The PRS SE Starla changed my life!

 In follow up to my article about the Epiphone Emperor Swingster, I felt that I should mention my latest guitar, the PRS SE Starla and tell you why I bought it, despite the fact that I was on the look out for the Swingster.

To cut a long story short, I saw the Swingster being demonstrated on YouTube at a time when I really wanted a large hollow body guitar.  So I was waiting for it to come into stock at PMT Cambridge.  I waited and I waited and sadly I wasn’t able to get hold of one unless I put a deposit down and they order one.  Well that wasn’t going to happen, what if I didn’t like it?

So whilst waiting, I tried out the equivalent Gretsch products which I really liked, but not to the point of “I really have to have one!”

Then I had a weird discussion with a friend over dinner one night.  My mate, Richard, is a beginner guitarist and when we met up he told me that he had bought a new guitar…

The story goes that his wife told him that he should get himself a new guitar and amp and they had a certain budget.  At this point I wasn’t expecting to be impressed until he told me that he had purchased a PRS.

I only really thought I knew one thing about PRS guitars and that was “You need to take a mortgage out to get one!”, but of course, this is not the case and they have their SE or Student Edition, a Far Eastern made range of guitars, made under license to PRS by Cort Guitars.  Given the location and a cheaper workforce compared to that of US made guitars, PRS are supplying SE guitars that are simply punching above their weight.

I didn’t know all this when I was having the discussion and Richard told me that he asked PMT Cambridge what he should buy and they recommended the PRS SE Starla, a single cut, mahogany based guitar with two DS-02 humbucker pick ups that could be switched to single coils.

I was was impressed by the spec but I was looking for a hollow body.  After the dinner, I went home and took a closer look at the PRS website.  I was already interested because I love guitars that have names such as the Stratocaster, the Telecaster etc.  The Starla, obviously had a name and then I found out that it had a powder blue version (yes I am that vain!) and of course I then found out about the interesting tonal options.  Ultimately, I was shocked at the price! £550?  Really?  I was looking for £1300 hollow body guitars, after all it was my 50th birthday year and I wanted to get something special!

Within a week I was in PMT and whilst they still didn’t have the Swingster in stock, there was a powder blue Starla.  Given that I wasn’t looking for a single cut electric, I thought I would give it a go, and then try some hollow body guitars.

So I picked one up, it was a comfortable guitar with it’s wide fat, set neck.  The pick ups gave me a more jangly sound than I was looking to get, but they made guitar chords sound gorgeous.  Playing lead lines were effortless and I found myself away with the fairies loving the guitar.

Not wanting to give into ‘mission creep’ I decided to put it down and try a Gretsch Streamliner G2420T.  Yep, I loved that too, but not as much as the Starla.

The Epiphone BB King Lucille?  Nope, I didn’t like that one from a playability perspective.

The PRS Hollow Body II?  Nope, not for me.  God, this was frustrating, I didn’t want a solid body guitar!

But I kept going back to the Starla..

So, I got one and now I gig it regularly.

Find out more about the PRS SE Starla - Click here.

The video below shows me playing Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here on PRS SE Starla.

 

I absolutely love this guitar!  Tonally it is incredible and playability wise it is a joy to play and it is inspiring me to play more chords because it sounds lovely.

Obviously I love the colour (also available in black) as it is a very 1970's retro colour and I love that it has a name rather than a boring number!  

In terms of changing my life, whilst that may seem like an overstatement, let me add some reasons:

• Getting to understand this guitar has opened my mind in terms of understanding tone, something that I didn't really think much about, certainly at this level.
• I am for the first time really getting into the mechanics of the guitar and finding it interesting.
• It has given me the confidence to go out and play solo in front of people (this has rarely ever happened in my 30 plus years of playing guitar).
• I find myself wanting to push my abilities on guitar more.

I truly feel that I am back in my teens with the enthusiasm about learning guitar that I haven't felt for years!  It's great!

What's not to love!  Bravo PRS!

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