Introduction and NGD: McCarty 594 DC Autumn Sky

[FJ4]

Excellent Guitar Congrats and Welcome!

 

[mwong61]

Just fyi, not a great pic but this is Stanley Whitakers "Happy the Man" era late 70's PRS Double Neck.

And Rick Kennels PRS bass...

This looks like it could be the early 80's "Vision" era Stanley playing single neck

And this is 2006-ish "Oblivion Sun" and the reformed "Happy the Man" era

 

[Mozzi]

Great looking 594 and welcome to the 594 owners club. You are not alone on liking or wanting the back of a guitar to look great too - I am the same and very particular as well. All my PRS guitars must have the wood stained - not an opaque finish so I can see the Mahogany - it seems criminal to me to cover up the natural beauty of wood with a solid paint job.

I totally get what you mean about nailing that Vintage vibe but with incredible attention to detail, superb playability and a few 'modern' appointments - like coil splits and locking tuners. The clarity of the Pick-ups is great and the Split coil sounds are very usable too - mine is a 2016 so doesn't have the TCI process applied either...

Anyway congrats and hope it brings you a lot of enjoyment for many years to come...

 

[mwong61]

Man writing this post had me tripping down memory lane, thinking about that great period of superb Washington DC music scene before New Wave and Punk pretty much took over everything.
And thinking about what a great guitar Stanley Whitaker is and what an important band Happy the Man was for me.

If you're into early progressive rock at all here's a couple to classic Happy tracks.

 

[dmatthews]

Awesome story, and killer guitar, congrats!

 

[Black Plaid]

Hey all,

New to this forum but not new to PRSi.

(Warning: Long winded intro!)

My PRS history goes back a ways (which also dates me)

I grew up in suburban Maryland and in the late 70's my high school bandmates and I spent a lot of time in Georgetown taking in some of the best fusion, prog, jazz acts in the area.

Having grown up a total prog rock head, I cut my teeth on early ELP, King Crimson, Genesis and Yes.
One of the favorite acts we would catch at the Cellar Door in Georgetown was the "greatest prog band you probably never heard of" called Happy the Man. The guitar player for the band was Stanley Whitaker, who at the time was playing a fairly unusual Gibsonesque double neck which he told me was made by a Maryland luthier called Paul Reed Smith. (Rick Kennel, the bass player also played a Paul Reed Smith made bass). The band was very accessible and we would often hang out before or after the show and yak prog music (and partake of some naturals....this WAS the late 70's).

During one of the many dozens of times I went to see Happy play, I was hanging around during the sound check Stanley said "Hey, this is the guy that built my guitar, Paul Reed Smith!" I remember shaking hands with this skinny, goofy looking dude with curly dark hair and glasses hahah. This was probably '79 or '80. So it was probably pre-Santana if I recall my PRS lore correctly. Anyway I thought it was cool to meet this guy but didn't think much of it until a couple years later when I happened to walk into a bar in Poughkeepsie, NY of all places and happened to run into Stanley Whitaker's new band at that time, a cover band called Vision. It was so totally cool to see Stanley again and I saw him playing a single neck flamed maple capped, and much more evolved PRS guitar. This was maybe '81-ish. So must have been when Paul was still building out of his shop? (please correct me if I'm wrong). Fast forward a few more years and I walked into a guitar store in Florida and I notice some really cool looking guitars hanging on the wall, after taking a closer look I realize they were production PRS guitars! Wow, I was blown away, they were the most unique take on splitting the difference between a Strat and Les Paul I'd ever seen with such very high build quality. I was so pleased to see his success. This was '86-'87-ish, so they were probably the early Standards, right?

It wouldn't be until 89-90 until I was established enough with my income that I was able to afford a PRS and I purchased an early CE Bolt On with the 5 way rotary switching. Since then, I've been blessed with being able to indulge my GAS on and off over the years with a particularly intense decade from about 1999-2008. I was really more focused on high end acoustics but a lot of electrics came and went during that period too, including a bunch of PRS guitars, a Custom 22, Hollowbody Peizo with the spruce top, Singlecut trem, Swamp Ash Special, some SE's and I think there was a P90 model in there somewhere as well. Somehow none of the PRSi stayed in my stable and when I sobered up from my GAStromania around 2008 I settled on keeping only a couple of nice acoustics and some project electrics.

In the past decade or so, I've settled down to the "basic food groups" on electrics a Tele, Strat and Project Les Paul copy that has sported a number of different pickups. While I've kept a close eye on PRS none of the models really called out to me until the McCarty's came along, even then I was able to hold out until the McCarty 594's were introduced a couple years ago. Since then it's been like a nagging itch I have not been able to scratch, wanting a vintage style dual humbucker PAF-ish type guitar but not wanting to spend $8k for a high end reissue. I think I've watched every 594 video and review ever done and I feel like I know @bryanewald as a friend I've spent so much time watching him demo PRS guitars. Last week I finally caved in and bought a McCarty 594. All I can say is WOW! I have only had it a few hours and I'm totally blown away by this guitar. I've only ever had the chance to play through a set of vintage PAF's once (transplanted into a 90's Les Paul Standard) but what I remember about that experience was the airy, almost acoustic quality of the tone. That's the same vibe I'm getting from this McCarty except with the gnats ass perfect build quality and incredible playability of PRS. I wonder what would have happened if G*b*on evolved as a company, improved their processes, got better at what they did and evolved their designs, if they would not have arrived at something like the 594. I dunno, maybe not. But this guitar lives up to the all the hype and tag lines around it. It is truly a "vintage" sounding instrument without the hassles. Playability all the way up to the 22nd fret and so perfectly intonated that it is uncanny. I don't know if it's the scale length that makes this possible or what but the intonation is scary dead on. Frankly, I'm wondering if I can adapt to it with all the little subtle things most guitar players do to "bend" things into tune on most guitars.

I'm looking forward to many more hours to come exploring all the secrets of this total tone machine and look forward to participating on this forum. I don't think I can post pics yet due to post count, but when I'm out of jail I'll try to post some pics.

Michael-

Hey! Incredible story, so cool you met him way back!

Welcome to the form and congrats on the amazing instrument!

 

[mwong61]

Great looking 594 and welcome to the 594 owners club. You are not alone on liking or wanting the back of a guitar to look great too - I am the same and very particular as well. All my PRS guitars must have the wood stained - not an opaque finish so I can see the Mahogany - it seems criminal to me to cover up the natural beauty of wood with a solid paint job.

I totally get what you mean about nailing that Vintage vibe but with incredible attention to detail, superb playability and a few 'modern' appointments - like coil splits and locking tuners. The clarity of the Pick-ups is great and the Split coil sounds are very usable too - mine is a 2016 so doesn't have the TCI process applied either...

Anyway congrats and hope it brings you a lot of enjoyment for many years to come...

I agree 100% that it seems silly to cover up the beautiful mahogany backs on these guitars. I really like some of the black burst and gray finishes but most of the CORE models with these finishes seem to have black backs. I like the gray/black finishes and whale blue finishes matched with a natural back but it seems like this configuration is more common on the Private Stock, Wood Library or dealer exclusive models.

I've been reading up a bit on the new tweaks on the 2020 models, the nitro finish and TCI'd pickups, glad for the folks that are able to get the new ones but man, at this point we're truly splitting hairs on a darn near perfect (for me) instrument. I much prefer the Phase III tuners over the Klusons too.

 

[tyfu20]

Very cool, welcome and enjoy your new axe.

 

[vchizzle]

Welcome, congrats on your new 594- looks great!

Thanks for the timeline story and those old pics are great.

 

[NeubyWanKaneuby]

HNGD!

I got my SC594 from Pitbull Audio a couple of years ago... very good experience.

 

[bryanewald]

And this is 2006-ish "Oblivion Sun" and the reformed "Happy the Man" era

[/QUOTE]

If this was at the 8x10, I may have played this show with Anthony Setola for his CD release.

 

[mwong61]

And this is 2006-ish "Oblivion Sun" and the reformed "Happy the Man" era
]

If this was at the 8x10, I may have played this show with Anthony Setola for his CD release.

Hey Bryan,

No clue, it found it on the interwebz...

Glad to know there are other Stanley fans out there!

M-

 

[Warmart]

Congrats, excellent color choice and a fantastic background story! May you love it long time!

 

[iLookLikeElvis]

"The basic food groups"

That's a very nice triumvirate! Well done!