If you could have only one feature from the 594, which would it be?
Volume & tone control for each pickup?
Individual coil taps for neck & bridge pickup?
Bound neck?
58/15LT?
Bound neck?
Scale Length?
T.O.M.?
Selector switch on upper bout?
Anything I miss?
Great thread!! I have been mostly absent here for a few weeks, was on vacation, also I was very frustrated by Photobucket pimping me for the links to Photos in the last year's worth of postings here.
I am quoting the OP's original question here to delineate between "if you could only have one feature" and later discussions about "why has the 594 been so successful" those two pretty different questions, albeit somewhat related.
For me, without hesitation it is first and foremost the scale length. I have always been super sensitive to scale length, and the 594 has done nothing but INCREASE that for me. My experience with a guitar is a inseparable combination of feel and tone. I had always dug the 245 scale, but I also had always though it felt a little short.
To me the 594 scale feels and sounds PERFECT!! As soon as I fell in love with the 594 scale, I couldn't really enjoy my 3 incredible 245 Private Stocks anymore. (But now I have 3 SC 594 Private Stocks, so I am okay now!)
What's interesting to me now is that my sensitivity is so severe, that I only seem to adore 24 19/32" (24.594") and 24 20/32" (24.625" or 24 5/8"). Even true 24.75" (24 24/32") guitars feel too long for me. Gibson Historics are 24 5/8", as is my b3 SL. I jump BAF between those two and the 594's with little fanfare (although I always feel the difference). Some/most other short scale guitars are actually 24.75", and those extra 4/32" make them feel a bit long for me.
(There is an always open debate whether a Les Paul is 24 5/8" or 24 3/4". I can assure you with absolute certainty that all Gibson Custom Shop Historic Les Paul Reissues are 24 5/8"!)
The feel is very important to me, but also I believe the scale is a major contributor to the tone.
For a runner up, I would have to say the Neck Carve. That is another thing I have become very sensitive to, and the PRS 594 Pattern Vintage Neck Carve is the best out there for me. Feels great, and never too large! It is funny that for other brands, .89" (at the nut /first fret) is too large feeling for me. In most other necks, .87 is about perfect for me. But with the magical Assymetric carve and at .89" deep, the 594 is absolutely perfect feeling for me!
I love all of the other things mentioned. I wouldn't buy a guitar without binding of some sort, I am a complete binding snob. I dig the TOM, but would be just as happy with the Wraparound Stoptail, or a Trem, heck one of each to mix it up.
(I never use the coil splits. I would if I was playing out these days, but I am not. When I want singlecoil tones, I grab my 305...)
I will make a statement about the pickups that might be controversial or might come off the wrong way - I don't believe the pickups are a top contributor to the magic of the 594's. I think they are more like the icing on the cake!
They are FANTASTIC pickups! They are perhaps the best PRS pickups ever for those low output PAF tones. But the 594's are also magical with regular 5815's, 5708's, 5310's and 5909's. I have tried them all in 594's. I have also tried some fantastic non-PRS pickups in many 594's, and many of those have been stellar too. Are the 58/15 LT's magical pickups? Heck yes!! Does the 594 lose some of the its magic if you swap them to a difference pickup? Not necessarily.
My 2 cents...
