Not long after the successful launch of PRS guitars in 1985, dealers began asking for a less expensive model. In 1988, the company responded with the Classic Electric, whose name was shortened to CE after Peavey complained about infringement on it’s Classic model name.

The body of the CE had the same elegant shape of PRS’s initial models, and the neck had the full 24-fret, two octave range. The cost-saving feature was a bolt-on neck. Because a bolt-on neck is a Fender feature, Paul Reed Smith made the CE more Fender-like with an alder body and a maple neck and fingerboard. The Fender look did not fly, so a rosewood fingerboard, which had been an option, became standard in 1989, and the CE found a market.

The other Fender-inspired feature, the alder body, lasted longer, but it was replaced by mahogany in 1995. A maple top option and 22-fret version secured the CE’s position as a vital model of the PRS line.