Top 5 PRS SE Guitars

With a whole new delicious batch of PRS SE guitars heading our way, we thought we would take the time to answer some of the biggest questions we usually get regarding these instruments and share our opinion on what we think are the top 10 PRS SE Guitars available right now.

If you’re new to PRS guitars, feel free to jump on over to our brand page where we have a full history of the master luthier including his humble career beginnings to highly influential endorsers.

PRS SE guitars aim to offer the outstanding craftsmanship and playability to musicians, but at a more affordable price. However, the SE range does not cut back on quality: these guitars have still been designed by one of the most famous and well-respected luthiers in the world, Paul Reed Smith.

Just ask any guitar tech how many PRS guitars he’s ever had to repair - if any at all!

PRS SE guitars are made in Korea. This is certainly not a bad thing, as the SE range is still as gorgeous to look at and to play as their American-made counterparts.

And, as mentioned above, PRS has extremely high standards when it comes to quality control, which is why the SE range is a very far cry from a 'cheap guitar'.

The very first SE series guitar was the PRS SE Santana (released in 2001); an economical version of Carlos Santana’s now infamous Paul Reed Smith guitar. The idea was first born after Carlos and Paul sat down and decided that everyone should be able to afford a PRS.

While the super high-end, outrageously beautiful USA models are definitely things to be admired, Paul recognized that not everybody has thousands of dollars to spend on a guitar and hence set out to create the first PRS SE Santana model.

Let's delve straight into our picks for the Top 5 PRS SE Guitars! Chosen by guitarists, for guitarists.

The PRS SE 245 is a really exciting new PRS to come along. As the name would suggest, the 245 sports a 24.5" scale length which is unusual for the company as they tend to use a 25" scale.

The outcome of this is that the 245 is easier to bend on as the overall string length is reduced, making it easier to tune the guitar up to the correct tension with that little extra slack in the string. At its price point, with those looks and the immaculate set-up that comes with a PRS, it's very difficult to think of a true competitor towards it.

One stand out feature that must be mentioned is the PRS wrap-around hard tail bridge, which is one of the best, most well-intonated bridges we have ever seen at PMT. This guitar plays in tune all across the neck and there's no need to adjust it. Nice going PRS. - SHOP the PRS SE 245.

With a bound fingerboard, bird inlays, and quilted maple top, the PRS SE Mark Holcomb is an absolute shred machine and a damn fine looking one at that.  

It features the PRS 25.5" scale length, two Seymour Duncan Alpha/Omega high output pickups (both of which are coil-tapped), a single volume and a single tone.

This guitar comes in at just about the £1,000 mark and offers a lot of bang for buck thanks to those Seymour Duncan Pickups, a sophisticated PRS designed saddle bridge (making setups a breeze) and its overall tonal versatility.

Definitely one of our favorite new additions and we couldn't recommend it enough. SHOP THE PRS SE Mark Holcomb Signature.

As the name would suggest, this SE 277 is built with a 27.7" baritone scale neck. If you've never played a baritone guitar then you're really missing out!

These things are a tremendous amount of fun and sound enormous under some distortion. The longer scale neck means that this guitar can be drop-tuned for playing metal, without affecting the playability as it would a regular scale guitar.

The two dual-coil Humbucker pickups don't just look incredible with this finish, they sound it too, delivering punchy lead tones, thick full chords, and are very responsive to the tone/volume controls allowing for some real articulation with your playing. Being a semi-hollow instrument, it's well-weighted and very comfortable over a long period gigging, we just wish we could see and hear more rockers and metalheads playing this standout guitar!

SHOP THE PRS SE 277 Baritone Guitar.

Now we know not everybody is a shredder, we know not everybody wants a Floyd Rose, but that's why PRS has such a huge range of instruments to choose from, to cater to everyone's style.

This model has a simply gorgeous flamed maple veneer and it adds quite a degree of elegance to this guitar. We can talk on and on about how high PRS set their quality control, how well set-up these instruments are - but you know all this already.

This is simply a stunning guitar and one of the best options out there for metal players at its price point. Electronics-wise, we have dual 85/15 "S" humbucking pickups which are coil-tap enabled via the push-pull tone control knob for a very wide tonal pallet.

The neck is a 25" scale and the Floyd Rose is recessed allowing for dive bombs, pull-ups, and insane squeals. Definitely a hot pick for shredders and deserving of our number 2 slot. SHOP the PRS SE Custom 24 Floyd Rose.

The PRS Custom 24 is the flagship model for Paul Reed Smith but is quite a pricey instrument. The PRS SE Custom 24 is back for 2017 and upgraded both aesthetically and tonally, bridging the gap between its USA counterpart to the point where we can hardly tell the difference.

The headstock has been re-designed to display Paul Reed Smith's signature, which was previously absent from the guitar.

The bird inlays are also present here and add an elegant finishing touch.

If you've not yet played an SE Custom 24 then now might be the best time to do so. It's coil tapped pickups, incredible neck and overall body design make this guitar super comfortable, extremely versatile and well-deserving of our number 1 spot.

More information on the PRS SE Custom 24.

Updated: 2020-06-25