Paul Reed Smith Guitars Billy Martin SE

Great guitar, green frets with cool bat on 12th fret

sounds great

looks great

rock solid, (swang round head with strap locks)

just a all round good guitar

This axe was made aroung 2 to 3 years ago by the PRS Korean team. It has 22 extra jumbo frets, a solid top, came with a volume and tone control knob with 2 humbuckers made by PRS and helped by Seymour Duncan. These are passive pickups. The body is made of a mahogany body with a 3 piece mahogany neck and a double cutaway shape which is the trademark of PRS. It has Non Locking tuners and a slightly fat neck scale which i really like with the standard 25 inches width. It came with a gig bag, cable, tools and humidifier. The bridge was a stoptail. Nice black satin finish.

I play everything from country to rock, from blues to metal, and from jazz to fusion, and the tones coming out from this guitar is superb. It has rich harmonics and you can really hear the nice blend of strings when you're strummiing it. It's distortion is the most aggreasive i have ever heard from a PRS but the PRS crunch can still be heard. This is only the bridge pickup. The neck pickup wasnt as good as the bridge pickup so i went to the Seymour Duncan store to change it. They told me i couldnt change it coz the humbuckers or single coil wont be able to match the bridge pickup. So i went to an EMG store!!!!!!They were much more helpful and gave me a few pickups for me to choose. There was an 81, 85, 60, and 89. they told me to change my pickup arrangement. They put the 81 in the bridge and the PRS pickup in the neck. It sounded damn good. Especially when it was parallel together. So i use the 81 for metal and country. and the PRS for soloing, rock, and blues. The 81 and PRS pickup goes damn well together.

Mine was perfect although the tuners had a mile scratch.

It will withstand live playing and its solid. I just changed the strap buttons because it wasnt so good.

I have a Les paul and this guitar beats it in sound and playability.

It was made in Korea, has 22 jumbo frets (great for soloing with this 25 inches scale), has a solid top, made of a very light mahogany, with a master tone control and a master volume with 3 way toggle switch, has 2 humbuckers (a neck pickup and a bridge pickup which sounds like a Seymour Duncan JB).It has a beautiful satin finish which is hard to mantain, a double cutaway body (standard PRS type), non-locking tuners, and has a very nice hard stoptail. It came with a deluxe gigbag, and a few allen wrenches and tools. Would have given it a 10, but the strap buttons are sucky and i had to change the strap buttons after a fortnight, so i give it a 10 after i change the strap buttons.(Before the change, i would have given a 9.5)

Ok, i play mostly metal, blues rock, rock, punk and alternative (not forgeting santana and steve vai), and i already have an ESP KH-2, LTD EC-1000, Ibanez RG2550 and a Gibson Les Paul. I got this guitar from my student (i am a guitar teacher), he told me his father was the owner of the guitar store and gave it to me as a present for my 35th birthday. Then, i tested it while deeply thinking to myself, will this guitar cover all my needs. And then walaaa.it covered all the music i played. I was so amazed at its playing ability that i knew this was the best. Only thing was the neck pickup wasnt as good as the bridge pickup. So i suggest u all to change the neck pickup to coil-tapping mode. I was very amazed until i emailed PRS to get to noe what they did to make it so versatile, but they told me its a secret and against their company rules to give this information away. ERRR......but at least i have this guitar. I give this a 10 even before the coil-tap installation!!!!!!!!

All is good. PRS knows how to mantain the quality of their products. But the only thing was the strap buttons..THEY SUCK!!!!!!!

I feel i will use this guitar for any live performance, and recording. I am only worried that if my guitar falls and breaks, PRS cant replace it with spare parts.....Damn!!!!!!!

THEY SUCK!!!!!!!Actually, they are awesome. they always never forget to email me and answer all my questions. I felt upset when they couldnt tell me the pickup information, and although its not their fault, i am still a bit upset because these pickups are tremendous.

I love it. i showed to some of my band members (Kirtan and Suresh), and they were jaw dropped!!!!!Its so cool that they are gonna buy the same thing...DAMN!!!!!!!!BUT I AM GIVING A 9 BECAUSE NOTHING IS PERFECT!!!!!

2004, korea. A while back, korean made guitars were nothing to be desired but now, they are some fine guitars. It has 22 frets, with a rosewood fret board. The neck is very fast and smooth. It is made from mahogany. Most people think of a heavy guitar when the hear mahogany. I'm not sure what PRS did to make it lighter, but wow it's very light. There is a 3 way selector with a tone and volume control. The two PRS made humbucking pickups give a great variety of sound from jazz, to hardcore and metal. The tuners are locking and the guitar stays tuned for a long time which is good. With the guitar came a gig bag. This gig bag is one of the daddies of all gig bags, it's very hard and padded and is very well made. Looks good too.

I like to play many different types of music but mostly stay with the good rock like Three Days Grace, Linkin Park, Switchfoot, Disturbed, Sum 41 (the new Sum 41) and I could go on forever. The guitar has much range of sound. I use it with a Line 6 Spyder II 15 watt amp which is probably the best amp for the money that I know of because of the features and the quality. You can get a bright acoustical sound from the guitar, or you can get the deepest darkest hungriest growl (and everything in between)...BUT... would have prefered the neck pickup to be a coil tappable...but it still rocks...

the guitar is set up perfectly from the factory. For me at least and the pickups are well adjusted. The guitar has a really nice finish that doesn't normally come on mahogany. It's a flat black and on the fret board it has green dot inlays and a green design that Billy Martin (lead guitarist from Good Charl0tte) designed himself.But i really wish the finish wasnt a satin one..when u sweat..it will look like an old guitar..so i guess i need to polish it regularly

This guitar is great for live playing (obviously since Billy Martin uses this same basic guitar).I tried it once for my band performance in a school class party and this guitar rocked. The hardware seems solid, the finish is durrable and looks great. Very dependable guitar.

Never really got in touch with them..but i heard PRS is one of the best in the business......remains to be seen...hehehe

This guitar is fairly new and not many have it. I can't find much info about it and haven't read one other review on the internet about it I don't think. The store I bought it from was waiting a long time to get their PRS guitars shipped in and when they did this guitar was bought off the shelf in under 4 hours. Very nice and wanted line of guitars. The guitar suites me perfectly and it was a good price too. The guitars msrp is around 600 dollars but you can easily find them for 500 and under. This guitar stuck out of the crowd when I was guitar shopping. I like the looks of it a lot. All the employees at the guitar store were extrememly surprised that it took 4 hours before this guitar was sold. I got there in the nick of time casue I guaruntee that this guitar would have been long gone later that day.

Body Mahogany
Neck 25" scale length mahogany 22-fret neck with rosewood fretboard and green Billy Martin designed inlays (dots with a "spooky" bat that stretches from 11th to 13th fret)
* Neck carve - wide fat
Hardware
*PRS designed stoptail
* PRS designed non-locking tuners
* All hardware on this model is black
Electronics
* PRS designed treble and bass humbucking pickups
* Volume and tone control with 3-way toggle pickup selector
Finishes
* - Flat Black *
I DUN REALLY LIKE THE SATIN FINISH SO I WILL GIVE A 9

i agree with Suresh who posted the last review..EMG did work with PRS for this pickups and WOW!!!!the bridge humbucker is exactly like the Seymour Duncan JB which is suitable for soloing, lead and METAL METAL and METAL..the neck pickup is better for jazz, blues and rhythm chording play....i play METALLICA, BLACK SABBATH, MEGADETH, SLAYER, DEFTONES, ILL NINO, SOULFLY, BODOM, RALMSTEEN with some punk and blues like Good CHARLOTTE, SANTANA, ERIC CLAPTON, STEVE VAI, JOE SATRIANI, AND YNGWIEJ MALMSTEEN..NOT FORGETING JIMI HENDRIX.........and this guitar can play all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is the main problem...when u buy a guitar from Korean Bredren, pray hard that it does not lack in quality..LIKE MINE!!!!there were paint bubbles everywhere, the volume and tone knob had awful scratches. KOREAN ARE MOTHERFUCKERS!!!!although so..at least PRS quality control was much better than some of the ESP LTD's AND EPIPHONES I HAD..they suck even more..PRS are still better than other companies (have u ever seen an ESP eclipse..sucked like shit..i sold mine as soon as i got it)...anywayZ..i changed it and got a new one which was better..had no flaws.........not counting the second guitar..i would have given 6..but the new one is too beautiful to resist...

This guitar will last me long enough..i trust PRS......

PRS rocks...the customer service was good...i had read many reviews about the coil-tap system some of this guitar users did to the neck pickup..so i gave PRS a ring..THEY TOLD ME EVERYTHING..and although i knew i could have got the coil-tap thing done cheaper at other places..but i felt too happy with their service that i brought my guitar to the shop the very next day and had it done..THIS IS REALLY GOOD SERVICE..

Although the lack of quality control..the guitar is worth the buy even it was 4 times the price...i am serious...just make sure u get a guitar which is deserved keeping..overall..this guitar rocks..i will definitely buy it again.....mayb 3 more..then i will change the colour to different combo's like JET WHITE BAT with a blue body........heheheehehehehe

This guitar has 22 frets....solid top....it has 2 humbuckers....and made of a very light mahogany....non-locking tuners...and follow a scale of 25 inches..and all the others...i love the bat design..shows the creativity of my favourite guitarist Billy Martin (anyone hu hates Good Charlotte..settle it with me)...it has a satin finish WHICH I DONT LIKE...and the frets are wide fat..which is da best.....i hate satin finish...very hard to deal with even if its beautiful....but oh well..the bat is cool...minus 1 for the satin finish...

I am sure this will come as a suprise for all of u out there...but this guitar was built for heavy metal and soloing..especially the bridge humbucker...sounds exactly like a duncan JB...the neck pickup has less output and suitable for santana and slash music...i play mostly metallica, megadeth, deftones, slayer, children of bodom, good charlotte,guns and roses, santana and steve vai....and this guitar burns the balls......superb...PRS should win an award for this pickups..they rock..and i got this information..EMG helped PRS in designing this pickups....BUT..theres only a problem...the distortion has too much of gain..but can be adjusted via modifying the amp settings....i am sure u all dont believe that this guitar is suitable for heavy metal...but u all will be surprised as Billy Martin plays heavy metal himself..(not for good charlotte of course)..he uses the neck pickup when he jams with good charlotte..the bridge pickups is mainly for his hobby (playing metal and soloing).gets a ten easily

it was fine....u can expect quality as PRS guitars are always in the quality control....theres only a problem....the tone control lowers a little only when i change the settings...but i mainly use my Marshall amp(Kustom amp suck)..so its not really a problem..but i also feel a bit upset because theres only 1 tone control...i usually play with both pickups but the neck lowered at tad...but oh well..nothing is perfect...

this guitar rocks this section.......it is so light i will play all night until my dad comes out of his room and shouts (oh well..)...its so light and nice to play with......i already brought it for my band performance in the battle of the bands..and it ruled...all eyes were on me (i guess it was the bat design or mayb my skills in the megadeth solo) and the finish and wood seems like it can last...i always use a backup but i know this guitar wont fail me...all is good BUT...BUT..BUT..the strap buttons arent really good...i changed it myself to locking ones.. so deduct a point for the strap buttons..

the PRS guys were awesome...they were really helpful..BUT a bit forgetful...i called them and booked a locking strap buttons..when i went there..he told me he forgot...i had to come back the following day...but i guess it happens..we are only human..but i will deduct a point.....otherwise..they were awesome..they let me tried 6 guitars until i decided to buy this one....THEY ROCK!!!!!!!

I hope this guitar wins some awards....i have been playing for 8 years years...i have a ESP KH-2, Gibson Les Paul, and a Ibanez JEM ...and shockingly..my favourite is the cheapest which is the SE Billy Martin..maybe because it suits my style...i used to have a debate about SEYMOUR DUNCAN VS EMG....and now..i got my decision....the best is PRS!!!!!(kidding)but PRS are still around the top....i dont regret buying this guitar (are u crazy?) and if stolen..i will personally summon a few gods to hunt for that fella and circumstize that piece of shit....and i will buy another...hopefully it wil have different colours too....JET WHITE with RED BAT!!!!!!!!!!!!

This guitar was made in 2005 i think, not sure. Made in Korea, 22 frets, bat inlay with green dots, volume tone and 3 way switch. Whatever the pickups that come in it, PRS designed specially for this guitar i have heard. Satin black finish, One piece stop tail bridge, all satin black finish which im not crazy about but as long as the guitar is good i can look over it, no accesories with this as i bought it used and the store i buy from usually keeps all the goodies and trys to re- sell them, what a rip that is but oh well, i like the guitar and i have more than enough allen wrenches and case around anyway. Mahogany body, set neck, neck is wide/fat, feels great. Im giving it a 9 just because i dont really like the satin finish.

I play everything from country to metal to hard rock and classic rock, the tones coming from this guitar suit them all. The pickups in this suprised me a lot, they are very crunchy when you crank the distortion or use a pedal, have great harmonics and very nice clean tones. I make my own pickups and usually change all the stock ones out right away, but im going to leave these alone, they suit the guitar very well, i do wish they were coil tappable but oh well, i can make them that way if i want to, which i plan to do, i may add another volume pot and wire it for neck and bridge master volume and 1 master tone, even thinking of changing it over to the mcarty or santana wiring, but for now im happy. I play it through a fender 2x12 Deville with a Rocktron Rampage pedal, which will get replaced soon, too dam noisy, going to go with the prophecy rack unit, awesome but expensive.

What suprised me here was the action and playability, i looked at the one piece bridge tail stop thing like they put on those cheap Epiphone les paul Jr's and thought oh crap! But then i finally pickup the thing up and plugged it in and played it, i was floored, this guiter played like butter, great fret job, smooth edges, and intonation was perfect all the way up the neck, action isnt super low but isnt high either, just a standard setup i guess, but thats the way i like it, kinda like an SG but maybe a little lower. Mind you, I walked by this guitar about 12 times eveytime i went in the music store, looked at it and kept going but then i decided to pick it up and play it, it went home with me that day, need i say more.

This guitar is in my main lineup, it will be my main player, it feels so good playing it you can play it all night and it never hurts unlike my les paul which is like carrying around a cement block all night, even feels better than my strat which may yet be replaced by this guitar as soon as i make the pickups tappable. As stated above im not crazy about the finish, but this guitar makes up for it on everything else, and heck, its mahogany so i could strip it and put another finish on it right? I dont think it would change the tone at all. The strap buttons are you garden variety, i will be replacing those soon. The tuners are solid and stays in tune well, no changes there unless i have problems later.

This is the first PRS guitar i have owned but not the last. I emailed PRS about some wiring options and parts and they emailed me back pronto. The guy that emailed me even went so far as to tell me that they have the parts at the factory and would sell them to me but i could get them cheaper at one of their dealers and gave me a few to check out. Now thats service!!! These guys are top notch. I have not needed to use the warranty but i am sure they will make it right no matter what happens.

I have been playing about 25 years i have a 58 LesPaul reissue, a Fender strat a Lespaul Jr P90 model, and a Feder Precision bass. I like all my other guitars but by far this one plays better than the others and just feels so dam good on you, it so comfratable you kinda forget you are playing it. I wish it came with coil tappable humbuckers but as i said, i can do that anyway so no biggie. Also wish it had another master volume so i can control both pickups but i'll do that later. If stolen I would kill the worthless little peice of crap that took it then id start looking for another one, id definately buy this guitar again.

PRS Billy Martin SE guitar. Satin black with black hardware and green fretboard markers with bat at 11-13th fret. Its head on the 12t fret. Set mahogany neck, rosewood fretboard, solid mahogany body. PRS neck & bridge humbuckers. Vol, tone, 3way pup selector. Came with a nice deluxe gigbag. Would have given it a 10, but doesnt have sep vol for each pup. Looks very nice in all black with the green fretboard position markers. The bat graphic is kewl too.

Best sounding mahogany neck & body guitar I've owned. That includes compared to Epi G400 I modded with B Rich pups to give it better crunch. The PRS's stock humbucker pups have as much crunch & tone as my fave pups. Which are BC RICH BDSM's. Gets excellent upper treble & articulate lower bass & excellent mids. I prefer guitars with sep vol for each pup cause normally my fave voice is with both pups but with the neck pup vol lowered a tad. The PRS gives me very good voice with both pups on full. I mainly play electronica and black metal. Well suited to that along with prog rock, jazz & alternative to gothic.

Lowered action a little out of box. There is a little bit of fret edge out the side of fretboard in a couple places Has noticed this with even the top of line PRS's. But isnt sharpor pesky like on a lot of Gibsons & Jacksons I've tried. My BC Richs have better fretwork then my PRS in this regard. As they have zero feelable fret edges out side of fretboard. But the PRS still rates very good. PRS calls the neck profile wide/fat. However the width at nut is the same as my BC Rich Warock & Bich. Is little thicker from top of fretboard to bottom of neck. But is well rounded in a way that prevents it from feeling clunky. I'm not a fan of the PRS wrap around fixed bridge. Since theres no way to adjust intonation. Yet mine has very good intonation. Docks it 2 points for fretwork & bridge.

Satin finishes tend to get a little shiny with frequent touching. But regular rub down with clean soft cloth, & light use of furniture spray polish keep it great looking. The stock strap buttons where pathetically overlly narrow. Immediately replaced them with nice wide top strap buttons. Is well made except for the choice of strap buttons.

Never dealt directly with PRS.

Been playing for over 30 years. Is a very nice guitar with excellent balance & body ergonomics/fit. Also has excellent voice & playability. Stock pups on some PRS guitars I've heard tend to be overly shrill. The Billy Martin SE pups have excellent crunch & very well balanced sound. Excellent guitar if it cost twice as much, excellent buy at its price. Would replace it with another one if lost or stolen.

Made In Korea. Mahogany body. Mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboards. 22 frets. Gree fret inlays with big bat inlay stretching from 11th to 13th fret. Wide Fat neck. PRS designed pickups ( i dont know if these are the same they use for some of the ce 22s/24s. most likely not.)PRS designed Tuners. PRS designed Stoptail bridge. volume knob, tone knob and 3 way pickup selector.
PRS SE gig bag (awesome bag) cord, tross rod tools.

The sound coming from this guitar is very very sweet. You can really hear that PRS crunch when you use it on a Mesa Dual Rectifier. Very nice sound. The clean sounds are very mellow and very nice. You can hear the dstinct sound of each string if you're picking away at it and you can hear the nice blend of the strings when you're strumming. The wierd thing about this guitar though is that when you lower or raise the tone knob, theres only a small difference. Unlike my Ibanez AX220QM which sounds more bassy if you turn the tone down. But all in all the sound is pretty good. There's no noise or humming coming from the guitar when you don't touch it so its pretty nice.

the one i received was probably poorly made by our korean bredren. There's this small paint bubble at the heel of the neck and i think there's some small scartches on my rosewood fretboard (at the top) very dissappointing but i told the store to order me a new one. The Flat Black finish is starting to piss me off. Well it looks good right but when you have sweating hands or you touch it you can see the wet spot and then it smudges and then it looks outta place. But i guess you can't really see that. I just got this guitar yesterday and when i smudged it a little i was pissed off but i let it out during the night and the smudge marks began to fade away so i guess its ok. I think the factory down at korea should take a little more care while setting up these SE's cuz come on you're paying good money for these you might as well make it look nice..no? like there's small scartches on the nut holding my stoptail down and it looks gross... PRS should definitley show the koreans what quality control is.

This guitar is very nice. I have a recording in 4 days and i can't wait to set up in that studio. It's so comfortable to play and i seriuosly played for 3 hours today non stop and i never felt tired. I guess it must be the wide fat neck. It is a very durable guitar. I pound away at it from different lenghts of my strap. Like if its lower it handles nicely as if it was higher. There's no problem with comfort. Actually the Stoptail surprised me the most. The stop tail looks so small but when you have your hand on it and you're palm muting some stuff wow it feels huge. As much as the backup... i never had a backup before i only used one guitar cuz my other one was pretty retired but yes i would bring 3 guitars from now on. I play a gig twice a month for school and its proven to break a couple of strings so backups would be nice. I think the pickups would last a while and the tuners would last a while too. I'm not too sure about the pots cuz everyone's been complaining but so far they'be been smooth for me. Lastly is the paint job. Even though the Flat black does look nice, it could be such a burden when you're playing all hardcore on stage and you stat sweating up. The smudge/wet spots would start appearing and thats not a nice thing. but overall it's very nice.

PRS is a good company to deal with. When they heard about the flaws on my billy martin (when the store i bought it from called them) they said they'd have one delivered to my house in 3-8 weeks. So im waiting for that new oen to come in but the warranty is great and the company alone is great.

overall this guitar is gonna last me a while. When i was buying this guitar, i tried out a PRS Ce 22 and a PRS custom 24 and they both sound very similiar. Although the customs have a more crunchy sound on the Mesa, the guitar's handle the same. Good Job to the SE design team and Billy for making such a nice affordable guitar.

Just released Jan '05.
Made in Korea. PRS and Billy Martin (lead guitarist of Good Charlotte) worked together to produce this guitar.
-Solid mahogany body and glued-in mahogany neck with a rosewood fingerboard. 25" scale length, no neck binding, green dot inlays (special bat design on the 12th fret), neck carve is "wide-fat".
-The new matte black finish is complemented by black hardware (back side of neck as the same black matte finish).
-Electronics are two PRS designed humbuckers, a 3-way pickup selector, volume and tone knobs.
-PRS designed stoptail & tuners

Body style: the guitar looks like a Santana SE without the pickguard with black hardware, black nut, different neck inlays, satin black paint.

Accessories are PRS SE gig bag (nice heavy duty), cord, trus rod adjust wrench, allen wrench.

Originally the PRS website said these were limited to 500 pieces, but the web no longer says that, and according to people at the PRS booth at NAMM, it is a regular production model

According to the people I asked at the recent NAMM show, the pickups are PRS designed specific for this guitar.

Bridge Humbucker is a 2-wire type and sounds great for distortion hard rock/alternative. Equal volume from all strings, good crunch, good clarity (Using Line6 Vetta amp). The pickup comes in a little under 10kohms, and its tonality reminded me of a Duncan JB I just put in my Jackson. Pickup sounds great, I won't be changing it!

Neck Humbucker is also 2-wire type and specs out around 9kohm. I like a single coil in the neck, so I went in and unwrapped the tape around the pickup and cut the insulation off the little red wire and soldered it to ground to 'coil-tap' the pickup. Sounds great in this mode, nice even single coil with-a-slight-edge sound across all strings.

Guitar was set-up by Elderly Instruments (they do that on all guitars) before shipment to me. I tightened the trus rod a little and lowered the bridge a little and it was perfect. Intonation was spot on.

Nut groove cuts were great from factory, providing nice low easy fretting in the first few frets. Frets were nicely polished, no sharp edges, quality workmanship. The PRS stoptail is one of the best 'hardtail' bridges I've seen (I also have the Tremonti SE and a Custom 22). The white side dot markers are a little small in diameter and not too white. Since the green fret markers will probably be hard to see in a darkened club, would have been nice to have larger/whiter side dots.

Paint and hardware were first rate. The volume and tone pots have a nice silky feel with a nice slight resistance to turning (so they'll stay were you put them). The control cavity appears to have shielding paint in it, and all wires are professionally routed and soldered.

Tuners have big knobs on them and a very nice feel.

Basically, a nice quality guitar.

Solid construction, great hardware, solid strap buttons.

As with other satin black finish guitars, I wouldn't recommend eating a bunch of potato chips and then handling your guitar as it will showup as greasy stains!!

I never take only one guitar to a gig...but I know I could play all night with this one.

According to the set-up card from Elderly, guitar has 2-yr PRS warranty.

Been playing over 20 years. Besides the other PRS models, I have several USA & Japan Jacksons/Charvels/BC Riches, etc.

I was very impressed with the guitar and its playability and sound. The PRS guitars seem to be a cut above vs. some of the other guitars coming from Korea. For about 1/4th the price, the Billy Martin SE holds its own very well compared to my USA PRS Custom 22. If it were stolen/lost, I would definitely get another.