NGD: McCarty 594 SH Aquamarine - no, not the SC you expected

[shinksma]

Beautiful guitar!!!

Thanks! Did not get a chance to pick up a guitar yesterday except to vacuum the floor.

Cleaning house in preparation for the onslaught of family/friends in the next few days! But I can't wait for my wife open her gifts: as well as some nice other stuff, I got her some cool musical-related stuff. I can't detail it here - I suspect she lurks...

 

[Solteroblues]

Beautiful guitar! Congrats! One of my favorite colors!

Indeed, it will be a nice Christmas week if I get a chance to play it, what with family in and out and parties to attend, etc. I did finish off writing a new song using it yesterday (which I started writing on my second-last NGD PRSi, the SC HB II). The 594SH lends itself to a variety of textures, and plays well with my pedalboard du jour (all Boss, baby!) and the Archon 25W combo.

I must admit I don't know if I could tell Aquamarine and Blue Matteo apart. I've seen some examples of both recently that could easily fall into the "other color's" camp. My SAS is Blue Matteo, and it looks more true-blue than the Aquamarine, which has faint hints of green to it. But online I can find BMs that good even more green than my Aquamarine, and Aquamarines that look more blue than my BM.

:shrug:

The 58/15LTs are nice - "articulate" is a term I believe I have seen used, and I would agree. They are not super high gain - the 57/08s on the HB II might not be much hotter, but sound differently. I really need to do a detailed comparison, rather than just playing.

I own two Blue Matteo's and 1 Aquamarine. Honestly, the Aquamarine falls exactly in the middle of my two Blue Matteo's. One is a little more green, the other one is more Bright blue, and my Aquamarine is just ever so slightly darker than the bright blue one.

 

[WA Paul]

Beautiful guitar! Congrats! One of my favorite colors!



I own two Blue Matteo's and 1 Aquamarine. Honestly, the Aquamarine falls exactly in the middle of my two Blue Matteo's. One is a little more green, the other one is more Bright blue, and my Aquamarine is just ever so slightly darker than the bright blue one.

Very subtle differences, but all very beautiful!

 

[Tag]

Another gorgeous guitar, in my favorite color no less!! Those play and sound amazing too.
Congratulations!!

 

[Alan Manning]

Many Congrats. that is Gorgeous and yeah Brian is great to work with.

 

[shinksma]

Beautiful guitar! Congrats! One of my favorite colors!



I own two Blue Matteo's and 1 Aquamarine. Honestly, the Aquamarine falls exactly in the middle of my two Blue Matteo's. One is a little more green, the other one is more Bright blue, and my Aquamarine is just ever so slightly darker than the bright blue one.

Nice trio of blue! (Sorry, @sergiodeblanc !)

Is the Aquamarine literally the middle one? I honestly would have thought the AM was the left-most...

Maybe if the sun comes out and I get a chance I'll take my BM SAS out with the AM 594 for a photo shoot in the garden.

 

[shinksma]

So I had a chance to step outside and catch some sunshine on the SAS (Blue Matteo) and the 594SH (Aquamarine). Depending on the light, the 594SH certainly doesn't have as much green, as shown here in a phone-photo in early-afternoon Florida sun, and ends up looking a lot like the Blue Matteo of the SAS.

Indoors and in other outdoor lighting the 594SH shows a bit more green. What an interesting/challenging color!

 

[Sybo]

Yup , It’s righteous!

 

[Solteroblues]

Nice trio of blue! (Sorry, @sergiodeblanc !)

Is the Aquamarine literally the middle one? I honestly would have thought the AM was the left-most...

Maybe if the sun comes out and I get a chance I'll take my BM SAS out with the AM 594 for a photo shoot in the garden.

Yep, the middle one is my Aquamarine. The one on the left is Blue Matteo, but has a lot of green tint to it. The one on the right is also Blue Matteo, but it's as blue as you can get. I used to own another Blue Matteo, but it was as green as grass. I guess it depends on how they fade or don't fade!

either way, it's NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE to photograph correctly.

 

[vchizzle]

Congrats!

 

[shinksma]

So I played the 594SH last night at band practice. We practiced through a set we will be playing when we open up for Mairead Nesbitt in February - we do our slightly rock'n'roll Celtic fusion stuff as an opener so she can steal the night with her fiddle playing and dancing (dang she moves around a lot!)

Anyway, I've been a bit under the weather with a cold, so I figured I'd just plod through stuff, and when it came time for my lead breaks I'd probably be uninspired. Wrong! The neck on the 594 showed its true qualities, and I played faster and easier than I ever would have thought possible based on my current condition!

I need to do some back-to-back comparisons with some other PRSi and their necks, but I might have found the perfect neck profile...

 

[WA Paul]

So I played the 594SH last night at band practice. We practiced through a set we will be playing when we open up for Mairead Nesbitt in February - we do our slightly rock'n'roll Celtic fusion stuff as an opener so she can steal the night with her fiddle playing and dancing (dang she moves around a lot!)

Anyway, I've been a bit under the weather with a cold, so I figured I'd just plod through stuff, and when it came time for my lead breaks I'd probably be uninspired. Wrong! The neck on the 594 showed its true qualities, and I played faster and easier than I ever would have thought possible based on my current condition!

I need to do some back-to-back comparisons with some other PRSi and their necks, but I might have found the perfect neck profile...

Yep, Pattern Vintage neck carve nearly ruined all other neck carves for me!

 

[BrianC]

like!!!

 

[StillCantankerous]

Better than a flu shot! Congrats on that blue beast...

 

[shinksma]

I need to do some back-to-back comparisons with some other PRSi and their necks, but I might have found the perfect neck profile...

I did get a chance to do this - not in a band scenario, so perhaps not as inspired a setting, but:

I grabbed the following:

2002 CU24 Wide Thin neck
2007 SAS with "Regular" neck (measures that way, despite stock stats - maybe it was re-profiled by someone)
2012 SC HB II with "Pattern" neck
2019 594 SH with Pattern Vintage

Indeed, they all felt different, and the PV carve does seem easier to play than the Pattern.

The Wide Thin was quite a pleasure to play too, though - been a while since I'd picked up that guitar, which might be one of the few WT (or Pattern Thin) necks I have in my arsenal, now that I think about it...I was all about WT necks when I first started playing PRS, and now I wonder exactly how many I might have...

Anyway, the PV carve felt the most natural - the pressure points on the palm of my fretting hand where not very focused, instead the neck of the guitar rested against the "Thenor eminence" (the meaty bit near your thumb - what palm readers call "Venus") very nicely, not as much of a "ridge" feeling as I get with the WF/Pattern necks.