Pe-Are-es! (PRS)

New PRS?

Well, yeah..... but... not mine though. I wish it was =P. It's my friend's first guitar. She got it fresh from Davis Guitar today (and yes it's a 'she')!! To be specific, at its expanded branch.


This is PRS SE Orianthi Signature model in Red Sparkle (indeed, it is sparkling, especially under the light).

Price: S$850

Special Features
Its most outshining feature is the 'O' at the 12th fret rather than a usual signature spread eagle of PRS.

Body
The body is made up of Korina with a maple top. Korina is rarely used in guitars. In fact, PRS is the only brand that I know uses Korina for the body. It is somewhat like a mahogany, having similar grains of mahogany. However, compared to mahogany, it has a brighter sound.
The hierarchy of brightness will be as shown below:

Mahogany < Korina < Alder

Neck
The neck is a maple neck according to the PRS website.
As for the neck profile, it is a bit wide but rather thin compare to a PRS SE Custom 24, which features a much thicker neck profile.  It is a set-neck construction and allows easy access to the lower frets.

The fretboard is an Ebony fretboard. Its extremely dark and shiny looks highlights it. Ebony is said to have a brighter attack in terms of tone, which further contributes to the brightness of this guitar.

Pickups
The pickups in it are PRS Designed SE TFS Treble at the bridge and Vintage Bass at the neck. The pickups do it job well when it is played through clean. The resultant tone (with the pickup switch in the mid position) is of my preference, bright and clear sound. When some distortion kicks in, it sounds somewhat like my alder-bodied Fernandes, with less brightness. It does a good job in sustaining (I'm very particular about this). Do take note that the sustainability doesn't just depends on the guitar but also on the level of gain on the amp and other factors as well.

Controls
It has a 3-way pickup switch, a volume knob and a tone knob.

Bridge
The bridge is a PRS Designed Tremolo bridge like many other PRS SE has. 6 screws bridge. Nothing too special that I could expand on this. The tremolo is the not a screw-in type. All that is needed is to insert the tremolo at the bridge and use it.

Accessories

Other extra accessories included are (of course) a guitar bag, a short cable, tremolo bar and all the Allen keys. The included bag is a well-padded bag which would normally cost around $35-40 to get it. Well, after paying a $850, such quality bag is to be expected, isn't?

Overall: 5/5
This guitar is a great guitar. The neck profile, though it isn't as slick as an Ibanez RGs, it is still considered as thin. Shredding isn't a problem for me. Its standard action is just right; neither too low nor too high. If I have the ability to buy it, I would DEFINITELY do so. Of course, the stock pickups will be changed accordingly to the genre I would use it to play. However, it would be much better if PRS features a 2-point bridge; after all the problem my Squier has given me, I feel that it's safer use the tremolo without going out of tune so much for 2 point bridges than its 6 points kins.