McCarty Hollowbody II - tell me what to look forward to

[Furtive]

Looks like my contract at work is going on longer than anticipated, which means....

Found a much loved `99 on the bay at a price that won't leave me eating Ramen. I think I've only picked up a PRS hollowbody once. ALWAYS wanted one of these but they tend to be spendy. I have the S2 CU22SH, but I consider canoe cuts to be a different animal.

20 years ago I had to sell a 68 ES-345, and this is my first serious hollow electric purchase since then. Can anyone tell me what to anticipate with a `99 HBII? Weight? Tones? Balance? I'm already thinking about having a 12 position varitone installed.

 

[garrettb]

Anticipate the most glorious controlled feedback with gain. Very lively feel. Great resonance. At high volumes you can sometimes feel it pushing air out of the f holes.

Weight: 5 - 6 lbs
Tones: like a 335 but a bit rounder with softer attack
Balance: a little neck heavy, but doesn't dive on a strap

 

[veinbuster]

I have one and love it. It is very light - easily a couple pounds lighter than a solid PRS. Weight balance very good, like any PRS is - particularly comfortable to play while sitting in front of a TV.
Tone is a bit tougher to comment on. It isn't really acoustic, but there is a distinct acoustic flavour to the tone (my 99 doesn't have piezo. The piezo does add a lot to the range of the guitar based on my 09).
Really good guitar. You can't go wrong with it.

 

[Huggy Love]

That's exactly the same axe as I have (2001 model), It's by far my favorite instrument and if they weren't so "spendy" it's all I would own.......a platoon of them.
As for your questions:
-Light as a feather, the lightest hollow body elec I've held.
-Tones are in the 335 range, a little brighter, but with some tweaking of guitar, amp, I can get some pretty authentic Wes Montgomery/George Benson sounds.
-Balance is this things strongpoint, standing up & strapped it's great and it's THE BEST sitting down guitar I've touched.

I don't know anything about varitone switches but it's pretty versatile as is, I can rock out with it too, almost in the metal range but the arch top pups on the cleaner side. That's one of the reasons I love it so much is that those pickups are (to me) the best ones PRS has put out.

 

[django49]

If you liked the Varitone in the past, MAYBE. On paper, they sound like something I would love.. In practice, having had a 345, 355, and a few BB KIng's, I just never acclimated to them. All long since gone. I would reserve judgement until you actually play it. FWIW, my original 1999 never was all I thought I wanted it to be----UNTIL I swapped the pickups. But try them out and tweak them (if need be) before deciding.. The original "archtop pickups" seem to be something people either like or don't, sometimes strongly.