Some guitars are a transaction. You play them, they do their job, you move on. And then there are the ones that ruin you for everything else, like a Paul Reed Smith. PRS guitars are a rabbit hole you won’t want to climb out of, and the new SE Hollowbody I Piezo is no exception. I had it for just over a week and honestly, giving it back was not something I did willingly.
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Build & aesthetics
Let’s start with the obvious: this instrument is gorgeous. The Orange Tiger Smokeburst finish catches the light and almost glows. Warm amber and deep brown pour through the flame maple veneer, with a smoky burst around the edges that gives it a proper vintage vibe. It looks expensive. It looks like it belongs on a main stage.
And then there are the bird inlays. PRS’s signature fretboard detail, and honestly, gaudy in the best possible way. Little abalone birds taking flight up the rosewood fretboard, and I am completely here for it. Coming to PRS for the first time, it’s easy to understand why players become so devoted to the brand.
The consensus among serious players is that PRS SE guitars are simply the best production guitars on the market, full stop. The attention to detail, the fit and finish, the features packed in at the price point, and by all accounts a company that genuinely gives a damn about the people buying their instruments. It shows in every inch of this guitar.
And if you want to understand why, go watch an interview with Paul Reed Smith. Seriously, just do it. The man talks about guitar building the way some people talk about raising children. You can see it in the process; in the way he obsesses over the details that most manufacturers wouldn’t think twice about. When someone at the top cares that deeply, it filters all the way down to the finished product sitting in your hands.
I already play a Bolero hollow-body bass, a Hofner-style Beatles era replica from the ’60s, and one of my favourite things about it is how light it is and that I can just pick it up and play it anywhere without plugging in. So, when the PRS landed in my hands I was excited, and it did not disappoint. It’s comfortable thanks to the flatback design, it’s light, it sits naturally whether you’re seated or standing, and the Wide Fat maple neck doesn’t feel like a handful. Like my Bolero, the hollow body construction means you can play it unplugged and still get a warm, resonant tone. The cream binding is a lovely touch, too.
Sound
The 85/15 “S” pickups are clear and extended across the highs and lows, and through a hollow body, they just breathe differently than what you’d get from a solid body guitar. Notes bloom and there’s a resonance and warmth that’s genuinely lovely to play and hear.
The fully hollow construction includes a centre block design, which keeps feedback under control at stage volume without sacrificing any of that open, airy tone – a practical detail that matters when you’re actually playing live.
But the real trick up this guitar’s sleeve is the LR Baggs/PRS piezo system. Six individual piezo-equipped saddles give you a convincing acoustic voice, and the dual-output, dual-volume setup means you can blend the two worlds however you like. Or split them entirely, sending the electric signal to your amp and the piezo to an acoustic amp or the PA.
For gigging musicians who’ve been dragging two instruments to every show, that’s a genuinely life-changing feature. It’s worth noting, too, that the piezo volume only kicks in when you’re plugged into the mix/piezo output jack, so there’s no accidental bleed between your two signals.
Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt and Fredrik Åkesson have been playing PRS guitars for over two decades, and Fredrik has gone on record saying the piezo system was “a revolution for our sound.” If it’s good enough to handle Opeth’s tonal range, from death metal to delicate acoustic passages, it’s good enough for the rest of us. Fredrik even has his own PRS SE signature model, which tells you everything you need to know about how deeply this band and this brand are intertwined.
And that versatility is really the point.
Versatility & who it’s for
Folk players, fingerpickers, country musicians – this guitar was basically made for you. The natural resonance rewards a light touch, the piezo does the acoustic heavy lifting when you need it, and the tonal palette is warm and nuanced. But the magnetic pickups have genuine grunt when you push them too. At the end of the day, a guitar is only as genre specific as the person playing it.
Verdict
The PRS SE Hollowbody I Piezo is a seriously versatile, seriously beautiful guitar. It’s the kind of instrument that suits a huge range of players, and the kind you fall a little bit in love with when you’re supposed to be reviewing it objectively.
There’s a reason PRS has the reputation it does. You can feel it the moment you pick one up. I fell for this guitar over the course of a week, and I don’t think that’s a coincidence when the person who built the brand cares as much as Paul Reed Smith clearly does.
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