“These guitars are more than just eye-candy”: PRS unveils swamp ash SE CE 24 in sandblasted finishes

PRS Guitars has unveiled a limited edition run of its SE CE 24 bolt-on electric guitar with sandblasted swamp ash finishes and is offering them at a reassuringly affordable price tag.

Now, if you are thinking that the SE Swamp Ash CE 24 Sandblasted Limited Edition looks a little familiar, that’s because we have seen something very similar from the US high-end electric guitar brand in the past, most notably in in 2019 when PRS launched a European exclusive run of its SE Custom 24, SE Custom 22, SE Custom 24 Lefty, and SE Custom 24 Floyd in five sandblasted finishes that are designed to showcase the wide grain you get with swamp ash.

This, however, is a wider release, and Jack Higginbotham, COO at PRS Guitars, describes the process of making these models as “transformational”.

“We have done runs with this treatment before, but this is the first time we are offering it at scale worldwide,” he says. “I really fell in love with these guitars after watching the sandblasting process in person. It’s transformational. But, these guitars are more than just eye-candy – they take a ton of care to make, and they are made to be played.”

These models all have bodies of solid mahogany with a swamp ash top, to which PRS has applied a shallow violin carve. The necks are maple, bolted to the body, and shaped into PRS’s very mainstream Wide Thin neck profile. They have 24 frets, rosewood fingerboards with bird inlays as per Mr Smith’s house style, and a 10” radius. The scale length is 25”.

There are a pair of uncovered PRS 85/15 “S” humbuckers at the neck and bridge positions, voiced for “clarity and extended high and low end” and the control setup of a three-way pickup selector, plus coil-split, offers players six core sounds to choose from before they touch the tone and volume dials.

We have quality hardware by way of a moulded PRS Patented tremolo and a set of PRS-designed tuners, both finished in smoked black.

There is no word of just how limited these are. When PRS dropped that Euro exclusive swamp ash run in 2019, there were just 750. So our advice would be to get these while they are hot. They are available in all territories, and the price for these is not too steep at all.

At £749/$699 street, that looks like very good value. These are serious guitars. Your finish choices include Sandblasted White, Red, Blue, Purple, Green and Blue. For more details, head over to PRS Guitars .