PRS has been full of surprises during 2025, its 40th anniversary year, and after taking a step away from its usual template with Herman Li’s wild new signature last month, the Maryland brand has now given its acclaimed NF 53 T-style electric guitar the SE treatment.
It's a model many PRS fans have been patiently waiting for over the past few years, with the SE NF 53 slashing the original's price tag by nearly $2,000 yet retaining the top notch build quality and premium appointments that made it so popular.
Crafted with a swamp ash body, bolt-on maple neck and fretboard, alongside a plate-style steel bridge and PRS-designed tuners, the 25.5” scale guitar packs a lot of punch despite its diminutive $979 price tag.
Its signature brew Narrowfield DD (Deep Dish) humbuckers are included, marrying single-coil snarl and hum-free humbucker playing in one neat package. They're paired with singular Volume and Tone controls and a three-way pickup switch.
Made with taller bobbins to accommodate more winds and extra metal pieces, which nestle between its magnets, the pickups have been a huge success since their launch.
Impressed by the guitar, Guitar World’s early reviews reads: “Unplugged, there’s a big ring to the guitar that translates to the epitome of the cliché ‘Tele on steroids’. “The pickups sit between single coils and humbuckers with a little more oomph than the former but more focus than the latter that nods to a good P-90 but with a subtly smoother note attack.”
As such, they can conjure “Tele-like steely-ness” and handle heavier tones in equal measure, making this “a T-style for those of us that never got on with one”.
It may be inspired by one of Paul Reed Smith’s favorite vintage guitars from, you guessed it, 1953, but its electronics ensure this is a build with one foot spiritually in the past, and one firmly in a more versatile future.
Considering the premium NF 53 models, which first dropped in 2023, can fetch the best part of $3,000, the SE, at less than a third of the price, is staking a claim for one of the best affordable electric guitars of the year.
“We have worked for two years to get the guitar just where we want it, especially the neck and the pickups,” explains COO Jack Higginbotham. “The SE NF 53 offers a modern take on vintage tones, but offers a bit more bite, giving it its own unique voice. We think you will find this instrument to be inspirational and take you to new places inside your music.”
The PRS SE NF 53 is available now for $979 and is offered in Black Doghair, White Doghair, and Pearl White colorways.
Head to PRS for more.
Seven months into PRS' one-release-per-month party, we’ve already seen beloved SE guitars get exotic wood makeovers, the arrival of the John Mayer-approved Charcoal Phoenix, and upgraded Private Stock builds. There's still plenty more to come.
