PRS Mikael Akerfeldt SE Signature Tortoise Shell

This guitar is awesome straight out the box I had nothing to do to it but play looks pretty nice too. Better then the picture's show. Great guitar for the money.

The Mikael Akerfeldt PRS SE signature guitar is a wonderful but strange instrument. That is also how I would characterize a lot of Opeth's music, so it's a fitting parable. I've played with it since May of 2011 and have had a positive experience despite some hiccups. The color is described as `tortoise shell' but it definitely has a burgundy and brown feel. With the gold hardware it has a classy look. The neck is smooth and has a satin finish making it extremely fast to play. The fret board is real ebony and not a `look-alike.' It is also refreshing to see the signature PRS bird inlays that aren't normally on the more affordable SE models. The Opeth "O" symbol is a bit tacky and you'll certainly have to explain to people who don't know what it is; though it does match the overall look of the guitar. It has two humbucking pickups; a PRS designed Bass in the neck and the PRS designed Treble in the bridge. The Treble does not have a particular bite to it and I found that it couldn't make pinch harmonics scream like I could on something like a Duncan JB. It does have a nice classic rock crunch to it. Metal tones are hard to obtain, even when I tried it using a Boss Metal Zone and a Blackstar DistX. The Bass pickup, on the other hand, was very versatile and I was able to get good jazz and blues tones from it. I even preferred it for warm, singing solos. If you're looking for a Mikael Akerfeldt and Opeth tone I would recommend switching out the bridge pickup to something a little hotter. I do believe that Mikael Akerfeldt uses older PRS models with the excellent Dragon-II pickups. As I stated earlier the guitar has a classy look with its gold colored hardware, but overall it feels cheap and affects the quality. The tremolo is quite solid for being non-locking. The instrument goes out of tune quite frequently and I found myself having to do quick adjustments after each full song performed. Finally, after about five months of ownership the tremolo started humming any time many notes were struck. I took all the strings off and found that several of the saddles were loose and some of the other fittings on the tremolo could have been tightened up. I haven't had a noise issue since. This is a great guitar for blues, rock, or that `melancholy' style that Opeth is known for. It may fall short in terms of crushing metal tones, but it has a characteristic all its own. It reminds me of a much better looking Epiphone Les Paul Standard. If you're an Opeth fan or you just want a great PRS branded budget model this is a great choice. I was able to compare this against three American PRS models ('58 Singlecut, Custom 22, Santana) and found that if this guitar had better hardware and electronics the quality difference between them would be nearly unnoticeable.

I have owned this guitar for a year and I can say I'm very satisfied. The guitar like opeths music is versatile. You can go from the heaviest of heavy to the jazzy and blues region. The clean sounds very good and clear. For me I play a lot of Nile, cannibal corpse, necrophagist, and obscura. It fits my needs perfectly. In the other review it said you can't get a harmonic or something like that. I can say on my spider 4 line 6 they really scream out. I personally can get the harmonics easy. I guess that other guy needs some practice. The color is nice looking real classic and has a warm feel to it. I don't use the whammy bar it just throws it out of tune and I don't bother with it. Over I'd say it's my go to guitar over a shecter hellraiser and a dean razorback explosion. Awesome guitar it seriously can do it all. Check it out.