Being in NE Florida, my opportunities to try new PRS are often limited. When I saw on Facebook that one of my local dealers in Daytona Beach got a big shipment of PRS, I decided to venture down and check them out.
They had 3 CE. One each of trampas, grey black, and vint sunburst. I'm pretty infamous around here for my utter dismissal of the CE's when they were announced. I'm not going to reverse stance 100% on my statements but I'm going to admit I was wrong in many regards. Yes, I was wrong. The CEs are actually pretty nice. If a core guitar got it on with a S2 guitar and had a baby, it would be a CE. The trampas CE was the first guitar of many that I tried and was one that I picked up 3 different times. Having owned a 20th CE, the feel was the same. It played the same, and the arm comfort against the body was better. The neck is flat sawn instead of quarter sawn like the original CEs but it is finished very nice and the finish this time around is not nearly as tacky as the original CEs. Much better satin on the new necks. The thing that impressed me most was the body. The one piece mahogany back was utterly striking under the clear finish that comes with the trampas. That was one very nice piece of wood. The maple top is clearly finished to core standards. The maple they are using on these CEs is worlds better than anything they ever used on the originals. The figuring is pleasant and very 3D. I was expecting the birds to be tacky because they are plastic but they were very nice. The fretboard finishing they use on the core models is used on the new CEs so the contrast between the inlays and board is much better on these as opposed to the S2s, where the fretboards are more grainy and streaky. The result is much better overall appearance. I would even say that I like the birds on the CE nearly as much as the core shell birds just because they are easier to see and more well defined. Tone is subjective so I won't get too much into that. Lets just say I was happy with what I heard. I was happy enough to where I am going back on Tuesday to work out details of a trade and I expect to walk out with the CE then. I was THAT happy with it. I'm still not thrilled with the tremolo, which I feel adds brittleness to the tone, but I will replace that later on.
Next up are the satins. My word...are those nice guitars. They had like 6 of them so I got to try a CU22 and a singlecut. There is not one bad thing I can say about the singlecut. Not one. It was one of the most comfortable guitars I've ever had sitting on my leg. I was floored. Worlds better than the Gibson satins. I didn't like the CU22 satin as much because the 22nd fret access is clunky, as it is on all of the doublecut PRS guitars. I wish they would make the cutaway the same as the singlecuts, which is perfect. All of the satins are super light. I'd guess none went over 7lbs. I could possibly walk out of that store on Tuesday with both the CE and the singlecut satin. I'm bringing 2 guitars to trade and we'll see what happens.
I did try a new core CU24 and couple of others but this post is getting long as it is. As for other things, I got a confirmation that the adjustable fixed bridge is going to be a permanent change on all PRS S2 guitars. From what I was told, people were complaining about the wraparound. Also, I was told PRS changed manufacturers for this bridge and decided to make the change when they changed manufacturers.
Overall. A good day at Total Entertainment in Daytona Beach.
Edit: To clarify, the satins were S2's
They had 3 CE. One each of trampas, grey black, and vint sunburst. I'm pretty infamous around here for my utter dismissal of the CE's when they were announced. I'm not going to reverse stance 100% on my statements but I'm going to admit I was wrong in many regards. Yes, I was wrong. The CEs are actually pretty nice. If a core guitar got it on with a S2 guitar and had a baby, it would be a CE. The trampas CE was the first guitar of many that I tried and was one that I picked up 3 different times. Having owned a 20th CE, the feel was the same. It played the same, and the arm comfort against the body was better. The neck is flat sawn instead of quarter sawn like the original CEs but it is finished very nice and the finish this time around is not nearly as tacky as the original CEs. Much better satin on the new necks. The thing that impressed me most was the body. The one piece mahogany back was utterly striking under the clear finish that comes with the trampas. That was one very nice piece of wood. The maple top is clearly finished to core standards. The maple they are using on these CEs is worlds better than anything they ever used on the originals. The figuring is pleasant and very 3D. I was expecting the birds to be tacky because they are plastic but they were very nice. The fretboard finishing they use on the core models is used on the new CEs so the contrast between the inlays and board is much better on these as opposed to the S2s, where the fretboards are more grainy and streaky. The result is much better overall appearance. I would even say that I like the birds on the CE nearly as much as the core shell birds just because they are easier to see and more well defined. Tone is subjective so I won't get too much into that. Lets just say I was happy with what I heard. I was happy enough to where I am going back on Tuesday to work out details of a trade and I expect to walk out with the CE then. I was THAT happy with it. I'm still not thrilled with the tremolo, which I feel adds brittleness to the tone, but I will replace that later on.
Next up are the satins. My word...are those nice guitars. They had like 6 of them so I got to try a CU22 and a singlecut. There is not one bad thing I can say about the singlecut. Not one. It was one of the most comfortable guitars I've ever had sitting on my leg. I was floored. Worlds better than the Gibson satins. I didn't like the CU22 satin as much because the 22nd fret access is clunky, as it is on all of the doublecut PRS guitars. I wish they would make the cutaway the same as the singlecuts, which is perfect. All of the satins are super light. I'd guess none went over 7lbs. I could possibly walk out of that store on Tuesday with both the CE and the singlecut satin. I'm bringing 2 guitars to trade and we'll see what happens.
I did try a new core CU24 and couple of others but this post is getting long as it is. As for other things, I got a confirmation that the adjustable fixed bridge is going to be a permanent change on all PRS S2 guitars. From what I was told, people were complaining about the wraparound. Also, I was told PRS changed manufacturers for this bridge and decided to make the change when they changed manufacturers.
Overall. A good day at Total Entertainment in Daytona Beach.
Edit: To clarify, the satins were S2's
Last edited:
