volume and tone (w/ pull switch to simultaneously coil split both humbuckers)
Weight of test model (lb/kg): 7.28/3.31
Options: Solidbody SE Custom 24 (£999); SE Hollowbody Standard Piezo (£1,399), SE Hollowbody II Piezo (£1,555). The SE Zack Myers is £999
Left-handed options: Not this model

Finish options: Orange Tiger Smokeburst (as reviewed) Charcoal Burst, Lake Blue, Vintage Sunburst

Case: PRS gigbag

Contact: PRS

PRS SE Custom 24 Semi-Hollow: Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★★

Price aside, the SE models are superbly made with none of the not-quite-finished vibe that many other similarly priced brands display. This new model is a case in point: gig-ready from the moment I pulled it from its good-quality gig bag.

The SE recipe is slightly different from the uber-level USA model. Firstly, the chambered mahogany body features a solid maple top with a figured maple veneer and a ‘shallow violin’ top carve that’s less dished than the Core models. The 24-fret 25” (635mm) scale neck swaps to a three-piece maple longitudinal laminate while the proper rosewood fingerboard is cream bound like the figured maple-faced headstock and the top edge of that body.

Again recalling those first Customs from 1985, the SE features two black-bobbined humbuckers: the 85/15 ‘S’ pickups (USA designed but made in Indonesia). Switching is simple via the three-way lever pickup selector plus we get simultaneous coil splits for both pickups from a pull-switch on the tone control while the lower control acts as a volume for the piezo circuit, unencumbered by any mini-switches. We get dual jack outputs on the side: ‘mag/piezo’ and ‘mag’ plus a flip-top compartment for the necessary 9V block battery.

While there is a piezo vibrato equipped Custom 24 in the Core range, the piezo vibrato here was purpose-designed for this new model in collaboration with LR Baggs. Mind you, we don’t get locking tuners (although drop-fit SE lockers are available after-market) but we do get the proprietary lampshade knobs and switch-tip of the USA models: nice touches.

PRS SE Custom 24 Semi-Hollow: Playability

Playability rating: ★★★★★

At just over seven pounds in weight, our review sample feels quite delicious and the so-called ‘wide-thin’ profile is actually neither: it’s not overly wide, has pretty mainstream depth and a beautifully shaped shallow ‘C’ profile. As ever, the fingerboard radius, like the scale length, sits between vintage Fender and Gibson at 10-inches (254mm) with perfectly installed frets with good height without feeling over-big.

Strung with 10s, the nut is perfectly cut, the action PRS standard at 1.6mm on the treble side, slightly higher on the bass side. We might not get locking tuners but the stability, once you’ve stretched the strings, of course, is superb – to be honest even with some pretty vigorous vibrato use I rarely touched those tuners. It’s a very fit-for-purpose guitar.

PRS SE Custom 24 Semi-Hollow: Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★☆

PRS is notoriously secretive about their pickups and describe the 85/15’s as offering “clarity and extended high and low end – perfect for modern applications.” Here they’re in vintage humbucker range from the DCRs (which measure 7.83k ohms at bridge and 7.46k at neck) and these, and others I’ve tested, come across as real all-rounders and very pedalboard-friendly: well sorted, ‘enhanced’ PAF-a-likes that really cover anything you can through at them, from superb cleans with plenty of clarity (without ice-pick highs) through roots to classic rock with enough muscle for higher gains.

The coil spits don’t feature the partial split resistors we’ve seen on plenty of other PRS models but do give you viable, thinner and brighter options not least with the piezo in play.

Now, piezo pickups on semi- or solidbody guitars won’t give you a studio quality miked acoustic guitar voice but the acoustic-like character here, not least if you run it through its own acoustic amp (or direct to the PA), certainly sounds ‘acoustic’. But it’s actually all the blending you can do, just running into one amp, that’s so easily to achieve and is the key to unlocking plenty of new sounds. In fact, before we could gig this one, it got a lot of use in our home studio. The overall quality of sound, not least for the price, is exceptional.

PRS SE Custom 24 Semi-Hollow: Verdict

Once upon a time the SE ‘Student Edition’ range was just seen as the poor man’s PRS. Over two decades on, things are different. As this SE proves these are pro-level instruments certainly not limited to students! The implementation of the piezo vibrato with just that volume control means there’s no tricky switching and in combination with the pretty classic electric voices, there’s immense sonic potential. If you haven’t checked out an SE for a while we strongly suggest you do. Start here!

MusicRadar verdict: Far from ‘cheap’ imitations of PRS’s classic USA models, the SE range just gets better. The combination here of the semi-solid build and piezo-loaded vibrato elevate this one into the big league.

PRS SE Custom 24 Semi-Hollow: Also try

PRS SE Custom 24 Semi-Hollow: Hands-on videos

PRS

SE Custom 24 Semi-Hollow Piezo | Demo | PRS Guitars - YouTube

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