PRS SE A30E
An affordable version of Paul Reed Smith’s innovative flattop acoustic design.
Paul Reed Smith (PRS) guitars made a splash in the acoustic guitar market when it introduced its line of innovative, high-end, Maryland-built flattops in 2009, attracting an impressive roster of endorsers (including Peghead Nation’s Celtic Guitar instructor Tony McManus, who demonstrates his PRS Private Stock Signature Model here). PRS also has a more-affordable line of acoustics with similar designs (which it manufacturers in Korea), and we recently had the chance to check out the SE A30E, which was introduced earlier this year.
The SE A30E uses PRS’s Angelus Cutaway body shape, a midsize design that measures 15.5 inches across the lower bout. The guitar has a solid Sitka spruce top and laminated Indian rosewood back and sides. The most distinctive aspect of PRS’s acoustic design is its top bracing, which combines a typical X pattern with a fan-bracing pattern similar to a Torres-style classical guitar in the area behind the bridge. With its trademark bird inlay in the fingerboard and headstock shape, the SE A30E is immediately recognizable as a PRS, and the PRS electronics package, consisting of an undersaddle pickup, internal preamp, and unobtrusive, soundhole-mounted controls for volume and tone is standard equipment.
We found the SE A30E to have excellent playability, and appreciated the guitar’s fingerstyle-friendly string spacing. It had a relatively bright acoustic voice with nice tonal balance, and the guitar’s pickup amplified those qualities well when we plugged it into a Fishman Loudbox Mini amp.
PRS SE A30E specs
- Angelus Cutaway body
- Solid Sitka spruce top
- Indian rosewood back and sides
- Mahogany neck
- Ebony fingerboard and bridge
- 25.35-inch scale
- 1²¹/₃₂-inch nut width
- 2³/₁₆-inch string spacing at saddle
- Enclosed tuning machines
- PRS Undersaddle Volume and Tone electronics
- Made in Korea
- $829 street
Related Instrument Demos Posts
![]() |
PRS Private Stock Tony McManus Signature ModelPeghead Nation’s Celtic Guitar instructor Tony McManus discusses and demonstrates his signature model guitar. Read More |
![]() |
Taylor Gold Label 814e Koa SBA koa grand auditorium with innovative features and a classic flattop sound. Read More |
![]() |
Bourgeois Soloist OMC 50th AnniversaryA fantastic cutaway OM that celebrates Dana Bourgeois’s 50th year of building guitars. Read More |
![]() |
Huss & Dalton CM-12A fabulous modern mid-size 12-fret that excels at fingerstyle. Read More |
![]() |
Thompson D-MA CustomA great mahogany-and-spruce dreadnought with simple, but unusual appointments. Read More |
![]() |
Taylor Builder’s Edition 814ceA top-of-the-line grand auditorium guitar built with Honduran rosewood and sinker redwood. Read More |
![]() |
Santa Cruz Tony RiceMark Karan demonstrates the early 2000s Santa Cruz he bought during his tenure in Bob Weir’s RatDog. Read More |
![]() |
Huss & Dalton 30th Anniversary OMA stunning koa OM to celebrate a major milestone. Read More |
![]() |
Taylor Gold Label 814eAndy Powers’ latest design brings a classic American flattop tonality to the Taylor line. Read More |
![]() |
Taylor Legacy Collection 514ce and 714ceA new pair of guitars bring X-bracing back to Taylor’s grand auditorium design. Read More |