While I agree that the golden years seem to be well behind them (admittedly a highly subjective opinion), your comment is hard to take seriously.
Business is exceptional for them right now. That’s bound to promote arrogance in leadership and impact quality in production. It will also blind them to a lot of BS they’ll have to account for when times get hard again. Its human nature. But I wouldn’t say that they’re becoming a joke.
Not yet anyway.
As you say, it's subjective.
I go back to 1991 as a PRS player and customer. Among these early guitars were a couple of nice CU24s and an Artist II.
Since 2000, I've bought at least one PRS, both Core and PS, every year. I can only speak to the ones I've owned, obviously, but I think the guitars have improved tonally (at least to my vintage-inspired taste), and have maintained the same QC. I realize you've owned many more during this period, so your sample size is larger. Perhaps you've had more issues?
Each of us is going to find different things they like or dislike about any line of guitars, and some of it depends on very personal preference. Among the improvements that I think have been made, these are most important to me:
1. The hardware - The 2 piece bridge on the SC and 594 models is a work of genius, and I find it sounds better on a stop tail guitar. The tuning machines are better. The locking PS Gen III trem results in more stable tuning than anything I've owned in the past, including Floyds. I think the Core Gen III trem is a little more stable in terms of tuning, too, but it's pretty subtle.
I had the early (cast as one piece) trem bridge and the current one made of two pieces that they introduced a few years later, and don't actually notice a difference. I had them back-to-back.
The brass inserts on the wrap tailpiece prevent the tone from becoming plinky. To me this is a huge improvement in that part.
The bone nut with the 594 and other stop tail models is a nice improvement.
I prefer a 5-way blade to the rotary knob. It's less pretty, perhaps, but it's more intuitive when I play guitar.
I dug the look of the old winged tuners, and the concept was pretty cool, but using them was always something of a PITA for me. I can only speak for myself, but I like the Phase II and III tuners more.
2. From the 57/08s onward, the pickups are
far better, at least for the things I do (I didn't like the earlier pickups at all, so perhaps I'm biased).
3. Starting with the V12, the finishes are thinner, and I think that's a factor in the guitars' tone improving. The newer nitro finish is the icing on the tone cake, and speaking for myself only, takes the line to the next level.
4. It's nice to see the dealer WL runs. The guitars offer non-standard choices, and they're usually a great alternative; most are less expensive than Artist models. And with WL guitars, PRS has done runs of BRW fretboards. I think this results in a more responsive pick attack, and a brighter tone than IRW (though at present I don't own one with BRW, I've had a couple).
The point is that PRS is actually showing more flexibility than they ever did in the past about what dealers could order.
5. New models like the Special that previously didn't exist are fantastic. The 594 hollowbodies are superb instruments. I kinda wish they still made the SAS. But the new models more than offset that, to me.
6. In terms of cosmetics, most Core models have the headstock veneer that was once an Artist Package-only feature. Recent inlay designs look nicer to me. I like the neck binding on some models (this is also a performance feature, since fret sprout bugs me if it happens, though it's only happened once on a PRS I owned in the early 2000s). The color palette has been more interesting in recent years.
7. The 594 neck is perhaps the most comfortable I've played. I like the toggle switch position on the model, too. For me it works better than groping to the bottom of the guitar for the toggle.
8. I'm not a Strat player, but the JM model is pretty terrific.
For all of the above reasons, I think PRS has been working hard to improve the guitars, and they've largely succeeded.
Perhaps they should have come up with a different name for the current CE. If they'd simply called it an S2, and left it at that, I doubt we'd see these complaints.
And to the OP: the CE is indeed a violin carve, it's just less deep. So what.
Next time maybe examine a guitar in person before buying, or at least buy with a 24 hour approval period so you can send the darn thing back if it doesn't meet your expectations.