McCarty or DGT

[Mike Duncan]

DGT.

 

[Mike Duncan]

 

[Tag]

If you can find a McCarty trem, thats the one I would take. I NEVER use a trem, but like others have said, the routing and springs add a resonance and liveliness you just cant get with a stop tail. If you have ever played a stop tail strat, its basically the same thing, but even more pronounced with PRSs. This is all personal taste, but I do not like the neck carve or frets on the DGT. Just a plain WF to me is the way to go. Play both if at all possible, but the one thing is the trem. A must have IMO. I never even but the bar on my guitars. My PS had to have the trem even though I never use it just for that resonance. You can also always block it, but you can never add a trem. Again, this is coming from basically a trem hater.

 

[Dingola]

I'm a proud owner of a 2015 DGT and I'm absolutely loving it, when it comes to feel and ergonomics: the DGT neck profile feels absolutely great, a full C throughout the registers, the nut is a bit more narrow than on other PRS necks, the fat fret wire makes bending a joy.
The controls layout is very handy, too: the independent volume controls allows blending the two pickups to taste in the middle position. That guarantees for extra tonal versatility...

When it comes to tone, however, there is a catch: not everybody likes the sound of the DGT pickups (permanently). The single coil tones are superb, while the humbuckers tones are, well, special...
For me, it took almost a year to finally come to the conclusion that these pickups can be a bit ear-piercing in the higher registers, while the bottom end lacks definition. That has been - for me - especially true, when played clean or just breaking into crunchy territory.

Some users here had similar experience, some made extensive effort experimenting with the volume and tone controls to find their (personal) sound, as David Grissom himself does.
Others - and I'm one of them - replaced the pickups with something more to their taste. I transplanted a set of Bare Knuckle Abraxas humbuckers into my DGT, thereby also replacing the volume pots by push/pull-pots, allowing for individual coil-splits. The tone pot allows now an additional phase switch when both pickups are engaged.

While my DGT tended to "scream" sometimes with the original pickups, she now rings deeply like a bell. The annoying higher registers are tamed now, the lower end is meaty, but never lacking definition. She's a real Les Paul killer now, ideally suited for anything from jazz, country, folk, blues to classic rock.

So my recommendation would be always to compare the DGT and the McCarty directly: they will feel differently, especially because of the different neck profiles and fret wires. You should also try which control layout suits you better.

They will also sound differently, mainly because the DGT's pickups. That, however should not be a problem: if you like the DGT's feel, it's rather easy to switch the pickups for something that suits you better, may it be a \m/ pickup or something more classic, like a (hot) PAF clone.

But, quite honestly, I don't think you can go wrong with either guitar. But you really should try which one feels better in YOUR hands before you spend your money...

Old thread, but it's nice to hear my DGT scenario so nicely described. I have a 2020 DGT and feel the same exact way, in all you described and hoping new pickups will make this a keeper.

Are you still happy with it?

So you...

• Used a set of Bare Knuckle Abraxas humbuckers.
• Replaced the volume pots with push/pull-pots for coil splits. (How hard it is to pull up on the stock pots is annoying. I would change this too.)
• Your tone pot allows an additional phase switch when both pickups are engaged.
• So you
  • kept the same tone pots
  • removed the treble bleed caps
• Did you change any other caps on the vol pots or input jack?

Thanks for the info!

 

[László]

Apropos of the resurrection of this thread, it might be interesting to take a look at the pickup chart that Shawn posted a few years back. While it didn't cover the TCI pickups, I would think it's still a pretty valid description of the tones in the various pickups - note the frequency response curves.

https://forums.prsguitars.com/threads/58-15-and-85-15-pickups.23155/

 

[SundanceSanDiego]

great thread, throwing on another comment despite the 'age'....just got a DGT (2021/TCI), it's my 5th PRS (current stablemates = 408, 594 SC) and while I love it, I too found Jojo's case of pickups being icepick-like in the upper registers. It took quite a bit of experimental dialing-in on my Mesa Fillmore 25 to find a suitable compromise that didn't take all the definition out of the bass, and it's much fussier about amp and guitar settings than either my 408 or 594. My Revv D20 is a bit better fit.

I've read good things about Suhr Thornbuckers and 57/08s as possible replacements and am sure there are others. Unlike others, I did find the 11s a bit of a chore and went to 10s

 

[azzkkr]

I looooove my 2000 McCarty which has McC Pu’s. Also adore my 2013 CU24 with the 57/08 which cover all sounds, the ideal gigging guitar, like my La.Ed. S Sky which is the best alround Strat I ever owned.

 

[John Price]

Both guitars are awesome! I remember when the McCarty first came out and I kept asking PRS for a trem version but they would say only on a PS. Then PRS did a limited version of McCarty with trems, every one that came in the store weighed a ton... I was bummed... Finally the DGT was released..... Absolutely love the DGT..... Yes, I love trems...Hahaha...

 

[El Fenix]

great thread, throwing on another comment despite the 'age'....just got a DGT (2021/TCI), it's my 5th PRS (current stablemates = 408, 594 SC) and while I love it, I too found Jojo's case of pickups being icepick-like in the upper registers. It took quite a bit of experimental dialing-in on my Mesa Fillmore 25 to find a suitable compromise that didn't take all the definition out of the bass, and it's much fussier about amp and guitar settings than either my 408 or 594. My Revv D20 is a bit better fit.

I've read good things about Suhr Thornbuckers and 57/08s as possible replacements and am sure there are others. Unlike others, I did find the 11s a bit of a chore and went to 10s

Let me know if you want to sell the stock DGT pickups.

 

[Rod/]

It's my opinion that this is the result of rig mismatch. You have to voice pedals/amp/cab for the guitar otherwise you can get less than the best out of a guitar. Overloading the amp input will certainly yield mush when you dig into the strings with these pups. Gain balance the pedals and amp and back down the guitar volume to 8 should bring the definition back.

I think so too.. My 2021 DGT is just so much more balanced in its frequencies than almost any other guitar I own…it also only weighs 7.5 lbs. I think that’s a factor as well.. I played a few others that weighed in the 8.5 range and they didn’t have the mojo of mine.. it’s a wood library as well.. it’s all in the wood….I love the fat high end and the lows aren’t bloated like they are on Les Pauls…the pickups are brilliant, as is the guitar in general. I’m a Bluesrock lead guitarist and that guitar with overdrive just sings anywhere on the neck. It’s unbelievable….

 

[Boogie]

My DGT can do it all…vintage, classic, metal, modern, country, blues, and prog rock with limited adjustments. For my current weird rock gig, I’ve lowered string gauge to 10s, but I’ve used 11s elsewhere and not had difficulties. The reduction of gauge was to shift my frequencies to not step on the bassist and it kinda does the “Tele on steroids” thing in spades. So many ways to bend a DGT!