PRS

PREVIOUSLY PART OF PRS's Maryland-built guitar line, the SE NF3 was recently reissued in the company's offshore-produced SE series. The SE NF3 is so named for its Narrowfield Deep Dish (a.k.a. DD) "S" pickups. These unique PRS-design units have deeper bobbins to accommodate more windings and extra metal pieces between the magnets to yield a more powerful "single-coil" tone, while remaining noise-free because they are in fact humbuckers. A control set consisting of master volume, tone and a five-way blade switch allows the usual selections of bridge, middle and neck pickups by themselves and the neck-plus-middle and bridge-plus-middle combinations that allow the SE NF3 to veer into Strat-like territory in switch positions two and four.

- ART THOMPSON

SE NF3

All of this makes the SE NF3 quite different from standard humbuckerequipped PRS guitars, although it follows the specifications of many other SE models. The flattop body on my lightweight review sample was finished in pearlescent Polar White (see specs for other colors) and is contoured on the edges and the back to sit comfortably when playing seated or standing. Hardware consists of a PRS Patented Tremolo that's adjusted to float and has a silky feel and excellent pitch stability when working the bar, which pushes into a nylon bushing on the molded bridge. The precisely fitting trem bar stays where you put it and swings out of the way with a light touch.