Second String

As PRS's more affordable USA-made S2 line moves into its second decade, the series gets a revamp with - at last - USA-made pickups and electronics. What took so long?

- Dave Burrluck

PRS S2 STANDARD 24 SATIN & VELA SATIN £1,925 & £1,999

CONTACT PRS Europe PHONE [phone] WEB www.prsguitars.com

What You Need To Know

These look cheap for USA-made 1 PRS guitars.

We're not sure 'cheap' is the right word, but, yes, the S2 line is around half the price of the top-level Core line models, although they're still made in PRS's Stevensville factory in Maryland.

But don't the S2 models use the same pickups and hardware you'll see on the things like the £499 SE CE Satin?

They did, but that's the proposition for this 2024 refresh. While in some cases the new models use the same hardware as the SE and USA CE models, the S2 guitars will all now feature USA-made pickups and wiring - just like the Core line.

So, they're just satin finishes - where's the flame maple gone?

There are four all-mahogany satin-finish models; the other nine S2s are gloss-nitro finished. Figured maple tops are used on the gloss-only Custom 24, Custom 24-08, McCarty 594 and Singlecut McCarty 594.

For its first 16 years of production-guitar making, PRS only made its instruments in the USA. When the company finally began to offer the 'offshore' Korean-made SE models - now made in Indonesia - it gave the brand a new, much lower price point but also created a large hole, price wise, in between. From its launch in 2013, the USA S2 line aimed to fill that gap: the essence of PRS, still built alongside the all-singing, all-dancing Core level in Maryland.