PRS Guitars continues its 40th Anniversary celebrations by resurrecting and refreshing a lesser-spotted model from the archive, the CE22. Yes, the 22-fret bolt-on electric guitar is back, but for a limited time only – they’re only making 1,000 of them.
The CE22 is one of PRS’ cult models, perhaps because it has always been in the shadow of the CE24. A contemporary of the Custom 22, the CE22 made its debut in 1994 and was last in production in 2008.
And while it might not have been an ever-present in the PRS catalogue, Paul Miles, director of manufacturing, PRS Guitars, says doesn’t mean that it isn’t wholly aligned with the PRS aesthetic, namely high-end electric guitar designs that split the difference between vintage and modern inspirations.
“This limited-edition, 22-fret model in our CE line offers classic PRS aesthetics and a voice that blends warmth with bolt-on articulation for vintage-inspired tone and modern versatility,” he says.
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It might sit alongside the CE24 in in the bolt-on range but it is quite a different guitar. Here there are vintage-voiced 58/15 LT pickups (the “LT” stands for “low turn”), hooked up to a three-way selector, volume and tone controls.
That tone pot has a with a push/pull function on the tone pot giving you five core voicings to work with, including full-fat humbucker, single-coil and mixed positions that offer both humbuckers at once or the two inner coils of the pickups. That’s a lot of tone.
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Perhaps unsurprisingly, given that it is a 22-fret model, it is a more old-school proposition than the CE24. The Pattern Regular neck shape has a little more meat on the bones.
The electric guitar pickup placement is different, too. It’s not something the naked eye picks up on, but with the shorter 22-fret fingerboard, the neck pickup is placed further from the bridge, giving you a warmer sound than you would find on the CE24.
Many of the CE fundamentals, however, are similar. The body is solid mahogany, topped with a figured maple carved violin top, and spritzed with gloss nitro. This is a 25” scale instrument, with a maple neck, topped with a 10” radius rosewood fingerboard that’s inlaid with birds.
We have open-gear Phase III locking tuners and a PRS Patented Tremolo. PRS uses the “W-word” in the bio for this guitar, but can you call a guitar with a £2,999/$2,699 street price a workhorse? It’ll get the job done, sure, and will do lots of jobs. But this is one fancy bolt-on.
You can get it in McCarty Sunburst, Black Amber, Carroll Blue, Faded Blue Smokeburst, and Faded Gray Black, and they look exceptional. A hard-shell guitar case is included in the price. See PRS Guitars for more pics and details.
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