If you’re looking for a new guitar, then you’ve probably heard of PRS’s SE Starla and Gretsch’s G5410T. In short, both models sound and look great. However, let’s take a closer look at both guitars.
| Features: | PRS SE Starla | Gretsch G5410T Electromatic |
|---|---|---|
| Price: | £519 | £669 |
| Pickup: | PRS-Designed DS-02 | Top Filter’Tron |
| Frets: | 22 | 22 |
PRS SE Starla
PRS are widely renowned as the modern maestros of electric guitar-making, few companies rival the influence of Paul Reed Smith Guitars. Since the 1970s, PRS’s constructions have been favoured by some of the all-time greats, with their sleek looks, widely varied tones and killer playability taking them a whole cut above the rest.
In 2000, PRS launched their SE range. The range was introduced as an affordable alternative for players to get their hands on a PRS guitar without needing to shell out big bucks. These Indonesian-made models are often crafted from exquisite woods and fitted with pretty impressive electronics compared to other guitars of their price range and are almost certainly the best value brand available on the market today.
Build
PRS’s SE Starla differs from most PRS designs with its stripped-back, retro appearance. The SE Starla was first released under the Core Line and has since made its way to the S2 line built in Maryland.
The SE Starla sounds wonderful, light and also well-built, with the flat top knobs boasting a chunky feeling that is undeniably cool. Meanwhile, the neck of the guitar feels really comfortable to hold and encourages a sort of robust, chord-laden style of playing, with a comfy heel down in the neck pocket making for an all-around smooth playing experience.
The body and neck of the SE Starla are both cut from solid mahogany and are dressed in a deep, gorgeous powder blue. It’s a shade that suits the aesthetics, as opposed to it being a brighter or deeper blue.
The lighter shades on the guitar contrast and complement its rosewood fingerboard, which has 22 frets, with a scale length of 25” and displays the classic PRS bird inlay. The PRS designed nickel tuners and that have a great-toned match, and of course while speaking of hardware, it’s hard not to go past the Grover two-piece bridge – an ever-reliable friend for pretty much any guitarist.
The SE Starla’s neck shape is wide and fat, and it really does make a difference when placing your fingers on the board. It’s strange that some have said that it feels more like an acoustic guitar in some ways because when you split both of the pickups, it really can give an airy and light sound that resembles one.
Performance
While the SE Starla can certainly go hard on gain, it produces a beautiful, sparkly twang when played clean is a unique sound that shouldn’t be overlooked. The guitar is loaded with two DS-02s Double Slug humbuckers, which have a visually impressive chrome covering on top, while spit-coil functionality allows you to play with a wild array of different tones.
While these pickups may look equipped for big riffs, overall, they sound much twangier and brighter than what you’d expect of a classic sound. Both the middle pickups and neck are really quite versatile, being able to do vintage-sounding cleans that have a jangle and sparkle to them, and classic rock gain sounds. Even styles that require more nuanced cleans, such as jazz, funk and neo-soul, are made easy with the Starla.
When on the neck pickup alone, it has a robust, rounded although not overly boomy sound, and when you split the pickup, the sound gets more pronounced. The bridge pickup sounds full and warm, and when split, it sounds completely different. With gain, it’s still a little bright. However, it’s incredibly pronounced and the bridge pickup humbucker runs incredibly hot and is great for classic rock sounds. The three-way pickup selector switch is also easy to use and super sturdy feel.
Gretsch G5410T Electromatic
Built-in Korea, it is hollow-bodied and basically, a modified take on the iconic G6120, which is the guitar of the doomed rocker Eddie Cochran, Nashville boss Chet Atkins and Stray Cat Brian Setzer, all lavished iconic status upon.
Build
At the heart of the beast, you’ll find the back and sides and top pressed from sheets of laminate maple and bound in aged white plastic and black purfling.
Gretsch’s G5410T has 50s-style bound oversized f-holes, classic chrome ‘G-Arrow’ control knobs, not to mention the obligatory old-school wiggle stick, in this case having a stiff-feeling but workable licensed Bigsby B60 True Vibrato.
In terms of the electrical features, Gretsch’s G5410T comes loaded with a pair of the house Black Top Filter’Tron humbuckers. The humbuckers are fed into a master volume with a treble bleed circuit, dedicated volume control for each pickup, a master tone and a three-way selector.
While the pickups may be called Black Tops, they actually have red inserts. You certainly can’t complain as these inserts look great, making the Black Tops look like hot-rod tail lights.
The G5410T is coated in Matte Vintage White paint. Although there are two other finishes available, you can have Matte Black with a red ‘Plexi’ scratch plate, or a Matte Phantom Metallic – a cool-looking silver grey – with a black guard.
Considering this Gretsch guitar is below £1,000, you might expect to find the fingerboard is cut from one of those rosewood substitutes: Pau Ferro or Indian Laurel. But you’d be wrong.
The guitar has a rosewood ’board just like the Professional Series stuff, with aged white binding and late-50s-style Pearloid ‘Neo-Classic Thumbnail’ inlays.
Performance
The guitar’s neck profile is slim. Gretsch has described it as a ‘U’ profile, while people will probably suggest the identically named fat-as-hell necks on early 50s Broadcasters and Teles, however, this is really slim.
Acoustically, the G5410T is loud. Despite Gretsch’s promo material claiming the guitar’s body is 57mm (2.25 inches) deep, it’s actually the same 63.5mm (2.5-inch) depth as a Brian Setzer Hot Rod.
Its bridge pickup chimes as expected when clean, and snarls when you start feeding it some gain. Introducing both Filter’Trons to each other will add some warmth to the clarity of the bridge unit for a classic rockabilly voice. This becomes more so the case when fingerpicking.
Conclusion
While both of these guitars are great, it’s important to know that both of these guitars are completely different. If you aren’t going to play a whole lot of Rockabilly, then the PRS SE Starla would be the better option, due to it being more versatile.
However, if you want to play more clean stuff, i.e. Brian Setzer, The Beatles, Rolling Stones, then the Gretsch G5410T would be a better choice.