When PRS Guitars are mentioned, you might tend to think about their ultra-high-end, flagship instruments, such as this immaculate PRS Custom 24 Artist Package, or even their more affordable instruments, such as the SE Custom 22. Unfortunately, the controversial PRS S2 series tends to live in the shadows of some of the other PRS guitars, despite it’s amazing bang-for-your-buck price point.

Today, we’ll be playing a PRS S2 Standard 22.

Features:

  • Mahogany Body w/ S2 Carve
  • Set Mahogany Neck with Pattern Regular Profile
  • 25” Scale Length with 24 Frets
  • PRS S2 Low Mass Locking Tuners
  • PRS Non-Locking Tremolo
  • PRS S2 85/15 ‘S’ Pickups
  • Volume and Push/Pull Tone Control with 3-Way Blade Pickup Switch
  • Nickel Hardware

The aesthetic features you’ll notice about the S2 standard when compared to most other PRS 22 guitars are the lack of maple top, lack of birds, and a different carve on the top.

The carve on the S2 Standard is a bit more aggressive around the edges and flat on the top, vs the gradual carve of a PRS Custom 22. It’s really great for the player who prefers a flat top, without sacrificing the ergonomic benefits of the forearm contour.

The lack of birds on the fretboard doesn’t hurt so bad on this guitar. I love me some gorgeous bird inlays, but the simple design matched with the solid finish and black pickguard offers up a really neat, clean aesthetic that differs from most PRS guitars.

The PRS S2 has a really vintage feel and playability. The Pattern Regular neck is a bit more modern than the classic PRS necks. Not on the baseball bat-thick side, but it’s certainly no Ibanez Wizard.

PRS S2 Standard 22

 

Tone:

Partially thanks to solid Mahogany and no Maple top, the S2 Standard is a very warm guitar when compared to other PRS models.

Compared side-by-side with a ‘Custom’ model, the fatter tone of the S2 is clearly noticeable.

The bridge pickup is paired really well with the solid Mahogany body. It adds a bit more high-end cut to the otherwise warm, low-heavy body. Harmonics are really sweet and resonant on this guitar as well.

The neck pickup is a real gem. It’s super smooth and helps to craft some of the sweetest blues tones ever. Tonally, it comes off as a super fat, strat pickup.

The tonal versatility is really solid. The guitar shines for vintagey tones, blues, cleans, and rock styles. Metal is doable, but it doesn’t quite compare to something along the lines of a Seymour Duncan Black Winter for extreme gain applications.

Build Quality:

The S2 guitars are really under appreciated. In case you don’t know, these are made in the same factory in Marlyand as the PRS Core Model guitars. They are built to similar quality standards at less than half of the price.

The biggest differences that separate these from the Core Line are the stripped down features, finish options, and quality of wood selection.

The fretwork is fantastic, there are no finishes errors, and the tuning is very stable.

Final Verdict:

Honestly, I think more people need to consider the PRS S2 line for their own collection. It offers up the insane PRS quality at a fraction of the price. Even if you are a player willing to shell out the cash for a top-of-the-line Custom 22, the S2 Standard 22 is a great option for a gigging guitar.

Great playability, unique sound, and a classy look makes this a really solid guitar for it’s $1200-ish pricepoint.

8-10-8

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

 

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