It features a Mahogany neck with a Rosewood fingerboard and classic PRS bird inlays. This model features 22 frets and a 25-inch scale length. It’ s semi-hollow, so it has that warmth and sustain with a classic single-top F-hole. The mahogany body makes the guitar more resonant, with ample sustain, thanks to the glued-on neck. The top is an asymmetricalbeveled maple. It comes in six gorgeous colors, and this gear review model is the Dark Cherry Sunburst. They made a good call on the finish, too. The Nitro finish doesn’ t get sticky and wears naturally. The stain they chose allows the beautiful wood grain to show through.
It comes standard with the excellent, tightly fitted black PRS gig bag, which fits nicely in the overhead bin. I always receive a lot of lovely comments when I’ m flying with that bag. The frets are pretty tall, not like jumbos, but with plenty of meat that you could probably get dressed once or twice if needed. I love the Phase 3 locking tuners with wing buttons. These tuners make such a huge difference, and changing strings is so easy and fast. The guitar comes standard with 10-46 strings. Also included standard is the PRS patented tremolo.
IN USE: The first thing I noticed was how light, comfortable, and well-balanced the overall feel is. With the strap on, the guitar sits perfectly in place. The second thing is the excellent PRS neck. They always play so effortlessly and have great action with just the right string height. One area where these guitars excel is in the smoothness of the frets on both the top and bottom sides of the neck, with no rough edges.
Next, the finish is flawless. I’ m a big fan of Nitro because it doesn’ t mess with the natural sonic character of the wood. Now, regarding the pickups, I found the output to be balanced and even. Too often, electric pickups have wildly different output levels and tonalities. They did a great job getting the S-2 Special pickups to have close to an even output with a little bump up in the bridge position
pickup. There’ s plenty of output overall, and I love how they did the coil taps. One simple switch for each humbucker. For me, the pushpull knob can be troublesome in a live situation. It’ s easy to forget if it’ s in or out. I much prefer the Push-Push versions. These mini switches, however, are conveniently located and not in the way.
With the coil taps engaged, you can achieve that beautiful out-of-phase classic Strat sound. They’ re not exactly PRS Silver Sky sweetness, but they’ re close to it. The volume knob is positioned perfectly for volume swells with your finger if you’ re good at that. I’ m not sure if it’ s my technique, but I kept accidentally turning the volume knob down a little, so I applied a small piece of Gaff tape. Problem solved. I also have these little rubber-like washers that I typically place underneath the Volume pot on my electrics for the same reason. I also appreciate how PRS utilizes large strap buttons, generally found on bass guitars. I don’ t worry about the strap coming off without using strap locks.
MY TAKEAWAY: I already expected this guitar to be great. The PRS’ s consistent build quality is typically unmatched by other manufacturers. The S2 Special not only didn’ t disappoint but could be the best overall live and studio combo guitar ever. With the coil-tap options, it can do almost anything you could need in the studio. For live use, it’ s not too heavy, and if you’ re not using wireless, there’ s plenty of output to drive a long cable. It looks terrific on stage and will draw the camera’ s attention, especially in a large venue. The S2 Special sells for $ 2,599.00 and is worth every penny. Its value and playability rival guitars that are much more expensive.
$ 2,599.00 www. PRSGuitars. com
Buy from Sweetwater [ WM ] Affiliate Link
July 2025 Subscribe for Free... 89