Electric Guitar Review

Paul Reed Smith appears to be continuing its move into a “new era” with a host of new guitars recently released.

One of the latest to really catch my eye was the new 25th Anniversary Swamp Ash Special Narrowfield –– a gorgeously designed guitar sporting traditional PRS good looks, and armed with a trio of the company’s innovative new Narrowfield pickups. As PRS puts it––

“The Narrowfield pickups focus the string attack much like a singlecoil but are hum canceling. The result is a new sounding pickup system, which blends features of single coil, soap bar, and humbucking pickups”

Among other specs, the 25th Anniversary Swamp Ash Special will feature a body of carved swamp ash decked out in one of five finishes (charcoal smokeburst, sapphire smokeburst, scarlet smokeburst, smokeburst, and smoked amber,) a standard-shaped rock maple neck with maple fingerboard, 22 frets, 25th Anniversary “Shadow Birds” fret inlays, and an eagle headstock inlay.

Hardware includes a tremolo bridge and PRS 14:1 Phase II low-mass locking tuners, while electronics include three 57/08 Narrowfield pickups, single Volume & Tone controls, and 5-way pickup switching. The guitar is selling for a street price in the $2300 range.