PRS introduces the SE Mark Holcomb Signature, a 25.5″ scale guitar with Seymour Duncan Alpha & Omega pickups.
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This guitar is based on the previously released US-made PRS Mark Holcomb Limited Run, following its shape and specs, albeit produced in a way that’s more cost efficient. This release makes the signature guitar more accessible and affordable, giving more guitarists and fans of the artists the chance to take one home.
Mark Holcomb is known for his “Djent” metal guitar style with his band “Periphery”. He is known to employ complex rhythmic patterns and interesting melodies into their tracks, and does so on his PRS guitar. Thanks to Periphery’s popularity, a relationship between PRS and Mark has formed, resulting in a premium limited run instrument. This time around, the company and the artist have joined forces yet again to create this new production line model.
This signature guitar extends the brand’s reach into metal music territory further, especially with the lower price point. And it serves as a testament to how versatile the brand can be, able to provide instruments for artists that play widely different styles.
According to Mark Holcomb, “With my SE signature model, we managed to capture all of the defining characteristics of my Maryland-made guitar and turn it into a streamlined, less-costly package. It is an incredibly special instrument, and one that is now the primary focus of my rig in the studio and onstage.”
The guitar starts off with a double cutaway mahogany body which is topped by beveled maple that gives the guitar its elegant shape. To give the guitar a premium grainy look, PRS put quilted maple veneer on top. The body doesn’t stray far from the usual PRS designs, but what makes this guitar quite distinct is its neck design and playability.
Speaking of the neck, PRS and Holcomb went with a 25.5″ scale length maple neck with ebony fretboard. This longer scale length strays from PRS’ usual 25″ scale length, making the neck feel much like Strats and Super Strats. The 24-fret fingerboard is crafted from ebony, it has a 20″ radius for comfortable fast playing, and comes with PRS bird inlays that serve as fret markers.
For the price, the SE Mark Holcomb signature surprisingly comes with the artist’s signature Seymour Duncan pickups, both of which are critical to getting Mark’s tone. The bridge position has a Seymour Duncan Omega humbucker, while the neck position has a Seymour Duncan Alpha. The two pickups are routed to a 3-way blade pickup switch with modern push/pull tone knob for coil splitting. Rounding up its electronics is a master volume knob, which for metal style would probably just be glued to 10, if not 11.
Mark Holcomb himself talked about his new PRS SE signature instrument on the video below:
Other features include PRS Plate style bridge, PRS designed tuners and all black chrome hardware. The new PRS SE Mark Holcomb signature guitar is currently retailing online for just under $900 and ships in drop-C tuning. For further details, you can head over to PRS Guitars.
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