While they’re treasured or coveted by countless players, PRS guitars can be polarizing, particularly to those who align with the Leo Fender school of solidbody design. But the recently released S2 Vela and its curvaceous offset body might be the battering ram that breaks down such notions. It’s more than just a new body shape for PRS—the Vela also boasts a host of new sounds. With its cool combination of coil-tap humbucker and single-coil neck pickup, it has the potential to satisfy many players across myriad styles.
Sexy Vela
While it’s accessibly priced (at least relative to most PRS axes), the S2 line is made at PRS’s Stevensville, Maryland factory. While the Vela doesn’t boast one of the flashy “10 tops” that define PRS for many, it exudes the quality and craft that mark the company’s other USA-built models. The McCarty tobacco sunburst finish on our test guitar is striking yet understated. The asymmetrical mahogany body, with its bevel cut and stylized pickguard, lends the Vela a hip “Fender offset meets Gibson SG” profile that still looks quintessentially PRS.
Stylistic departures aside, many Vela specs are classically Paul Reed Smith. It’s built around a 25" scale, a “pattern regular” profile mahogany set neck, and a rosewood fretboard with a 10" radius. You can choose dot or bird inlays and S2 locking tuners.
The pickups are a bridge PRS Starla humbucker (which can be coil tapped via a push/pull pot on the tone control) and a DeArmond-inspired PRS Type-D single-coil in the neck position.
One surprising twist is the Vela’s T-style, top-loading aluminum plate bridge. The strings pass over two brass barrel saddles. Each saddle holds three strings, with intonation adjustable via four spring-and-post assemblies. While Paul Reed Smith used a similar bridge on some of his early, “pre-factory” guitars (he holds a 1976 patent on the design), the Vela is the first production PRS guitar to feature this bridge.
Viva la Vela
Right out of the gig bag the Vela’s factory setup was fantastic. Intonation was spot-on, and the medium/low action felt comfortable and fast. The real fun began when I plugged into a silverface Princeton Reverb (along with a Radial Tonebone Classic and a ProCo Rat pedals for a little dirt.)
Ratings
Pros:
Incredible bang for the buck. Impeccably built. Curvy good looks. Beautifully dynamic and sensitive.
Cons:
None
Tones:
Playability:
Build/Design:
Value:
Street:
$1,279
Paul Reed Smith S2 Vela
prsguitars.com
The single-coil Type-D pickup is a new design for PRS. PRS’s Judith Schaefer says it was conceived as “sort of a cross between a ’54 Stratocaster and a DeArmond,” adding that “it took a month or so to get that pickup right.” It seems to me that they got it very right. It has a nice vintage vibe and an exceptionally lively and dynamic feel. Its inherent snappiness makes double-stops and Chili Peppers-style funky riffs sound sharp and complex with clean or dirty tones. The Type D’s vintage-output design provides great note-to-note detail and separation in chords. Even when I rolled the tone control back to a point that would sound like mud on other guitars, the Type-D remained nuanced, clear, and fantastically touch-sensitive. Playing fingerpicked blues leads with this much expressive range was a revelation.
Switching to the bridge pickup and dialing in low-to-medium gain generates killer rootsy tones that beg for grinding Stones and Tom Petty riffage. Even with the Rat pedal and higher gain, the humbucker rang clearly. Unisons and double stops that might have sounded mushy on some of my other humbucker-equipped guitars stayed dagger-sharp.
The ability to split the bridge pickup adds further tone possibilities. With the coil tap engaged, the Starla humbucker sounds open and robust. Volume discrepancies between the split pickup and full-on humbucker aren’t drastic, and the subtle differences enable cool contrasts between song sections. I admit it was tricky at first to pull up the tone control knob to split the coil while performing, but I soon got the hang of it. The relative levels of the coil-tapped bridge and neck single-coil are also fairly balanced, enhancing the expressive range of the pickup set.
The Verdict
While I found the Vela best suited for roots and alternative rock, it’s versatile enough to cover nearly any style. It displays the craftsmanship and attention to detail typical of PRS guitars that sell for far more. Best of all, it’s an incredibly responsive instrument. If you’ve previously balked at trying a PRS because you’d didn’t dig the styling, this beautiful machine—and its beautiful tones—might flip that notion on its head.
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“The Player II Series represents our continued evolution in design and functionality,” said Justin Norvell, EVP of Product, FMIC. “We listened to the feedback from musicians around the world and incorporated their insights to refine and innovate our instruments. The re-introduction of rosewood fingerboards is a restoration of the ‘original Fender recipe’ and will no doubt be a fan favorite - but we didn’t want to stop there. We’ve also incorporated our rolled fingerboard edges for a broken-in feel, upgraded hardware, and have some new body options as well- which underscores our commitment to providing players and creators with the tools they need to express their unique sound and style. The Player II Series is not just an upgrade, it's a detailed re-imagining of our core silhouettes, highlighting our dedication to quality and the continuous refinement of our instruments.”
Additionally, Player II offers new options for chambered ash and chambered mahogany bodies for the Player II Stratocaster and Telecaster models, which will be available in October. Designed for musicians ready to elevate their craft, the Player II Series sets a new standard for quality and performance in the mid-price range.
Fender Player II Stratocaster HSS Electric Guitar - Coral Red
Fender Player II Jaguar Electric Guitar - Aquatone Blue
The 2018 CCL Deco Custom, in all its Pelham blue glory.
Anyway, we became friends and I started working on him pretty early—my 40th birthday was approaching, and that meant it was time for us to start designing his first solidbody build. If you stopped on this page, it’s because the photo of the finished product caught your eye. Beautiful, right? The 2018 CCL Deco Custom: Never shall there be another.
Old National Glenwood guitars were my design inspiration, but I wanted a slim waist like a PRS and the like. We used a solid block of korina to start, routed like MacGyver to get the knobs and switches where I wanted them. Dale builds all his own lathes and machines (usually out of lumber, y’all), as the task requires. This beast took some creativity—it’s tight wiring under that custom-steel pickguard. Many were the preliminary sketches. Four coats of Pelham blue, 11 coats of nitro. Honduran mahogany neck, Madagascar ebony fretboard with Dale’s signature not-quite-Super-400 inlays. He designed the logo; I just said, “Make it art deco.”
We sourced all the bits and bobs from StewMac and Allparts and Reverb and the like, mostly to get that chrome look I so adore. Graph Tech Ratio tuners, Duesenberg Radiator trem (had to order that one from Germany), TonePros TP6R-C roller bridge. The pickups were a genius suggestion from the builder, Guitarfetish plug ’n’ play 1/8" solderless swappable, which means I have about 10 pickups in the case to choose from: rockabilly to metal. And both slots are tapped, with the tone knobs serving as single- to double-coil switches. I put the selector on the lower horn to accommodate my tendency to accidentally flip the thing on Les Pauls—definite lifesaver.
Reader and guitar enthusiast, Cody Lindsey.
Dale offered to chamber this monster, but I said what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. It weighs in at 11 pounds, if it’s an ounce. We carved the neck to match a ’60s SG, so it’s like the mini bat you get at the ballpark on little kids’ day. Easy peasy. 1 11/16" nut, 25" scale, jumbo frets, just 2 1/8" at the 12th fret.
Delivery in its lovely, hygrometer-equipped Cedar Creek case actually happened a month or two shy of my 41st, but hey, you can’t rush these things. We ended up with a studio Swiss Army knife; it does a bit of everything and does it effortlessly. A looker, too. Dale didn’t spend his career doing this kind of thing—he was in IT or some such—and I imagine he’s winding this “hobby” of his down these days, enjoying retirement with a bottle of Killian’s and a lawn chair at Duluth Blues Fest. But this guitar will live on as a marker of his skill and otherworldly patience. It sits at the head of the class in my practice room, welcoming any visitors and bringing a smile to my face every day. And Dale, my friend, I’ll be 50 before you know it....
Cody requested that Dale design an art deco logo for the guitar’s headstock.