It was 1988 and PRS had been in business for barely three years, gaining a reputation for a return to a high quality and quite a classic style in a market that still seemed obsessed with Floyd Rose locking vibratos. Its instruments had also been labeled as expensive. Known for the time-honored Gibson formula of mahogany and curly maple with glued-in necks, PRS launched the Classic Electric in ’88 with the aim of both a more affordable bolt-on guitar and one that was advertised as “Maple and Alder: bolt-on traditional feel with a sound of its own.”
Not only were the woods different, but there were also opaque finishes only, no maple tops and no bird inlays. It was a different PRS and one that confused the market. The name was swiftly abbreviated, by 1989, to CE (and later CE 24) after Peavey objected to the word Classic, maple tops were added, birds appeared, plus a black-faced headstock with a signature logo. By August of 1994, the body wood changed from alder to mahogany and the CE became a slightly more affordable bolt-on Custom rather than a more Fender-flavoured PRS.
This story is from the Summer 2021 edition of Guitarist.
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