PRS CE Semi Hollow OR PRS SE HB II

Which would you choose?

  • CE Semi Hollow 24

    Votes: 21 77.8%
  • SE Hollowbody II

    Votes: 6 22.2%

  • Total voters
    27

EJB

New Member
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Oct 13, 2019
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10
First time poster...

Deciding between a CE Semi Hollow or the new SE HBII (which I realize prob no one has played so this is somewhat subjective)

So there are lots of differences... US vs overseas, bolt on vs glued, price points, 24 vs 22, etc

Curious tho if you had a choice between the two which would you go with and why?

I would be a new to PRS (never owned one before ) so curious on thoughts of folks in here who are more familiar.

Thanks!
 
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If you’ve never had a 24 fret PRS, that would be the place I would start. Nothing beats a PRS above the 12th fret, if you go there. I also believe the woods in the US ones are the best available. I’ve had to have fretwork on most of my SE’s. The only core that needed anything is my old CE 24, and that’s because it was a workhorse. And they only needed to be dressed.
 
Awesome thanks for the reply. I have a couple 24 fret axes now but not PRS. I def find myself leaning toward 24 frets lately over 22. Sounds like quality of the CE is far superior than the SE from your experience.

What about the wide-fat neck on true SE HBII vs the wide thin on the CE? I don’t have giant hands so lean toward strat sized necks which is maybe another good reason I should go CE.
 
I voted CE24 semi. I have one, and though mine is maybe not the best of examples, it has all the important stuff covered. The 24 frets is always a big advantage. The pickups are 85/15s and are very nice. Clear and detailed but with subtle rich tone. Light and easy to handle guitar.

Until I get a chance to try a HBii, I cant compare but the CEs will take some beating.
 
I have a CE24 SH and it's probably close to being one of my favorites. I seem to play it more than any other guitar. I like the crisp snapiness it had on the top end when the pickups are split. I dig the neck humbucker tone with the tone rolled back. It responds to a variety of musical styles very well, and it has the great PRS term. It's a total winner.

However, I'm planning on grabbing an SE HBII....
 
Two very different guitars with different sounds...

On the one hand you have a 24 fret semi-hollow guitar with a trem and a bolt on neck. Most likely to be brighter and snappier with the maple neck and that bridge. Being a 24 fret guitar, the humbuckers will be closer too and as the neck PU is closer to the bridge, its going to be brighter and more articulate too. The woods will all be cured properly and the guitar assembled in the US with US Pick-ups - more modern voiced than the 58/15 LT 'S' pickups in the SE. It does come in a gig-bag too if that's important. I am not 100% positive, but I think it has the option to split the coils with a push/pull pot and locking tuners too but you may want to check this.

On the other hand you have an imported 22fret hollowbody guitar built for PRS. Its going to be lighter but also more open - should be louder when played unplugged and the 58/15 LT 'S' pickups will no doubt be more vintage sounding like their US made versions. Being a 22 fret guitar, the space between the Pups will be a bit wider moving the neck PU further from the bridge. You get just the 3 options from the 3-way switch and it also comes with a fixed bridge. The top/back are made from multiple layers of thin wood glued together with a maple veneer to look aesthetically pleasing. The plywood construction enables then to shape the top/back of the guitar. It does come with a hardcase. Its not arrived in shops or in the hands of reviewers to know much more than the official video released by PRS but suffice to say its a very different guitar.

Recommending one over the other is impossible without knowing what it is you need or prefer in an instrument. As great as the SE range is though, the CE range is on a different level with woods cured in the same way as PRS Private Stock. Whilst PRS have found ways to reduce the cost of the CE models, they are exceptional instruments and they are priced accordingly. If the SE HBii follows the usual standards we have come to expect from SE's, then these too should be excellent instruments in the price bracket. SE's to provide a lot of bang for buck.

Regardless of the results of the poll, the OP really needs to consider what instrument will be the best for their needs, their style/genre of music and make a decision in which guitar will be the best fit, the best suited to them.
 
Big +1 to Mozzi on this one... his descriptions of the attributes of each guitar are spot on. It really depends on what you want to do. The CE is more of, dare I say, the "Classic Electric" in terms of its utility, it's a rock guitar that can foray into jazzy stuff a little more than a full solid body. The SE is the opposite, more of a jazz box that can go into rock on occasion. So I would recommend considering what your purpose for the guitar will be.

Regarding neck profiles, if you're a Strat player, the CE may have the most familiar profile for you. At the nut, perhaps a touch wider than some vintage spec Strat necks, the more modern high-end Strats are about the same width. As far as the shape, I find the Pattern Thin on the CE is ever so slightly flatter on the back than most Strats I try, although we're talking minutiae here, it's by no means a flat back profile, just leans very slightly that way. The SE W/F is fatter compared to Pattern Thin (or W/T) in a similar way that some Tele necks are fatter than Strat necks - it's that kind of size difference, but worth noting the W/F still doesn't have as much meat on the edges the way a baseball bat of a Tele neck does. The thickness may be similar, but the W/F is more petite coming around the edges so that it still doesn't feel like an unmanageable handful. I have fairly small hands too, and have never had a problem with either profile, both are very comfortable, and really not vastly different from each other. Like siblings that you see a strong family resemblence in.

You may also like the Pattern Regular carve of the S2's if you have small hands. Best way I can describe it is as a petite version of W/F. It's thinner at the nut and front to back, but still has a rounder profile than Pattern Thin (or W/F). Very comfortable for me. The S2 semi hollow 22 is a unique instrument - it's subdued at the top end and thick sounding. If you wanted the most straight-forward, punchiest rock oriented instrument, it would be the CE, if you want to be closer to a big body jazz box, the SE, and the S2 fits somewhere in between. Hope that helps!
 
Wow so many great responses - thank you! I’m into blues (bb king), jam rock (phish, dead, wsp) and other stuff like Alabama shakes, black keys, James McMurtry, Robert earl keen, etc

That said looking for a versatile instrument with tonal variety but I tend to lean more toward bright, articulate instruments

Loved the detailed replies, gives me a lot to think about and great perspective.

And the replies about buying both that is the best answer! My wife thinks I’m crazy every time a guitar shows up at the door!
 
That said looking for a versatile instrument with tonal variety but I tend to lean more toward bright, articulate instruments

Based on this alone, the CE 24 semi-hollow would be a much better buy for you than the SE HBii. That's not to say the HBii wouldn't b a good pirchases and may fit the BB King 335 type sound but the more versatile, varied instrument that is bright and articulate is the CE24...
 
That said looking for a versatile instrument with tonal variety but I tend to lean more toward bright, articulate instruments

Welcome to the forum.

Throwing you a curve ball. Following your above comment, this might be worth a look.


This guitar has a plethora of tones and they are coming through pre-owned now, so good bargains are to be had.

Good luck on your tonal journey.
 
The two you initially mentioned are kind of polar opposites...as previously detailed, by everybody...
I, too, would go with the CE. there are really nice CE's out there...Good luck, and enjoy the hunt.

CE= (kinda???) Full Humbucker tones, plus F-style single coil sounds, F-style bolt-on neck, Great US made PUs...
SE HB= (kinda??) Hollow box sounds...I personally think jazz first, but Nugent and Emil Werstler fixed that for me!!!
 
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Yea really leaning toward the CE Semi. Seems a better fit for what I’m looking for. Love the tones I an hearing from the demos.
 
Wow so many great responses - thank you! I’m into blues (bb king), jam rock (phish, dead, wsp) and other stuff like Alabama shakes, black keys, James McMurtry, Robert earl keen, etc

That said looking for a versatile instrument with tonal variety but I tend to lean more toward bright, articulate instruments

Loved the detailed replies, gives me a lot to think about and great perspective.

And the replies about buying both that is the best answer! My wife thinks I’m crazy every time a guitar shows up at the door!

I own a CE24 (not semi hollow although if that existed when I bought mine, I would own the SH for sure) and use it for blues and jam band music. My band plays dead, some phish, some Allmans, and some originals and sometimes a blues tune here and there. I find the CE24 is really versatile for this kind of music. I use split coil bridge a ton for rhythm when the other guitar player is soloing. it's create for cutting through the high end of the mix. I usually (not always) go to the humbuckers for solos. Either split coil or humbucker work well for the blues in my opinion. But the CE can sounds somewhat straty in the middle position w split coils. There's a ton of good sounds you can get out of it. Not sure how much different the semi hollow sounds but I would sure like to find out :).

With that said, since I already own a CE24, i'm considering the SE HB standard or SE HBII myself. I really want a HBII core model but I expect I'd get divorced if I bought one - so the SE version is looking pretty appealing. I expect you can get some great blues and jam band sounds out of that guitar as well, although it might be slightly less versatile without the split coil options. So I voted for the CE24 SH above as that is what I would buy if I didn't already own a CE.
 
Awesome! Thanks man super insightful, pretty sure I’m sold on the SH CE. Got to sell a couple axes (Phred Dock Star with upgrades, and a Ibanez ar420 if anyone is interested) and then make the move. Feel like it will be something I won’t regret. Thanks!
 
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