NGD Korina McCarty

[markintime]

On my front porch I found this mooshed up box containing a hard shell case with this inside:

And more of a full body shot...

A little closer neck view...

And then an obligatory backside...

Oh, this puppy is so light at 6.2 lbs, that it's unreal. The wide/fat neck feels great to me, especially considering my acoustic finger picking background.

One strange thing to me coming from Dave's Guitars, was that it came strung with 9's and they were not stretched and tuned to pitch. Not a real big deal, just unexpected compared to the ones I've bought from a different dealer. Also was a little surprised to note that the tuners were not locking tuners as I would have expected with an American built guitar. Guess I will be doing a little more business with John Mann on that issue.

It does have pretty good tone playing through my little Blackstar Fly initially. I really love the way it cleans up and it seems to just sustain and sustain and sustain... . I don't really know if that can be attributed to the Korina/Korina/Brazzy, but what else could it be?

Anyhow, thanks to all you enablers out there in PRS-land for your advice and opinions. They worked for me and I am one happy camper with my newest baby to play now. If I could just learn how to record, I might be able to put up some clips.

 

[bodia]

Nice! Ive lusted after those for a long time on Dave's website. Good choice!

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Congrats!

 

[toothace]

That is sweet!

 

[vchizzle]

Congrats! That burst looks great. If I didn't have a McCarty standard that was ultra light(maybe 7ish lb), I'd get one for sure. It's still tempting, honestly. I've played several of them at Dave's and they all sounded great. Weird with the strings though. Doesn't seem normal. Maybe the strings were dead from being in the store for a while and someone just quick threw a set on before it went out the door. That store is pretty humid, so it wouldn't surprise me if they sounded dull and that's what happened. Those McKorina's are all NOS. Dave's bought a pile of them(maybe all?) when they released them. I think maybe there was a Brazilian ban for a bit when the whole Gibson thing happened. These guitars were likely somewhere in the build process and held at the factory for awhile, kinda like they did with SC's during the Gibbo lawsuit. I'm not 100% on that, it's just a theory or something I remember hearing. What year is it?

edit: That'd also be the reason for the vintage tuners as well. Back the day, the McCarty's came with them. I think the headstock is slightly thinner than the normal PRS headstock.

 

[markintime]

Congrats! That burst looks great. If I didn't have a McCarty standard that was ultra light(maybe 7ish lb), I'd get one for sure. It's still tempting, honestly. I've played several of them at Dave's and they all sounded great. Weird with the strings though. Doesn't seem normal. Maybe the strings were dead from being in the store for a while and someone just quick threw a set on before it went out the door. That store is pretty humid, so it wouldn't surprise me if they sounded dull and that's what happened. Those McKorina's are all NOS. Dave's bought a pile of them(maybe all?) when they released them. I think maybe there was a Brazilian ban for a bit when the whole Gibson thing happened. These guitars were likely somewhere in the build process and held at the factory for awhile, kinda like they did with SC's during the Gibbo lawsuit. I'm not 100% on that, it's just a theory or something I remember hearing. What year is it?

You are most probably right on the string change. The serial number on the back of the headstock is 7 127648. So, it was built in '07? Idk...

 

[vchizzle]

You are most probably right on the string change. The serial number on the back of the headstock is 7 127648. So, it was built in '07? Idk...

Yup 2007, lots of brazzy that year!

 

[markintime]

Well, all I can say at this point, having played a few chords and turned the knobs, is that it is definitely one sweet sounding guitar! Get 'em while they last, 'cause you just can't beat the deal! The hard shell case is a topper.

 

[veinbuster]

Nice.

 

[xjbebop]

Pretty... as mentioned, likely NOS.
The stock 'vintage' tuners work just fine if you know how to wind strings proper..

 

[markintime]

Pretty... as mentioned, likely NOS.
The stock 'vintage' tuners work just fine if you know how to wind strings proper..

I think you're quite right on this as I have not had any tuning issues with my SE's, even after I've changed them to 10's. Since I am quite a ways off from gigging, the issue of string changing is not a concern at this point.

 

[CantankerousCarl]

Really great score - korina rocks! Congrats!

 

[g.wizz]

Congrats on this beautiful score

 

[vox801]

Congrats! I have a Korina and love it! Enjoy it!

 

[The Viking Gangster]

Nice guitar. Dave's is a Mecca for guitars. I make a pilgrimage there once a year or so.

 

[markintime]

Thank you all for the kind comments and recommendations. I am very happy with this new addition. It is quality all the way! Good times ahead!

 

[Alan Manning]

Always a good day when the guitar stork delivers a new edition.
Congrats, Enjoy. !!!

 

[prsrocker1988]

HNGD.

 

[László]

Beautiful guitar!

The vintage tuners on all McCarty models from 1994 until quite recently were non-locking. Same with the original Singlecut models. The point was to have light-weight, vintage style machines as used by Ted McCarty in his Gibson days.

One of Ted McCarty's suggestions to Paul originally was to have a thinner headstock than the locking tuners worked with, so that may have been a part of it. I remember Paul being interviewed about that back in the 90s in one of the guitar mags (or was it the PRS book? I don't remember which, actually).

It was a departure for PRS at the time, as they had winged tuners on the Custom models, but that's how the guitars came for 14 years or so.

I love the easy string changes with locking tuners, but I do like the vibe of the vintage style machines.

 

[markintime]

Thanks, Les! I appreciate the information on the tuners; that was something of which I was unaware. I don't think I'm going to change a single thing on this one. The bridge is absolutely perfectly aligned and provides perfect intonation (i had to check). And because it's so light to begin with, I don't believe I would gain any significant benefit from locking tuners. I was a bit surprised to read on the hang tag that it has been setup with 9's. I am not sure about changing at least that little bit to a set of 10's, but I will hold off on that until I find some convincing argument to do so. All of my others have 10's, though. I will reserve judgement.