The PRS A40E is an astonishing acoustic guitar built upon all of the experience that PRS has gained since they started making acoustic guitars back in 2011. Using Ovangkol back and sides with a solid Sitka Spruce top, this guitar offers rich and powerful tones housed in a versatile mid-sized body shape.
Tonewoods
The A40E uses a tonewood combination of a solid Sitka Spruce top with Ovangkol back and sides. The Sitka spruce top has a consistent and balanced tonality that doesn't colour the sound too much. Ovangkol on the other hand, has a distinctively broad tone with great mid-range clarity. Full and loud with excellent note definition, this is a good choice for the stage as it allows you to really cut through and be heard.
To get the most out of these woods, PRS have used their own hybrid X/Classical bracing pattern. This tweak to the bracing results in more flexibility for the top to resonate, which means greater volume and a more defined character. All PRS SE acoustics have Mahogany necks with Ebony fretboards for great stability and resonance.
Angelus Body
The Angelus is PRS’ take on a classic cutaway body shape. It's comfortable, mid-sized body isn’t so large that it's unwieldy to play, and not so small that you don’t get a full sound when you want to start strumming. You're offered great upper fret access thanks to the cutaway for when you want to hit those high notes. And much like the tonewoods, this body shape lends itself to a wide variety of playing styles and genres.
Fishman Pickup
Every electro-acoustic guitar in the PRS SE range comes fitted with a high-quality Fishman GT1 pickup. This sits under the saddle of the guitar and feeds off to controls that sit just under the soundhole for quick and seamless changes while playing.
Bone Nut & Saddle
If you follow Paul Reed Smith at all, you'll know his unique philosophy for building acoustic guitars - it's a ‘subtractive’ instrument. This means that everything on the guitar isn’t adding more tone, or sustain; it is just subtracting less.
Anything that touches the string has the ability to subtract more sustain or tone from your guitar, so they have made sure that these guitars are fitted with bone saddles and nuts for the best possible sound. You won’t find this on many instruments at this kind of price.
PRS Acoustics
Since 2011, PRS have dedicated a large department to not only creating great acoustic guitars but also innovating what we thought possible with the acoustic guitar. By going back and looking at some of the oldest available acoustic guitars to what the best of the best are making today, they have created a few innovations that make for an incredible guitar.
From Private Stock to SE, every acoustic that PRS builds is made with a purpose, and nothing is done just because that is what everyone else does. They have thought through every combination of woods, shape, bracing and electronics to come up with what they feel is the best acoustic that they can make at a price that a lot of people can afford.
Specifications
Body
- Top Wood: Solid Sitka Spruce
- Middle Wood: Ovangkol
- Back Wood: Ovangkol
- Body Shape: Angelus Cutaway
- Bracing: PRS Hybrid “X”/Classical Bracing
- Body Purfling: Tiger Acrylic
- Body Binding: Cream
- Rosette: Tiger Acrylic, Cream/Black
Neck
- Number of Frets: 20
- Scale Length: 25.3”
- Neck Wood: Mahogany
- Neck Shape: Wide Fat
- String Spacing: 2 7/32”
- Fretboard Wood: Ebony
- Fretboard Inlay: Birds
- Fretboard Radius: 11.81"
- Strength/Truss Rod: Adjustable
- Nut: Bone
Hardware
- Bridge Wood: Ebony
- Tuners: PRS-Designed
- Acoustic Saddle: Bone
- Strings: 12-53
- Included Accessories: PRS Hardshell Case
Electronics
- Acoustic Electronics: Fishman GT1
