PRS SE CE 24 STANDARD SATIN £499
Hot on the heels of the classic CE 24 launching in the SE line for 2024, this new satin Standard version loses the bling and drops the price. Yes, please!
It’s hard to second-guess PRS these days. Having only just released a trio of new SEs for its 2024 line-up, including the Swamp Ash Special and CE 24 (featured in issue 506), the company has released yet another one: a Standard Satin version of the still-fresh SE CE 24.
PRS fans will know that ‘Standard’ refers to an all-mahogany body, rather than the more commonly used mahogany back with a figured maple cap. This all-mahogany style dates right back to the first PRS guitars of 1985. Originally, there was just the mapletopped Custom and the less expensive allmahogany ‘PRS Guitar’, which became the Standard around 1987. The genus of this new SE whizzes back to the following year when PRS’s first bolt-on was launched, the Classic Electric, which soon became the CE.
There have been plenty of Standards over the years, of course, including afew with satin finishes, and currently the mainly Indonesian-made SE line boasts the McCarty 594 Singlecut Standard, the Standard 24-08 and the Hollowbody Standard (also available with piezo). But this new model is unique in that both the neck and body have a very light satin finish. And while the glossy maple-topped SE CE 24 lists at £695, this new version drops that to just £499 (including a gigbag). We’re reliably informed that dealers will probably be selling it closer to £450: it’s the lowestcost PRS guitar.
To be honest, at that price we wondered if we might get a bag of bits and some instructions… but, no, the CE 24 Standard Satin is fit to go from the off and any savings are clearly down to the finish type, the lack of a maple-veneered top and, we’d wager, a few trimmed margins.
Available in three translucent colours, our review sample is coined Turquoise, although ‘Forest Green’ might have been more accurate. Like the SE Swamp Ash Special, you can clearly see that the 44mm deep body is three pieces, and while the jointing is immaculate, on the treble side you can see that things are slightly mismatched. That said, the machining and sanding is superb and with this light, slightly open-pore finish there’s nowhere to hide, unlike a coloured, opaque gloss. In fact, plenty of us might argue that this style looks and feels classier, more expensive even. Just remember, though, that a finish such as this will mark and ding easily. There’s no bin
