PRS SE NF 53

Say hello to a new T-style guitar with some seriously broad appeal

- DAVE BURRLUCK

WHEN PRS PRODUCED the Silver Sky for John Mayer, it nearly broke the internet. For some it was simply a “Stratocaster” with the wrong headstock, while PRS maintained it was a complete retooling of a classic.

A little while later, the debate was stoked when a more affordable SE version of the Silver Sky appeared. Fast forward to 2023, and another Fender classic was reimagined as the NF 53, which was launched simultaneously with the similarly styled Myles Kennedy signature model. Now — about halfway through the brand’s 40th-anniversary year — PRS has finally launched the SE NF 53.

Offered in three solid colors, the single-cutaway T-style influence is clear, but the SE NF 53 is no clone. The materials might ape the original — a swamp ash body and maple neck — but that’s about all the new guitar has in common with Fender’s original solidbody.

Unlike the slab body of the original, the SE NF 52 throws in PRS’s hallmark contour in the treble cutaway, plus we get a forearm and ribcage contour. The neck is slab sawn with a separate maple fingerboard, but the three-aside back-angled headstock is pure PRS. That said, it does employ the longer Fender scale length of 25.5", although the board radius is 10" — and we get those ubiquitous bird inlays.