The PRS CE 24 Satin Nitro: A Bolt-On PRS Dressed Like an Old Goldtop

The PRS CE 24 Satin Nitro is what you get when someone takes PRS's bolt-on workhorse and asks it to act like an old Gibson. It has a thin, open-pore satin nitro finish, an ebony board, and covered 57/08 humbuckers voiced after 1957-era PAFs, all on the standard CE 24 body and bolt-on neck. If you like how a PRS plays but wish it felt less polished, this is one of the better versions of that idea PRS has built. It's also confusing to buy used, because the recipe has come out more than once and the published specs don't always match the guitar in front of you.

The 2023 CE 24 Satin Nitro Gold Top currently in stock. Look closely and you can see the grain under the gold. That's the open-pore finish doing its job.

First, what a CE 24 is

The CE ("Classic Electric") goes back to 1988. It was PRS's bolt-on alternative to the set-neck Custom, and it was dropped in the 2000s. PRS brought it back in 2016 as the CE 24: mahogany back, maple top, bolt-on maple neck in the Pattern Thin carve, rosewood board, 85/15 humbuckers, and a volume, a push/pull tone for coil splitting, and a 3-way toggle. Paul Reed Smith said at the time that they "updated its sound" with the 85/15s and "made it slimmer."

That's the baseline: modern-voiced pickups, rosewood, and usually a glossy finish on the body. The Satin Nitro version keeps the chassis and changes almost everything you touch and hear. If you're weighing a CE against a set-neck Custom in general, our CE 24 vs Custom 24 breakdown covers the bolt-on question in more depth.

What the Satin Nitro recipe changes

• Finish: A thin, open-pore satin nitrocellulose coat instead of a thick gloss build. You feel the wood texture under your forearm, and the grain shows through even a solid color like gold.
• Pickups: Covered 57/08s instead of 85/15s. PRS introduced the 57/08 in 2008, built to chase the warmth and evenness of 1957 humbuckers. PRS says it had secured wire from the same machine that made wire for 1950s pickups.
• Fretboard: Ebony instead of rosewood, with bird inlays. Ish Guitars said it requested ebony to add some bite to the warmer pickups, and in my experience that pairing works.
• Everything else: Standard CE. Mahogany body, maple top, bolt-on maple neck, 25" scale, 24 frets, PRS tremolo, locking tuners, push/pull coil split.

The runs: why "which one is it?" gets complicated

I've found two documented versions of this spec, and they don't line up neatly.

2020: the Ish Guitars run

Ish Guitars' own listings describe a 2020 CE 24 Satin Nitro as an "Ish Guitars Exclusive," which they say they specced with PRS: open-pore satin nitro, covered 57/08s, and an ebony board. Their listings give the run as "just 25 pieces" (it isn't clear whether that's per color or in total). Colors on their pages include Gold Top, Powder Blue and black/white variants. Each of those listings says the back is natural mahogany, so the color is only on the top.

2023: the PRS Europe limited edition

In March 2023, PRS Europe announced a CE24 Satin Nitro Limited Edition for Europe and the UK. It had the same core recipe: mahogany body, maple top, Pattern Thin bolt-on maple neck, ebony board with birds, 57/08s, and a thin satin nitro finish. Five colors were offered (Black, Antique White, Seafoam Green, Powder Blue and Gold Top), at 60 of each for 2023. PRS's announcement also lists a natural back.

Ish later ran other limited CE 24 satin models with different specs. One 2023 Ish run used 85/15s, a rosewood board and an all-mahogany body. So "CE 24 Satin" on a listing doesn't by itself tell you which pickups or board you're getting.

What to check when buying one used

1. Read the serial before you read the ad

On PRS guitars made from 2008 on, the first two digits of the serial are the year. That one number tells you which run a guitar can and can't belong to, so it's the first thing I look at. Our guide to dating a used PRS by serial number walks through the formats.

The serial on our guitar starts with "23," which dates it to 2023.

2. Confirm the pickups and board are what the run calls for

The whole point of this model is 57/08s plus ebony. Covered humbuckers make a swap hard to spot by eye, so ask whether the pickups are original and look at the solder joints in the control cavity for signs of rework. Then check the board. Ebony is the spec here, and a rosewood board means you're looking at a different CE.

3. Expect satin to wear, and know what "normal" looks like

Thin satin nitro marks more easily than a thick gloss poly finish, and it tends to burnish to a sheen where your arm and hand rest. That's normal and it's part of the appeal. What I look for instead is anything that has cut through to bare wood at the edges, and any shiny patches where someone tried to buff out a scuff and polished the satin in one spot. If you're curious how thin nitro behaves over open grain as it ages, we wrote about nitro sinking into the grain.

4. Check the bolt-on and the trem

Look at the finish around the neck pocket and neck plate for cracking, which can mean the guitar took a knock or the neck has been off. Check that the tremolo sits where PRS intends. The usual PRS approach is a small float behind the bridge, and our PRS tremolo setup guide explains it. Locking tuners plus a properly set trem should hold pitch well.

How this 2023 Gold Top measures up

Here's the honest version. The serial starts with 23, so this guitar dates to 2023, not the 2020 Ish run. The Gold Top color is on the front and back, and both published specs I found call for a natural back.

Gold on the back too, with the bolt-on neck plate and the natural maple neck for contrast.

I haven't found documentation that ties an all-gold 2023 example to a specific run. Rather than guess, I'm telling you exactly what the guitar shows. The parts that define the model are all here: covered 57/08s, an ebony board with birds, the open-pore satin feel, and the Pattern Thin bolt-on maple neck.

On the bench it came in at 7.09 lbs, which is light and lively even for a CE. The neck is straight, the frets are excellent, intonation is spot on, and the action is low. The setup passed inspection as it sits. The 57/08s do what they were built for. They're warm and open rather than hot, the neck pickup is thick without going muddy, and the bridge has bite with some body behind it. The coil split gives you leaner single-coil-ish sounds when you want them.

Ebony board with birds, one of the two parts (with the 57/08s) that set this model apart from a standard CE 24.

Cosmetically it's in excellent shape. There are some light scuffs and handling marks in the satin, which is exactly what this finish does, and nothing significant. The strings are usable but close to due, and it comes with a gig bag. If you want to see it, it's listed here: 2023 PRS CE 24 Satin Nitro, Gold Top. Or browse everything else currently in stock.

Who this guitar is for

This is for a player who wants a PRS neck and a PRS trem but would rather it feel broken in and sound closer to a vintage humbucker than a modern one. It isn't for someone who wants a flame top under deep gloss. The point of this guitar is that it doesn't look precious. If you already own one and are thinking about moving it on, our Cash Offer page is the quickest way to get a number.

FAQ

Is a CE 24 Satin Nitro different from a regular CE 24?

Yes, in the parts that matter most for feel and voice. The Satin Nitro version uses covered 57/08 pickups instead of 85/15s, ebony instead of rosewood, and a thin open-pore satin nitro finish instead of the usual gloss body finish. The body, neck, scale and electronics layout are the same.

How can I tell which year or run a CE 24 Satin Nitro is from?

Start with the serial. On PRS guitars from 2008 on, the first two digits are the year. A "20" points toward the Ish-era guitars and a "23" points to 2023. After that, check the pickups, board and back color against the run's published spec, and treat any mismatch as a question to ask the seller.

Does the satin nitro finish change the tone?

Players argue about this, and I don't think a thin finish versus a thick one is a night-and-day tonal difference on a solidbody. The feel difference is obvious, though. The pickups and the ebony board do more to set this guitar's sound apart than the finish does.