The S2 series by PRS was introduced in 2013. There was initially some skepticism, but the cat’s out of the bag now: they’re killer guitars. USA made in the same factory as the core line. Some are stripped down version of Paul Reed Smith’s flagship guitars, some are a bit more experimental. The PRS S2 Singlecut Semi-Hollow lies somewhere in the middle.

This guitar appeals to a wide variety of players, and has a combination of specs that should make for pure and organic tone, but does it? Read to find out!

Features:

This S2 Singlecut I played featured:

  • Mahogany Body
  • Semi-Hollow Construction & F-Hole
  • Maple Top w/ S2 Carve
  • Violin Amber Sunburst
  • Rosewood Fretboard with PRS Bird Inlays
  • Mahogany Pattern Regular Neck
  • Nickel Hardware
  • 25” Scale Length with 22 Frets
  • PRS S2 Locking Tuners
  • PRS Stoptail Bridge
  • PRS S2 #7 Pickups
  • 3 Way Toggle
  • 2 Vol & 2 Push/Pull Tone

This guitar has many features typical to the S2 line. The stoptail bridge is comfortable, and I still love the S2 locking tuners. Very stable!

The pattern regular neck is a modern take on late ‘80s PRS instruments, and is really general interest. As long as you understand that it’s not exceptionally thin going in, you’re going to be good to go.

The color is fantastic and the figuring on the top is great! I really like how the S2 line still gets a good deal of unique finishes.

I’d like to point out again that the S2 carve is very interesting. It’s not the classic PRS carve in any way, but I personally find it very comfortable. It’s going to be a love/hate thing, but I personally think that all but the pickiest people will find it comfortable.

Tone:

I’ve always found that PRS guitars take to semi-hollow construction particularly well. The 25” scale length is absolutely perfect for it and brings out some wonderful acoustic-like properties. The guitar obviously fits within the Les Paul archetype of midsy tone with a lot of sustain, but both the design refinements, and the splittable musical pickups take this to the next level.

This results in an instrument that covers a lot of tonal ground. The split tones are very full sounding due to the semi-hollow body, and all positions have near-inifinite sustain. The S2 version of the #7 pickups are awesome, and sound especially at home in a singlecut. They are very clear with rich harmonics.

This is a guitar with a lot of everything. A lot of sustain, punch, harmonics, and rich lows. The guitar is so alive that it can almost be unruly, which makes it hard to tame the tones when going for extremely precise modern metal tones, but lends itself very well to inbetween crunch tones and classic high gain tones.

Build Quality:

There’s really not much more I can say about the S2 series that I haven’t said in other reviews at this point. These are awesome guitars that outplay guitars 3 times the price from some other brands.

There are some minor features that are cut from these guitars, such as recessed control plates and knobs, but that’s to be expected to keep costs down. There’s no actual lacking build quality evident here: the classic PRS fretwork, nut cut, and finish quality are all here.

Final Verdict:

The PRS S2 Singlecut Semi-Hollow has some of the most lively and organic tone I’ve heard from a guitar in this price range. The guitar is resonant, and really feels alive.

This guitar appeals to jazz players, blues players, and rock players. People looking for better Les Pauls, people that like the PRS ethos, and people who just want something a bit different. All of this in a really elegant package.

The guitar won’t necessarily thrive in a very high gain context, but I’d like to think no one would expect it to. That being said, it’s a fantastic doom/sludge/post metal guitar, but don’t expect it to djent.

Every S2 I play, I become a larger fan of the series, and the PRS S2 Singlecut Semi-Hollow is no different.

8-8-7

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This article was written by Kyle Karich, our editor located in Florida.

 

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