PRS SE Standard 24-08 Electric Guitar - Translucent Blue Reviews

My new PRS guitar arrived on time and in perfect condition. Upon its arrival I anxiously awaited 24 more hours before unboxing to allow the woods and components to acclimate to my apartment's atmosphere per Sweetwater's recommendation. Just as I had pulled the guitar from the nice gig bag it came in and was holding in my hand, the phone rang and it happened to be my sales engineer Joel! I told him what I was doing and after a brief conversation I immediately performed a visual inspection of the guitar. There were no marks, scratches, dents, scuffs or any marring whatsoever. It was immaculate! The maple neck and rosewood fret board are as smooth as silk and very playable right out of the box. String action is great and so is the intonation. The translucent blue body is absolutely beautiful...just translucent enough to see the pretty mahogany wood grain underneath. Hardware is polished and stable. Fit and finish is superb. And it sounds great with its eight possible pickup variations. Thank you Joel and the guitar techs, QC and shipping departments. I'm extremely happy!

The PRS SE Standard 24-08 is a fantastic electric guitar and in my favorite color too! BLUE with white binding. And you can still see the wood grain through the translucent gloss poly. The maple wide thin/slim neck with a rosewood fret board feels great right out of the box and doesn't stick to your hands when it get sweaty from playing for 4 hours (I did at a Jam session). The guitar even though 7lbs 9oz feels quite light. PRS has mastered the floating tremolo/vibrato bridge and the push in term arm is the best part. When you use it the guitar doesn't go out of tune at all. The TCI-S pickups sings in all positions! Though I like the humbucker sounds. Not my Fender Strat or Tele but it has its own sound and song. You don't have to change a thing on this guitar but I'm changing the tuners to PRS SE locking tuners.

This is my first real electric guitar. Looks great, stays in tune for days. Had to get a setup, but that's normal. Now it plays like butter. I've had it for a few months, and I really have no complaints about it so far. Inspires me to play, and chugs when I need it to ;)

Special thanks to my sales engineer Pablo Murcia, for helping me decide on this purchase.

I have been a PRS fan for many years. But due to an injury I suffered in 2015 I sold my 2 electric guitars cause I couldn't stand seeing a PRS gather dust. These guitars are made to be played!

I have slowly been able to return to the world of playing and this past December my wife bought me the Standard 2408. I chose this one for two reasons, the split coils and the upgraded nut. Along with a Katana 50 MKII, I can get any sound I like out of the two humbuckers on this guitar. From blues to surf rock to clean tones, it does it all very well. In the four months I have been playing this guitar, the nut on this guitar has not given me any sticky trouble as I read about people having on previous models. The neck on this guitar felt so dam good the first day I opened the gig bag and took the guitar out. It is so hard to put this guitar down, that I find myself just picking it up and playing scales up and down the neck without an amp to build stamina. I'll be watching Netflix and just plucking along cause it feels like it should be with me at all times.

Big thanks go out to Brad my sales engineer! This guitar was not in stock when my wife chose to buy it. However, Brad kept an eye out for us and as soon as PRS got one to SW he made sure we knew about it. SW also set up the guitar for me with my favorite string type and gage and this beauty came a week before Christmas instead of the middle of January as first expected due to supplies.

That is A1 service right there! How many vendors will reach out to you and let you know about items showing up in stock the very same day. Brad and the Sweetwater team is the reason I keep coming back to buy all my gear here. I may have to wait if something isn't in stock, but making sure you get exactly what you want is worth the wait.

I'm a long time Fender player series guitarist, this guitar is my new favorite.

Sustain and natural tone is amazing.

It's been some 45+ years and just getting back into playing. The 24-08 has been awesome! Easier to play than anything I played in my past life including a much lover SG. Paired it up with a Fender LT50 and makes for a great set up getting back to playing. If there's a tone or effectI can't get I don't know what it is. I likely will upgrade the amp some day but the 24-08 is here to stay.

Best thing I have purchased for myself. Customer service is amazing and it came next day. 10/10. Guitar plays beautifully..

Having owned and quite liked the SE Standard 24, I wasn't sure how much better the 24-08 could realistically be but was very pleasantly surprised the first time I picked one of these up.

First of all, it seems like the nut has been given a lot of attention as the tuning stability is much, much better than the SE Standard 24's. Even after a really good setup, the tuning stability on that one was always an issue, particularly after using the vibrato.

Contributing to said tuning stability is (as I understand it, anyway) that the neck has been reenforced by a piece of quarersawn maple running down the center. In the right light, you can see it pretty clearly.

To my ears, the pickups sound awesome handling both a clean amp and high gain equally well. While I preferred the ergonomics of the blade switch and push/pull pot better than the switch and mini switches on the 24-08, the single coil tones are better on the current model and you can get some pretty convincing Strat and Tele tones with the mini switches in the up positions.

To my eyes, the finishes are basically identical but as I liked the finish on the regular Standard 24 just fine, that wasn't a problem at all.

Overall, the SE Standard 24-08 plays very comfortably, looks fantastic, and has appointments that would be at home on a guitar that's way above this price point. If PRS guitars are your thing, you could do an awful lot worse than "settling" for this one.

Had I seen this guitar hanging somewhere without a price tag on it, I would have guessed it costs much more than what I ended up paying for it. Then when I played it for the first time, I truly fell in love with this guitar. It plays soooo easily, and the tonal range of it is nothing short of spectacular. The coil-spliting switches on the front create a diverse number of possibilities, and this is the first guitar with this feature in which it makes pleasant and noticeable differences. Neck profiles are often a matter of personal preference, but this one is quickly becoming my favorite.
PRS has a winner with this one. Buy one, you won't be disappointed!

I don't know if I just got lucky or what. I took this Ax over to my Luthier for set-up. I only played it a little. I told him it sounded pretty good for a sub $1000 Indonesian guitar.
When I picked it up the Luthier said, "That's a great sounding guitar!" I said, told you. I plugged it into a little practice cube amp in his workshop and played a little lick. Wow! I looked at him and asked what him did. "Just set it up the way you said" I played some more and a Pro musician walked in, she said, "What are you playing, that sounds gorgeous!"
-I'm definitely going to buy another 24-08 / 10 Top this time.

Not disappointed with my purchase of the PRS SE Standard 24-08; nice guitar at a decent price. The guitar, right out of the box, was ready to play. Tuned, good action and comfortable playability. The two additional pickup toggles is a nice feature, but my expectations may have been too high. I did invest, an additional $, in PRS locking tuners. Definitely a good investment, guitar stays in tune and makes re-stringing a breeze. Oh, as you can guess from my last statement, I also changed out the PRS strings with my favorite Ernie Ball Regular Slinkies. My choice of string on all my electrics.

It arrived in April, set up perfectly out of the box. My confidence in PRS products was reinforced. The playability is exceptional, rivaling my vintage Core Custom 24. The pickups and electronics deliver a range of tones covering every type of music. The transparency of the 08 switching was the "reason" for buying another PRS, but truth is I fell in love at first sight of the pictures on the PRS web site. It is a beautiful design masterfully executed. High quality at a very reasonable price.

I'm fortunate enough to be able to afford this 4th PRS.

Previously I bought from Sweetwater:

American factory McCarty & SilverSky.

SE: hollow-body and now this: custom 24-08.

No, I never thought I would be so smitten with a guitar builder but here's why:

All of these guitars were set up by Sweetwater luthiers and the action is so similar, each one is home turf.

Regardless of factory or price, all 4 of my PRS guitars have the same features:

Perfect intonation, every note, low action, no buzz.

Fingerpicking or flat picked, chords or leads, 22 or 24 fret, they all serve up perfect tones and play exceptionally well.

None of these guitars seem capable of producing a bad or undesirable tone.

Each of these guitars have their own strong character and totally unique Americana voices.

They are all hum free and sound great no matter what you select for tones.

This 24-08 is a stunningly beautiful work of art.

If you want to try PRS, but don't want to spend big bucks, I would highly recommend this or any of the SE models.

Must be strict quality control.

The value shines through.

Special shout out to SE Mike Godlove and the great luthiers at Sweetwater!

MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Pretty nice guitar. It sounds great and plays great. I've ever owned a PRS before. For the money, I think it's well worth it.

I am a lifelong player for some 50 years. Ive bought 3 guitars from sweetwater,I'm really shocked but this instrument is Next Level. I have always owned Fender guitars and still have a 1972 Fender Telecaster Deluxe That i bought in 1978. I also have a Mexican strat with Better pickups. Ive been happy why wouldnt I? Because Id never played a PRS electric. The ease of play the body fit and balance the best I've ev er felt. I have developed more nuanced style over the years and the Fender pickups just dont quite stand up to these to this. This is a bottom of the line PRS with crystal clear tone that responds to dynamic changes inplay keeping a smooth transition between pick up switch combinations. Nice Beefy full Humbucker or glassy chime of a full single coil that matches if not usurps the fenders old and new. It plays better It sounds better it feels better all around. I had My sales engineer Alan Finkbeiner who always is helpful and in the case of an earlier Purchase of a PRS Acoustic model made custom for sweetwater, an AE 65, he helped me get the last one for half price (Thanks ALAN!!!!). It too exceeds all expectations of a guitar in that price range.
Full Disclosure, I bought the PLEK and setup services from Sweetwater which I highly recommend it makes a real difference.

April 23 2022 I picked this guitar up. First time prs user here and all I can say is wow the frets were nice and smooth I am amazed that other companies struggle to get that part right hint the big G. This is an amazing working man's guitar the humbucker mode is perfect and I'm not a fan of split coils I do like the toggle switch feature and if I'm being truthfully honest this thing out spanks my telecaster I have I was speechless. Everything about this guitar was perfect the gig bag is nice however I do prefer a hardshell case but at 730 bucks this guitar is every bit as good as my Gibson sg I have with classic 57s paf in them. I'm a believer in the PRS guitar now.

The tone is everything you'd expect from a PRS… fantastic. The fret end on the 3rd fret was not flush and the hi E got stuck once, but it's not THAT much of an issue. It's screams and sings like it should, with crispy highs wailing mods and full smooth lows, but it's not blue. It's pretty much a dark purple color. I was expecting more of a blue color, but whatever… it's the tones I'm chasing not the looks. Although, it still looks amazing.
The people at Sweetwater are without peers in the area customer support. Stellar!!!

If you're looking for a guitar that can practically do it all and at a reasonable price point, then this is it. You can really play almost any genre on this thing while sounding in place. The single coil tones sound fantastic. My favorite tones on this guitar are the bridge position single coil tone and the middle position using the single coil mode on both pickups. The pickups overall are hot and a little muddy (especially in humbucking mode), but they sound great when dialing back the volume knob a little bit and making some EQ cuts in the low to low mid range frequencies. Not only is this guitar versatile, but it feels great to play. The neck profile feels great to me and having only played 22 fret guitars in the past made me realize what a difference the 2 extra frets makes in terms of playability when it comes to the higher frets. I'd rate the guitar close to a 5/5. Regardless of the few faults this guitar has, at the price point it delivers great value.

With that being said, I was a little disappointed with the condition I received the guitar in. It arrived with a fair amount of light scratches on the body and was definitely not cleaned before it was shipped as there were several smudge marks present as well. There's a small amount of blue paint on the tone selector knob and the nut on the output jack was loose. It makes me question what is actually included in the 55-point inspection that Sweetwater prides themselves on.

Sweetwater's customer service was pretty good at first, they had sent me pictures of the guitar and even gave me a call to let me know where they were in the process of shipping the guitar and when I should expect it to arrive. They let me know that they would follow up with me to see how I like it but it's been several weeks since I received the guitar and they have yet to give me a call. I see a lot of reviews regarding their great customer service but at this point I'm unimpressed. I would've rather them not reach out at all if they were going to set expectations that they had no intention of meeting.