Guitar Spotlight – Paul Reed Smith SE 25th Anniversary Custom 24
In 1985, Paul Reed Smith brought a Custom 24 to a tradeshow that basically gained most o his recognition in the guitar world. Now, 25 years later, the Paul Reed Smith SE 25th Anniversary Custom 24 guitar is here, and a lot less pricey, that’s for sure. Now, I’m a huge fan of PRS guitars, so I might be biased, but I’ll try to be as fair as possible here.
This guitar looks fairly high-end, and the veneer assists with this very nicely. Though I’m not a fan of veneers very much, it works pretty well with this model. They have a wide variety of colors that this model comes in, which is a nice plus if you’re someone like me that is tired of the same old sunburst.
Well, first of all, the body is made mostly of good ole mahogany. Though it also has a normal maple top, it is covered with a veneer to make it look like quilted maple. The solid-body double-cutaway shape feels nice, and allows for plenty of playing room. The neck is maple, and actually 25” scale length. It’s a set-neck(which is a plus for me, some may say otherwise), and traditional rosewood for the fretboard. The neck is very nice, and fit my hand perfectly. This is a huge deal for me, as I actually don’t like the chunky Strat necks. All-in-all, it’s nothing too out of the ordinary, but it all comes together nicely. Take a look at the Top 10 Guitarists and check out what type of guitars the legends play!
The tuners and bridge hardware is the normal PRS setup, so again, nothing special there. The stock pickups on this thing are nice, though: an SE HFS treble humbucker, and an SE vintage bass humbucker. These sound absolutely fantastic in my opinion, and as far as humbuckers go, they are very, very versatile. You can deduce a huge variety of tones from these things. The volume and tone knobs are in decent positions, but the 3-way pickup toggle is positioned perfectly. I always have the problem of having to reach to switch my pickups, but this is just in the right place for me, so that I can comfortably switch to my heart’s content.
Alright, here’s where we get down and dirty. Like I said before, I already am biased towards PRS guitars, but there really isn’t another PRS in this price range that can match the tone and playability of this guitar. The balance of weight, positioning of hardware, and the super thin, smooth neck make this baby something serious. This is not a guitar that you will put on a stand and never play. At it’s price, it’s in the “in-between” stages of where you are almost getting into the high-end guitars, but not quite. The PRS SE 25th Anniversary Custom 24 reaches its smooth little fingers up to the high-end territory, and brings something that leaves little to be desired for the guitarist in all of us.