The curious case of Herman Li and not very cheap budget guitars

The DragonForce shredder has dropped an ‘affordable’ SE version of his signature PRS Chleo, but its price tag poses some serious questions

Nearly every guitar manufacturer has an affordable alternative to their most popular axes. Fender has Squier, and Gibson has Epiphone, while, in the case of Maryland-based firm PRS, there’s the SE line.

But its latest SE signature, Herman Li’s Chleo – which gets its name from an amalgamation of his two children’s names – doesn’t quite fit the budget build. In fact, many guitarists are up in arms about it.

Herman Li’s signature proper arrived, after much anticipation, in June with a hefty $6,850 price tag. But, in the guitar’s defence, it coloured greatly outside of the lines of the PRS template. There’s the new body shape with pretty insane contours – is that the cable, or are you happy to see me? – signature Fishman pickups, and a floating trem. But why is its SE equivalent priced at a bank-breaking $1,999?

At what price point does an affordable guitar – ostensibly designed to be accessible for players, no matter their bank balance – become mid-priced? Is the guitar community right to be pissed off, or does PRS have a strong case for asking for such an outlay?

The affordable guitar recipe

In most cases, an affordable version of a guitar sees its essence retained, with certain pricier elements, such as pickups and locking tuners, stripped back. Where it's manufactured also makes a big difference. Look at Fender, instruments made in its Corona, California, factory will also cost more to manufacture than its Ensenada, Mexico, location.

Labour costs are cheaper, for a start, and, coupled with lower-cost components, such as using poplar bodies instead of alder, conspire to drag the costs down to a more digestible level.

Still, what’s left is, at its heart, the same guitar. Joe Bonamassa swears by his Epiphone signatures, which are affordable recreations of some of his rarest, most intriguing vintage guitars. Hell, the massive gear nerd (said lovingly) has taken them out on stage before, too. When he owns enough vintage guitars to quite literally open a museum, that’s a strong vote of confidence for Epiphone’s build quality.

So cheap doesn't always equate to bad - it's just about making certain products accessible.

The Herman Li shootout

So, what’s the difference between the two Chleo models? Both feature rounder, thinner, and lighter bodies compared to normal PRS guitars, and their contours – save for the ‘snake under the rug’ thing on the body – as well as their neck shape and joint remain. No huge compromises have been made here, and with the recipe being so un-PRS, that’s going to inflate the price. It's not like it can just slap a new finish and different pickups on a Custom 24.

The bird inlays have gone, and Eclipse Dragons stand in their place, but that won’t alter the price in a major way.

Elsewhere, both bodies are comprised of mahogany backs and maple tops, with carbon-fiber reinforcing the neck, and Li’s signature Fishman humbuckers also included. However, the PRS-branded Floyd Rose has been swapped out for a Floyd Rose proper. Surely buying pre-made parts in bulk will be cheaper than producing their own, so that seems like a win for affordability.

The biggest difference is manufacturing. Whereas the fancier Chleo is made in the US, at its well-respected Maryland factory, the SE is crafted in Indonesia. Therefore, production costs will be significantly reduced, even when the core components are carried over.

It’s also worth noting that Indonesian-made doesn’t necessarily mean cheap or poor quality. Most Strandbergs are made in Indonesia, and are merely designed in Uppsala, Sweden. Strandbergs aren’t exactly famous for their low cost. And the quality doesn't suffer for it.

But the question that should be asked is: Should PRS have done more to reduce the cost?

The affordability conundrum

PRS isn’t the only firm in the firing line here. Claudio Sanchez has launched his own firm, Evil Instruments, to release his signature guitar, the Jackhammer. Built in partnership with Dunable, the oddly shaped axes come in two variants: the US-made Jackhammer starts at $1,600, but add-ons can increase its price to around $3,799, while a Korean-made model is locked at $1,600.

All guitars from the first batch have sold out, so there is clearly not a huge problem, on the whole, with the pricing – or it’s at least a pretty feather in Sanchez’s cap as to how fervent his fanbase is. But is it wrong to call these guitars affordable? Do manufacturers have a duty to release sub-$1K guitars – the price point which I feel divides affordable and mid-priced – or is it up to them what they do?

In Sanchez's defence, the Korean model is only just pricier than many Epiphones, so it isn't crazy - but it could certainly be cheaper for a Korean-made axe.

Looking at the comments section on Guitar World’s news story about the SE Chleo, one reader makes their case for the price, amongst a sea of angry comments.

“I'm amazed at the negativity,” they write. “The PRS SE was never intended to be the Squier beginner package for their line. As a matter of fact, I would bet a ton of money that over 95% of all complaining, if blindfolded, could not tell the difference between the SE or American guitars, and that's the point. The SE quality is better than most companies' best efforts.”

Defining affordability

So, is it a case of these guitars being affordable – meaning that your average guitarist could comfortably invest in one – or simply more affordable?  There’s a big difference there.

The SE Chleo is still less than a third of the price of the premium model, and no major compromises have actually been made. So it’s actually done well to get the price down so low.

But, on the other hand, its $1,999 price is more than double the average cost of a typical SE, so arguments that it’s overpriced for an SE, or should belong in another range, are valid.

There’s a cost-of-living crisis right now. Trying to flog a two-grand instrument as affordable is insulting. But if that one GW reader is right, and the SE isn’t so much about being beginner-priced cheap, but rather more friendly towards tighter budgets, then it’s done a great job hacking at the cost.

But so many players have been left out in the cold at that price. Should it have ditched the Fishmans for own-brand pickups – a common tactic with affordable signature variants – and done everything it could to get it to a standard SE price?

Yet, sometimes, the everyman is priced out of owning certain luxuries. So where does the truth lie here, or is it obscured somewhere in the middle?

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