New model blends acoustic and electric sounds, with discrete volume controls and output jacks for a wide range of tonal options
Guitar World tech editor Paul Riario recently picked up the new PRS SE Hollowbody II Piezo electric guitar and put it through its many paces. You can check it out in the video above.
“PRS really went above and beyond making this SE model a premium guitar,” Paul says of the instrument, which features a maple top and back, both with a flame maple veneer, and a mahogany middle.
There’s also 58/15 “S” pickups and a piezo pickup, and two discrete volume controls (magnetics and piezo) and output jacks (mix/piezo and magnetic).
“You can plug into the mix/piezo and use the individual volume controls to blend the 58/15 pickups with the piezo acoustic tone,” Paul says.
“Also, you can plug into the jack separately so the guitar can run magnetic pickups into an amp and run piezo into an acoustic amp or DI into a PA or soundboard.”
Paul then demonstrates the various tonal options, playing the guitar through electric and acoustic amps separately, and then blending the two.
The SE Hollowbody II Piezo is available in Black Gold Burst and Peacock Blue Burst finishes, and also features a mahogany neck, ebony fretboard, PRS-designed tuners and PRS Adjustable Stoptail Piezo bridge.
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The guitar, Paul says, “is remarkable because it combines the airiness and warm tone of a hollow body with the bark and snap of a solid body electric.
“Add to that the piezo function, which allows you to mix an acoustic signal as well as your electric signal or separate both thanks to the dual jacks, makes it a truly versatile and world-class instrument in a gorgeous package. Definitely check it out.”
Rich is the co-author of the best-selling Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion. He is also a recording and performing musician, and a former editor of Guitar World magazine and executive editor of Guitar Aficionado magazine. He has authored several additional books, among them Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, the companion to the documentary of the same name.
