PRS Guitars has been crafting high-performance electric guitars since 1985, but they didn’t produce their first acoustic until more recently in 2009. At an affordable price, the PRS SE A10E seems like money well spent for an inexpensive acoustic, right?

Let’s find out!

Features:

-Laminate Mahogany Back & Sides
-Solid Mahogany Top
-Tortoise Shell Gloss Finish
-20 Frets
-25.35” Scale Neck
-Rosewood Fretboard
-PRS X-Brace/Classical Hybrid
-PRS Bird Inlays
-PRS SE Tuners
-Undersaddle Volume and Tone

The PRS SE A10E is the first all-mahogany SE Angelus. Like some of the other PRS acoustics, it borrows aesthetic designs from the PRS Core Electrics, such as the famous bird inlays.

(Speaking of bird inlays, have a look at this!)

The bracing pattern inside the guitar is a proprietary design based on a mixture of the Torres-style fan (typically found on classical acoustics) and a standard X-pattern (typically found on steel-string guitars).

The narrow nut offers a tastefully low action that will make a primarily electric guitarist feel right at home.

The neck is a chunky C shape — it’s easy to grab on to and comfortable for playing anything from barre chords to faster scale runs.

The bone nut is cut quite well, coupled with the PRS SE tuners makes for a pretty great tuning stability. It even handles a little bit of drop tuning down to Drop D or DADGAD. Of course, it’s not meant to go much lower like the multiscale Ibanez AELFF10 acoustic can…

Tone:

The solid-mahogany PRS SE A10E offers a very well balanced tone. The body is on the smaller, more comfortable side, but it still manages a very focused punch and a big warm sound.

Now, let me be clear, it doesn’t sound like a full sized $2000< dreadnought, but it absolutely satisfies for the price range.

While the sound lacks a bit of complexity, it is highly responsive in the mid range and offers a wide bass sound.

Given its fairly even tonal characteristics, the SE A10E accommodates players of many genres and styles. It responds well to everything from bluegrass with a slide to 4-chord pop rock.

I’ve heard some pretty bad preamps in cheaper acoustic guitars… but this one definitely delivers above my expectations. Although it doesn’t do anything to accentuate the tone of the guitar, the pickup does a good job of accurately representing the acoustic sound.

Build Quality:

American-made PRS guitars are known to be second-to-none when it comes to craftsmanship and quality control. The PRS SE A10E is a Korean-made instrument with pretty decent craftsmanship, but it definitely doesn’t fully measure up to the USA builds.

The guitar is well-built in the areas that affect performance and tone. The fretwork is clean, the nut and saddle are well cut, but it does lack a bit in the finish work and binding.

There are some occasional bumps in the finish as well as excess glue spots on the inside of the guitar. These issues are definitely minor and not much to complain about considering the only finish options on the guitar are extremely dark.

Final Verdict:

The PRS SE A10E is everything I’d ask for in a budget-ish acoustic guitar. Despite minor aesthetic imperfections, the smooth playability and tonal balance make it a great bang for your buck instrument.

For the electric player looking to make a painless transition to acoustic guitar or even a studio musician looking for something with unique tonal characteristics, the SE A10E is definitely a great choice.

8-8-7

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This article was written by Zac Buras, our editor located in Louisiana.

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