PRS SE NF 53: An Affordable T-Style?
With Deep Dish pickups
1,8 / 5,0 | 
The PRS SE NF 53 is the new affordable version of the Core models launched back in 2023. These T-style guitars offer a new twist on a much-loved formula. But are they affordable enough?
PRS SE NF 53
The new SE NF 53 is going to be popular with PRS fans looking for an affordable T-style guitar. They follow on from the SE NF3 models, which also use the same bolt-on maple neck design and PRS Narrowfield DD pickups.
Swamp Ash
They come with a swamp ash body and a 22-fret, 25.5” scale length bolt-on neck with Bird inlays and a maple fretboard. Whereas the SE NF3 comes with a poplar body, so these could have a different weight, as swamp ash is often heavier than poplar.
They are available in White Dog Hair, Black Dog Hair, and Pearl White finish options. These all show off the grain of the flat top swamp ash body and are similar to their US core counterparts in looks.
The SE Deep Dish pickups are wired using a fairly standard volume and tone control and 3-way blade pickup switch layout. The pickups are designed to offer single-coil tones without the hum. They achieve this by using taller bobbins to fit more winds and extra metal pieces in between the magnets.
Hardware
They use the PRS Plate Style hardtail steel bridge design (I have one of these on my PRS Vela, and it is rock solid), and this is paired with a set of their new-style Wing tuners.
Price & Availability
For just under a grand at £979, they just creep in under that magic price point ceiling; however, they are still pretty expensive for a T-style guitar. I love a T-style guitar, and own many myself. I just feel the price point on these is a tad high, especially with all the competition making a lot of T-style guitars, and an already flooded marketplace.
Each of the three models costs €1,149 at Thomann.
More Information
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One response to “PRS SE NF 53: An Affordable T-Style?”
Saddens me to read that €1,149 is considered “affordable” nowadays. What has this world become 🙁