New Parlor guitar, PRS P50e; new all-hog Angelus A20e

shinksma

What? I get a title?
Joined
Mar 20, 2014
Messages
5,308
I don't see any threads on this, but PRS seems to have just announced a couple of new acoustic SE-line guitars, the A20e (all hog acoustic cutaway, Angelus) and the P50e (Parlor-sized like the P20e but with figured maple back and sides):



If this is now old news, sorry, just didn't see it here yet.

I need neither (already have a P20e and a few other PRS acoustics), but if I wanted something in those lines I'd consider the options.
 
I don't see any threads on this, but PRS seems to have just announced a couple of new acoustic SE-line guitars, the A20e (all hog acoustic cutaway, Angelus) and the P50e (Parlor-sized like the P20e but with figured maple back and sides):



If this is now old news, sorry, just didn't see it here yet.

I need neither (already have a P20e and a few other PRS acoustics), but if I wanted something in those lines I'd consider the options.
The A20E in black doesn't really do it for me visually but the YT video has some good tones, there is a little too much treble in some parts but I think that is my laptop's audio more than anything
 
The A20E in black doesn't really do it for me visually but the YT video has some good tones, there is a little too much treble in some parts but I think that is my laptop's audio more than anything
As an audio guy I'd stress:

Never judge tone on a computer, fergodsakes, and especially not on a laptop!

And:

Acoustic tone in a recording is highly dependent on mic choice and mic placement.

The only way to truly judge whether an acoustic sounds good to you is to play it in person.
 
I just took possession of a P50E today. I'm also a P20 owner, and was hoping for a PRS upgrade someday.

Too early to give a full review because, having just received the guitar, I still need to condition the fretboard, polish the frets, put my favorite strings on, set the trussrod and more than likely upgrade the tuners. Based on initial reaction, here's a mini-review:

The good: Fit and finish is stellar. Definitely a step up from the P20.

The neck is chunkier. I haven't measured the depth at the 1st and 12th fret yet, but I know by the way my trusty old Shubb S3V fits both guitars, that it is definitely thicker.

The P50 has no fretboard binding, but it's nicely rolled at the edges and feels very nice in the hand.

The bad:
Just like the P20, the tuners are junk. These all have the same tuners, but with black tulip knobs. The low E tuner feels like it's going to break at any minute when tuning the string to pitch. Definitely needs upgrading.

The headstock is still a whopping 19mm thick, so tuner selection is pretty limited.

The nut still binds like unmodified nut on the P20. What I find works best is to use some abrasive cord and gently add a little curve to where the string exits the nut. Then lube with your preferred nut lube.

The bridge pins are mostly the same as the P20, however, there is a ridge where the black dot sits and it's sharp. It will dig into the palm of your hand unless you knock down the ridge with a fine file. My P20 was not like that.

That's it for right now. More in the coming days when I get it set up.
 
I almost picked up the A20E a few days ago, but like a few of the previous comments in this thread, I was ultimately put off by the shiny black top. It's just a bit "visually loud" for me personally. Otherwise the guitar seems great, I particularly like the finish on the neck.

I really hope they add some more neutral colors for this guitar, I would definitely pick one up if they had the top options from the P20E for example.
 
Back
Top