PRS CE 24 - Vintage Sunburst Reviews

I've played strats, les pauls, and teles. Recently my strat became a problem because I was constantly hitting the pick up selector switch when playing. Wanted something that would be an "all in one" guitar for gigging out. This guitar does it all. The feel and responsiveness is off the charts. And the pick ups really sound awesome. Full bodied and rich with the humbuckers and clean and spanky when switched to the single coils.
The finish, color and craftsmanship on the instrument are also incredible. I will be buying another PRS, that's for sure!!!!

Wow... I don't think I can state it any simpler. I don't write reviews (good or bad) but I felt I had to with this one, just because I had so many questions before I purchased it, I want to help someone else who may think the same as me. First, I play Gibson's almost exclusively (set-neck, mahogany Les Pauls and SGs). The idea of a bolt-on maple neck scared me, because I immediately thought "Stratocaster." BELIEVE ME: this feels NOTHING like a strat, it's so much more comfortable. The best word to describe it: natural. It feels comfortable, natural, safe and normal... it feels like you've always played it and nothing else. Then the sound and resonance. The body is perfect at letting the sound resonate beautifully. I love just playing it with no amp, just listening to the wood. Again, not like a stratocaster to me. Then when you plug this in: holy cow. Clean: beautiful, snappy, clear tones. Distortion: beefy, clear and heavy. This guitar really does do it all. I played it through my Marshall and my Mesa Boogie, and I was not disappointed with either. This is what concerned me the most: the color choice. I've always wanted a sunburst, and I thought Vintage Sunburst was my pick, but the pics here on Sweetwater looked VERY yellow to me, like almost the entire guitar body was bright yellow. After researching some more, I figured it was probably just the lighting in the pictures. I got the vintage sunburst and I don't regret a minute of it, it's beautiful. I've attached some of my own pictures showing the colors a little better. You will not be disappointed with this color. If you're looking at a PRS, you know what these guitars are. I've wanted one for years, and I'm so happy to finally be part of the club. This guitar is amazing all over. I'm definitely a fan for life at this point.
Big shout out to my customer rep Tom (x1313) at Sweetwater for dealing with my million questions and phone calls! Great customer service, great company, great product!

I own 50 guitars, acoustics, resonators, 12 and 6 stings. Most are collectable, and this is my first PRS. I have Gibson SG, Les Pauls, and many ES models, Fenders and older Epiphones, This PRS blew me away, it is so comfortable and enjoyable to play. I will be adding another PRS to the collection soon!
My biggest regret is that I waited all of these years to discover what PRS has to offer.
Mark

Let's start with fit and finish. The guitar is so stunning in appearance that I inspected it very closely just for the heck of it to see whether it was truly flawless. I could find *nothing* in the way of a flaw. Clearly PRS has made a huge commitment to quality control out of the factory--it is perfect. With respect to playability, the guitar arrived perfectly set up--tuning was all it needed. The neck is just slightly wider than a Strat C neck, which is good for my larger fingers. Action is quite good. The trem, which I rarely use, does not seem to affect tuning at all. Tuners are PRS's proprietary locking version, which I have not had the opportunity to test as I haven't yet changed strings. Tuner action is has a high ratio and is very quick. The knobs and pickup selector switch are in good position, and the tone control has maybe a wider range than on most other guitars that I have played. In humbucker mode, the pickups are just gorgeous--good solid classic humbucker tonality from bass to treble, excellent output. In split coil mode, there is a noticeable dropoff in output and the sound quality is mebbe not as edgy as straight single coil guitars. Not having played a guitar with coil splitting capability before, I was initially concerned about the lower output, but I now understand that it is a characteristic of coil splitting guitars and you simply have to make the necessary volume adjustment. The sustain is absolutely amazing. Not sure how PRS does that, but other guitar makers ought to study it. This guitar is a notch above my US tele and strat, and I think that I could make a case that PRS is producing the best mass-produced guitars in the U.S. right now. I am absolutely happy with this guitar. Many thanks to Riley for his outstanding customer support.

So right off the bat, I have to say that Sweetwater's customer service is amazing. Curt is the man.

So, I was relatively nervous about ordering one of these. After months of contemplating, I decided to get it, and I'm so happy I did.
This guitar is easy to play, it sounds great, and is BEAUTIFUL. I know everyone says that the pictures don't do this guitar any justice, and they are 100% right.
It came with higher action than I'm used to playing with, but after a few hours, I decided I prefer it.
The trem stays in tune very well, even after some pretty serious use, which was my main concern about this guitar.
It has absolutely perfect intonation.
If I'm being superrrr picky, the volume knob feels a little flimsy, but oddly enough, the tone knob doesn't. This doesn't effect the sounds or playability, so it doesn't really bother me at all.
Also, the gig bag is better than most.

I don't know if all of the CE 24 guitars play like this or if it is a function of the Plek Pro setup, but the action and tone on this guitar is absolutely flawless. I love the tonal options available with the coil tapped 85/15 pups and the humbuckers have a distinctive growl that has brought new life to my tone. I think this would be the perfect workhorse guitar for the gigging musician who doesn't want to lug his entire collection to every show.

This might be my first PRS, but it certainly won't be my last. It is an amazing guitar with great attention to detail given to every facet of construction. I recommend springing for the Plek Pro treatment from Sweetwater, too. It was worth every penny.

just incredible everything you ever wanted in an electric,,,can't put it down!!!!

For the last 2 months I've searched for a guitar to pair with my core Tremonti. I've looked at everything form Keisels, to ESP's, to Gibsons and on and on...I finally ended up rolling the dice on one of these hoping it'd be a little better than the Sweetwater Special Rosewood CU24 SE I had and sold 6 months ago. This one was it. Not much more to say other than it's the only guitar I've owned that was comparable in playability, build quality and tonal quality to my Tremonti. I don't know how PRS managed to make such a light guitar with such a massive sound, but this thing is the real deal. If you're considering this or maybe on the fence, rest assured you won't be disappointed.

This guitar is gorgeous. It was a birthday gift from my absolutely wonderful wife (she's the best). I have 3 SEs and this is my first high end guitar ever. You won't regret buying this guitar.

After months of research I decided to finally pull the trigger and buy another guitar. I was so undecided about the CE 24, Gibson SG and EVH models. I currently own a American telecaster and I do love it but I wanted another guitar to give me different options when we play live (Southern Gospel Group). So I went and played all of them at the guitar shops and finally decided on the CE 24.

I have to say how impressed I am with the quality, weight and looks of this guitar. I can't stop playing it and I swear it came with licks because i'm already playing way better than I ever have. Just so smooth to play and what a great sound! KUDOS to PRS on such a nice guitar!!

You want growl well it's got growl, you want warm tones - it's got that and if you want twang it's got that too.. just so impressed.

If your looking for a new guitar at least give yourself the option to look/play this guitar before purchasing.

Thank you Brad Thomsen at sweetwater for taking time on several different occasions to answer all my questions on PRS, Gibson, EVH, etc.. which is why I bought it directly from you guys..

Hope this helps!

Sweet action, amazing tone, top notch set up, all the qualities expected from PRS. Combine that with the expertise and knowledge of Sweetwater's amazing staff (Matt McKible) and once again I am blown away. Thanks again.

The smooth action and the pickups are amazing on this guitar. I am so surpried with the weight and handling of my new PRS CE24. I play for hours and never get shoulder pain from reaching over the body or neck pain from the weight.

I've owned a PRS Custom 24 SE many years ago and thought it was a cool guitar. I decided back then that I wanted an American PRS. I like bolt on necks as with Telecasters and Stratocaster. I played this guitar and decided that this PRS is the most versatile guitar tonewise, best playability, and great looking.
This was my answer for having a high end guitar that can handle any genre of music or playing styles.

So I play gigs on the regular and have mostly been a Les Paul guy the last 8 Years. I played PRS when I was younger and wanted another option for live shows. After playing some SE’s and feeling less then impressed I decided to buy a CE without playing it. I was nervous to say the least but Ty Heimann was very helpful when I called in and reassured me it was worth it to go up to a CE from an SE.

Boy was he right, the guitar came setup ready to play out of the box and it blew me away when I plugged into my Orange Rockverb 100 with PPC open back 2x12 cab. Without tweaking the amp it already had a wonderful glassy clean chime to it and switching to the overdrive channel put a huge smile on my face. Clear, rich overdrive with that signature orange growl...it blew me away how good it sounded on both channels without adjusting the amp from my Les Paul settings.

I spent the day comparing it to my 2016 Les Paul Standard and highly moded 2015 Les Paul Traditional and played it through a Fender Super Sonic, Orange Rocker 32, Vox AC 15 with Alnico blue and my Rockverb. Although they all have different sounds, the CE 24 has better tone than both of the Les Pauls on all amps and on all settings. The moderate outputs of the 85/15 pickups give you a wealth of sound and the coil taps sound much better then the Les Paul. Both my Les Pauls were more expensive than the PRS especially the standard and I thought the PRS sounded and played the best by far. It has all the feel and quality of the Les Pauls but more playability in my opinion. I still love my Gibson’s and would never trade or sell them but the CE 24 has become my main gigging guitar.

Bottom line you won’t find a better guitar at this price that can play any style of music at this quality period. I might just buy a second one I love that much. Stays in tune and is nice and light !

I am absolutely astonished by the quality, sound, and playability this guitar offers. And it’s an all time favorite PRS of the past! Sweetwater continues to deliver affordability and quality with backing up their promise. I WILL NOT purchase from another company! Thanks AJ Becerra for always delivering Brother!

This guitar is awesome right out of the packaging. Tone, playability, appearance and quality are just plain superb!!! The price is right and I cannot say anything bad about how this guitar plays. PRS did a fantastic job in providing a 24 fret guitar at a reasonable price and as always, Sweetwater always provide quality and quick service (Thank you AJ Becerra - as always you are spot on and ready to help). I own more than a handful of "American Made" guitars and this one is my first PRS. I am definitely not disappointed!!

This beautiful guitar has blown my mind since i received it a month ago. The 85/15 pickups are awesome.They clean up so well when you back your volume down and jump out at you on full volume. The neck feels great and the body is just right! My sales engineer Aaron Hoff was a true professional helping me get this guitar and as always Sweetwater has the best customer service by far.

I always considered PRS the Prius of the guitar world until i purchased this. I was wrong. It is a fabulously crafted instrument. Wonderful attention to detail is found everywhere you look. I could not be happier. You can tell it was engineered with a goal of playing stability and reliability with some common sense solutions to problems that plague other guitars. It came set-up perfectly and the intonation was spot-on! This is also the easiest guitar to re-string I've ever owned. Also, the tuners are by far the best I've ever had. They have a great tactile resistance and feel. I would characterize the pick-ups to be "warm" and somewhat "sweet", but they are very clear. I have found i need to really push the gain and treble for metal. And when you find the sweet-spot on your amp, the bridge pick-up is dark and nasty!!! Now i know everyone has nice things to say about their new guitar they just bought. Believe me, i have purchased many from Sweetwater/Jared Kalish(fantastic sales rep and nice guy) and have been happy with most of them. This PRS though, is the 1st guitar that compelled me to write a review. I believe any player of any genre of music would thoroughly enjoy this instrument for years to come.

I owned a bolt on Prs once before, was not thrilled. just got one yesterday, wow great guitar. It was everything Dave Weiner said it was. Great service great people. Thanks Mike

Beautifully built and designed guitar. Construction is superb, finish is flawless. Plays effortlessly, neck is wide and neck is slightly fat; feels great. Locking tuners and low friction nut work great at keeping the guitar in tune when using the bar.

The pickups on this guitar are amazing. Super responsive to every nuance in my playing style and I can coax just about any tone I can think of out of these pups with the volume and tone controls, the coil splitter and pickup selector.

Very versatile guitar with a very comfortable scale length and easy access to the upper most frets. Has a bolt on neck so get that extra little spank that is generally missing from a set neck.

My one and only gripe about this guitar is the bridge. While it is by no means shabby and works perfectly well, it is the same bridge found on the Korean SE models. I have nothing against the Korean SEs, matter of fact I own two that I love, it's just that in my mind, a $ US guitar should have the US bridge.

As always, ordering with Sweetwater is a snap. And while not quite as good as actually playing the guitar and seeing it in person, the Guitar Gallery option of seeing the actual models that you may want to buy and comparing their weights and finishes is just plain cool.

My sales engineer Kurt Martin always treats me like I am important, listens to my questions and always finds answers when I need them.

Rock solid all around guitar for any style of music

I was skeptical about a bolt-on PRS guitar being worth the money. I had tried to find an older CE-22 or 24, but they were hard to find in nice shape. Fresh out of the box, the top finish is stunning. The book match was better than on many Les Paul Standards I've seen. This guitar is light! If you are tired of an eight-pound anchor around your neck, you will love that alone! That being said, with a slippery guitar strap, it does seem head stock heavy, even with the low mass locking tuners. Neck tint is very light and natural looking. Fret ends came well dressed and beautiful dark rosewood fingerboard. Plugging it in, I found the pickups very bright and powerful. Don't expect strat tones from the coil-tap. It works, but still a bit thick. The factory setup on the guitar I was shipped was very high. Almost unplayable. I paid the money to have a pro set it up. What a difference! This neck is lightning fast! A bit thicker than my JP6, but faster and easier playing. Speaking of which, they should use birds-eye maple on the necks for a bit more in the looks department. Overall, very satisfied with this guitar. The great looks are backed up by good pickups and superb playabilty. My biggest gripe is that these are shipped with a gig bag. My cheaper American Deluxe Strat and Les Paul Studio Deluxe guitars ship with a hard shell case. These should too. I guess the $1,999 price point was the limit. Buy one of these. Can't miss for the money!