Now Available at Northeast Music Center!
Includes PRS Padded Gig Bag
If you're looking for one PRS capable of covering an enormous amount of tonal territory, the PRS SE Special Semi-Hollow deserves serious attention.
This guitar combines semi-hollow construction with a maple top, mahogany back, Wide Thin maple neck and one of the most versatile pickup systems in the entire SE lineup: two 58/15 LT “S” humbuckers surrounding a Narrowfield DD “S” middle pickup, controlled by a 5-way blade and two independent mini-toggle coil taps.
The result? 12 distinct pickup combinations.
Finished in sophisticated Charcoal Burst, this particular guitar has the versatility of a serious working instrument while retaining the unmistakable appearance and feel of a PRS.
At Northeast Music Center, this is the kind of PRS we recommend to the player who doesn't want to be defined by one sound or one style of music.
The SE Special Semi-Hollow starts with a mahogany back and maple top, incorporating a semi-hollow design with a single F-hole.
That construction adds an airy, resonant quality to the guitar's response while maintaining the definition and sustain players expect from a PRS electric.
Play it clean and you can hear the openness and dimension the semi-hollow construction brings to chords and individual notes.
Add some gain and that same character contributes depth and complexity without taking away the focused response needed for rock, blues and lead playing.
It's not simply about reducing weight.
It's about giving the guitar another layer of personality.
Charcoal Burst is a perfect match for the Special Semi-Hollow.
The darker burst emphasizes the figured maple veneer while giving the guitar a sophisticated, understated appearance.
The single F-hole provides just enough traditional semi-hollow influence, while the PRS body shape, bird inlays, nickel hardware and three-pickup layout keep the guitar unmistakably modern.
It's an instrument that reveals more visual detail the closer you get to it.
At the bridge and neck are a pair of PRS 58/15 LT “S” humbuckers.
“LT” stands for Low Turn, reflecting their vintage-inspired approach.
These pickups deliver warmth and body while retaining the clarity needed for a guitar with this much switching capability.
The bridge pickup provides articulation, presence and enough authority for rhythm and lead work.
The neck position delivers warmth without sacrificing definition—particularly valuable on a semi-hollow guitar where an overly dark neck pickup can easily become muddy.
But PRS didn't simply put two humbuckers into this guitar.
Between them sits something very different.
The PRS Narrowfield DD “S” occupies the middle position.
Rather than using a conventional single coil, PRS's Narrowfield concept is designed to deliver much of the clarity, punch and focused character players associate with a single-coil-style voice while maintaining hum-canceling operation.
That makes it an ideal partner for the two 58/15 LT “S” humbuckers.
You can move from the fullness of a humbucker to the more focused character of the Narrowfield and then combine them for sounds that simply aren't available from a conventional two-pickup guitar.
And then the two mini toggles take things even further.
This is the feature that really defines the SE Special Semi-Hollow.
A 5-way blade switch controls the primary pickup combinations:
Position 1: Bridge Pickup
Position 2: Bridge + Middle Pickups
Position 3: Bridge + Neck Pickups
Position 4: Middle + Neck Pickups
Position 5: Neck Pickup
Notice something unusual about Position 3?
Instead of selecting the middle pickup by itself, PRS gives you the bridge and neck pickups together—a very useful combination that isn't available on many traditional three-pickup guitars.
Then there are two independent mini-toggle switches.
One coil-taps the bridge 58/15 LT “S”.
The other coil-taps the neck 58/15 LT “S”.
That means the two humbuckers can be configured independently rather than forcing both into the same mode.
The result is 12 distinct pickup combinations.
Full humbuckers.
Coil-tapped sounds.
Narrowfield combinations.
Bridge and neck together.
Full and tapped pickups combined with the Narrowfield.
That's an enormous amount of usable tonal variation from one instrument.
A guitar can have a complicated switching system and still only produce variations of essentially the same tone.
That's not what makes the Special Semi-Hollow interesting.
Here, the three pickups have genuinely different personalities.
The 58/15 LT “S” humbuckers provide fullness, warmth and authority.
The Narrowfield DD “S” introduces a more focused voice with clarity and punch.
The coil taps change the character of the outside pickups again.
Combine those voices with semi-hollow construction and you have an instrument capable of moving convincingly through clean rhythm work, blues, rock, jazz, pop, funk, fusion and more.
It's an unusually capable platform for the player who needs one guitar to cover an entire set.
PRS pairs all of that versatility with its popular Wide Thin neck profile.
The set maple neck and 25" scale length provide the familiar PRS balance of comfortable string tension and clear note definition.
A 10" radius rosewood fretboard with 22 frets gives the guitar a smooth, familiar playing surface that's equally comfortable for chord work, bends, rhythm playing and lead work.
PRS bird inlays complete the look.
The PRS Patented Tremolo adds another expressive tool without complicating the guitar.
Use it for subtle movement on chords, gentle vibrato or more pronounced pitch effects.
Combined with the semi-hollow construction and expansive electronics package, the tremolo helps make this an instrument capable of handling a remarkably broad range of playing situations.
Body
Neck
Hardware
Electronics
5-Way Blade
Mini Toggles
Additional
The PRS SE Special Semi-Hollow isn't versatile because a specification sheet says it is.
It's versatile because PRS gives you three distinctly useful pickup voices and an intelligent switching system that allows those voices to interact in different ways.
You have the warmth and power of the 58/15 LT “S” humbuckers.
The clarity and punch of the Narrowfield DD “S”.
Independent coil taps.
Five primary pickup selections.
Twelve total pickup combinations.
And underneath all of that is a resonant semi-hollow maple-and-mahogany platform with a Wide Thin neck, 25" scale and PRS tremolo.
For the player looking for one guitar capable of doing a tremendous amount without feeling complicated, this is one of the most compelling instruments in the PRS SE lineup.
The Charcoal Burst finish makes this particular example even more appealing, giving the guitar a sophisticated appearance that fits its equally sophisticated electronics.
As a longtime PRS dealer, Northeast Music Center knows the differences between the Special Semi-Hollow, Studio, Custom 24, Hollowbody and other PRS models. We're happy to help you determine which configuration makes the most sense for your playing.
This individual PRS SE Special Semi-Hollow in Charcoal Burst, serial number CTIH027101, is available now from Northeast Music Center and includes its PRS padded gig bag.
