Paul Reed Smith (PRS) Acoustic Electric Guitars Review: Birds Everywhere

Note: I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

Are you tired of those little, round pearloid dots running up and down your fretboard? If so, you should look at a Paul Reed Smith (PRS) acoustic electric guitar, because it has birds of various shapes, sizes, and species along its neck.

PRS guitars’ signature, other than the Paul Reed Smith name itself, are the decorative, in-flight birds that replace the standard dots marking the frets in the usual positions.

If you’re in a hurry and would just like to check out the pricing and availability of these guitars at Amazon, you can click any of the links in the list below.

• PRS SE Angelus A10E
• PRS SE Angelus A20E
• PRS SE Angelus A30E

What Are the Differences among the Paul Reed Smith Angelus Models?

There really aren’t all that many differences, so I’ll just mention them briefly here. It’s mainly the materials used in construction that distinguish one model from the others.

The A10E is the only one that is totally made of mahogany. Why would you want an instrument made only from mahogany? Here is PRS’s answer to that question.

“The all-mahogany body construction of this guitar provides a controlled attack and strong fundamental, delivering a warm, woody tone with a focused, punchy midrange. This strong midrange character allows the A10E to easily find a non-competing place in a mix, making it ideal for both the studio and the stage.”

That main difference between the A10E and the other two models is that the others have a solid spruce top.

The only other difference between the A10E and the A20E that I can see is the color of the rosette, which is not a matter of concern to most people.

The A30E makes a few other changes, such as using rosewood for the sides and back and ebony for the fretboard.

The two tables below show you at a glance the similarities and differences among these three Angelus models.

Model	SE Angelus A10E	SE Angelus A20E	SE Angelus A30E
Sample
Top	Solid Mahogany	Solid Spruce	Solid Spruce
Sides	Mahogany	Mahogany	Rosewood
Back	Mahogany	Mahogany	Rosewood
Neck	Mahogany	Mahogany	Mahogany
Depth at Neck (in.)	3 19/32	3 19/32	3 19/32
Depth at Tail (in.)	4 3/8	4 3/8	4 3/8
Bracing	X / Classical hybrid	X / Classical hybrid	X / Classical hybrid
Rosette	White	Black	Black
Frets	20	20	20

All three of these PRS acoustic electric guitars incorporate the hybrid bracing pattern inside that is the same used in their Private Stock acoustic guitars.

As noted above, you get a hardshell case with your purchase, assuming you are getting a brand new guitar with the same offer as provided by the maker.

Check out these videos for a demonstration of each model so you can get some idea of the sound each can produce.

SE Angelus A10E

SE Angelus A20E

SE Angelus A30E

If any of these PRS acoustic electric guitars seems to be what you’ve been looking for, click the button below.

If the PRS Angelus isn’t what you want, try one of these from Seagull.

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Gary Sonnenberg

Gary has been playing keyboards since he was very young. He started on a chord organ because that's what his father liked. He's played guitar since he was a teenager, and he recently learned he could keep the beat on a drum set.

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