Hollowbody II: Why

MrSuperstar

MrSuperstar

Blues Lawyer
Joined
Feb 25, 2021
Messages
118
Location
Napoli, Italy
Hi guys, at first sight I fell in love with the PRS Core McCarty 594 Hollowbody II.
In online reviews, anyone who has tried them was delighted. The real problem is that here in Italy it seems impossible to try one in person and I should buy it online.

What I am wondering is “why” the Hollowbody version of a 594?
The body is smaller than a semi or full hollow guitars produced by competing companies, so it sounds more "like a solidbody"?
Compared to a Solid is it richer in bass? Does it have less sustain? Is it more jazz oriented?
In short, do you have info on “why” this guitar?
 
I have had a hollow body I for several years. The things I am describing about it will be similar on the HBII. It is a light and manageable guitar. Because of that it feels great to play. I feel like it is a little hollow body sounds, that jazzy mellow sound. However, the size allows it to sound very much like a solid body guitar too. So different playing techniques and amp / guitar settings make it a versatile guitar. I definitely wouldn’t say it’s a jazz guitar but it can cover some or the territory. I don’t play high gain so I don’t know how it handles that but it does great from clean to blues to garage rock. Of course the HBII has different pickups and back wood than my HBI but the IIs I’ve played are similar.
 
To me the HB594 takes advantage of the pickups, bridge and neck profile of the 594 for the HB family. I love the neck carve and pickups of the 594. I put a 58/15/LT in my HBii and it helps, but I’d love a 594.

I wouldn’t say it’s a 335. I’d say that the HB is a good all-around guitar. Very light. It has more acoustic volume so I can play it more unplugged. I think of it like a thinline semi hollow type guitar. I like to play jazzier stuff on it, but it also does classic rock and blues very well. It doesn’t have a huge solid block down the middle, so it is built more like a jazz box than a semi-hollow.
 
I play mostly blues, but I also like to cover my favorite bands that I wouldn't want to give up (GNR, ACDC, Rollings Stones, Led Zeppelin, Oasis, Gary Moore, Queen, Red Hot Chili Peppers).

So basically my question is: is this guitar versatile enough to allow me to play all that stuff?
 
MrSuperstar said:
I play mostly blues, but I also like to cover my favorite bands that I wouldn't want to give up (GNR, ACDC, Rollings Stones, Led Zeppelin, Oasis, Gary Moore, Queen, Red Hot Chili Peppers).

So basically my question is: is this guitar versatile enough to allow me to play all that stuff?
Click to expand...

oh man why didn’t noel gallagher play a hollowbody i?
 
I don't have a HB594, but I do have the older McCarty Hollowbody. If I compare it to the solid body McCarty, the hollow body is lighter, it "breathes" more as I play it, is a little livelier, and is a little more likely to feed back. I think it would be similar between the solid and hollow 594s.

I think the HB 594 would play all your styles well, though you might have to be more careful about volume and your position relative to your amp. Heck, you might enjoy that it feeds back more easily.
 
I don't have a PRS hollowbody, but I've had a Gibson Howard Roberts Fusion and I currently have a Gretsch Chet Atkins. There's really something about playing a hollowbody with some volume/gain. It really is alive and can be a bit hard to tame in a good way, like riding a dragon. My Gretsch is killer at mid gain kind of stuff (channel two of my Mesa MK V with a boost - channel 3 is a little tough to keep under control). My old Gibson semi was a little easier to control at higher gain, but both are so effortless to get musical feedback with.
I'd love to get a Hollowbody II eventually - talk about a versatile guitar!
 
Herr Squid said:
I don't have a HB594, but I do have the older McCarty Hollowbody. If I compare it to the solid body McCarty, the hollow body is lighter, it "breathes" more as I play it, is a little livelier, and is a little more likely to feed back. I think it would be similar between the solid and hollow 594s.

I think the HB 594 would play all your styles well, though you might have to be more careful about volume and your position relative to your amp. Heck, you might enjoy that it feeds back more easily.
Click to expand...

On a slight tangent, I once saw Anders Osborne and he had another guitar player with him who was playing a 335. That guy had the greatest control of feedback I've ever heard. He used it very musically and it never got away from him.
 
I’ve wanted a 594 HB for a while. When I couldn’t find the white one I wanted, Sergio suggested I try a white McCarty Hollowbody Spuce Top that was for sale at the time. I did buy it, and it has become one of my most played guitars. You can see it on the current “white guitar” thread here.

Like my guitar above, the hollowbody version of the 594 will play a lot like the solid model. This means the 594HB will have that very nice scale length of its namesake, along with the pickups and control layout that make it such a great guitar. The attributes of the 594 series are a direct match for the guitars that created the music of most of the bands you name above, so creating their tones shouldn’t be a reach at all.

What I found in the HB was that you can get some roaring tones without unwanted feedback, though it is a little easier to get the feedback where you need it. I’m not sure how they did that with such a small block, but it works. I don’t play Marshall-full-stack-on-11 loud, so I won’t say you can’t make it uncontrollable, but I have played it much louder than my normal gig volumes without any issue at all. And the weight... is incredible. It is easily the lightest guitar I own, and a joy to play because of it. I’ll still likely add a 594HB II for the pickups, scale, and neck, because the HB I has proven how awesome a PRS HB is to play, and I also love playing the two 594s I have. The mix of the two should be right on it.

EDIT: I did add a 594 HB II, and it is a simply incredible sounding, playing, and even looking guitar.
 
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I absolutely LOVE the various HB variations that PRS has put out. I currently own a HB1 SC and it's great for a wide variety of tones and musical types (I'm an SC guy at heart). I do admit though that an HB Spruce has always been on a my list of "wants".

In regards to tonal range...click on this and enjoy!!! Emil is an AMAZING guitar player who can do it all...and demonstrates that & the HB range very well in this video. He also used to play the *snot* out of that HB Spruce in his metal band (look on youtube for other videos).
 
Here's what happens with any hollow body guitar: It will of course sound different than a solid body because the resonant frequency of the guitar is different. The resonant frequency is the peak in the frequency response just before the high frequencies start to roll off. A hollow body resonates differently from a solid body. Synthesizers have a high frequency filter and a resonance control for that very reason.

Truth is, you can play any style of music on any guitar, and there are tons and tons of pro examples of this.

Ask not whether a guitar is suitable for a certain style - they all are, until you decide they're not.

The question is whether a guitar suits YOUR idea of what that style should sound like. And you're the only one on planet Earth who can answer that question. All opinions of so-called experts, all opinions of us here, are entirely irrelevant to your ability to answer that question.

You have to play the guitar in order to find out.
 
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LSchefman said:
The question is whether a guitar suits YOUR idea of what that style should sound like. And you're the only one on planet Earth who can answer that question. All opinions of so-called experts, all opinions of us here, are entirely irrelevant to your ability to answer that question.
You have to play the guitar in order to find out.
Click to expand...

it's pretty obvious that only I can understand if the guitar is for me, but - waiting to try it, since it is very difficult to find it in the shops in my area - it seems to me a good idea to ask the more experienced people of this forum, which surely they have tried it or have an opinion about it.

So, opinions on this guitar? do you think it can work for me just like an ES-335 (as others have hypothesized above)?
 
MrSuperstar said:
So, opinions on this guitar? do you think it can work for me just like an ES-335 (as others have hypothesized above)?
Click to expand...

It’s an extremely versatile instrument and could be used in place of an ES-335 and so much more. I’ve had mine for 19 years and used it on just as many genres. It handles high gain well and doesn’t get overly boomy and delivers a wonderful warm clean tone. Great on rhythm, great on leads. I think if you were to buy one online without playing one beforehand you would not be disappointed.

but on the offhand you don’t care for it you can sell it for a profit and cite scarcity in Italy
 
I have an 25th Anni. SCHB2 with 57/08s. It is one of my favorite guitars. Now if you made it a 594....That might be my next PRS.
 
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