Thanks, everyone!
That was hidden in the bottom of the post above:
I sold the Yellow Tiger one [2020 McCarty] I had this morning. I put it up on Reverb and it sold in like 30 minutes. I figured it would with that killer top and finish! It was a 2020 and was Nitro, but it had the locking tuners and J-Birds, I really am preferring to go "ALL IN" on the 2020 spec, with the vintage tuners and the Old Birds. A lot of people prefer the Phase III's, so everybody wins on that swap. 
I know it was hard to see the text with those amazing pictures right there!
Bangin’!
I still find McCarty’s more interesting than the 594’s, personally. They’ve got their own voice, and aren’t trying too hard to be something else.
Yes. And cleaner looking.
This one is a beauty.
Yes, I am getting a renewed appreciation for how great the McCarty model is, with my return from hiatus and my 2020 adventure.
I wasn't looking to go down this path AT ALL. I almost fell out of my chair when I heard how great the 2020 McCarty sounded in the Tim Pierce / Howard Leese video, and then I was blown away again by how great it sounded in the Bryan Ewald demo.
I had it in my head that I didn't care for the feel of the 25" scale. But "back in the day", I
did play and enjoy the 25" PRS Guitars. From 2009 to 2012, when I had the band thing going, I played and gigged 25" PRS Guitars just as often (if not more so) than the DC 245s. Some of my favorite and most epic gig memories are with 2 different DGTs, a Shootout McCarty, a Private Stock Custom 24 with a WF neck, and a 408. It wasn't until 2013 when I got my Aquamarine DC 245 408 Private Stock that I went all-in on the 245s, and stayed with just the Short Scale PRSi with the 594s from 2016 and forward.
As I returned here in 2020 (not playing out, the band faded away), I am very open to the 25" scale, it doesn't seem as foreign to me anymore. The 594 scale is still "home" for me, but I am comfortable with the 25" scale now/again, and digging the McCarty, the Paul's Guitar and the Custom 22 Special Semi-Hollow. (I think playing Strats a decent amount from 2018-2019 broke me of a perceived inflexibility on scale length...)
Re "They’ve got their own voice, and aren’t trying too hard to be something else" - agree re both points!
To clarify, here is how I feel about it. My ranking of my top 3 favorite guitars right now on the Humbucker side of things is (1) SC 594, (2) 25" McCarty and then (3) DC 594. The SC 594 is incredible for me, especially the 2020s. It *IS* trying to be something else to some degree, and it does a masterful job of it. But it is a superset of what it is trying to be or replace, it is much more! It brings the girth of those tones in humbucker mode with both the Bridge and Neck pickups, but without the MUD. And these new 2020 TCI LT+ pickups in the SC are the best ever. The Bridge Humbucker is to die for, and the split tones are amazing. As discussed on the 2020 Love thread, the ability to blend the two pickups in the middle position, split one but not the other, and blend one at a higher volume than the other provides for an
infinite range of tones. My favorite guitar ever, this 2020 SC 594!
The McCarty definitely is its own thing going on, and has its own voice. It has an inherent simplicity and "cleanness" with one volume one tone. (Although sometimes I wish I could get a version with 2 volumes 2 tones, to see how that works on a McCarty to do the blending in the Middle position. If I were to do a Private Stock build right now, that would be it!
) Also the McCarty has a very different feel than the DC 594 - the body is thinner, enough that it is very noticeable, in a GOOD way. The left hand is further out given the scale length difference.
There is also a historic thing that I connect with with the 2020 McCarty. If you look back to the history of PRS and what they have brought to the table, you have the Customs starting in 1985, and then the McCarty coming in 1995, with the collaboration between Paul and David Grissom, with the input and influence from David Grissom. 25 years later, this McCarty is the best McCarty ever IMO, with the magic of the TCI 5815 LT pickups, and the Nitro finish. As great as the SC 594 is, the McCarty for me holds more historical relevance for me for what Paul and the team have created.
The DC 594 is like a combination of the SC 594 and the McCarty, in a way where if you want the best of both it executes that very well, the formula the SC 594 goes after, in a svelte package of a PRS Doublecut. I think that is a killer equation for one guitar to cover a super broad spectrum of tones in a gigging environment, where the Doublecut playability is highly desired. But I don't need that right now, not playing out for the foreseeable future (which I am okay with). The flip side to that combining of the traits of the SC 594 and the McCarty is that you lose some of the purity of how great the SC 594 and 25" McCarty are, for what they are and what they are trying to be. That is why I rank as above, I am preferring the purity of the SC 594 and McCarty for what they are, rather than trying to combine both into one guitar.
That said, I have two very cool Private Stock DC 594s, one with a BRW Neck, another in SH with Triple Soapbars. Both are amazing - but honestly I would prefer both in the SC configuration, but the DC 594 is much more popular out there with what dealers order, both in Private Stocks and with 2020 Core guitars. That is probably another reason I have so many DC 594s in the mix, they are just so much more available out there. (And I can see why, with the notion above of that great combination of the SC 594 and the McCarty for flexibility and playability...)
I checked out an S2 DC 594 - killer guitars for the money! But I sold it yesterday, I decided I wanted an S2 SC 594 instead, for the practice use case I wanted it for. More proof of my thesis above, for my needs and priorities.
Nice to have choices!
Yes, that is one of my favorite things about this Orange Tiger finish - that creamy Brown color on the back and neck is AMAZING!
Previous years' Orange Tiger had a much darker back color, I don't care for when the backs and necks are so dark of a finish that you can barely see the grain (like on McCarty Tobacco Sunburst and Black Gold Burst), I would much rather see a lighter dark brown like this one, where you really see the grain, that is much more "vintage" in look and vibe IMO!
