PRS SE Chleo: A Somewhat Budget-Friendlier Herman Li Signature Model

Guitars

PRS collaborated with Herman Li (of DragonForce) and released his signature PRS Chleo model back in June and it was limited to 200 guitars with a hefty $6,850 price tag — they’ve just released the more budget friendly SE Chleo edition now, removing some features while keeping others and lowering the price to $1,999. I say “budget friendly” here as in comparison with the original model, I think $1,999 is quite a lot for something in the SE lineup.

Now, anyone who saw the original PRS Chleo might wonder if the notorious “is that a guitar jack or are you just happy to see me?” bulge jack design is still on there and.. nope. It’s still a very slim and unique body shape but the SE Chleo sports a more traditional metal jack on the front. I do appreciate that the Chleo SE keeps the 3-voiced Fishman Fluence Herman Li signature Omniforce pickups — so same as the limited edition. And while the limited edition comes with a Gotoh GE1996T locking tremolo the SE version is equipped with a Floyd Rose 1000 trem with a PRS locking nut. And of course, another difference is that the SE version is bolt-on compared to the limited edition as well.

I couldn’t find any information on where these are made, but I assume they’re from PRS’ dedicated Indonesian factory. My only PRS SE is a McCarty 594 and it’s absolutely flawless, but considering the price on these I’d assume perfect QC (quite small empirical study, I know).

So, feature-wise you get:

A carved and sculpted mahogany body with a flamed maple top
Three finishes: Orchid Dusk (shown in my pictures here), Charcoal Purple Burst and Mantis Burst
A very thin and slightly taller 20″ radius maple neck with an ebony fretboard and integrated carbon fiber rods
“Eclipse Dragon” fretboard inlays
Floyd Rose 1000 tremolo with PRS locking nut
PRS locking tuners
Fishman Fluence Herman Li Signature Omniforce pickups
Smoked black hardware all over