By David Gedge
PAUL'S GUITARS
full-range tone in a special model, Santana
and Smith looked to Santana’s personal
instruments and choose the gold leaf
Singlecut.
"It is an honor to add this beautiful gui-
tar to the PRS SE line that I helped start so
many years ago. We invite you to spread
your wings and find your voice with this
beautiful instrument!," said Hall Of
Famer Santana. MSRP was not available at
press time.
SE SCHIZOID
(JAKKO JAKSZYK, KING CRIMSON)
Paulie! Paulie Paulie!
PRS SE Signature Models
PRS Guitars announced three new SE
signature models in advance at NAMM
Winter Show:
THE SE SANTANA SINGLECUT TREM
The Single Cut Trem pays tribute to
Carlos Santana’s one-off gold leaf Private
Stock PRS (Paul Reed Smith). Modeled
after the workhorse gold leaf singlecut that
he plays on stage, the SE version of this
special instrument began when Santana
heard the 2018 Paul’s Guitar TCI pickups.
Impressed with their tone, Santana
requested a set of those pickups without
the coil taps, and from there, TCI “S” pick-
ups were born. Wanting to capture their
46 illinoisentertainer.com march 2019
Jakko Jakszyk’s story reads like a tale of
rock-and-roll dreams: “When I was 11
years old my neighbour played me a song
called "21st Century Schizoid Man" by
King Crimson, and it blew my head off.
Overnight they became my favourite
band. I could never have imagined that I
would actually find myself in that very
band years later, singing and playing that
very song.” The guitar Jakko plays with
the legendary progressive rock outfit: a
PRS Custom 24 Piezo adorned with the
“Schizoid Man” artwork from The Court
of the Crimson King album.
“When Robert Fripp asked me to join
Crimson, I decided I needed a new guitar.
Much as I loved and owned several vin-
tage guitars, live I would always play
something modern – more reliable. PRS is
the best of both worlds. A modern instru-
ment that feels and looks like a classic.”
said Jakko.
As a limited edition for 2019 and in cel-
ebration of the 50th Anniversary of the leg-
endary band, PRS will be offering a maxi-
mum of 1,000 SE Schizoid guitars, based
on the SE Standard 24 and adorned with
the same classic artwork as Jakko’s person-
al guitar. MSRP was not available.
SE PAUL’S GUITAR
“The SE Paul’s Guitar is a great exam-
ple of design, engineering, and teamwork.
It’s as close to home as we could get
inside of the SE Series, and I am very
proud of it,” explains Paul Reed Smith.
The SE Paul’s Guitar delivers a lot of
“PRS,” starting with tone and versatility.
The TCI “S” treble and bass pickups deliv-
er a very pure, vintage sound. The SE
Paul’s Guitar also features two mini-toggle
switches between the volume and tone
knobs. This setup allows players to put
either or both pickups in true single coil
mode, which delivers the clarity and
uniqueness of vintage single-coil tones in
both single coil and humbucking posi-
tions. This is the first model to offer this
style of electronics outside of the Private
Stock and Core lines.
“The Paul’s Guitar, like the Modern
Eagle before it, has always been about
Paul’s latest discoveries in guitar making.
To bring this guitar into the SE Series, we
knew the tone, functionality, and playabil-
ity had to be right and had to be consis-
tent,” said Jack Higginbotham, COO, PRS
Guitars. “We feel this guitar offers a lot of
value to players.” The SE Paul’s Guitar is
available in three colors, reminiscent of
PRS’s earliest guitar offerings: Amber,
Aqua, and Fire Red.
These three new signature models
honor true legends in the music world. To
hear them in action and get full specifica-
tions, visit www.prsguitars.com.
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