Hollowbody II question from a newbie PRS lover

gerrygesq

gerrygesq

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Nov 21, 2023
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Hello! First post ever. My apologies if this is a dumb question, but here it goes:

I am the happy owner of a 2003 Hollowbody II (with peizo), which has truss rod cover that say "McCarty." I never paid much attention to that, thinking that a HBII is a HBII. But does my guitar have a different scale length than those who truss rod covers just say "Hollowbody II"? (Obviously we're not about the 594 McCarty's).

Any insight is appreciated.

P.S. The archtop pickups are a bit underwhelming. Will it effect resale value if I invested in some 58's?
 
gerrygesq said:
Hello! First post ever. My apologies if this is a dumb question, but here it goes:

I am the happy owner of a 2003 Hollowbody II (with peizo), which has truss rod cover that say "McCarty." I never paid much attention to that, thinking that a HBII is a HBII. But does my guitar have a different scale length than those who truss rod covers just say "Hollowbody II"? (Obviously we're not about the 594 McCarty's).

Any insight is appreciated.

P.S. The archtop pickups are a bit underwhelming. Will it effect resale value if I invested in some 58's?
Click to expand...
I literally just bought a 2006 HBII Piezo today - curious how you like yours and what you dislike about the archtop pickups.

I think the McCarty refers to it sharing the characteristics of the McCarty (non-594) model - volume, tone, 3-way switch, 22 frets, 25-inch scale length, thicker neck (wide fat for older models).

IMO, updating the pickups to the 58/15LTs wouldn't detract from the value since PRS runs them in the current version of the HBII Piezo.
 
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i never cared for the archtops so i swapped them for miras after having the ptc add a coil tap. delightful.

i agree about including the old piclups. i've done this on several guitars
 
I agree with the rest , KEEP the originals , and plug in what you like.

As a Collector , I can tell you it's always a hard NO if the originals aren't included. As is true with cars and motorcyles ... original is the best for top dollar .
 
Thanks for the input.
I think it makes sense that the McCarty tag is really just a reference to the Gibson-ish layout of the electronics. Mine is definitely a HBII because the back is carved maple with mahogany sides.

The Archtop pickups, to me, seem designed to very transparent to let the hollowbody tone come through. Nothing wrong with that and it’s probably very desirable if you want to be loud and clean. But I think most folks who are playing through a tube amp and have a pedal or two are used to hearing how the pickups interact with the front end of the amp. The archtops simply do not hit the preamp stage in any noticeable way. Also like the neutral tone of stacked single coils.
I’m just looking for them to sound like some variation of PAF humbuckers (which naturally add some color). I hope this makes sense.
 
5Springer said:
I'm going HBII shopping today, my local dealer has some killer deals right now! I'm curious about the neck shape, typically don't like a fat neck but I like my 594 so we shall see..

Charles
Click to expand...
I can not compare the neck shape to a HBI I once tested. My HBII is NOT that fat. I don’t have the original paperwork, so I don’t know what PRS considers it to be. The HBI I tried had a deeper, fatter neck.
 
I have an HBII as well as a SCHBII. Both of mine came with the older version of the 57/08s in them. They work very well in these guitars. I would assume the newer versions would as well but will be a little bit hotter. I have coaxed a huge variety of tones out of my PRS HB guitars with these pickups in them.
 
Swap out the Archtops for 57/08 neck and 59/09 bridge. It’s a vast improvement.

JOHE8pG.jpg
 
JMintzer said:
The HBII was originally part if the McCarty "family"...

Mine still has the original pups, but many have changed ti 57/08s and love them.

And I agree with the post above, if you include the original pus, it won't hurt the value at all...
Click to expand...

100% what Jamie said--your guitar used to be considered as part of the McCarty family, until the hollowbody line got its own name. The hollowbody model nowadays that DOES have a different scale-length would be the McCarty (there's that name again!) 594 Hollowbody II with 2-piece bridge/tailpiece. But to my knowledge, that one does not--nor did it ever--have piezo.

I also agree with you, the Archtop pickups can be a little underwhelming. Can I ask what gauge strings you're using? I immediately set mine up with (I can't remember specifically) either 10.5's or 11's, and it was sort of dull and unexciting. But I did two things and now I kind of like it: (1) dropped down to my "standard" 10-gauge strings, and (2) tediously tweaked the pickups.. mostly pulling them down away from the lower strings, but it's a delicate dance. These have worked for me--I don't know if they'll work for you but they're a lot cheaper & easier than taking-on a pickup swap.
 
Bowtiefanatc said:
Swap out the Archtops for 57/08 neck and 59/09 bridge. It’s a vast improvement.
Click to expand...
Indeed, if only we could find readily-available 59/09's that are covered! (Which I have recently experienced--and I must say, compared to the later uncovered/squabbin versions, I like the early covered ones much better.)
 
Welcome to the PRS Forum! You've got a wonderful new old guitar. Yup, the "McCarty" truss rod cover is normal for that era. Yours has the PRS standard 25.00-inch scale length.

The McCarty Archtop pickups that come stock are indeed underwhelming. I've yanked them in all three of my hollowbodies. I'd suggest PRS 57/08s instead.

I'm a little surprised to hear in this thread that "collectors will want the original McCarty pickups, so keep them on hand." Yeesh - they're not great or classic pickups at all IMO.

When I shuffle off this mortal coil, you're all going to be lining up to pay dearly for two of my hollowbodies. Not because my heirs and assigns will throw in the old McCarty pickups, if I even still have them around. But because I yanked 'em for the long-gone, unobtainium PRS 53/10s. :)

=K
 
Yours has a 25" scale. Currently, there's HBII (both with and without Piezo) that's also 25", and there's also the Core 594 Hollowbody that has the 24.594" scale
 
JMintzer said:
If you have the piezo, you'll want to use a "wound 3rd string". D'addario makes a set of 10's w/a wound 3rd that I find are PERFECT for the HBII w/piezo...
Click to expand...
I use D'Addario 10's with a plain G string and haven't had any issues at all with any of my piezo guitars. Is there a reason you went to a wound G string? I feel strange asking a man about his G string...o_O
 
JasonE said:
I use D'Addario 10's with a plain G string and haven't had any issues at all with any of my piezo guitars. Is there a reason you went to a wound G string? I feel strange asking a man about his G string...o_O
Click to expand...

It just sounds "fuller"... More like an acoustic guitar. But it still plays like an electric...
 
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